The Oak Park Festival Theatre, now in its 23rd year outdoors in the Austin Gardens, will present “Much Ado About Nothing,” opening Sunday. Director Dale Calandra has cast the comedy in 1920 Argentina, land of “hot-blooded men and hot-tempered women,” he says, and the production comes complete with a tango. Peter Toran and Carole Gutierrez head the cast. 708-524-2050.
– Sid Smith
CLASSICAL: THE CAN-DO MAN
For 16 seasons, Pinchas Zukerman has proved to be one of Ravinia’s most dependable relief pitchers, whether as violin soloist, conductor or chamber musician. Festival concerts this week will showcase the versatile Mr. Z in all three capacities. He will join seven guest string virtuosos for a Martin Theatre chamber program, at 8 p.m. Monday, that holds Schubert’s C-Major Quintet and the Mendelssohn Octet. Each of Zukerman’s two concerts at the helm of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, will feature a Beethoven symphony and piano concerto. Tuesday will bring the “Emperor” Concerto (John Browning, soloist) and Symphony No. 4, while Wednesday’s program includes the Third Piano Concerto (with Jon Kimura Parker) and Seventh Symphony. Zukerman also will play Schubert works for violin and strings both nights. 847-266-5100.
– John von Rhein
JAZZ: THE ULTIMATE TROMBONE
Anyone who has heard trombonist Ray Anderson knows there isn’t much he can’t accomplish on his instrument, but there’s more to his work than just brilliant technique. An innovator who seems to devise new sounds every time he steps onstage, Anderson will bring his much-admired Pocket Brass Trio to Martyr’s, 3855 N. Lincoln Ave., at 10 p.m. July 5. 773-404-9494.
– Howard Reich
DANCE: RHYTHM ON TAP
The Chicago Human Rhythm Project has become a joyous annual celebration of tap and tap-related percussive dance. For those eager to look a bit ahead, this year’s installment arrives July 8-20 at the Athenaeum Theatre, with dancing, seminars and late-night improvisation all part of the lineup.312-902-1500.
– Sid Smith
TV: WATER WAYS
Living next to and drawing our water from Lake Michigan, Chicagoans don’t have much occasion to think about what the absence of water might mean to a place. “Cadillac Desert,” a four-part PBS series, examines the sometimes high-handed ways the arid West got the liquid necessary to its survival and expansion. Tuesday’s first episode, “Mulholland’s Dream” (9 p.m., WTTW-Ch. 11), focuses on how an emigre ditch digger became the water impresario of Los Angeles. Its sequels, airing on successive Tuesdays, treat the tapping of the Colorado River, the unlikely development of California agriculture, and problems engendered by water use and misuse worldwide.
– Steve Johnson
ROCK: 31-GUN SALUTE
Taste of Chicago gets the crowds, but FitzGerald’s American Music Festival gets the bands – 31 of them, to be exact, performing over four days and nights, beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday. For this 16th annual event, the Berwyn club sets up an outdoor stage, fires up the barbecue, and throws a party heavy on the Cajun, blues and country rhythms that wind Bill FitzGerald’s clock. If you can only go one night, choose the July 5 gig, primarily because of an appearance by the legendary Hackberry Ramblers, kings of Louisiana swing since 1933. 708-788-2118.
– Greg Kot
