ART
`GRAPHIC MODERNISM: SELECTIONS FROM THE COLLECTION OF FRANCEY AND DR. MARTIN L. GECHT’
More than 130 works on paper, including a gift of 31 promised to the museum by the distinguished local collectors; opens Saturday at the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave.; $10 suggested admission; 312-443-3600.
`LARRY SNIDER: PHOTOGRAPHS’
Black-and-white portraits of people in several Asian cultures; opens Saturday at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.; free; 312-346-3278.
`JOHN SABRAW’
Surrealist paintings with High Renaissance symbolism; through Feb. 29 at the Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 Cottage Hill Ave., Elmhurst; $4; 630-834-0202.
— Alan G. Artner
CLASSICAL
VIENNA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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Vienna’s “other” orchestra will be led by its principal conductor, Vladimir Fedoseyev, in its first visit to Symphony Center since 2000. Chicago favorite Nikolaj Znaider will be the soloist, playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto on a program that includes waltzes and polkas by Johann Strauss Jr.; 8 p.m. Monday at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; $12-$36; 312-294-3000.
JCC 2003 BENEFIT
The Jewish Community Centers of Chicago will celebrate its 100th birthday with a benefit concert. David Zinman will lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with soloists Yo-Yo Ma, cello, and Yefim Bronfman, piano; at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave. Zinman and Bronfman also are teaming up for CSO subscription concerts Thursday to Nov. 18 at Orchestra Hall. $45-$300; 312-357-4700.
MIDORI RESIDENCY
The renowned violinist this week will begin a weeklong residency at North Park University, the first project of its kind she has undertaken. Along with her pianist, Jonathan Feldman, Midori will participate in a wide range of activities, including rehearsals and master classes, to support the school’s orchestral and chamber music programs. Her public concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday (performance with student musicians) and 7:30 p.m. Friday (recital of Bach, Brahms and others). For location and ticket information, call 773-244-5625.
`FAUST’ AT LYRIC
It has been nearly 25 years since Lyric Opera has staged a new production of Gounod’s “Faust.” With Frank Corsaro directing and Mark Elder conducting, Chicago bass Samuel Ramey will reprise his familiar Mephistopheles, with soprano Patricia Racette as Marguerite and tenor Marcus Haddock (in his Lyric debut) as Faust; 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Civic Opera House; 20 N. Wacker Drive; $29-$154; 312-332-2244.
— John von Rhein
JAZZ
CHARLES LLOYD
One of the more distinctive voices in jazz, tenor saxophonist Lloyd produces oft-serene music for troubled times; 8 p.m. Friday in Orchestra Hall, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; $15-$69; 312-294-3000.
CHICAGO JAZZ ENSEMBLE
The city’s premier jazz repertory orchestra launches its next round of performances at 8 p.m. Friday in the Center for Performing Arts, Governors State University, 1 University Park Way, University Park; $25-$35; for information on this concert and repeat performances in Chicago, Arlington Heights, Lake Forestand Huntley, phone 312-344-6245.
— Howard Reich
MOVIES
`THE FLOWER OF EVIL’
Claude Chabrol’s 50th feature film shows a prominent French political family racked by scandal. Stylish, gleaming with charm, wit and malice, it’s another expert blend of domestic drama and crime thriller. With a splendid cast: Nathalie Baye, Benoit Magimel and the wondrous Suzanne Flon; no MPAA rating; Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave.; $8.50; 773-871-6604.
— Michael Wilmington
ROCK
BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA
The venerable gospel vocal group transcends styles and generations; Sunday at Hothouse, 31 E. Balbo Drive; $30; 312-362-9707.
TELL US THE TRUTH TOUR
Billy Bragg, Audioslave’s Tom Morello, R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, the Coup’s Boots Riley and Lester Chambers (late of the Chambers Brothers) team up for political rattle-rousing; Monday at Park West, 322 W. Armitage Ave.; $25; 312-559-1212.
RICKIE LEE JONES
Rare tour from boho-folkie back with strong album of politically tinged songs; Thursday at Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St.; $28-$38; 312-902-1500.
