ARCHITECTURE
`ANTONIO GAUDI’
The Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., is screening the 1985 film, “Antonio Gaudi,” by Hiroshi Teshigahara. The 72-minute film, which will be shown through Thursday, explores such masterpieces of the Barcelona architect as the cathedral of the Sagrada Familia; $9; Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute, 164 N. State St.; 312-846-2600. www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
`BRININSTOOL + LYNCH: PROCESS’
The I space gallery in Chicago presents an exhibition about the work of the Chicago architectural firm Brininstool + Lynch, whose projects include the Racine Art Museum. The exhibition runs through Jan. 29; I space, 230 W. Superior St., 2nd floor; 312-587-9976.
— Blair Kamin
ART
AMERICAN-INDIAN ART
“Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South,” 300 works created between 2000 B.C. and A.D. 1600 that explore the themes of a large branch of Pre-Columbian civilization virtually unknown to the American public; through Jan. 30; Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave.; $12; 312-443-3600.
LIGHTS ON PHOTOGRAPHY
“Camera/Action: Performance and Photography,” the complex relationship between live performance and photographic documentation shown through the work of 17 artists; closes Thursday; Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan Ave.; free; 312-663-5554.
`MAGDALENA CORREA: EL VIAJE’
Photographs by the Barcelona engraver, photographer and video artist; through Jan. 22; Instituto Cervantes, 875 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 2940; free; 312-335-1996.
`MARK NEWPORT: NEW WORKS’
Handcrafts such as knitting and embroidery used to render superhero imagery; through Feb. 20; Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.; free; 312-744-6630.
POLITICKING WORKS
“A Perfect Union . . . More or Less,” a group show on exercising democracy; closes Sunday; Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, 5811 S. Ellis Ave.; free; 773-702-8670.
— Alan G. Artner
CLASSICAL
`CELEBRATION 2004′
Opera stars Samuel Ramey, Richard Leech, Rodney Gilfry and Nancy Gustafson will join the Ensemble Wien strings for this 15th anniversary benefit concert for Over the Rainbow, a non-profit organization serving adults with physical disabilities. The concert will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday in Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston; $75-$175; 847-328-1607.
CHICAGO CHAMBER CHOIR
The chorus will present its third annual holiday program, “Carols by Candlelight,” featuring new works by resident composer Toria Burrell and an audience singalong. Concerts will be given at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Unity Lutheran Church, 5409 N. Magnolia Ave.; and 7:30 p.m. Monday at Lake Street Church of Evanston, 607 Lake St., Evanston; $15-$16; 312-409-6890.
ELGIN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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Robert Hanson will lead the orchestra, St. Charles Singers and soloists in the ESO’s fourth annual performance of Handel’s “Messiah” at 3:30 p.m. Sunday; Hemmens Theatre, 150 Dexter Ct., Elgin; $12-$60; 847-931-5900.
NEWBERRY CONSORT
Celebrate the miraculous powers of saints as Chicago’s flagship early music ensemble presents medieval songs appropriate to the season. “Miracles and Martyrs” will be performed at 3 p.m. today at Northwestern University’s Lutkin Hall, 700 University Pl., Evanston; $10-$38; 312-255-3700.
`WELCOME YULE!’
One of the most popular holiday traditions is this program of favorite seasonal music performed by the Chicago Symphony Chorus and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Duain Wolfe. Joining them for this 10th anniversary presentation will be the Chicago Children’s Choir and the “Welcome Yule!” Dance Ensemble. Performances are at 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday and Wednesday; 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; and 3 p.m. Thursday; $14-$58; 312-294-3000.
— John von Rhein
JAZZ
BENNY GOLSON
The veteran saxophonist, who leads a quartet, has penned some of the most memorable tunes of the past several decades; tonight at the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave.; $20; 312-670-2473.
HAQUE AND IVANOVIC
Guitarists Fareed Haque and Goran Ivanovic have forged a distinctive guitar duo that bridges elements of jazz and world music; 8 p.m. Thursday at HotHouse, 31 E. Balbo Drive; $12; 312-362-9707.
