ARCHITECTURE
TADAO ANDO
Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando speaks at 6 p.m. April 28 at the Art Institute of Chicago on “Creating the Possibility.” Tickets are $15 for members of the museum’s architecture and design society, $20 for non-members; Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave.; 312-857-7102.
–Blair Kamin
ART
DAWOUD BEY
Visual and audio portraits of a group of local teen were made during an artist-in-residency project; opens Thursday, David and Alfred Smart Museum, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave.; free; 773-702-0200.
ETERNAL EGYPT
An exhibit of 144 objects from the British Museum shows the full development of pharonic history; opens Friday, Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive; $10; 312-665-7100.
ABCD
This show carries mostly European-based Outsider art drawn from a Paris collection; opens Saturday, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.; free; 312-744-6630.
— Alan G. Artner
CLASSICAL
YEFIM BRONFMAN
Two Seventh Sonatas — Beethoven’s and Prokofiev’s — serve as bookends for the pianist’s recital, his first here since 1999. The concert also holds Esa-Pekka Salonen’s “Dichotomie” and Rachmaninoff’s Preludes, Opus 23; 3 p.m. Sunday at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; $18-$37; 312-294-3000.
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CANTUS
Move over, Chanticleer. Cantus, the all-male professional vocal ensemble from St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., makes its Chicago debut on the University of Chicago Presents series. The group’s eclectic program ranges from Elizabethan madrigals and 20th Century pieces by Hindemith and Rautavaara to folk songs and pop arrangements; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th St.; $5 and $10; 773-702-8068.
WINE, WOMEN, SONG
That’s the title of the dinner-concert at 6 p.m. by the early-music group Ars Musica Chicago. At 8 p.m., the famed Austrian early-music specialist Rene Clemencic will join baritone Andrew Schultze, the ensemble’s director for a concert of Baroque works extolling the pleasures of love and drink. Friday in the recital hall of Northeastern Illinois University’s Fine Arts Building, 5500 N. St. Louis Ave.; $40 for the dinner and concert, $15 for concert only; 312-409-7874.
BELLA VOCE
The chamber choir under Anne Heider’s direction will conclude its 20th anniversary season with Guillaume Dufay’s polyphonic masterpiece honoring the Virgin Mary, “Missa Ave Regina coelorum,” along with other medieval music for evening liturgies; 8 p.m. Friday in St. Joseph’s Church, 1747 Lake Ave., Wilmette; 7:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Procopius Abbey, 5601 College Rd., Lisle; and 7:30 p.m. April 27 at St. Clement’s Church, 642 W. Deming Pl. $25; 312-461-0723.
— John von Rhein
JAZZ
IRA SULLIVAN
The brilliant multi-instrumentalist returns to his hometown; Tuesday through Sunday at the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave.; $20; 312-670-2473.
JIM TROMPETER
The versatile Chicago pianist leads a quintet featuring saxophonist Rick Margitza and trumpeter Tim Hagans; 9 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Green Mill Jazz Club, 4802 N. Broadway; $8-$15; 773-878-5552.
— Howard Reich
MOVIES
THE GOOD THIEF
This R-rated racy, ravishingly heist thriller set on the French Riviera is a modern remake of a classic French noir by the brilliant Irish director Neil Jordan (“The Crying Game,” “Michael Collins”) — with Nick Nolte, at his grizzled best, as the charismatic, drug-addicted gambler who is sucked into an elaborate casino robbery scheme. (Also try to see the original, Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1955 “Bob le Flambeur” on DVD or tape from Criterion. “The Good Thief” is playing at selected theaters.
TEN
The latest film from Iran’s master filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami (“Taste of Cherry,”) strips cinema down to its bare bones. Using only two camera setups and two actors in each scene, Kiarostami gives us 10 interconnected vignettes, all shot in the front seat of the same moving car — gradually revealing a disturbing, moving portrait of the lot of modern Iranian women in an unrated film. In Persian, with English subtitles, “Ten” contains brief, candid discussion of prostitution; Music Box Theater, 3733 N. Southport Ave.; 773-871-6604.
— Michael Wilmington
ROCK
THOMAS MAPFUMO
The Afro-pop visionary combines folk sounds of his native Zimbabwe with electric guitars; Sunday at Hothouse, 31 E. Balbo Drive; $20; 312-362-9707.
PIGFACE
Drummer Martin Atkins brings his circus of industrial doom; Sunday at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St.; $25; 773-549-4140.
