Conductor Alondra de la Parra, the singing siblings Tegan and Sara, and the Hitchock bombshell Eva Marie Saint
BOLD-FACE DAMES Women of import swinging through town this week include the conductor Alondra de la Parra, the singing siblings Tegan and Sara, and the Hitchock bombshell Eva Marie Saint (pictured with Cary Grant).

THE FIVE

Don’t-miss picks for Wed 03.24.10 through Tue 03.30.10:

1

classical Alondra de la Parra
The buzz surrounding this plucky and passionate 29-year-old Mexican conductor isn’t as frenzied as that clinging to Gustavo Dudamel—who has his own iPhone app after all (and who comes to town in May, which means get your tickets, like, yesterday)—but comparisons are inevitable. Here, de la Parra leads the Chicago Sinfonietta in works by Astor Piazzolla, Arturo Márquez, and Beethoven.
GO: $26-$50. Mar 28 at 2:30: Lund Auditorium, Dominican U, 7900 W Division, River Forest. Mar 29 at 7:30: Symphony Center, 220 S Michigan. chicagosinfonietta.org

ALSO THIS WEEK: Yo-Yo Ma plays selections from a crossover venture that scored him two Grammys in 2004 (showoff), and Chicago’s own Grammy-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird unleashes a new multimedia commission by Steven Mackey and Rinde Eckert.

2

film Chicago Short Film Brigade
You couldn’t pay us to watch all 800 short films considered for the spring installment of this ongoing series, but letting the Kartemquin filmmaker Xan Aranda—with help from a roster of tastemakers, producers, and creative types about town—pick the lineup? Priceless. Plus, the evening unspools at the Hideout, which means cheap beer and no attitude. Consider us enlisted.
GO: Mar 25 at 8:30; Mar 28 at 6. $8. Hideout, 1354 W Wabansia. filmbrigade.com
3

concerts Tegan and Sara
They started out as an acoustic duo, but the singing Quin twins have evolved into exuberantly catchy new-wave revivalists whose careening vocals provide the perfect counterpart to their jangly guitars, extra-terrestrial keyboards, and lurching rhythms—not to mention those chic haircuts.
GO: Mar 26 at 8. $30. Aragon Ballroom, 1106 W Lawrence. ticketmaster.com
4

dance Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
The effervescent New York troupe’s annual visit marks the arrival of spring in Chicago—this year celebrating Judith Jamison’s 20th as artistic director. Among the montage of pieces she choreographed, commissioned, and revived: Love Stories, by the hip-hop genius Rennie Harris and the percussive maestro Robert Battle. And then there’s Ailey’s Revelations, set to a soundtrack of spirituals—the closest we’ve come to a religious experience in a theatre.
GO: Mar 24-26 at 7:30; Mar 27 at 2 and 8; Mar 28 at 3. $30-$85. Auditorium Theatre, 50 E Congress. ticketmaster.com

ALSO THIS WEEK: Sure, Kahlo could paint, but can she dance? Luna Negra presents a bill anchored by the world-premiere Frida! from the choreographer Michelle Manzanales.

5

theatre Oh Coward!
The Writers’ Theatre musical that’s launched a thousand positive reviews—and a thousand frustrated ticket-seekers—has made everyone happy by announcing yet another extension. In the words of the great Noel Coward himself, “Extraordinary, how potent cheap music is.”
GO: Thru May 16. $40-$60. Writers’ Theatre at Books on Vernon, 664 Vernon, Glencoe. writerstheatre.org

FREEBIE OF THE WEEK

film North by Northwest
Let the indie rockers have their South by Southwest. We may not have spent last week in warm and sunny Austin, but we’ve got the North by Northwest star Eva Marie Saint. So there. The Oscar-winning actress (On the Waterfront) and Hitchcock blonde hosts a Q&A prior to a screening of one of the auteur’s greatest hits in the delectably anachronistic Music Box.
GO: Mar 30 at 7:30. Music Box Theatre, 3733 N Southport. tcm.com/roadtohollywood

Photography: (de la Parra) Courtney Perry