architecture Sunday Smart Start at the Robie House
It’s too late to be the early bird—tickets to Wright Plus, the annual Oak Park pilgrimage offering peeks inside eight private residences by Frank Lloyd Wright, are sold out—but those willing to rise and shine Sunday can snag a fine consolation worm (ahem, prize). Smart Start begins with a behind-the-scenes tour of the Robie House, which turns 100 this year, followed by a leisurely stroll through Hyde Park to the nearby Smart Museum, where guides will discuss related works, including the original Robie dining table and chairs. A gourmet boxed lunch caps the morning off—which means you get your worm, after all.
GO: May 16 at 8. $100. Robie House, 5757 S Woodlawn. gowright.org

classical Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic
It’s a lucky week for procrastinators—but don’t push it: A very (very) small number of rush tickets remain for the return of the Dude, aka the hottest young conductor since the invention of the curling iron. Here he leads his California orchestra in John Adams’s L.A.-inspired composition, City Noir.
GO: May 14 at 8. $75; tickets available by phone, 312-294-3000, and in-person only. Symphony Center, 220 S Michigan. cso.org

ALSO THIS WEEK: As if Dudamania wasn’t enough: Also May 14 (with additional concerts May 13 and 15), the indefatigable Yo-Yo Ma premieres a cello concerto by his Silk Road collaborator Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky.

theatre The Gay American
If you thought there was something tragicomical about New Jersey’s ex-gov James “I Am a Gay American” McGreevey, you weren’t alone. A troupe of youthful Kalamazoo transplants aims to make some noise with this world-premiere farce by the young playwright Kristian O’Hare.
GO: May 16-26. $10. The Ruckus at the Side Project, 1439 W Jarvis. ruckustheater.org

ALSO THIS WEEK: The wunderkind composer Joshua Schmidt (Adding Machine) provides the score for Baal, TUTA’s socially subversive bio of a drunken, womanizing wastrel; plus, a fine finale to Chicago’s mini Athol Fugard fest, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, begins previews at the Court.

concerts Murder by Death
On its new album, Good Morning, Magpie, the Indiana country-gothic quartet tones down the turmoil in favor of Johnny Cash–style vocals over elegiac cello. When it comes to murderous mayhem, they walk the line.
GO: May 14 at 10. $15. Lincoln Hall, 2424 N Lincoln. lincolnhallchicago.com

film Work Series; Vincent: A Life in Color
A couple of Chicago-centric options at the Siskel. First: The homegrown filmmaker Jennifer Burns’s documentary Vincent—on Chicago’s iconoclast “Fashion Man,” Vincent P. Falk, known to Loop regulars for his eye-popping suits—wraps this week. Then: three films from Daniel Kraus’s Work Series, a set of documentaries inspired by Studs Terkel. Both Kraus and the subject of his latest film, Rabbi Jay Holstein, host a Q&A following the May 15 screening of Professor.
GO: Vincent: A Life in Color runs through May 13. Work Series runs May 15-20, with screenings of Professor May 15 at 8 and May 19 at 8:15. $7-$10 per film. Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N State. siskelfilmcenter.org