Friday 1
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
From its immortal opening, “Fugue for Tinhorns” (“I got the horse right here . . .”), to its Damon Runyon-inspired dialogue to some rather cockeyed takes on the battle between the sexes, composer Frank Loesser and playwright Abe Burrows’s Guys and Dolls illustrates much of what’s great and some of what’s bad in the classic American musical. But a rambunctious touring production, in residence at the Shubert Theatre through Sunday, makes the most of this 44-year-old perennial. Its final shows are tonight at 8, tomorrow at 2 and 7:30, and Sunday at 3. Tix are $27 to $57. The Shubert’s at 22 W. Monroe. Call 902-1500.
Columbia grad student Keith Patrick DeWeese’s master’s thesis is a “mixed-means moving picture installation” called Lumen Sex Death Pyx. Inspired, he says, by the works of filmmakers Louis Feuillade and Serge Paradjanov, writer Georges Bataille, and actress Musidora, the piece is an installation anchored by a series of films shot by DeWeese that are “juxtaposed to form uneasy unions of love and hate, mortality and immortality, and creation and destruction.” The show’s up tonight and tomorrow, from 9 to 11 PM, on the third floor of 1344 W. Greenleaf. It’s free. Call 743-2925 for details.
The Def Poetry Jam is a self-conscious attempt to bring together “culturally positive black poetry” from the south side. Your host is Nafaankh Ausar, known for his readings under the name SAMM. The show, in an open run Sunday nights at the End of the Rainbow Club, 3126 E. 79th, includes an open mike from 6 PM to 2 AM. There’s also music from an African drum corps and a “cultural harvest diaspora marketplace” with food for sale. It’s free, save for a two-drink minimum. Call 374-4500.
The first major exhibit of the work of Mexican sculptor Juan Soriano is in town through September 4. Soriano began working in Mexico City in the 1940s, palling around with a diverse group of artists and writers including Octavio Paz and Diego Rivera. A set and costume designer by trade, he switched to sculpture and soon gained worldwide renown. The exhibit, Juan Soriano Sculptures, comprises 24 sculptures and two accompanying sets of photographs: one documenting Soriano’s artistic processes, the other, “Through the Lens of Eleven Photographers,” his life. It’s at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, 1852 W. 19th; hours are Tuesday through Sunday 10 to 5; it’s free. Call 738-1503.
The Harold Washington Library’s summer reading program has a rain-forest theme this year; to accompany it, they’re bringing in some reps from Animal Kingdom, the exotic critter supply organization, to show off their charges, including a snake, a monkey, and some birds. Kids six to ten can hear about the animals, pet ’em, and ask questions at the event, which starts at 1 PM today. The library would like you to make reservations at 747-4200. Meanwhile, the reading program goes on from 1 to 4 daily; kids sign up to read books, write reports, and earn points toward prizes. The Thomas Hughes Children’s Library is on the second floor at 400 S. State. It’s all free.
