ARCHITECTURE
WRIGHT HOUSE TOURS
Two extraordinary Frank Lloyd Wright houses on Chicago’s South Side — the Robie House, at 5757 S. Woodlawn Ave., and the Heller House, at 5132 S. Woodlawn — will be open for public tours Monday night. The event, conducted by the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, will begin at 5 p.m. and will include a lecture by professor Terry Boyd of the University of Wisconsin at Madison; $75; 773-324-5600.
— Blair Kamin
ART
`IAN HAMILTON FINLAY’
Installations and text by the veteran British sculptor; opens Tuesday at the Arts Club of Chicago, 201 E. Ontario St.; free; 312-787-3997.
SELECTIONS FROM THE NEUBERGER BERMAN ART COLLECTION
Fifty-five recent works from a collection focused on international art created since 1990; opens Saturday at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.; free; 312-346-3278.
MEXICAN INTERNATIONALISM AND THE ART OF GUNTHER GERZSO
A retrospective devoted to the leading abstract painter in Mexico during the 20th Century; through June 27 at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, 1852 W. 19th St.; free; 312-738-1503.
— Alan G. Artner
CLASSICAL
DIVA TIMES TWO
Two of America’s favorite operatic singers, soprano Renee Fleming and mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, will favor listeners with dueling recitals Sunday afternoon. Fleming will return to Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave., at 2 p.m. to present selections by Handel, Schubert, Ravel and others, with pianist Richard Bado; $26-$62; 312-294-3000. Graves will headline Dominican University’s 24th annual benefit concert at 3 p.m. in Lund Auditorium, 7900 W. Division St., River Forest. Her program holds songs, arias and Latin pops; $30-$40; 708-524-6942.
U. OF C. PRESENTS
Harpsichordist Christophe Rousset leads the French period instrument ensemble and soprano Anna Maria Panzarella in Baroque airs, laments and cantatas; 3 p.m. Sunday in the University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th St. Five days later, in the same venue, the young Canadian bass-baritone John Relyea, winner of the 2003 Richard Tucker Award, will perform songs by Richard Strauss, Ibert, Barber and Tchaikovsky in his local debut. Warren Jones is his pianist; 8 p.m. Friday; $11 and $30; 773-702-8068.
ALFRED BRENDEL
A longtime Chicago favorite, the great Austrian pianist returns to perform Viennese classics with which he is indelibly linked — including two Mozart sonatas and the Fantasia in C Minor, and Beethoven’s Sonata No. 30, Opus 109; 5 p.m. Sunday at Symphony Center; $27-$52; 312-294-3000.
MUSICNOW
The dynamic conductor Kent Nagano wraps up a week’s residency with a frisky program of new and 20th Century works performed by members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The program includes Kurt Rohde’s “Double Trouble” along with pieces by Galina Ustvolskaya, Gyorgy Ligeti and David Rakowski; 8 p.m. Sunday (a change from the originally announced date of Wednesday) at Symphony Center; $14-$109; 312-294-3000.
— John von Rhein
JAZZ
RENE MARIE
These are not great times for the art of jazz singing, but one of the better vocalists will be swinging through town at a venue that rarely features singers; Tuesday through April 25 at the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave.; $20-$25; 312-670-2473.
GEORGE FREEMAN
He may be overshadowed by his brother, the venerable tenor saxophonist Von Freeman, but George Freeman ranks among the most hard-swinging of jazz guitarists; 8 p.m. Saturday at the Green Mill Jazz Club, 4802 N. Broadway; $8-$15; 773-878-5552.
–Howard Reich
ROCK
AIR
French duo makes subversive EZ-listening music for lapsed Supertramp fans; Tuesday at Riviera, 4746 N. Racine Ave.; $25.50; 773-275-6800.
More Top Picks Tiller
CURSIVE
Nebraska quintet rocks out with cello as part of voter registration-building Plea for Peace tour; Wednesday at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St.; $16; 773-549-4140.
SAVATH AND SAVALAS
Latest incarnation of hip-hop turntable maestro Prefuse 73, this time as part of a world-beat-infused collective; Friday at Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace St.; $15; 773-478-4408.
THE FALL
England’s crankiest post-punk band gets it together for a rare U.S. tour, led by the irascible Mark E. Smith; Saturday at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St.; $20; 773-549-4140.
— Greg Kot
THEATER
`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, Director William Brown, one of the most sensitive and reliable in Chicago, 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 sweetly moving original 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.
`SUBSTAGE’
Performed for a mere handful of spectators at a time, this compact, enveloping 20-minute work finds a dancer preparing in a basement dressing room for an audience awaiting upstairs. As she limbers up and reads from her journal, the audience becomes privvy to a multilayered interior monologue addressing the impulse of those who make new work and try to make it matter. A memorably intimate experience. Tickets are limited; 10 and 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave.; $10; 773-822-5463.
— Michael Phillips
`ANGUS, THONGS AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING’
Based on the cult British novel by Louise Rennison, Christian Calvit’s new theatrical adaptation has humor, charm and the unmistakable whiff of timeless human truth. To appreciate the fundamental charms of this tale of the world from the viewpoint of a 14-year-old, one needs neither an interest in the durability of thongs nor latent curiosity as to how tongues can be trained to avoid teeth at pivotal moments of intimacy. But it’s ideal for tweens and teens; through May 9 at the Griffin Theatre, 5404 N. Clark St.; $10-$20; 773-769-2228.
`DOORS OPEN ON THE RIGHT’
Joshua Funk’s stellar, daring and frequently hilarious new revue on the Second City mainstage blames poor Steve Bartman (of Cubs’ choke infamy) for everything from fire to the lack of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The cast is young but the material is hot, and Funk’s formative mastery of the Second City genre without recent peer; open run at Second City, 1616 N. Wells St., $17-$19; 312-337-3992.
— Chris Jones