ART
`DRAWN TOWARD THE AVANT-GARDE’
From the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, come 80 19th and 20th Century French drawings and watercolors, most of which have never been shown outside Denmark; ends Sunday at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, 409 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston; free; 847-491-4000.
`ALEC SOTH: SLEEPING BY THE MISSISSIPPI’
Color photographs shot during journeys along the river; closes Friday, Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan Ave. Free. 312-663-5554.
— Alan G. Artner
CLASSICAL
A CHANTICLEER CHRISTMAS
It wouldn’t be the holiday season without a visit from the popular male vocal ensemble from the Bay area. In its fourth consecutive appearance under auspices of Symphony Center, Chanticleer will present a diverse program of classical favorites and carol arrangements at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday in Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut St. $25-$45; 312-294-3000.
CANDLELIGHT CONCERT
Stephen Burns will lead his Fulcrum Point New Music Project ensemble in its sixth annual holiday program, “Visions of Peace,” using music, poetry and readings to explore spiritual questions in time of war. Guest artists Yang Wei and Betti Xiang will perform on Chinese instruments. The concert, co-presented by Performing Arts Chicago and the School of the Art Institute, is at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in St. James Cathedral, 65 E. Huron St. $25 and $10 (students); 773-722-5463.
HOLIDAYS A CAPPELLA
The nine-voice choral ensemble Chicago a cappella will ring in the season with a collection of Christmas and Hanukkah music from around the world, including the premiere of the jazz-infused “Jingle a cappella,” written for the group. The first of four performances will take place at 8 p.m. Friday in Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut St.; other concerts are in Naperville, Oak Park and Evanston. $12-$25; 773-755-1628.
REMBRANDT CHAMBER PLAYERS
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Soprano Ellen Hargis will guest with the ensemble in a program consisting mainly of works by J.S. Bach along with Manuel de Falla’s wonderful Harpsichord Concerto, with David Schrader as soloist. Concerts will be held at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Music Institute of Chicago-Evanston, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston; and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8 at Thorne Auditorium, 375 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago. 312-360-0606.
–John von Rhein
JAZZ
DANILO PEREZ
The great and innovative Panamanian pianist leads a trio; Tuesday through Sunday at the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave.; $20; 312-670-2473.
— Howard Reich
MOVIES
`21 GRAMS’
Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts brilliantly play three strangers united by chance and violence, in a cinematic shockwave from Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga. MPAA rating: R; playing in select theaters.
`IN AMERICA’
Director-writer Jim Sheridan — maker of the classic Irish films “My Left Foot” and “In the Name of the Father” — takes a dense, funny, emotional look at an Irish family’s adventures in urban America. Based his life, it’s one of the most surprising and gratifying movie visions of America this year. MPAA rating: PG-13; playing in select theaters.
— Michael Wilmington
ROCK
DEFTONES
This metal band mixes a little velvet atmosphere with its hammering riffs; Sunday at Aragon Ballroom, 1106 W. Lawrence Ave.; $27; 312-559-1212.
LIVING COLOUR
The pioneering Black Rock Coalition quartet tours behind its first album since the mid-’90s; Tuesday at Park West, 322 W. Armitage Ave.; $25; 312-559-1212.
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
Cabaret, camp, orchestral pop and singer-songwriter introspection meet in the pianist’s concerts; Saturday at Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield Ave.; $22.50; 773-472-0449.
— Greg Kot
THEATER
`BLACK MILK’
Not for the weak. Set in a provincial Russian railway station, this harsh glimpse of contemporary Russian life, in all its early-capitalist contradictions, concerns a seemingly venal husband and wife, who peddle cheap toasters to unsuspecting locals. Once the chain-smoking, lollipop-sucking wife delivers her baby, she realizes she has had it with her cynical existence. Vassili Sigarev’s play, seen here in European Rep’s U.S. premiere, proves quite shrill in Act 1. But in Act 2 suddenly “Black Milk” becomes a powerfully moving experience, guided by an ever-richer performance from Heather Prete as Poppet; through Dec. 28 at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave.; $20; 312-902-1500.
