Theater
“Mary Stuart” Director JoAnne Akalaitis, always interesting, takes a crack at Friedrich Schiller’s 19th Century drama, with Jenny Bacon and Barbara Robertson portraying the battling royals, Mary of Scotland and Elizabeth I. Sept. 15-Oct. 14 at Court Theatre.
“Mother Courage and Her Children” Bertolt Brecht’s big epic, adapted by David Hare, with music (newly composed by T-Bone Burnett and Darrel Leonard), in a big production, directed by Eric Simonson, with Lois Smith in the title role. Sept. 23-Nov. 4 at Steppenwolf Theatre.
“Immoral Imperatives” A new comedy/drama by Jeffrey Sweet, set in the Florida Keys, directed by Calvin MacLean and featuring a crackerjack cast, including Dennis Zacek, Kristine Thatcher and Tim Grimm. Sept. 24-Oct. 21 at Victory Gardens Theater.
“Pacific Overtures” The 1976 musical, with Stephen Sondheim’s songs and John Weidman’s book, covering 120 years of Japanese history, staged by director Gary Griffin. Oct. 17-Dec. 2 in the studio theater of Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
“They All Fall Down: The Richard Nickel Story” Biographical drama on the late Chicago photographer’s crusade to save endangered architectural treasures. Oct. 21-Dec. 3 at Lookingglass Theatre.
— Richard Christiansen
Dance
Joffrey Ballet of Chicago The troupe’s fall season offers an Oct. 11-14 repertoire of “The Nijinsky Mystique,” with “Games,” “Afternoon of a Faun” and the carefully reconstructed “The Rite of Spring,” all choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, followed by Oct. 18-21 dates of “Arpino and Friends,” with Gerald Arpino’s “Reflections” and “Light Rain,” plus the premiere of “Miracle, Interrupted,” to music of Vivaldi, by Paul Christiano, and a new work by San Francisco-based choreographer Julia Adam. Auditorium Theatre.
DanceAfrica Chicago 2001 “Ancient Traditions: Urban Reflections” features Ballethnic Dance Company from Atlanta, the N’Dere Troupe from Kampala, Uganda, and the Sankofa Dance Theatre of Baltimore. Oct. 26-28 at the Auditorium Theatre.
Ballet Nacional de Cuba Alicia Alonzo’s company makes its Chicago debut with a mixed bill on Nov. 2 and showcases Alonzo’s staging of “Coppelia” on Nov. 3 and 4 at the Auditorium Theatre.
Dance Chicago 2001 More than 100 Chicago dance companies participate in eight varied programs covering everything from ballet to jazz and from new works to classics. Nov. 3-Dec. 2 at the Athenaeum Theatre.
“The Car Man” Matthew Bourne, the English choreographer who staged “Swan Lake” with male swans, presents a film noir ballet, based on “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” using music from “Carmen.” Nov. 14-18 at the Auditorium Theatre.
— R.C.
Art
“The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994” The first major exhibition to survey the period through art, film, photography, graphics, music, architecture, literature and theater. Continuing through Dec. 30 at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
“Christopher Wilmarth” The first solo exhibition in Chicago for a poetic minimalist whose sculpture achieved great distinction in the 1970s and 1980s. Sept. 20-Nov. 3 at the Arts Club of Chicago.
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“Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South” With 130 works exploring the artists’ brief period of collaboration in Arles in 1888. Sept. 22-Jan. 13 at the Art Institute of Chicago.
“Ansel Adams at 100” The first reappraisal of the photographer’s output since his death in 1984. Feb. 23-June 2 at the Art Institute of Chicago.
“Taken by Design: Photographs from the Institute of Design, 1937-1971” The first exhibition to focus on the achievements of the Chicago school’s formative and peak years. March 2- May 12 at the Art Institute of Chicago.
“Michel Auder: A Retrospective” A 30-year survey by a pioneer in video. March 10-April 21 at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago.
