ART
TRADITION AND TRANSFORMATION
Eighty seldom seen objects from the permanent collection of the Spertus Museum; opens Sunday at the Spertus Museum, 618 S. Michigan Ave.; free; 312-922-9012.
DRAWN TOWARD THE AVANT-GARDE
Eighty drawings and watercolors from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, features 19th and 20th Century works, most of which have never been shown outside Denmark; opens Friday at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum at Northwestern University, 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston; free; 847-491-4000.
DAY OF THE DEAD
The annual exhibition, said to be the largest in the United States; opens Friday at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, 1852 W. 19th St.; free; 312-738-1503.
— Alan G. Artner
CLASSICAL
VIOLETA URMANA
The acclaimed Lithuanian dramatic soprano will present a concert under auspices of the American-Lithuanian Community Cultural Council. Urmana will sing opera arias by Verdi, Giordano, Ponchielli and others, with an orchestra conducted by Alvydas Vasaitis; 3 p.m. Sunday in the J. Sterling Morton Chodl Auditorium, 2423 S. Austin Blvd., Cicero; $25 and up; 708-430-7272.
MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE
The Chicago chorus and orchestra launches a new era under a new music director, Jane Glover, with performances of one of the landmarks of the High Baroque, Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at First United Methodist Church, 1630 Hinman Ave., Evanston; 8 p.m. Monday at Grace Lutheran Church, 7300 W. Division St., River Forest; and 8 p.m. Sept. 28 at St. Paul’s Church, 2335 N. Orchard St. $22-$55; 312-551-1414.
NAGAOKAKYO ENSEMBLE
This remarkable group, boasting an international roster of young string players, makes its Midwest debut as part of Chicago’s U.S.-Japan 150 Festival celebrating 150 years of cultural relations between the two countries. Its program of Mozart, Takemitsu, Barber and Dvorak works will benefit the temple’s restoration; 7 p.m. Tuesday in Unity Temple, 875 Lake St., Oak Park; $25; 708-383-8873. The ensemble will present two other concerts: at 6 p.m. Friday in Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave.; $10; 312-443-3600; and at 3 p.m. Sept. 28 in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University, Evanston; $21; 847-467-4000.
— John von Rhein
ROCK
TURBONEGRO
Swedish headbangers have developed a cult following of heavy metal and hard-rock connoisseurs, who swear by their leather-clad bondage humor and turbo-charged highway roar; Tuesday at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St.; $15; 773-549-4140.
ADVENTURES IN MODERN MUSIC
A five-day music festival overseen by the British music magazine The Wire in collaboration with the epicenter of new Chicago music, the Empty Bottle. Among the performers are soul-shaking party meisters !!!, saxophone legend Fred Anderson, punk-jazz pioneer James Chance, former Swans mastermind Michael Gira and avant-rapper Priest; Wednesday-Sept.28 at Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave.; $15 per night or $60 event pass; 800-594-8499.
AESOP ROCK AND EL-P
Master MCs from hip-hop’s new wave — agile rhymers, astute social commentators, fiery showmen; Thursday at Bottom Lounge, 3206 N. Wilton Ave.; $15; 773-975-0505.
R.E.M.
Readying a new album, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills take 20 years worth of alternative-rock history on the road; Friday at United Center, 1901 W. Madison St.; $35-$75; 312-455-4500.
— Greg Kot
MOVIES
IN THIS WORLD
Michael Winterbottom’s tale of Afghans fleeing the Taliban gives us a portrait of a perilous trek from Pakistan to London while concentrating on the lives of teenager Jamal (Jamal Udin Torabi) and his older cousin Enayat (Enayatullah); with English subtitles; MPAA rating: R; Landmark Century Centre Cinema, 2828 N. Clark St., 773-509-4949.
ANYTHING ELSE
One of Woody Allen’s wittiest recent movies, “Anything Else,” is an acid-tongued and nervy comedy about young love, paranoia and the unlikely bond between two Manhattan jokesmiths — up-and-coming Jerry Falk (Jason Biggs) and late bloomer David Dobel (Allen); MPAA rating: R; at selected theaters.
FONDA’S HIRED HAND
A cult 1971 movie unseen and neglected for nearly three decades, Peter Fonda’s lyrical revisionist western has held up brilliantly. The current print has been restored by a team headed by original editor Frank Mazzola; no MPAA rating; Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., 773-871-6604.
— Michael Wilmington
THEATER
BALM IN GILEAD
The grungiest all-night diner in Manhattan teems with unruly life in this Hypocrites revival of the Lanford Wilson play, nearly 40 years old now. The Chopin Theater basement space is highly compressed (i.e., small), so that Wilson’s desperate junkies, hookers and dreamers holler and kvetch and ponder life’s cruelties within inches of one another. Director Sean Graney does well by this ensemble effort, overlapping dialogue that’s already overlapped to begin with; through Nov. 2 at Chopin Theater, 1543 W. Division St.; $15-$18; 312-409-5578.
A CHORUS LINE
The 1975 celebration of Broadway hopes and dreamers has returned, and if you haven’t seen “A Chorus Line” in a while, you may be surprised how well it holds up. Director/choreographer Rudy Hogenmiller has worked this material in various incarnations (including the 1977 L.A. premiere), and he knows every single move, nuance and surefire touch the original director, Michael Bennett, brought to this project. Uneven to be sure, the cast is very good on the high end. The show remains a fiendishly effective backstager; ends Sunday at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Rd., Munster, Ind.; $25-$30; 800-955-5566.
MAMMA MIA!
ABBA provides the backbeat in what amounts to karaoke for the masses. Against long odds the show is a good time. Hits such as “Take a Chance on Me” and “Dancing Queen” retain a mysterious allure; through Sept. 27 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St.; $37-$78; 312-902-1400.
— Michael Phillips
CHICAGO
That remarkable 6-year-old piece of revisionist Broadway razzle-dazzle is back in its spiritual home yet again, all set to trade on the success of the movie and irritate Hizzoner with iconic musical tales of Cook County collusion, corruption and corrosion that won’t ever die. But the movie didn’t have the choreographic stylings of Bob Fosse; reason enough to pony up for the real, live thing. And while this latest road production lacks blazing vocals and marquee names, it is consistently hot; ends Sunday at the Shubert Theatre, 22 W. Monroe St; $38-77.50; 312-902-1400.
FOREVER PLAID
The Marriott has gone into econo-mode for the summer. But this is a decent, well-sung and fresh-faced production of stellar, senior-friendly material, and this troupe’s innumerable subscribers are not likely to be chafing. Most of them will be too busy humming along with Stuart Ross’ ubiquitous Plaids to “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing” and dreaming of Perry Como; ends Sunday at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire; $30-$40; 847-634-0200.
— Chris Jones
