Friday 11.30
A Grand Night for Singing
Majestic Theatre, 7 pm. Also Saturday, Dec. 1, 7 pm
Four Seasons Theatre brings musical theater back to the Majestic, recalling its earlier incarnation as a vaudeville theater. The Rodgers & Hammerstein revue features unconventional arrangements and a live orchestra.
Madeline's Christmas
Bartell Theatre, 12:30 & 7 pm. Also Saturday, Dec. 1, 1 & 4 pm
MadCAP presents a children's musical adapted from Ludwig Bemelmans' picture books about a mischievous girl in a Parisian boarding school.
Tidings from the Seasonally Affected
Bartell Theatre, 8 pm. Also Saturday (2 & 8 pm) & Thursday (8 pm), Dec. 1 & 6
Encore Studio for the Performing Arts, a professional theater company for people with disabilities, presents a farcical romp about a woman facing her first holiday season outside an institution.
Sones de México
Overture Center's Capitol Theater, 8 pm
The rising Chicago band's repertory includes lively Mexican songs, as well as untraditional material played in Mexican son fashion.
UW Choral Union & Symphony Orchestra
Mills Hall in the UW Humanities Bldg., 8 pm. Also Saturday, Dec. 1, 8 pm
Nearly 250 singers and instrumentalists chill you to the bone with Mozart's "Requiem." Karol Szymanowski's "Stabat Mater" is also on the bill.
Lord Carrett
Comedy Club on State Street, 8 & 10:30 pm. Also Thursday (8:30 pm) & Saturday (8 & 10:30 pm), Nov. 29 & Dec. 1
The standup comedian was recently featured in a Wall Street Journal story about comedians who work clean. He takes his inspiration from Johnny Carson, building his show around "saves."
Michelle Shocked
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
From her early days as an anarcho-punk folkie to her current membership in a spirit-shaking gospel choir, Shocked has always gone her own way. Expect some passionate musical expressions of faith at this Godly soiree. Maureen Davis opens.
Tom Vollman
Klinic Bar & Grill, 9 pm
The well-traveled Americana songsmith invites favorable comparisons with Ryan Adams and the Bottle Rockets. Undoubtedly, he'll leave everything he has up on the Klinic's tiny stage. Three Pence are also on the bill.
The Iron Maidens
Annex, 9:30 pm
An all-female Iron Maiden tribute? We're there. Not so sure Bruce Dickinson can hit all those high yodels in "Run to the Hills" anymore, but it's a cinch the lead Maid can. Mirror Black, Sacred Dawn and Rictus Grin open.
Saturday 12.1
Stephen Hilyard: The Beautiful Lie
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, through Feb. 17
The Madison artist shows videos and photographic works, exploring the nature of the image in contemporary society. His doctored photographs juxtapose monstrous green waves with images of cemeteries; his videos combine soap-opera dialogue with animated images of spring blossoms.
Judith Thurman
University Book Store-Hilldale, 2 pm
The cultural critic discusses Cleopatra's Nose, featuring probing essays (mostly on fashion) culled from 20 years at The New Yorker.
Festival Choir of Madison
Overture Center's Capitol Theater, 7:30 pm
The choir celebrates its 35th anniversary, along with introducing new artistic director Drew Collins. A program called "Rejoice!" features carols from around the world and the world premiere of Collins' own "Velvet Shoes."
Christine Lavin & the Mistletones
Verona High School Performing Arts Center, 7:30 pm
The former member of the Four Bitchin' Babes presents a holiday show with her own brand of comedy-folk music.
WORT Birthday Party
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
We need our alternative radio now more than ever. WORT-FM celebrates its 32nd year on the air with birthday cake and music by Aniv de la Rev, the Reptile Palace Orchestra and others.
She Is So Beautiful/She Is So Blonde
Tornado Club's Corral Room, 9:30 pm
Sleeping in the Aviary's Elliott Kozel recorded his woozy, devilishly hermetic and periodically stupendous solo debut in his bedroom, so it makes perfect sense that he'd fete its release in this tiny rec room of a bar. Sleeping in the Aviary, the Dundrearies and Elden Calder also contribute their own brands of indie.
Michael Coleman & the Backbreakers
Harmony Bar, 9:45 pm
Coleman polished his blues chops as a sideman with the great James Cotton, but he's hardly trapped in the old school. Boisterous funk, soul and R&B are all staples of his vivifying sets.
Sunday 12.2
Old Befana
Waisman Center, 1 pm
Madison singer-guitarist Ken Lonnquist and friends present an original musical tale with a novel take on the Christmas story.
Bodog Battle of the Bands
High Noon Saloon, 5 pm
Buried Future, Caustic Vision, Jack Pratt & the Black Yak, Know Boundaries, Profane and many more hopefuls engage in musical combat in hopes of moving one step closer to scoring a shot at a $1 million contract in the Bodog Music Battle of the Bands reality TV series.
