ARCHITECTURE
JEANNE GANG
The architect, principal at Studio/Gang Architects in Chicago, lectures on “Rocks, Paper, Scissors”; 6 p.m. Monday at McCloska Auditorium at the IIT’s McCormick Tribune Campus Center, 3201 S. State St.; free; 312-567-3000.
— Blair Kamin
ART
AMERICAN ARTISTS IN PARIS, 1918-1939
Works by 30 Americans juxtaposed with works by eight Europeans with whom they had a dialogue; opens Saturday, Terra Museum of American Art, 666 N. Michigan Ave.; free; 312-664-3939.
STRUCTURAL SPACE
Sculpture by Bob Emser; final week, Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 Cottage Hill Ave., Elmhurst; $4; 630-834-0202.
LAURA LETINSKY PHOTOGRAPHS 1997-2004
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Color still lifes of sweetmeats tending toward decay; final week, Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, 5811 S. Ellis Ave.; free; 773-702-8670.
— Alan G. Artner
CLASSICAL
CONTEMPORARY PLAYERS
The ensemble eighth blackbird, the Pacifica Quartet and saxophone soloist Jeremy Ruthrauff will join conductor Cliff Colnot for a Contemporary Chamber Players concert. The program holds the Chicago premiere of Gyorgy Ligeti’s “Melodien,” and works by Olly Wilson, Elzbieta Sikora and Ruth Crawford Seeger; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th St.; $11 and $20; 773-702-8068.
P.D.Q. BACH
Professor Peter Schickele’s dubious alter-ego returns for an evening of musical mayhem and merriment. Taking part will be members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under semi-conductor Alistair Willis and vocal soloists Michele Eaton, off-coloratura soprano, and David Dusing, tenor profundo. The program includes such classics (?) as the “Howdy” Symphony, “Air for G Strings” and “Twelve Quite Heavenly Songs”; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; $21-$54; 312-294-3000.
EARL WILD
The great and apparently ageless American pianist makes a rare Chicago appearance in tandem with the Chicago Chamber Musicians. The diverse fare includes a Beethoven piano trio, the Franck Violin and Piano Sonata, a selection of Brahms’ “Hungarian Dances” for piano four hands, and Barber’s “Summer Music” for wind quintet; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St.; $20-$50; 312-334-7777.
CHICAGO MASTER SINGERS
Music director Alan Heatherington will lead the chorus, Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra and vocal soloists in Verdi’s stirring and theatrical Requiem Mass. Performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Divine Word Chapel, 2001 Waukegan Rd., Techny; and 8 p.m. April 19 at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave. $28-$40; 877-825-5267 (Techny), 312-294-3000 (Chicago).
ASSAD FAMILY
Three generations of Brazil’s multitalented family of musicians will present an evening of Brazilian folk music; 7:30 p.m. Friday in Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston; $10-$30; 847-467-4000.
— John von Rhein
JAZZ
BUSTER WILLIAMS
The mighty bassist leads an all-star quartet, with pianist Patrice Rushen, drummer Lenny White and vibist Steve Nelson; 8:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday at the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave.; $20-$25; 312-670-2473.
— Howard Reich
THEATER
CROWNS
Writer-director Regina Taylor’s entertaining expansion of the picture book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry makes a lot — too much, probably — of its source material. The show has a proficiently engineered quality, and unlike some of the headgear on view, it’s longer than it is wide. Yet Taylor’s cast is excellent, with especially characterful contributions from Bernardine Mitchell and Gail Grate; through April 18 at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.; $25-$50; 312-443-3800.
LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN
Oscar Wilde’s 1891 play gets a crisp, vibrant and wholly satisfying revival. A tale set into motion by the appearance, on the fringes of London society, of the mysterious Mrs. Erlynne, Wilde described it as “one of those modern drawing-room plays with pink lampshades.” Director William Brown, one of the most sensitive and reliable in Chicago, ditches the pink lampshades and concentrates on the tensions in the text between the newly married Lady Windermere, her husband and her husband’s apparent concubine. It’s a very strong cast, supported by a moving score by Josh Schmidt; through April 25 at Northlight Theatre, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie; $34-$48; 847-673-6300.
— Michael Phillips
BLACKBIRD
Given a strong and intense production by the tiny Profiles Theatre, Adam Rapp’s “Blackbird” goes out of its way to shock with the scatological, the sexual and the narcotic. The two-character play is the tale of two sad-sack, drug-addicted desperados in the shape of Baylis (honestly played by Darrell W. Cox), a Gulf War vet with a barrel-load of addictions, and a 19-year-old former stripper apparently named Froggy (the terrific Lindsay Gould) who has run away from a privileged home in Michigan. The show is a very affecting character study, its dark mores leavened by some intensely lyrical writing and a palpable sweetness and concern for the human soul; through May 2 at the Profiles Theatre, 4447 N. Broadway; $18-$22; 773-549-1815.
— Chris Jones
ROCK
BONNIE PRINCE BILLIE
Will Oldham, founder of the Palace Brothers, conjures spectral country and rustic American weirdness; Thursday at Open End Gallery, 2000 W. Fulton St.; $15; and two shows Friday at Logan Square Auditorium, 2539 N. Kedzie Ave.; $15; 800-594-TIXX.
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ORCHESTRA BAOBAB
Senegal’s foremost Afro-Cuban dance band has reunited and is in top form, touring behind its first studio album in decades; Friday at HotHouse, 31 E. Balbo St.; $30; 312-362-9707.
— Greg Kot