Overture Center
Duck Soup Cinema returns with the Grand Barton Organ
Friday 2.29
The Business of Being Born
Majestic Theatre, 6 pm. Also Sunday, March 2, 2 pm
This documentary asks hard questions about the maternity care system. A panel discussion with local physicians and midwives follows the screenings.
Don Pasquale
UW Music Hall, 7:30 pm. Also Sunday (3 pm) & Tuesday (7:30 pm), March 2 & 4
University Opera presents Donizetti's bright comic opera about a wealthy old man ensnared in an amorous trap. The production sets the 19th-century work in the Roaring Twenties, emphasizing the generation gap.
The Bluest Eye
Mitchell Theatre in UW Vilas Hall, 7:30 pm. Also Saturday, Wednesday & Thursday, March 1, 5 & 6, 7:30 pm
Lydia Diamond's script beautifully adapts Toni Morrison's poetic novel about racism, poverty and abuse among African Americans during the Depression. One of Chicago's finest directors, Derrick Sanders, helms University Theatre's production.
Dipesh Chakrabarty
UW Pyle Center, 7:30 pm
The University of Chicago professor and postcolonial-theory honcho discusses "Empire, Ethics and the Calling of History."
Con Vivo
First Congregational Church, 7:30 pm
The local chamber ensemble presents works by British composers, including a quintet for clarinet and strings by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and English folk songs arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
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They Might Be Giants
Barrymore Theatre, 8 pm
Twenty-plus years on, the clever, dauntingly energetic New Yorkers keep alt-minded adults smiling. And their children's music ain't half-bad either. Oppenheimer opens.
Black Lips
UW Memorial Union Rathskeller, 9:30 pm
Black Lips' spirited garage rock and psychedelia are often just crude fun. But the withering rave-up "O Katrina" also qualifies as one of the better political rock songs of the past few years. Mr. Quintron & Miss Pussycat open.
Mud Angels
Harmony Bar, 9:45 pm
No doubt youthful belter Laura England will add fire to the local blues-rockers' smoldering slow ones and dance-floor fare at this CD-release party for A Bolt from the Blue.
Brother Ali
High Noon Saloon, 10 pm
The rapper has had plenty of hard times, but the ups and downs have only made his rhymes that much more persuasive. He's joined by Abstract Rude, Bukue One and Toki Wright.
Saturday 3.1
Terrace Town
Monona Terrace
On Feb. 29, over a thousand Dane County grade-schoolers set up small-scale cardboard cities in Monona Terrace, making use of sustainable principles. On March 1, the public can tour Terrace Town for a glimpse of our architectural future.
Altered Geometry
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, through May 4
MMoCA presents contemporary sculpture from its permanent collection, exploring the use of geometric forms. Included are David Nash's "Cracking Box" and pieces from Sonja Clark's "The Wig Series."
A Day of Radical Comix
Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative, 2 pm
Historian Paul Buhle and UW professor Mary Layoun discuss radical comic books and graphic novels. Buhle is the co-author of illustrated histories of Emma Goldman and the Students for a Democratic Society.
Duck Soup Cinema
Overture Center's Capitol Theater, 2 & 7 pm
Overture's family-friendly series brings back the vaudeville era with a lively variety show featuring magic, juggling and music, followed by Douglas Fairbanks in the silent film Flirting With Fate. Mayor Cieslewicz will be on hand to celebrate the Capitol Theater's 80th anniversary.
Festival Choir of Madison
Asbury United Methodist Church, 7:30 pm
A concert called "American Voices" showcases idiomatic sounds, ranging from folk songs to spirituals to settings of Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Langston Hughes.
The Bayou Boys
Barrymore Theatre, 7:30 pm
The veteran Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute act belts out "Proud Mary" for the benefit of Cops for Kids.
Rain -- The Beatles Experience
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 8 pm
A Beatles tribute band arranges its magical mystery tour in chronological order, changing costumes and sets as the lads progress from "Love Me Do" to "The End."
Bill Staines
Wil-Mar Center, 8 pm
A beloved troubadour with roots in the '60s folk scene, Staines makes every live performance a comforting acoustic communion.
Po'girl
Cafe Montmartre, 9:30 pm
Although they reach back to soul-warming styles like old-timey country, '30s jazz, early blues and Cajun music, the women of Po'girl can hang with pretty much any contemporary acoustic act you can think of. And that's no mean feat. Jentri Colello opens.
Rico Nevotion
Annex, 9:30 pm
After working as a dancer for hire with Shaq and Prince, the smooth singer branched out into contemporary soul and R&B. He's sure to dish up hope, love and hard reality in equal measure. Janey Neal and Katana also appear.
Sunday 3.2
Arthur Live!
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 3 pm
The touring musical is based on the children's book and PBS series, starring the kid-like aardvark. Expect a dozen original songs in this tale of Arthur tricking the tooth fairy.
Complexions Contemporary Ballet
Wisconsin Union Theater, 8 pm
This multiethnic troupe has the strongest post-Balanchine ballet technique in New York, plus the funkiest moves.