Sarah Dash, Patti LaBelle and Nona Hendryx are back together and will perform at 8 p.m. Jan. 10 at the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State. Tickets are $50-$89.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday by phone at (312) 559-1212 or online at ticketmaster.com.

Young dancers grow up with dreams. Melissa Zaremba Crooch's involved the Radio City Rockettes, those impossibly long-legged dancers with the equally impossible kick line.

Chicago-based video-game publisher Midway is on the verge of collapse, and the company has pinned its survival on one game. As last gasps go, "Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe" tells the strongest story in the history of the franchise (written by comic book veterans Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray), but it remains to be seen if it will be enough for fans to get over the watered-down violence (a hallmark of the series) to get a T rating.

Following in the footsteps of Nintendo's popular ''Wii Fit,'' the video-game publisher known for the ''Madden'' football games is jumping into fitness software targeted mostly at women.

The battle of the sub sandwiches has been raging for a while now -- chains vs. independents. Let the chains have at it, because when I want a real sub sandwich, I dive head first into one of the neighborhood joints that over the years have stacked 'em and packed 'em just the way I like 'em.

The Publican, 837 W. Fulton Market; (312) 733-9555. English beer-hall atmosphere at this paean to pork, cured meats, seafood and more. The thrill-a-minute menu features items from many locales in the United States and around the world. Casual, rustic atmosphere with class. Try th fresh oysters, smoked trout, grilled chicken, ham chop and waffle. (Reviewed Nov. 14)

JJ Grey says he doesn't like to overthink things. As a subscriber to Occam's razor, the scientific principle that states, "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best," he believes, for one thing, that man never set foot on the moon.

Opening this weekend on the local art-house circuit:

No doubt about it, France is a very different place from what it was even 50 years ago, with people from many parts of the world, of all races and ethnic groups, now living there, changing the fabric, the face of the European nation.

New photography by Claudia Hart will counterpoint this year's Winter Group Show starting today at kasia kay art projects gallery.

Vitalist Theatre is presenting a world premiere for its holiday show, Anung's First American Christmas, based on the novella by Carl Nordgren.

The musical story of four legendary rock 'n' roll musicians who gathered on Dec. 4, 1956, for one of the greatest jam sessions in history is playing at the Apollo Theater through Jan. 4.

Camper Van Beethoven has never fit easily into any category, which is why CVB was one of the earliest "indie" bands. The legendary alternative rock group will perform two shows this weekend at the Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace.

Leave the impressionable youngsters at home if you plan to see the scurrilous Jim Jeffries at one of the five R-rated shows he will perform this weekend at the Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N. Broadway.

Diedrich Bader is bringing lightness to the Dark Knight.

For 18 months, one of television's best heroes has been missing. Jack Bauer hasn't saved a single life, much less the world. That isn't like him.

The members of the Giving Tree Band approach their musicianship a little differently than most rock or folk bands (the sound of TGTB is best characterized as a bit of both).

A snowball fight in your shirt sleeves? "Ice skating" in socks? Building an ice fort or dressing a snowman indoors? It's all possible at "Snow Much Fun," a new exhibit opening today at the Chicago Children's Museum. It brings the outdoors indoors and will be an annual seasonal exhibit.

Part spoof and part homage, "Tomato/Tomatoe" is a 50-minute sitcom complete with commercials performed live. It's partly scripted and partly improvised with the show's creators, Kevin Miller and Sherman Edwards, performing all the roles. The only thing they don't supply is the laugh track. Last year's "Pilot" episode proved so popular, the duo are back with "A Very Special Episode."

A slot machine built for two? Don't laugh. A major Las Vegas-based gaming manufacturer is hoping it will catch on as an ingenious way for people to share the casino gaming experience.

A new 2008 Audi Q7 and $3,000 cash will be the grand prize in a drawing on Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. at Four Winds Casino Resort in New Buffalo, Mich. There will be additional drawings held that day from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. in which guests can share in $18,000 in cash prizes. Visit the casino's W Club Players counter for details.

As the former artistic director of London's Young Vic and a regular at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, acclaimed British director Tim Supple has a long history with the plays of William Shakespeare. But through the years, he had never helmed "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

"You can learn more about a person in one hour of play than in a year of conversation."

If all of her roles stuck with her, Harvey native Keke Palmer would be a nearly perfect person.

In a brave new media world where most underground rock bands would kill to garner the sort of Internet buzz that greeted "Microcastle," the third album by the Atlanta, Ga., avant-pop quintet Deerhunter, bandleader Bradford Cox had a very different reaction when the music leaked last May, several months ahead of its official release.