FRANK MORGAN
The serenely inspired saxophonist plays more adventurously with each passing season; Tuesday through Sunday at the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave.; $20; 312-670-2473.
— Howard Reich
MOVIES
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM JIMMY AND BING
One of the best and jolliest Christmas movie experiences around this (or any) season is the Music Box Theatre’s annual Christmas Sing-Along and double feature. On the screen: those two much-loved movie evergreens, Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” (with Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore) and director Michael Curtiz and songwriter Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” (with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney). In the theater: a Christmas carol audience singalong and an appearance by Santa Claus. The 21st edition of this delightful event starts Sunday and runs through Thursday; Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave.; 773-871-6604; www.musicboxtheatre.com.
— Michael Wilmington
THEATER
`CHERRY ORCHARD’
Solidly absorbing Chekhov, with a few true moments of delicate magic. The play, Chekhov’s farewell (100 years old this year), remains the great existential gang comedy, chilled by loss and mourning, its characters nervously skittering this way and that while the big decisions remain undecided. Director Tina Landau and scenic designer Riccardo Hernandez locate the playwright’s fading provincial Russian estate in a universe of white lace. One wishes Landau had gone further with the visual and conceptual concepts, but then, I always wish directors would; through March 5 at Steppenwolf Upstairs, 1650 N. Halsted St.; $20-$60; 312-335-1650.
`FROM TEL AVIV TO RAMALLAH: A BEATBOX JOURNEY’
From an extraordinarily heated subject, Israeli/Palestinian relations, writer-director Rachel Havrelock and performer Yuri Lane have fashioned a coolly extraordinary 50 minutes. The piece slips from one side of the security fence to the other, following the lives of a Tel Aviv deejay and a Ramallah Internet cafe entrepreneur. Lane creates a richly ambient soundscape, mixing voices and actor-generated sound effects (everything from helicopters to the clicking ball inside a can of spray paint). It could actually run a little longer; sometimes Lane settles for atmosphere. But it’s well worth experiencing; through Feb. 6 at the Viaduct Theater, 3111 N. Western Ave.; $15; 773-296-6024.
`SHE LOVES ME’
One of the most subtly beguiling musicals ever fashioned, this 1963 gem set among quarreling lovers in a 1930s Budapest perfume shop has a score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, fully the equal of the collaboration that came along a year later, “Fiddler on the Roof.” Director Michael Weber’s production is stronger vocally than it is in terms of actorly charm and ease, but it’s enjoyable nonetheless. And everybody has their moments in a musical full of bittersweet comic pleasure; closes today at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Rd., Munster, Ind.; $25-$35; 1-800-511-1552.
— Michael Phillips
`ARCADIA’
When Tom Stoppard’s artfully arcane “Arcadia” first showed up in 1993, it was met with the kind of over-the-top deference reserved for a play almost impossible to comprehend. There are so many themes jostling for attention in this heady opus that most people simply throw up their hands. But with the help of the passing of a dozen prosaic years, James Bohnen’s smart, focused and well-acted Remy Bumppo revival pricks some of the long-troubling pretty pomposity of this play. And in so doing, this fine piece of direction renders this rich work more honest, more comprehensible, less ephemeral and more relevant; through Jan. 2 at Victory Gardens Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.; $30-$35; 773-871-3000.
`BLACK NATIVITY’
Move over, Scrooge. The Goodman Theatre now has a second Christmas tradition begging for an endless annual reprise. And finally — at long, long last — we are seeing the birth of a powerful, populist show in the visitor-friendly downtown theater district that showcases the work of one of Chicago’s resident African-American theaters — the terrific Congo Square Theatre. Penned in 1961, Langston Hughes’ “Black Nativity” puts a distinctly African patina on the nativity story in the first act — and delivers a brief history of black gospel music in the second. To deny or compromise its proudly spiritual dimension would undermine the material. But aside from the numerous glorious arrangements of traditional carols, the dancing and vibrancy will satisfy many agnostics. And the mood here is inclusive, tolerant, celebratory; through Jan. 2 at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.; $19-$35; 312-443-3800.
— Chris Jones