SHINS
Indie rockers have just released one of the year’s finest collections of pop songs, “Chutes Too Narrow”; Saturday at House of Blues, 329 N. Dearborn Pkwy.; $16.50; 312-923-2000.
QBERT
The mind-blowing turntable maestro headlines a night for aficionados of hip-hop soundscapes; with X-Ecutioners, Jazzy J at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St.; $20; 773-549-4140.
— Greg Kot
THEATER
`ANNA IN THE TROPICS’
Now at the Goodman Theatre, this Victory Gardens production showcases a lovely little play, with atmosphere thicker than the Tolstoy novel inspiring it. Nilo Cruz’s 1929-set story takes place in a love-starved cigar factory outside Tampa. Following a fast-fading oral tradition a charismatic new lector, or reader, entertains the workers with “Anna Karenina.” Before long, he is entertaining himself with an affair with one of the owner’s daughters. It’s a charming tribute to the power of great literature and a good smoke. This Midwest premiere, staged efficiently by Henry Godinez, boasts a couple of superb performances: those of smoky-voiced Charin Alvarez’s Conchita and, as her soulfully eagle-eyed mother, Sandra Marquez’s Ofelia; through Nov. 30 at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.; $20-$35; 312-443-3800.
`CAMELOT’
This revival of the 1960 King Arthur musical is directed by and stars Ray Frewen. In Alan Jay Lerner’s unwieldly libretto, the Round Table always was loaded down with too much stuff, but people tend to forgive the show’s problems once Lancelot cranks up “If Ever I Would Leave You,” or Arthur and queen Guenevere trade queries in “What Do the Simple Folk Do?” There’s strong and seasoned work from Frewen, Cory Goodrich’s fervent queen, and Joe Van Slyke and David Lively as Merlin and Pellinore, respectively; through Jan. 4 at Drury Lane Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace; $22-$25, dinner theater packages start at $38.50; 630-530-0111.
`THE LION KING’
Director Julie Taymor’s visions of the African food chain were worth the wait. Taymor and company’s gorgeous, supple visual achievements take your breath away. Half the score’s lovely, too; arranger Lebo M one-ups the weak Elton John/Tim Rice songs without even trying. Chicago’s own Larry Yando snarls artfully as the villainous Scar; Rafiki the baboon, played by South African performer Thandazile A. Soni, is pure delight; through Jan. 18 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St.; $18-$82; 312-902-1400.
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`THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW’
Exhilarating junk. Richard O’Brien’s musicale about pansexual freaks from outer space, preying upon the virginal Brad and Janet, returns in a super-duper, musically confident, unusually grungy staging directed by Marc Robin and Steve Hiltebrand. It’s too much, mostly in the right ways. Scott Alan Jones (Frank N. Furter), Roberta Duchak (very funny trying to cut loose doing “The Time Warp”) and Curt Dale Clark (enjoyably panicked) lead the cast; through Nov. 30 at Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, 777 N. Green St. (near Chicago and Halsted); $20-$45; 312-327-2000.
`THE SECRET IN THE WINGS’
Rich, strange and often darkly beautiful, adapter/director Mary Zimmerman’s deftly acted exploration of six lesser-known fairy tales builds upon a 1991 production dating to the early days of Lookingglass Theatre. Now, in the Lookingglass Water Works space on North Michigan Avenue, Zimmerman has reworked the stories to strong imagistic effect. Humans turn into swans; beheaded noggins turn into rubber balls; and, in an excellent framing device, the ogre next door turns into a more humane version of himself; through Nov. 23 at Lookingglass Theatre in the Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave.; $30-$55; 312-337-0665.
— Michael Phillips
`DR. SEX’
Thanks to remarkably witty lyrics and a zestful and one bouncy, catchy number after another, “Dr. Sex” is a strikingly fresh and remarkably entertaining musical satire about Alfred Kinsey (of sexual report fame). This world premiere is an easygoing and eminently likable R-rated blend of musical biography, Tom Lehrer-like parody, Midwestern sexual history and a permissive bacchanal; through Nov. 15 at Bailiwick Arts Center, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.; $25-30; 773-883-1090.
