alt textRICCARDO MUTI
All eyes are on the baton as the CSO’s new music director returns for take 2.

Febuary 3-19: After canceling his inaugural fall residency due to illness, the orchestra’s new music director, Riccardo Muti, returns to Chicago—fingers crossed—to lead the pianist Mitsuko Uchida (2/3–5, 8), music by the CSO composer-in-residence Anna Clyne and the violinist Vadim Repin (2/10–12, 15), and the pianist Leif Ove Andsnes (2/17–19).

See cso.org for times. $23–$239.

 

Photograph: Stuart Ramson/Associated Press

 

alt textGANG OF FOUR
In a month stocked with newfangled populist-lite rock, the essential postpunk Brit band brings the heat to Metro.

February 11: G4’s combination of jagged guitars, punk-funk rhythms, and protest lyrics continues to work its influence on groups such as Bloc Party. Now composed of two original members (vocalist Jon King and guitarist Andy Gill) and a new rhythm section, the band is touring on the heels of its first album in five years, Content.

At 8, $28.50. 3730 N Clark. metrochicago.com.

 

Photograph: Mike Gullic

 

alt textWORKING
A voice made for radio takes center stage: Studs Terkel’s signature tome gets the Broadway treatment

February 2–May 8: Wicked’s Wizard, Gene Weygandt, and his cast mate Barbara Robertson (Madame Morrible) go from one Stephen Schwartz/Broadway in Chicago show to another, trading in their emerald attire for blue-collar duds in this musical adaptation of Studs Terkel’s ode to working-class Americans. With the vocal powerhouse E Faye Butler also punching in, expect a production that’s more joy than toil.

Previews 2/15–3/1. All tickets $67.50–$77.50. Broadway Playhouse, 175 E Chestnut. broadwayinchicago.com.

 

Photograph: Chicago Tribune

 

alt textTHE SELDOMS
Don’t feel like dancing about the economy? Leave it to the local choreographer Carrie Hanson, whose troupe gets fiscal this month in Stupormarket.

February 17–20: The culmination of three years of research on the current economic crisis, artistic director Hanson’s full-length postmodern dissertation reflects our lean times—from a declining luxury market to home foreclosures—with equally streamlined gestures.

At 8, 2/20 at 3, $18. Stage 773, 1225 W Belmont. stage773.com.

 

Photograph: William Frederking

 

alt textRINK AT WRIGLEY
The only thing colder than the Cubs come September? Ice-skating in the frozen Friendly Confines mid-February.

Through February 27: Wrigley Field, Addison and Clark. rinkatwrigley.com.

 

 

 

 

 

Photograph: Oleg Shelomentsev/istockphoto