Friday 8/1 – Thursday 8/7
2 SATURDAY Flying monkeys, melting witches, magic slippers, and warbling midgets are nothing compared to the shenanigans in Frank Baum’s original Wizard of Oz. In his novel the tin woodsman dismembers himself with his own ax, Dorothy falls for a rich munchkin, and the scarecrow wrings the necks of 40 crows. All that in a book written for children. Tonight the Cook County Theatre Department celebrates its fifth anniversary with a summer-stock production of Baum’s story created by actors, designers, and musicians from various theater companies, including Redmoon, Plasticine, and Doorika. They’ve spent only a week rehearsing the show, which promises to be just as odd as the original book. It’s at 8 Friday and tonight at the Cook County Theatre Department, 2255 S. Michigan. The suggested donation is $10; call 312-842-8234.
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5 TUESDAY By day they drive on sidewalks, use one-way streets as two-lane highways, and employ pedestrians as moving pylons. By night they don even grungier clothes, pick up instruments, and jam. On Tuesday nights you can catch some modern-day Pony Express riders onstage at the Chicago cycle courier concerts. Tonight’s show includes the country music of Ken Walzek, a drum circle called Gorgonzola, and an impromptu bike-messenger band called Concrete Shithouse Drunks. It starts at 8 at Phyllis’ Musical Inn, 1800 W. Division. Admission is $1 for messengers with ID, $2 for the rest of us. Call 773-486-9862.