`GREAT SOCIETY’
Set in 1964, the Chicago-themed comedy focuses on the smaller, paranoid cogs in the Richard J. Daley machine. It’s sharp, carefully researched, and penned with panache by Barbara Wallace and Thomas R. Wolfe. The work of the Famous Door Theatre Company, it has plenty of good belly laughs; through Jan. 4. at Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont Ave; $16-32. 773-327-5252.
`JOB OPPORTUNITY’
In Michael Fossberg’s noir-esque crime-caper show, the dramatic action takes place in the moving front seat of a 1985 Oldsmobile — literally. All seating for the audience is in the car, which roams the city streets. The real fun is that one has no idea which street denizens are in the cast and who is simply roaming the streets. There’s a whiff of danger here, especially if you go for one of the late-night road trips; through Jan. 25; maximum audience size is four; car leaves from the Mercury Theatre, 3745 N. Southport Ave.; $38.50-$44.40; 773-325-1700.
`OUR TOWN’
The first show in Writers’ classy and theatrically viable new home inside the Women’s Library Club of Glencoe, William Brown’s new production of Thornton Wilder’s oft-misunderstood existential classic is an uncommonly well-layered and unsentimental piece of directing, superbly cast with a peck of Chicago’s top tier of actors, brimming with adroit but unpretentious moments of deft human observation, and replete with just enough contemporary irony that the work feels fresh, clear and smart; through Dec. 7 at Writers’ Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe; $35-50; 847-242-6000.
`ORANGE FLOWER WATER’
Like many explicitly sexual plays with copious amounts of coupling and nudity, “Orange Flower Water” preaches a paradoxically conservative message. Once a couple has children, playwright Craig Wright here opines with messy but compelling dramatic passion, marital infidelity brings only misery. But thanks in no small measure to a quirky, raw and nervy production from Rick Snyder (who’s been doing some quietly splendid little stuff of late in the low-budget Garage), this show is worth the schlep; through Nov. 23 at Steppenwolf Theatre Garage, 1626 N. Halsted St.; $12; 312-335-1650.
`OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS’
Joe DiPietro’s proudly retro play is a shamelessly sentimental piece of emotional realism about an initially ungrateful young fellow who comes to understand the worth of his quartet of New Jersey grandparents only when he decides to move to Seattle to pursue his selfish career. To its great credit, Michael Weber’s production manages to cut the treacle with performances from a splendid quartet of veteran Chicago actors unafraid to wrestle with the meanness and insularity of old age, as well as the wisdom it imparts; through Nov. 30 at the Mercury Theatre, 3745 N. Southport Ave.; $38.50-44.50; 773-325-1700.
`PANTS ON FIRE’
Mendacity may be older than the republic, but this still is an unusually fertile time for this lively, exuberant and very funny new comedy revue at the spunky Second City e.t.c., which, thanks to an especially talented current cast, continues to beat the pants off the more staid Second City mainstage. Director Joshua Funk and his youthful coterie see and debunk liars everywhere; open run at Second City e.t.c., 1608 N. Wells St.; $17-$19; 312-337-3992.
`ROSE RAGE’
Edward Hall’s wildly revisionist and controversial but indisputably vital and clear-eyed reduction of Shakespeare’s three “Henry VI” plays imagines a juicy butcher’s abattoir replete with a bloody floor. Deaths are accompanied by the live-onstage slicing of real offal and animal flesh. Tension is underscored by the sharpening of knives. Anachronistic metaphors predominate. And the red-hot, two-part, six-hour show has actors both stomping happily on the flag of St. George and playing merry hell with the original text. The fascinating, thrilling end result — directed with oft-dazzling sizzle and superbly performed throughout — is Elizabethan history recast as bastard, blood-infested Jacobean tragedy; through Jan. 18 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Navy Pier; $70; 312-595-5600.
— Chris Jones