“Andreas Gursky” The first major retrospective in the United States for the German master of large, often manipulated color photographs. June 22-Sept. 22 at the MCA.
— Alan G. Artner
Classical
“Wagner and Modernism” Richard Wagner has hogged the arts headlines this summer, for reasons that have nothing to do with his music itself but everything to do with its horrendous associations as the soundtrack for the Third Reich. Moving beyond politics, one of the world’s major Wagner conductors, Daniel Barenboim, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will explore the links between Wagner’s innovations and new music of the 20th and 21st Centuries in a three-week perspective Sept. 27 to Oct. 16 at Symphony Center. “Tristan und Isolde,” the pivotal work of the Romantic period, will receive two complete performances. There will also be a sizable chunk of Wagner’s “Ring”: Act One of “Die Walkuere” and excerpts from “Goetterdaemmerung,” both with vocal soloists. Elliott Carter, America’s grand old modernist, will be represented by the world premiere of his Cello Concerto composed for and performed by Yo-Yo Ma. German composer Isabel Mundry’s new Piano Concerto will have its U.S. premiere, with Barenboim conducting from the keyboard. Fleshing out the festival will be pre-concert lectures, exhibits and an afternoon-long symposium.
Benjamin Britten The most important British composer of the last century is receiving extended attention this season in Chicago. Stage director David McVicar’s new production of Britten’s “Billy Budd” will have its Lyric Opera premiere Nov. 17 at the Civic Opera House, with Andrew Davis conducting a cast headed by Nathan Gunn (in the title role), Kim Begley and Samuel Ramey. Another major Britten opera, “The Rape of Lucretia,” will have its Chicago Opera Theater premiere in a new production playing March 13-23 at the Athenaeum Theatre. Not to be outdone, cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, a longtime friend and colleague of Britten’s, will lead the CSO in a two-week Britten Festival May 2-11 at Symphony Center, culminating in performances of the powerfully eloquent “War Requiem.” Taking part in the festival will be British tenor Ian Bostridge and CSO principal cellist John Sharp, performing the Symphony for Cello and Orchestra.
“Musicians and Poets” What is more essential, the music or the text? Or is it the fusion of the two as song that matters most? Four concerts to be given this season as part of the University of Chicago Presents series at Mandel Hall will celebrate the connections between music and words, musicians and poets. Two celebrated American poet-laureates, Mark Strand and Robert Pinsky, will read from their works in their respective collaborations with the Brentano String Quartet (Feb. 22) and the Takacs Quartet (April 12). Other concerts include the remarkable Polish contralto Ewa Podles in an all-Russian song recital with pianist Garrick Ohlsson (Nov. 16); and the Italian vocal and instrumental ensemble Micrologus (Chicago debut, April 26).
Music of the Baroque Now that longtime music director Thomas Wikman has stepped down, MOB is shopping around for a successor. Seven candidates — three Americans, three Britons, one Canadian — will be publicly auditioning for that post during MOB’s 2001-02 subscription concerts, at various city and suburban churches. Nicholas Kraemer will preside over the season opener on Nov. 4, followed by Craig Hella Johnson in December, Bernard Labadie in January, Jane Glover in February, Kenneth Slowik in March, Robert King in April and Paul Hillier in May. Who will be the “strongest link”? Check out each conductor, vote with your applause and see who’s left when the last trumpet has sounded.
— John von Rhein
Jazz
Chicago Jazz Ensemble William Russo’s top-notch repertory band will launch its third annual “American Heritage Jazz Series,” which plays five venues in the Chicago area: Columbia College Chicago, DuSable Museum of African American History, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, Wheaton College and Rockford College. The season will feature Duke Ellington’s “Black, Brown and Beige,” in the aforementioned locations, Sept. 22-Oct. 4; Russo’s Chicago Suite No. 2, plus music of Ellington and Basie, Nov. 2-29; “The Music of Duke Ellington, Sacred and Secular,” Feb. 7-23, 2002; “The Music of Woody Herman,” including Ralph Burns’ “Summer Sequence,” April 11-27.
