Dorothy doesn’t have a Technicolor dreamcoat, just a Technicolor dream in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Broadway-style extravaganza, “The Wizard of Oz,” to be presented at 8 p.m. Friday and 1 and 6 p.m. Saturday at the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet.
This touring production, with a cast and crew of 56, is based on the 1939 movie classic. Tickets are $26.50, $23.50 and $18.50, available at the Rialto ticket office, 102 N. Chicago St., Joliet. Or call the box office at 815-726-6600 or Ticketmaster at 312-559-1212.
– One of the world’s premiere chamber ensembles, the Vermeer Quartet, will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Paramount Arts Centre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora.
The group, the resident quartet for Chamber Music Chicago, is composed of violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi, violinist Mathias Tacke, violist Richard Young, and cellist Marc Johnson. Tickets are $17.50 and $13.50. Call the Paramount ticket office at 708-896-6666 or Ticketmaster at 312-902-1500.
– It’s a busy weekend at the College of Du Page Arts Center with an a cappella ensemble, Chanticleer; a play, “From the Mississippi Delta”; and the autobiographical drama “Fat Girl: One Woman’s Way Out.”
Chanticleer will perform choral works ranging from classical to jazz at 8 p.m. Friday at the College of Du Page Arts Center, 22nd Street and Park Boulevard, Glen Ellyn. The 12-member ensemble is often heard on radio programs such as “St. Paul’s Sunday Morning” and “A Prairie Home Companion.” Tickets are $20, $19 for students and senior citizens.
The off-Broadway hit “From the Mississippi Delta” will be presented by Daedalus productions at 8 p.m. Saturday. The play is Endesha Ida Mae Holland’s memoir of her journey from an impoverished childhood in the South to success as a college professor in Buffalo.
The touring production stars NeAnni Y. Ife, Kathi A. Bentley and Venida Evans. Tickets are $18, $17 for students and senior citizens.
“Fat Girl: One Woman’s Way Out,” actress-playwright Irene O’Garden’s autobiographical drama of her triumph over guilt and low self-esteem due to weight problems, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets are $10, $9 for students and senior citizens.
For tickets to any College of Du Page Arts Center offering, call the ticket office at 708-858-3110.
– The Elgin Symphony Orchestra will present its family concert, “Musical Animals,” featuring Saint-Saens’ popular “Carnival of the Animals” and the winner of the symphony’s Young Virtuosi Competition, oboist Frank Rosenwein, who will perform his award-winning interpretation of the Mozart Concerto in C Major for Oboe and Orchestra.
The concert begins at 2 p.m. Saturday at the new Visual and Performing Arts Center at Elgin Community College, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin. Tickets are $12 for adults, $4 for children under 18. Call 708-622-0300.
– The Artist Series at Wheaton College features the Western Wind Vocal Sextet at 8 p.m. Saturday at Edman Memorial Chapel, Franklin and Washington Streets, Wheaton.
The ensemble performs a variety of a cappella music, from Renaissance motets to ’50s rock ‘n’ roll. Tickets range in price from $15 to $23 for adults, $14 to $20 for senior citizens, and $11 to $18 for students. Call 708-752-5010.
– At Elmhurst College this weekend, a quartet composed of pianist Frank Mantooth, baritone saxophonist Nick Brignola, trumpeter Orbert Davis and trombonist Paul McKee will be the featured performers at the 27th annual Elmhurst College Jazz Festival, Friday through Sunday.
The guest musicians will serve as judges and clinicians for 20 to 25 college jazz groups who will perform throughout the weekend. Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, at the Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel, 190 Prospect Ave., Elmhurst.
Tickets are $6 per session for Friday through Sunday afternoon, and $7 for the Sunday night session. Call 708-617-3515.
– “An Afternoon of Grand Opera,” featuring the Downers Grove Choral Society and soprano Jill Ballotti, tenor Rodrick Dixon and baritone Gershon Silins as soloists, will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Tivoli Theater, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove. The concert will feature works by Mozart, Verdi, Puccini and Weber. Tickets are $12 for adults, $9 for senior citizens and students. Call 708-515-0030.
– Illinois Benedictine College’s “Spirit of the Arts” series presents the Chicago Brass Quintet at 3 p.m. Sunday in St. Procopius Abbey, Maple and College Avenues, Lisle. Tickets, which will be available at the door, are $5 for adults, $3 for students. Call 708-960-1500, ext. 2900.
– If bluegrass music is your passion, head out to the Opera House of Sandwich for “An Evening of Bluegrass Music,” featuring two professional touring bands: Rhonda Vincent and Sally Mountain Show from Greentop, Mo., and the Traditional Grass, from Middletown, Ohio. The concert begins at 8 p.m. Friday.
Tickets are $10, $5 for students. The Opera House is at 140 E. Railroad St., Sandwich. To get to Sandwich, take the East-West Tollway to the Sugar Grove exit, then south on Illinois Highway 47 and west on Ogden Avenue. Call 815-786-2555.
– Music performed at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair will be featured at “Music and Musicians at the Fair: The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition,” with pianist Ramon Salvatore and narrator Ann McKinley, at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Nichols Library Community Room, 200 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville. A donation of $3 is suggested for non-members of Nichols Library. Call 708-355-5581.
