Valentine’s Do Over


River North Chicago Dance Company
Photo by William Frederking

That whole line about love meaning you never have to say you’re sorry? Forget it. Guys who screwed up Valentine’s can make good by taking her to River North Chicago Dance Company’s passion-themed weekend engagement, featuring a world-première duet set to Etta James’s “At Last.” (FYI, dating illiterati: It doesn’t get much more romantic.) Shows run 8 p.m. Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th at Harris Theater (205 E. Randolph Dr.; 312-334-7777). Tickets are $25 to $50.

Best Bets for Things to Do This Week Eavesdrop

  • Patti Davis and Ronnie Jr. get the opera treatment in Reagan’s Children: An Opera-Oratorio, a no-holds-barred comic opera told from the perspective of the Gipper’s four offspring. (Maybe it’s the start of a trend, and the Mary Cheney Stroy will be next.) The show plays 7:30 p.m. Monday the 18th at Martyrs’ Pub (3855 N. Lincoln Ave.; 800-594-8499); doors open at 6 p.m. for a set by DJ Chris Widman. Tickets are $20; $10 for students.

Time Travel

  • Calling all Devil in the White City devotees: Relive the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition this weekend, when the only remaining White City structure, the Museum of Science and Industry (5700 S. Lake Shore Dr.; 773-684-1414), hosts virtual tours of the fairgrounds. (A high-tech team from UCLA created this visual simulation specifically for the MSI).  Tours run Friday the 15th through Monday the 18th and are included in general admission ($8.50 to $13), but get there early. Entry is limited; passes will be handed out starting at 9:30 a.m. each day on a first-come, first served basis.

Debate

  • It’s touchy subject matter, but then again, playwright Luis Enrique Gutiérrez Ortiz Monasterio, aka “LEGOM,” has been dubbed theatre’s enfant terrible by the Mexican press. In the telenovela-meets-comedy Las Chicas del 3.5 Floppies, two struggling single moms in Mexico City get high and try to get by. The play is performed in Spanish with English supertitles and runs Thursday the 21st through Saturday the 23rd at the Museum of Contemporary Art (220 E. Chicago Ave.; 312-397-4010).

Contemplate

  • Think of the National Geographic cover of the Afghan girl with the haunting eyes or the photo of Kim Phúc running down the street mid–napalm attack during the Vietnam War. Skin in Flames explores the ethical issues facing a photojournalist who takes an iconic image and returns, 20 years later, to the war-torn country that made him famous. Previews continue through Monday the 18th ($10); the play officially opens Tuesday the 19th and runs through March 29th at Stage Left Theatre (3408 N. Sheffield Ave.; 773-883-8830). Regular-run tickets are $20 to $25.

Moonwalk

  • In an installment of Andy Warhol’s Silver Clouds, visitors wade past helium-filled “pillows” that float floor to ceiling, a la heavenly bodies, through a 2,000-square-foot gallery at the Loyola University Museum of Art (820 N. Michigan Ave.; 312-915-7600). The exhibition opens Saturday the 16th and runs through April 27th. Admission is $6.

Chortle

  • Local improv troupe ComedySportz (929 W. Belmont Ave.; 773-549-8080) christens its new home Friday following a couple of vagabond years. Located in a former Ann Sather (don’t worry; the sticky buns just moved down the street), the theatre was designed specifically for the group—which, for the record, has nothing to do with sports. Shows pit improv teams against one another, with each team playing off audience suggestions and referees awarding points based on laughter. The curtain rises 8 p.m. Friday the 15th, and a post-show Champagne and dessert reception runs until midnight. Tickets, $25, include a swag bag.