ARCHITECTURE
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATORS
The annual exhibition of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators opens Wednesday at the Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago, 350 N. Orleans St. The show highlights the work of top architectural illustrators who draw renderings for such architects as I.M. Pei and Cesar Pelliok. The show runs through March 16; free; 312-280-3500.
WILL FELLOWS
Author of “A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture,” which looks at the contributions of gay men to historic preservation and urban revitalization, will discuss his book Thursday at 12:15 p.m. at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. The lecture is sponsored by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois; free; 312-922-1742.
— Blair Kamin
ART
`THE HERE AND NOW’
Sculptors Sanford Biggers, Katrin Sigurdardottir and Javier Tellez are represented by a single piece that metaphorically and spiritually addresses the issue of presence; opens today; Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, 5811 S. Ellis Ave.; free; 773-702-8670.
WILLIAM MORRIS
“The Beauty of Life: William Morris and the Art of Design,” works by the 19th Century British artist considered the father of the Arts & Crafts movement; opens Friday; Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston; free; 847-491-4000.
TOKIHIRO SATO
“Photo-Respiration: Tokihiro Sato Photographs,” large-scale transparencies and silver prints of landscapes with the fleeting human presence; through April 17; Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave.; $12; 312-443-3600.
— Alan G. Artner
CLASSICAL
CHICAGO CHAMBER MUSICIANS
Composer and conductor Robert Kapilow will host the group’s 10th anniversary family concerts at 10 and 11:30 a.m. Saturday and Jan. 23 at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave. CCM will present two children’s classics, “The Carnival of the Animals” and “The Flight of the Bumblebee,” along with Kapilow’s own “And Furthermore, They Bite!” a companion piece to “Carnival of the Animals”; $15; 312-595-5600.
CHICAGO SINFONIETTA
The orchestra under Paul Freeman presents its eighth biennial tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Highlighting the program will be Michael Abels’ “Dance for Martin’s Dream,” featuring the Congo Square Theater Company; and a performance of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” by the combined Sinfonietta and Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. Concerts are at 2:30 p.m. today in Dominican University’s Lund Auditorium, 7900 W. Division St., River Forest; and 7:30 p.m. Monday at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; $27-$38 (Lund); $32-$85 (Symphony Center); 312-236-3681, ext. 12.
MUSIC IN THE LOFT
This splendid chamber-music showcase for young musicians continues with appearances by the Lincoln Trio at 8 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Jan. 23, in the loft located at 1017 W. Washington Blvd. The quartet will perform works by Beethoven, Arriaga and Smetana. Clarinetist Wagner Campos will join the trio for music of Turina, Piazzolla, Arensky and series resident composer Stacy Garrop; $20; 312-243-9233.
— John von Rhein
DANCE
ST. PETERSBURG BALLET THEATRE
The Russian troupe makes its Chicago debut in “Romeo and Juliet,” a modernized, somewhat abstract version of the classic, 3 p.m. Sunday at the Chicago Theater, 175 N. State St.; $18-$53. 312-902-1500.
–Sid Smith
JAZZ
CHICAGO JAZZ JAMS
The annual jazz fair, organized by the Jazz Institute of Chicago, will present five hours of music Friday evening, including Jabari Liu’s One4All Quintet, at 7 p.m.; the New Chicago Hot 7, at 7:15 p.m.; and Oscar Brown Jr. and Maggie Brown at 9:30 p.m.; Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.; free; 312-744-6630.
More Top Picks Best Book Stands For Textbooks
— Howard Reich
MOVIES
WEITZ GUYS
“In Good Company,” the latest movie comedy from Paul Weitz (“About a Boy”), is an amusing film on a dead-serious subject: ageism in the workplace, as experienced by a middle-age magazine ad guy (Dennis Quaid) with a disturbingly young boss (Topher Grace); in wide release.