`CAMELOT’
This revival of the 1960 King Arthur musical is directed by and stars Ray Frewen. In Alan Jay Lerner’s unwieldy 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.
`CELEBRATION ON ICE’
It has ice. It has skaters. It has Circus Boy, who juggles and walks on ladders. It has impressionist Frank Pisani, as well as skating, dancing tributes to everything from “Chicago” to “Ghostbusters” to “God Bless the U.S.A.” It is the final show in the history of Drury Lane Evergreen Park; in January, this haven of architectural kitsch and various, cherished show business traditions — from star-driven dinner theater to musicals to variety shows such as this one — is razed to make way for a Wal-Mart. If that isn’t a bad trade, nothing is; through Jan. 11 at Drury Lane Evergreen Park, 2500 W. 95th St., Evergreen Park; $26, lunch or dinner and show, $46; 708-422-0404.
`THE LION KING’
Director Julie Taymor’s visions of the African food chain — giraffes, elephants, cheetahs, mice and, of course, a pride of lions — 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.
`THE MISANTHROPE’
Moliere’s 17th Century courtiers go Hollywood, via London, in Martin Crimp’s adaptation of the masterwork. We’re in a posh London hotel suite wherein an A-list Hollywood actress (Kati Brazda) drives her jealous, sour playwright-lover (Nick Sandys) to distraction with all her frippery and flirtations and hypocritical fawning. The update only occasionally feels like a straitjacket, thanks to a very stylish and confidently acted Next Theatre production directed by Jason Loewith; through Dec. 14 at Next Theatre Company, 927 Noyes St., Evanston; $12-$29; 847-475-1875.
`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 Dec. 14 at Lookingglass Theatre in the Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave.; $30-$55; 312-337-0665.
`TWELFTH NIGHT’
Wonderful classical Shakespeare, proving that “traditional” needn’t mean “lack of a concept,” or genuine spirit. From London’s Globe Theatre, director Tim Carroll’s so-called original practices interpretation of Shakespeare’s great, slightly terrifying comedy features an all-male cast; period music played live on period instruments; and a visual asthetic not unlike (presumably) the original 1602 version. All that’s fine. But for many of us, this is the first “Twelfth Night” that really means something. The acting, led by Globe artistic director Mark Rylance’s exquisitely tortured and lovelorn Olivia, exhibits both delicacy and emotional force; through Dec. 14 at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave.; $65-$75; 312-595-5600.
— Michael Phillips
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`ACCIDENTAL RAPTURE’
Eric Pfeffinger’s intelligent and thoroughly compelling new play about the complex relationship between secular humanists and conservative Christians is a revelation. This is the most promising Chicago premiere by an unknown playwright since Rebecca Gilman’s “Glory of Living”; through Dec. 21 at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave., $12-15; 773-506-4542.
`BROADWAY BOUND’
Neil Simon’s autobiographical play — faithfully, expansively and amusingly revived at Pegasus Players — is among the very best of the many great Simon comedies because it celebrates the striving imperfections of working-class Jewish family life even as it explores with sophistication the relationship between art and personal truth; through Dec. 21 at Pegasus Players, 1145 W. Wilson Ave.; $10-25; 773-878-9761.
`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: Ted Kennedy, for example, is memorably characterized as the “Zeppo of the Kennedy family”; 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, maximum of four, 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’ Theatre’s 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.
`PANTS ON FIRE’
This 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.
`SHE LOVES ME’
Clad in a slew of elegant costumes as an enthusiastic little band plays somewhere in the back, a plethora of lovable young players knock themselves out singing and dancing around this sweet mini-Europe in Circle Theatre’s tiny but impressive revival of this fading jewel box of a show; through Dec. 14 at Circle Theatre, 7300 W. Madison St., Forest Park; $10-22; 708-771-0700.
— Chris Jones