To be sure, the New York-based SITI Company's production of "Radio Macbeth" is not a starter kit for Shakespeare's tale about a bloody quest for power, the guilt and destruction that can result from unbridled ambition, and the poisonous dynamics of a marriage.

Against the backdrop of the election of the first African-American president of the United States, Thomas Gibbons' 2007 play "A House Without Walls" -- the third installment in his trilogy about matters of race in this country -- takes on even more significance.

On the morning I chatted with actress Patricia Kalember -- best known for her roles on such television series as "Sisters," "thirtysomething" and "Kay O'Brien" -- she was heading off to a Latin class after spending the previous evening at the Barack Obama rally in Grant Park. In town for rehearsals of "Don't Dress for Dinner" (directed by John Tillinger), the classic farce by Swiss-French playwright Marc Camoletti (whose "Boeing-Boeing" is now a hit in its Broadway revival), she explained why she continues to be lured back to the stage.

John Francis Ficara was a Newsweek photojournalist when he found the story that would become a mission for him -- the erosion of the black-owned farm in America.

A music fan recently approached Craig Finn, lead singer of the Hold Steady, with an observation. He'd seen about 40 bands perform over the previous year, and only members of Finn's band and Drive-By Truckers were seen smiling onstage.

Soul, 1 Walker Ave., Clarendon Hills; (630) 920-1999. A spacious, colorful fine-dining restaurant with a menu that moves nicely back and forth between contemporary American and regional (as in Southern) comfort food. The prices are up there a bit, but if you want quality, you have to pay for it. The wine list is impressive and made all the more approachable with the extensive selection of wines by the glass. Try the cured salmon and griddled corn cakes, Caesar salad, hanger steak, blackened prawns, walleye pike and sweet potato tart. (Reviewed Nov. 7)

When the phone rang at an insanely early hour one day two months ago, violinist Leila Josefowicz did what most sane people do. She checked the caller ID and, not recognizing the number, decided to go back to sleep.

As you watch Chris Lilley playing all three leads in his new mockumentary series about an Australian high school, you can expect to have three responses.

Local wunderkind Carl Baratta collapses our conventional sense of perspective, humanity and orderly landscape into a violent, dystopian mess. His is a surprisingly beautiful vision, at once inviting and bewildering, soothing and tense, primitive and post-modern. His work can be seen in the exhibit Light Up and Be Wonderful! through Saturday at Western Exhibitions.

Channel your inner Elvis and get two free tickets to the show of your choice for the upcoming season at the Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Dr. in Lincolnshire.

An exhibit featuring works from the Museum of Contemporary Art's permanent collection is under way.

Michael Smith, whose songs have been recorded by such artists as the Kingston Trio, Jimmy Buffett, Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Goodman and Bonnie Koloc, will take guitar in hand for a performance Sunday evening in north suburban Mundelein.

The Art Institute of Chicago has put some of its most brilliant treasures on display for The Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestries, the largest tapestry exhibit ever mounted at the museum.

The Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, has a new gallery devoted to Chicago's robust publishing scene.

Louis Sachar was in Chicago on a book tour recently, but it wasn't for a new release. He was on the road in celebration of the fact that perhaps his best-known book for a young audience, Holes, has reached the age of perhaps its ideal reader -- 10 -- and is still selling briskly.

Very few people actually want to die and it's that commitment to living that, in a way, unites us. War and, more specifically, the need to kill or be killed, succeeds in robbing us of a basic respect for life. Aggression and violence both have the capacity to turn us into something un-human. In a way, entering the battle means admitting defeat.

It's not easy living with the label ''genius'' over your head all the time.

It's anything but game over for "Video Games Live." The multimedia concert, which features live performances of music from video-game franchises like "Mario," "Zelda," "Halo" and "Final Fantasy," returns to the Chicago area this weekend.

Ricky Gervais unplugged. Or unhinged? Either might describe the British comedian in his new HBO standup special, ''Ricky Gervais: Out of England'' (8 p.m. Saturday).

The Rockettes have high-kicked their way from a small-town troupe of 16 dancing girls from Missouri to international fame as the world-renowned stars of holiday shows at Radio City Music Hall (and touring shows like the one coming to the Rosemont Theatre next week).

International Game Technology always commands a high-profile presence at the annual Global Gaming Expo, which is being held next week at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway, a popular annual holiday tradition at Hollywood Casino Aurora, started Oct. 20 and will run through Thursday. Players Club members who earn 20 Star Points during that time frame are eligible to receive a complimentary Thanksgiving turkey. Players who have their e-mail address on file with Hollywood need to earn only 15 points. The turkeys will be given away Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. in front of the Studio Store in the pavilion.