Ernan Lopez-Nussa The next great pianist from Cuba returns to Chicago, presented by the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago. Sept. 26 at the Getz Theater of Columbia College Chicago.
World Music Festival The immensely popular event — a collaboration between city government and Chicago clubs — runs from Sept. 21 through 30 in several venues. At HotHouse, highlights include Mali guitarist Habib Koite, Sept. 21; Haitian singer Emeline Michel, Sept. 22; Cuban timba band Bamboleo, Sept. 23; Cuban septet Eclipse, Sept. 26; Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble, Sept. 27; South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, Sept. 29. At the Old Town School of Folk Music, events include bassist Avishai Cohen, with Goran Ivanovic and Fareed Haque, Sept. 21; Tuva ensemble Yat-Kha, Sept. 23; Latvian folk ensemble Ilgi, with Slavek Hanzlik, from the Czech Republic, Sept. 29. At the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Gangbe Brass Band, from Benin, and Ernest Dawkins’ Live the Spirit Community Band, from Chicago, Sept. 22; Tarika, from Madagascar, Sept. 23; Black Umfolosi, of Zimbabwe, and Chicago Praise Ensemble, Sept. 26.
Chicago Asian-American Jazz Festival The event gets bigger and better each year, with this sixth edition featuring Tatsu Aoki’s big band suite, “Rooted: Origins of Now,” Oct. 27; Miya Masoaka Trans-Timbral-Literation Trio on a double-bill with vocalist Saadet Turkoz, joined by Elliot Sharp and Eyvind Kang, Oct. 28. Museum of Contemporary Art.
Ameritech Jazz at Symphony Center The acoustics can vary from average to well below that, but there’s no question that the series presents major attractions, including Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove in “Miles Davis & John Coltrane: The 75th Birthday Celebration,” Oct. 26; “An Evening of Trio Jazz with Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette,” Nov. 9; Orquesta Aragon on a double-bill with Arturo Sandoval, Dec. 7; Ahmad Jamal on a double-bill with Kurt Elling; Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Jan. 25, 2002; Marcus Roberts, Feb. 15; Wayne Shorter Quartet, with Danilo Perez, Jon Patitucci and Brian Blade, March 22; Maria Schneider Orchestra on a double-bill with John Zorn’s Masada, April 19; pianist Marian McPartland on a double-bill with pianist-vocalist Shirley Horn, May 17; “An Evening with Branford Marsalis,” May 24. Symphony Center.
— Howard Reich
Rock
Maxwell The R&B singer performs with a large band, including a horn section, and he’s become expert at working grooves to suit the mood of the moment. Sept. 28-29 at the Arie Crown Theatre.
Sigur Ros It’s a mini-Icelandic Invasion, with Sigur Ros and Bjork playing Chicago dates this fall. This quartet plays dreamy, space-age ballads that suggest the Cocteau Twins crossed with Radiohead. Sept. 27 at the Vic Theatre.
Bjork The Icelandic vocalist will indulge her considerable theatricality on a six-date tour of North American opera houses that will include songs from her latest album, “Vespertine,” performed by an all-female Inuit choir, a 52-piece orchestra and harpist Zeena Parkins. Oct. 14 at the Civic Opera House.
The Strokes Opening for Guided by Voices at the Empty Bottle last winter, this leather-jacketed New York City quartet won over a skeptical audience. Their forthcoming album wouldn’t have sounded out of place in the early New Wave days of Television and Johnny Thunders. Oct. 5 at Metro.
— Greg Kot
Movies
“Mulholland Drive” David Lynch’s new noir is one of his creepiest, scariest films since “Blue Velvet.” It’s a Hollywood nightmare about two beleaguered young women, packed with weird characters and macabre twists, and it won Lynch a share of the Cannes Best Director prize (he split it with Joel Coen, who won for “The Man Who Wasn’t There”). Oct. 12.
