Muskie Love
Barrymore Theatre, 7:30 pm. Also Saturday (4 & 8 pm), Sunday (2 & 6 pm), Wednesday & Thursday (7:30 pm), Jan. 26, 27, 30 & 31
The Madison Repertory Theatre brings back a sellout show from last season -- a homegrown musical comedy set in Door County. It's loosely based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, as two couples (including rival fishing guides Bea and Ben) fall in love.
Madison Symphony Orchestra
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 7:30 pm. Also Saturday (8 pm) & Sunday (2:30 pm), Jan. 26 & 27
Guest conductor Arild Remmereit leads the MSO through the dark harmonies and electric rhythms of Dvorak's "Symphony No. 7," along with Grieg's "Peer Gynt Suite." Guest violinist Jennifer Frautschi displays her lyrical gifts in Alexander Glazunov's romantic "Violin Concerto in A Minor."
Monster Nationals
Alliant Energy Center Coliseum, 7:30 pm. Also Saturday (7:30 pm) & Sunday (1 pm), Jan. 26 & 27
This monster-truck show is billed as a family event, though only for families with a taste for doomsday machines called "Nitemare" and "Executioner." Expect bumper-to-bumper action.
Garden Party
TAPIT/new works Studio Theater, 7:30 pm
TAPIT combines comedy, music and tap dance in a free performance celebrating gardeners. It's a cabaret-style show featuring vignettes about battling plants, mustard researchers and a meeting of Gardener's Anonymous.
Folk Ball Festival
UW Memorial Union, through Jan. 27
The folk extravaganza includes three dance parties on Friday, featuring live music (7:30 & 8:30 pm); dance workshops on Saturday (10 am-5 pm) and Sunday (11 am-4 pm); and the blowout Folk Ball Dance Party on Saturday night (Great Hall, 7 pm), with music by Reptile Palace Orchestra, Orkestar Bez Ime and others.
Lisa Lampanelli
Orpheum Theatre, 8 pm
The bawdy insult comedian has emerged as a TV personality, with appearances on late-night talk shows and roasts. She gives Don Rickles a run for his money, earning the nickname "queen of mean."
Immersed
Commonwealth Gallery, 100 S. Baldwin St., 8 pm
Video artist Marina Kelly and photographer Kim Keyes collaborate for this one-night event. It documents excursions into nature, striving to re-create the sensory experience for viewers.
Henhouse Prowlers
Mother Fool's Coffeehouse, 8 pm
The Chicagoans have the vocal harmonies, the picking skills and the energy to please bluegrass purists.
Verbal Kent
UW Memorial Union Rathskeller, 9:30 pm
The Chicago MC didn't skip a beat after surviving a stabbing in 2002. Though some of his insistent, plainspoken rhymes deal with both the event and the recovery process, he doesn't ask anyone for sympathy. The Fall Guys, Defcee, Daily Lyrical Product, and Jyroscope fill out this free hip-hop get-together.
All the Pretty Horses
High Noon Saloon, 10 pm
All the Pretty Horses gallop and whinny through their hard, transgender goth-glam for the benefit of those who dare. Black leather and makeup are de rigueur. Flat Atom and Beatallica open.
Saturday 1.26
Alyo African Dance and Drumming
Olbrich Botanical Gardens, 10:30 am & 1:30 pm
The 16-member Chicago troupe whips up a world of rhythm, presenting dances from different parts of Africa.
Susan Arnout Smith
Booked for Murder, 2 pm Smith reads from The Timer Game, a thriller about a former doctor chasing the madman who's kidnapped her daughter. Tom Wopat
Stoughton Opera House, 7:30 pm
The Lodi native has had an impressive career on Broadway since his Dukes of Hazzard days. He sings and tells stories in this homecoming show.
Bobby Bryan & the Original Downtown Players
Café Montmartre, 9 pm
Locals already know that smooth-voiced, L.A.-bred singer-guitarist bluesman Bobby Bryan has the skills and the tunes to make his mark on the national blues scene. A trip with the Players to Memphis to compete in next week's influential International Blues Challenge is definitely a step toward much wider exposure.
Eastern Blok
UW Memorial Union Rathskeller, 9:30 pm
Virtuoso Serbian guitarist Goran Ivanovic led this standout Chicago-based quartet on a stirring journey through Middle Eastern, Eastern European and jazz motifs on last year's NPR-approved Folk Tales. Undoubtedly, they'll dazzle live. Free!
Westside Andy & Mel Ford Band
Harmony Bar, 9:45 pm
Although the local blues vets' recent flirtation with rockabilly was a creative success, we expect they'll roll out plenty of gristly Chicago-inspired 12-bars tonight.
Little Blue Crunchy Things
High Noon Saloon, 10 pm
Hard to believe it's been eight years since the hip-hop-friendly funk-rockers packed dance parties with ecstatic college kids. This reunion show should be a big ol' fun sandwich.
Sunday 1.27
Celebrating Youth
Monona Terrace, 11 am-5 pm
The kids entertain us with an "Other Worldly Circus," featuring 30 groups on four stages, along with exhibitors and hands-on activities. The grand finale is a big top filled with acrobats, jugglers and clowns.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Eric Carle Favorites
Overture Center's Capitol Theater, 1 & 3 pm
Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia adapts classic children's stories by Eric Carle, approximating his distinctive artwork with large-scale, glow-in-the-dark puppets.
Mike Walbridge's Chicago Footwarmers
Coliseum Bar, 2 pm
The traditional jazz band harks back to the 1920s with a toe-tapping Dixieland repertoire.
Massacre (The Musical)
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
A Catholic schoolgirl swings an ax in the locally made horror film. Rockers Aporia perform after the screening.
Scythian
Annex, 9:30 pm
A staple of East Coast folk stomps, D.C.-based Scythian caper through rousing Celtic tunes tinged with punk energy. They'll put a smile on the face of anyone who gets off on jumping fiddle music.