theatre Red
It’s difficult to reduce John Logan’s Tony-winning exploration of the artist Mark Rothko to blurb length, but if you want a sense of the piece, you can Google some of the art referenced therein: Caravaggio’s Conversion of Saul, Matisse’s The Red Studio, Rembrandt’s Belshazzar’s Feast. Or don’t. Red has the power to thrill all, Rothko expert and art history dropout alike.
GO: On stage now through 10/30. $25–$84. Goodman Theatre, 170 N Dearborn. goodmantheatre.org

ALSO THIS WEEK: Life gets weird when you see yourself sold as everything from Pez dispensers to anatomically correct sex dolls. And so it was for Carrie Fisher, who delivers a hilarious recital on Princess Leia, addiction, depression, and beyond in Wishful Drinking, on stage 10/4–16 at Bank of America Theatre.

film Backyard Film & Music Fest
Don’t get caught up in the name: “Backyard” is so three years ago. BF&MF has long outgrown its humble beginnings in the grass behind founder Fred Koschmann’s Old Irving Park home; additions in year 4 include a panel of jurors (The Weather Underground’s Bill Siegel) and an after-party stocked with live music and booze. Movies include I Never Missed a Meal but Was Sometimes a Few Days Behind, cut from footage shot by a couple of guys who fell off the grid while journeying from Alaska to Washington—which might sound like an Into the Wild knockoff if it didn’t predate that film by 65 years.
GO: Screenings 10/1 from 2 to 6: Wicker Park Art Center, 2215 W North. Party at 9: Viaduct Theater, 3111 N Western. $20 day pass or $10 films only, $15 party only. byfmf.com

jazz The Miles Davis Experience: 1949–59
Fall’s big booking coup belongs to the College of DuPage for snagging the Chicago debut of the meteoric trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire: the Jazz Journalists Association and DownBeat critics’ pick for rising star jazz artist and a year-end best-of-list shoo-in for 2011’s When the Heart Emerges Glistening. Here Akinmusire and Co put their stamp on a familiar period of the Miles canon in a must-hear gig worth the trek to the burbs.
GO: 10/2 at 7. $28–$38. McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell, Glen Ellyn. atthemac.org

dance Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
Better known these days for his sprawling and controversial dance-theatre reflections on race and the AIDS crisis, Jones goes back to the roots of his partnership with the late Zane, revisiting a series of influential duets from the 1970s and ’80s that join athleticism with eccentric choreography—a rare chance to see bold early moves from the man The New York Times called the “political lion of modern dance.”
GO: 9/29–30 at 8, 10/1 at 3 and 8. $35–$40. The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S Michigan. colum.edu/dancecenter

rock/pop Lincoln Hall
Call ahead and see if you can bring a sleeping bag: Considering Lincoln Hall’s lineup this week, you’ll want to get comfortable. To wit: 10/2 is the Pitchfork breakout act Twin Shadow (George Lewis Jr. to his mom), who makes slinky electropop with a streak of ADHD. The 10/4 set by Jens Lekman, that impish Swede and purveyor of lavishly orchestrated pop, is sold out, but you could use a night off before Besnard Lakes, the Montreal band known for Beach Boys-indebted falsetto and vast, trippy songs, takes the stage. Don’t forget the marshmallows.
GO: 10/2 at 9; $14. 10/4 at 9; $14. Lincoln Hall, 2424 N Lincoln. lincolnhallchicago.com