MINISTRY
Whenever the Apocalypse arrives, these industrial-rock pioneers should provide the soundtrack; Tuesday at the Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield Ave.; $30; 773-472-0449.
AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
Their frantic, guitar-juiced melodies inevitably drive these Texans into an equipment-smashing frenzy; Thursday at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St.; $15; 773-549-4140.
LYDIA LUNCH
The quirky new-wave warbler resurfaces; Thursday at the Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace St.; $15; 773-478-4408.
RICHARD THOMPSON
The master guitarist is back with his strongest album in years, “The Old Kit Bag”; Saturday at House of Blues, 329 N. Dearborn St.; $29; 312-923-2000.
SHOES
Catch a rare performance by Zion’s gift to power pop, as part of the International Pop Overthrow festival, Saturday at the Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace St.; $12; 773-478-4408.
— Greg Kot
THEATER
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THE BUBBLY BLACK GIRL SHEDS HER CHAMELEON SKIN
Kirsten Childs grew up in L.A. bubbly, black and wanting to become a dancing star like Gwen Verdon in “Damn Yankees.” After moving to New York, Childs was cast by director Bob Fosse in, among other shows, “Chicago.” This charming show, in which Childs’ life becomes a breezy coming-of-age tale, gets a very snazzy local premiere at Apple Tree Theatre. It’s good-looking and sharply choreographed, with director Mark E. Lococo’s 11-person cast led by Harriet Nzinga Plumpp as Viveca, a.k.a. “Bubbly,” with great comic support from Norissa Pearson as Emily, paragon of looking-cool-at-a-party; through May 4 at 595 Elm Pl., Highland Park; $33-$38; 847-432-4335.
COME BLOW YOUR HORN
Neil Simon’s first Broadway play, dating (in some cases, really dating) from 1961, is about two brothers: The older one swings and scores and swizzles various swizzle sticks in his Manhattan bachelor pad, while the younger one wonders when it’ll all happen to him. Pure sitcom, Simon’s play nonetheless has a spirit, as well as more decent one-liners than many of his later, “grown-up” works. Eclipse Theater Company’s production captures a lot of that fizz; director Steven Fedoruk knows from pacing, and even though the casting isn’t ideal, everyone in the ensemble nabs her/his laughs; through May 4 at Victory Gardens Studio Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.; $18-$22; 773-871-3000.
THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP
Drag, but no drag. Charles Ludlam’s two-man, many-dresses and many-wigs spoof of Gothic-romantic literature and schlocko Hollywood horror combines “Jane Eyre” with “Rebecca” with werewolf and mummy outings. It’s fun; all the presto-change-o costume switcheroos give it fizz, as do Ludlam’s best cheap jokes. Jamie Baron and especially Tom Aulino convey all the right moves, and ominously funny moods; through April 27 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie; $34-$46; 847-673-6300.
THE ROMANCE CYCLE: CYMBELINE and PERICLES
A wonderfully relaxed pairing of Shakespeare’s late-career, genre-scrambling tall tales. Director Charles Newell uses a sprightly, deeply skilled 14-person ensemble for both productions. The guiding notion is that of a blank canvas: The Court Theatre’s auditorium and stage have been covered in cream-toned carpet, and the costumes resemble nightwear for a Heaven’s Gate-styled cult. Kate Fry leads the gang in “Cymbeline,” a story of a slandered princess in ancient Britain; Guy Adkins toplines “Pericles,” in which a wandering prince endures not one but two (niftily staged) storms at sea. The plays are what they are — half-crazy and, in the case of “Pericles,” decidedly second-shelf — but Newell has heaps of fun with them, in the best, most theatrical way; through June 1 at the Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave.; $24-$40 each part; dinner, $12-$14; 773-753-4472.
— Michael Phillips
COMPANY
Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s astonishing “Company” — surely the best musical ever penned about marriage and relationships and one of the best musicals ever penned, period — is a masterpiece because it inherently understands that there are never happy endings in relationships. And while Porchlight’s revival of this 1970 musical has its flaws, it’s a lively, youthful and exuberant affair; through May 4 at Theatre Building, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., $23; 773-327-5252.
SNAKEBIT
A funny and carefully observed script. David Marshall Grant’s “Snakebit” is a darkly comedic play about middle-age failure trumping honest youthful ambition. It’s an apt match for the trio of earnest thirtysomething actors who make up Chicago’s noble and long-standing but perenially impecunious Profiles Theatre; through May 10 at Profiles Theatre, 3829 N. Broadway; $15-18; 773-549-1815.
— Chris Jones