“Waking Life” A series of dreamy vignettes unfold “Slacker”-style in Richard Linklater’s bizarre mix of live action and animation. Appealingly, it reunites the stars of his great 1995 romance, “Before Sunrise,” Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke. Oct. 19.
“The Man Who Wasn’t There” Joel Coen’s modern noir stars Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand and James Gandolfini. Shot in gorgeous black and white, it’s a tale of murder and marital sins in the mean ’40s mood of James M. Cain. Nov. 2.
“Va Savoir” (“Who Knows?”) An old French New Wave master, Jacques Rivette, returns with another of his complex dramas of theater and amour. Nov. 16
“Ali” Will Smith plays the 20th Century’s most colorful, influential and controversial sports legend, Muhammad (“I am the greatest!”) Ali, with Jon Voight as Howard Cosell and the iconoclastic Michael Mann (“The Insider”) at the helm. Dec. 7
“Ocean’s 11” The old Sinatra Rat Pack thriller about Vegas heists, with the old Frankie, Dean and Sammy roles taken by George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. Director Steven Soderbergh’s Erin Brockovich, Julia Roberts, is also around. Sounds like fun. Dec. 7.
“Vanilla Sky” Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz, guided by “Almost Famous” director Cameron Crowe, in a remake of one of the cleverest supernatural thrillers of recent years, Alejandro Amenabar’s “Open Your Eyes.” Dec. 14.
“The Fellowship of the Ring” Tolkein’s classic saga of heroes and hobbits, adapted by one of the world’s most offbeat fantasy film directors, New Zealand’s dark comedian Peter (“Dead Alive”) Jackson. Dec. 19.
“Gangs of New York” Martin Scorsese’s eagerly awaited period epic about gangs, revenge and the old mean streets of New York’s infamous Five Points in the 1860s, starring Leonardo Di Caprio, Daniel Day Lewis and Cameron Diaz. Dec. 21
“The Shipping News” Annie Proulx’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a journalist dad, adapted by a director and cast (Lasse Hallstrom, Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench) a home with literate material. Dec. 25.
— Michael Wilmington
September
Sept. 15
(Theater) “Mary Stuart”
Sept. 20
(Art) “Christopher Wilmarth”
Sept. 21
(Jazz) Habib Koite
Sept. 22
(Jazz) “Black, Brown and Beige”
(Art) “Van Gogh and Gauguin”
(Jazz) Gangbe Brass Band/Ernest Dawkins
Sept. 23
(Theater) “Mother Courage”
(Jazz) Tarika
Sept. 24
(Theater) “Immoral Imperatives”
Sept. 26
(Jazz) Ernan Lopez-Nussa
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Sept. 27
(Rock) Sigur Ros
(Classical) “Wagner and Modernism”
Sept. 28
(Rock) Maxwell
October
Oct. 5
(Rock) The Strokes
Oct. 11
(Dance) Joffrey Ballet of Chicago
Oct. 12
(Movies) “Mulholland Drive”
Oct. 14
(Rock) Bjork
Oct. 17
(Theater) “Pacific Overtures”
Oct. 19
(Movies) “Waking Life”
Oct. 21
(Theater) “They All Fall Down”
Oct. 26
(Dance) DanceAfrica
Oct. 27
(Jazz) “Rooted: Origins of Now”
November
Nov. 2
(Dance) Ballet Nacional de Cuba
(Movies) “The Man Who Wasn’t There”
Nov. 3
(Dance) Dance Chicago
Nov. 4
(Classical) Music of the Baroque
Nov. 14
(Dance) “The Car Man”
Nov. 16
(Movies) “Va Savoir”
Nov. 17
(Classical) “Billy Budd”
December
Dec. 7
(Movies) “Ali”
(Jazz) Orquesta Aragon/Arturo Sandoval
(Movies) “Ocean’s 11”
Dec. 14
(Movies) “Vanilla Sky”
Dec. 19
(Movies) “The Fellowship of the Ring”
Dec. 21
(Movies) “Gangs of New York”
Dec. 25
(Movies) “The Shipping News”