It's not every day you can stuff your face on Italian, Mexican, Thai, and good old-fashioned American food in one place. A Tasteful Affair, at the Crawford Auto and Aviation Museum tonight, not only gives you that option, it also offers an open bar featuring beers from the Great Lakes Brewing Company. Vivo, Juniper Grille, and Mi Pueblo are among the local eateries taking part in the benefit for the museum and Harvest for Hunger. Eddie Brunswick & the Flaming Tailspins bring the noise. Plus, you can take a look at all the classic cars while enjoying a plateful of many tasty cultures. It runs from 7 to 9 p.m. at the museum, 10825 East Boulevard. Tickets are $35 and $40; call 216-706-7335 for more information.
Friday, March 21
Habitat for Insanity's Rick Ferguson promises a less political outing this time around. "We just want to make people laugh and have a good time," says the producer-director of the local comedy troupe. "It's a distraction from world events right now." Too Old for the Flats, Too Young for Dr. Phil, Habitat's third revue, features the usual mix of local and topical humor, including "Under the Hill (Too Old for the Flats, Too Young for Dr. Phil)," a country song performed by the group's female members. "We went into the studio and recorded a little ditty about [being] single and 30," says Ferguson. Too Old for the Flats is at Cleveland Black Box Theatre (inside Cabaret Dada), 1210 West Sixth Street, Friday and Saturday through March 29. Show time is 8 p.m. Tickets are $8 and $10; call 216-696-4242 for more information.
Saturday, March 22
The Canadian dance troupe Compagnie Marie Chouinard doesn't make it to the States very often. Which is why its show tonight at Tri-C East's Performing Arts Center is such a big deal. Focusing on "Le Cri du Monde," which somehow bridges dance and primal scream (lots of howling and shrieking accompany the piece), the 13-year-old group makes structured art out of apparent chaos. Compagnie Marie Chouinard is at the Performing Arts Center at Tri-C East (4250 Richmond Road in Highland Hills) at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20; call 216-987-2544 to learn more.
Sunday, March 23
We know that Sesame Street Live comes to town every other month, but its latest show, Everyone Makes Music, needs to be singled out, if only for the rollicking "Crumb-a-Rumba" centerpiece (led by Cookie Monster, natch). Parents and Disco Stu alike may groan at the Muppetization of "The Hustle" and "You Should Be Dancing," but really, how can you not love a production that boasts not only a song called "C Is for Cookie," but also cutie furball Elmo rockin' the house and Bert and Ernie gettin' busy on the trashcans, Stomp-style? Everyone Makes Music wraps up at the Palace Theatre (1519 Euclid Avenue) with 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. shows today. Tickets are $12 to $24; call 216-241-6000.
Monday, March 24
Busy guiding wife Shania Twain's career, superproducer Mutt Lange hasn't had much time for former clients Def Leppard lately. Not that it would have made much difference on X, the band's Muttless CD from last year. Determined to act their age, the fortysomething rockers slow things down quite a bit, going from the hyperdriven radio gloss of yesteryear to "You're So Beautiful," the type of "adult" love song Phil Collins once had a market on. Expect plenty of those tunes tonight, but you can also count on the hits that made folks listen in the first place: "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," "Photograph," "Pour Some Sugar on Me," "Armageddon It," et al. The Lep is at Gund Arena (100 Gateway Plaza) at 7:30. Tickets are $35 and $45, available by calling 216-241-5555.
Tuesday, March 25
Everyone's favorite musical about naked, overweight, and pasty working-class guys, The Full Monty is making its Cleveland debut tonight. And while its original film setting of Sheffield, England, has moved to Buffalo for this theatrical interpretation, much of the hit movie's favorite indulgences -- like the g-string-clad factory workers and the local gals who support them -- are intact. The men do go "full monty" in the end (for those of you whose British film history stops at Lawrence of Arabia, "full monty" means "butt-naked"), but it's more is-that-genitalia? vague than dangling-penis obvious (think shadows and light). The Full Monty is at the Palace Theatre (1519 Euclid Avenue) through April 6. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets range from $21.50 to $48.50, available by calling 216-241-6000.
Wednesday, March 26
Andrew Montlack's Bohica, showing tonight as part of the Cleveland International Film Festival, is about a movie director who turns to murder when things don't go his way. Autobiographical? "It's not based on things that happened; it is inspired by things that happened," Montlack says. "It's a darkly comic fable about a guy who puts more responsibility onto himself than he ought to. I reached the crossroads where I had to decide what kind of person I was going to be." Bohica (filmed in town by former Clevelander turned New Yorker Montlack) screens at 7 tonight at Tower City Cinemas, downtown at Tower City Center on Public Square. Tickets are $7 and $9. Call 216-623-3456 for more information.
"This is an opportunity to see the best players in the country before they become superstars," says Robert J. Geoghan, founder of the All American High School Basketball Game happening tonight at Gund Arena. "I'm selling the future, not the present. It's sorta like See the future now.'" And how. LeBron James is this year's big draw; in the past (this is the game's 26th anniversary), the game has featured moneymakers-in-waiting Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant. "I want to do something that benefits everybody," Geoghan says of the game, which benefits Ronald McDonald House Charities. The All American High School Basketball Game starts at 7 p.m. at Gund Arena, 100 Gateway Plaza. (A girls' game tips off at 4:30 p.m.) Tickets range from $10 to $50, available by calling 216-241-2121.