OZU CONTINUED
Showing this week at the Siskel Center’s Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) series is the great film many regard as Ozu’s best: “Tokyo Story,” his impeccably designed, perfectly crafted, heart-rendingly emotional 1953 masterpiece about an elderly Japanese couple who journey to the Tokyo home of their married children and suffer neglect and indifference; 6 p.m. Thursday. Also in the series: the 1931 silent (with David Drazin piano accompaniment) “Tokyo Chorus” (3 p.m. today) and the 1937 “What Did the Lady Forget?” (6:15 p.m. Wednesday) and two later classics, “Equinox Flower” (3 p.m., Saturday; 6 p.m. Jan. 27) and 1952’s “The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice” (5:15 p.m. Saturday; 6 p.m. Jan. 26). All sound films are in Japanese with English subtitles; Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute, 164 N. State St.; 312-846-2600; www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
RENOIR REVEALED
Jean Renoir’s rare 1931 French film “La Chienne” — a mix of Georges Simenonesque noir and dark comedy based on the Georges de la Fouchardiere play — was his first sound masterpiece. With Michel Simon as the amateur painter, obsessed with a prostitute (Janie Mareze). In French with English subtitles; 7 p.m. Tue.; Doc Films, Max Palevsky Cinema, Ida Noyes Hall, University of Chicago, 1212 E, 59th St.; 773-702-8575; www.docfilms.uchicago.edu.
— Michael Wilmington
ROCK
JEAN GRAE
The fiesty rap artist combines linguistic dexterity with commanding stage presence; Wednesday at the Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace St.; $13-$15; 773-478-4408.
SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES
Swedes bring the twin-guitar acid-tinged rock as if it were 1973 all over again; Friday at Double Door, 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave.; $15; 773-489-3160.
— Greg Kot
THEATER
`CHERRY ORCHARD’
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, that of 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); through Feb. 6 at the Viaduct Theater, 3111 N. Western Ave.; $15; 773-296-6024.
`MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT’
Like Spam itself, this eager-to-please musical expansion of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” tastes like a little of everything. Part of the time you’re watching slavishly faithful re-creations of famous bits of the movie; part of the time, you’re wondering why the chief creative honcho, Eric Idle, is making fun of “West Side Story” and the Village People; and part of the time, the best part, you’re laughing enough so that you don’t care about the specific ingredients’ origins. Director Mike Nichols has a few surprises up his chain-mail sleeve, notably Sara Ramirez as the Lady of the Lake, and Michael McGrath as Patsy, the fellow running around with the coconuts. Top-billed David Hyde Pierce has surprisingly little to do; Tim Curry and Hank Azaria lead the rest of the gang; through Jan. 23 at the Shubert Theatre, 22 W. Monroe St.; $25-$87; 312-902-1400.
`THE GLASS MENAGERIE’
A disarming revival of the Tennessee Williams masterwork. Director Sean Graney of The Hypocrites isn’t afraid to push these iconic characters to extremes; the way Mechelle Moe’s cripplingly shy Laura Wingfield sobs and staggers to the door to meet her gentleman caller, it’s like a death march. The production is nearly hobbled by a misjudged, droning sound design, but Donna McGough’s Amanda, in particular, keeps the youthful cast barreling along; through March 6 at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave.; $15-$20; 312-409-5578.
— Michael Phillips
`FROM FEAR TO ETERNITY’
The 27th revue at the zesty, zippy Second City e.t.c. stage has many future rock stars of comedy. No question. And since the sketch-comedy form fundamentally relies on the talent, those with only one Second City spot on their holiday schedule should walk directly past the crowds in the lobby of the mainstage and head for the scrappier, louder e.t.c., where much sharper amusement awaits in “From Fear to Eternity.” Director Sue Gillan’s immensely enjoyable show is a jovial, nicely cynical romp through these dismal days for progressives and liberals; open run, 1608 N. Wells St.; $17-$19; 312-337-3992.
`SOMEBODY SAY AMEN’
If there’s one theater that can get away with formulaic musicals, it’s the Black Ensemble Theater, that warm, packed-to-the-gills Chicago citadel of music history, bonhomie, biography, spirited engagement, stellar musicianship and roof-rousing singing. After all, if you’re attending a gospel music tribute, you’re not looking for “King Lear.” You’re looking for an evocation of the spirit of Mahalia, a little “Blessed Assurance” for these troubled times, a few capable folks who can declare “How Great Thou Art” with the necessary oomph. Jackie Taylor’s “Somebody Say Amen” delivers all of the above with uncommon verve; open run at the Black Ensemble Theatre, 4520 N. Beacon St.; $35; 773-769-4451.
— Chris Jones