Rehearsals are more like workouts for the four members of the art-music ensemble called Tales and Scales. They are musicians on the move.
“It’s a total body experience,” says Curtis Pendelton, the artistic director of Tales and Scales.
The ensemble will be going through the words, music and the movements for their version of “The Pied Piper” in a performance Saturday with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This adaptation takes place in the contemporary town of Hamelin where the citizens are obsessed with business and the bottom line. “The story has the traditional message about the danger of talking to strangers,” says Pendelton, “but it is also about the power that music can have on a town that doesn’t value the arts.”
Each musician plays several characters in the story and they all portray the creatures that have invaded Hamelin. “During an orchestral interlude, we become rats,” says Pendelton, “and `terrorize’ the audience.”
The story of how the Pied Piper rid the town not only of its rodents, but its children as well, is told as though it is being filmed by a video camera. “It’s a dark story,” says Pendelton, “so when the town of Hamelin makes the wrong choice and loses its children we can rewind and have a second ending.”
“The Pied Piper,” 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Orchestra Hall, 220 S. Michigan Ave., $5.50-$25; 312-435-6666.
Dogs have their day in a new exhibit at the Chicago Children’s Museum called “Speak Up For Dogs.” It features portraits of pets from the book “Speak! Children’s Book Illustrators Brag About Their Dogs.” But children can also explore the many aspects of a dog’s life by creating stories with sock puppets in a theater shaped like a dog house. Visitors can bring photos of their own dogs and descriptions of their stupid, silly or sane pet tricks to add to the museum’s Dog Gallery.
“Speak Up For Dogs,” Saturday through May 12, Chicago Children’s Museum, Navy Pier, 700 East Grand Ave., $5, free 5-8 p.m. Thursdays; 312-527-1000.
Some of the scenes on the Japanese folding screens in the Art Institute exhibit “Worlds Seen and Imagined” are panoramic landscapes almost waiting for stories to happen. So storyteller Anne Shimojima will tell some Japanese folk tales that might have taken place in those exquisite settings. “These are stories of good people being rewarded and tricksters who get their come-uppance,” says Shimojima.
Sears Story Hour with Anne Shimojima, 2 p.m. Sunday, Kraft Education Center, Art Institute of Chicago, Michigan Avenue at Adams Street, $7 adults, $3.50 children; 312-443-3600.
The Chicago Historical Society has planned a workshop for children to explore the multi-faceted life of Abraham Lincoln, which is depicted in the exhibit “The Last Best Hope on Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America.” They will make a pocket watch divided into the various stages of his life and then do activities related to all the occupations he practiced. At the end they will make their own stove pipe hat like the one Lincoln wore as president.
“Many Hats of Lincoln,” 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Chicago Historical Society, Clark St. at North Ave., $3 adults, $1 children; 312-642-4600.
Friday
Budding Scientists: Green Thumbs, first in four-part series continuing on March 22 and April 12 and 26, for ages 2-3, 9:45 or 10:45 a.m., DuPage Children’s Museum, 1777 S. Blanchard Rd., Wheaton, $35 for child/adult pair; 708-260-9907
Saturday
“The Wizard of Oz,” 2:30 and 7:30 p.m., The Children’s Theatre of Western Springs, 4384 Hampton Ave., Western Springs, $10 adults, $5 children; 708-246-3380.
Maple Tree Tapping, for ages 7 and up, 1:30 p.m., North Park Village Nature Center, 5801 N. Pulaski Rd., free, pre-registration required; 312-744-5472
Sunday
Sunday Evening Show Time: Concert with Peggy Pascal, 6 p.m. Kohl Children’s Museum, 165 Green Bay Rd., Wilmette, $8; 847-256-6056
Shamrock Skies, workshop to make a “Shamrock Vision Card” to study celestial bodies, 11:15 a.m., 1:15 and 2:15 p.m. Sunday and March 17, Adler Planetarium, 1300 South Lake Shore Drive, free with museum admission; $3 adults, $2 children; 312-922-STAR.
