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Top Pick

Not an Animal. Don't miss Purgason Productions' presentation of The Elephant Man, the tragic-yet-inspiring true story of Joseph (John) Merrick, an intelligent, sensitive Englishman from the late 1800s who suffered from Proteus syndrome (diagnosed incorrectly at the time as elephantiasis) an ultra-rare disease that horribly disfigured his body. Viciously mistreated by society, relegated to the life of a circus sideshow freak, and utterly lonely, Merrick is eventually "rescued" by a kindhearted surgeon, Dr. Frederick Treves, who helps transform his life. See The Elephant Man in the Helmerich Theatre of Cascia Hall, 2050 S. Yorktown, July 18-22 and 25-29. Showtimes are Wed.-Sat. at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm.

Thursday, July 26

Ah, death. It's funny stuff. Case in point: Owasso Community Theatre's production of Arsenic and Old Lace, the revered stage classic following the exploits of theater critic Mortimer Brewster and his crazy family, including a pair of murderous spinster aunts who like to target geriatric men, a loopy uncle who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt, and a seriously psychopathic brother who accidentally looks like Boris Karloff. Sounds like fun? Head out to Owasso High School, 12901 E. 86th St. N., and catch a performance tonight. 7pm.

Friday, July 27

It's a big entertainment weekend in Tulsa! DFest kicks off tonight, bringing 150 local and regional bands to downtown T-Town over the weekend, along with an impressive lineup of headliners like The Flaming Lips, who will fire up their over-the-top stage extravaganza at 11pm tonight on the main stage at 2nd & Detroit. If comedy is your thang, head over to the Tulsa PAC, 2nd & Cincinnati, and catch tell-it-like-it-is comedienne and outspoken TV star Kathy Griffin onstage at 8pm. Either way, prepare to be blasted. You know you love it.

Saturday, July 28

Sometimes indulging in a bit of nonsense is the best way to make sense of the world, ya know? The Broken Arrow Community Playhouse, 1800 S. Main, will demonstrate this phenomenon today when they present the debut of their Youth Theater with a production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, an updated version of the Lewis Carroll classic children's story. Curtain goes up at 2pm.

Sunday, July 29

Sunday afternoon jazz has become a tradition in downtown Tulsa. Today is no exception. If you're into Duke Ellington classics, make your way to the Tulsa PAC, 2nd & Cincinnati, for Sophisticated Ladies, a showcase of Cotton Club era standards like "Satin Doll," "It Don't Mean a Thing (If You Ain't Got That Swing)", "Take the A Train," and more. Music starts at 3pm. Afterward, head over to the Jazz Depot, 111 E. 1st St., for an early evening concert with Chuck Cissel and the Sonny Gray Quintet, 5pm.

Monday, July 30

Sometimes things just aren't as they seem. Joshua, the new psychological thriller showing at Circle Cinema, 10 S. Lewis, follows the life of a seemingly happy upscale American family with a 9-year-old boy named (you guessed it) Joshua. He's well adjusted, smart, friendly, courteous... and possibly completely evil. Find out what happens to these poor folks at a screening tonight. Call 592-FILM for showtimes.

Tuesday, July 31

For the most part, modern metal music deals with themes of angst, anger and alienation. You know... all that "my life is crap" stuff as screamed by tattooed 20somethings wearing eyeliner, torn jeans and "we really actually hate the whole world... seriously" scowls. Now, thank God, we can add a fourth category to this oh-so-creative thematic list: Ancient Egyptian mysticism and culture. Yep, that's right folks, Nile (from South Carolina) brings its own lyrical take on death metal to the stage tonight at Cain's Ballroom, 423 N. Main, along with opening acts Spinefed, Sounds of War, and Eighty Proof. Open your minds, people. Don't be afraid. Doors open at 7pm.

Wednesday, August 1

See Isreal in a brand new light today at the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, 2021 E. 71st. Check out "Celestial Nights," the museum's current exhibit featuring black and white photography of the night skies over Israel by Neil Folberg. Gallery hours are 10am-5pm.

Thursday, August 2

Got a hankerin' for Oktoberfest style food and drink... at a baseball game? Well, tonight's your lucky night. Take the family to Drillers Stadium, 15th & Yale, and catch the Drillers in action against the Wichita Wranglers. It's Oktoberfest Night, 2-for-1 Brat Night and Thirsty Thursday... which means you can get copious amounts of fabulous Germanic foodstuff and libations all night long (or, at least, for most of the night). Game starts at 7:05pm.

Beware little old ladies. Especially the Brewster sisters. In Arsenic and Old Lace, Mortimer Brewster, a theatre-hating drama critic, must deal with his crazy family before his wedding, which includes two spinster aunts who have taken to murdering lonely old men, an uncle who believes he's Teddy Roosevelt, and a criminally murderous brother who, due to a botched plastic surgery attempt, looks like Boris Karloff. You can see this play at Owasso Community Theatre, Owasso High School, 12901 E. 86th St. North, July 26-28. Performances are at 7pm. Tickets are $6-8 at the door. Call 274-3420 for details.

Tulsa's Going Diverse. Again. And this year, Diversafest is spreading its wings out in the Blue Dome District. Headliners at this year's music festival and conference will include the Flaming Lips and Leon Russell, but there will also be 150 of the best local and regional acts to catch at numerous venues around the area. Over at the Doubletree Downtown, you can catch the trade show and music industry panels and clinics. It'll be a weekend o' fun July 27-28. Two-day concert wristbands will cost you $20 at any of the venues, and All Access badges will run you $150. For a complete schedule and full details, visit dfest.com.

For Mature Audiences Only. The self-proclaimed D-List celebrity and comedienne Kathy Griffin will hit the stage of Tulsa's Brady Theater, 105 W. Brady, on Friday, July 27. Don't worry, she'll be just as abrasive, outspoken and offensive as ever. We hope, anyhow! Hear her scoop on celebrity gossip and numerous other topics when the show starts at 8pm... provided you have your ticket, of course. It's a sold-out show, so if you're a procrastinator and really wanted to go, you'll just have to hit the pavement with the scalpers.

They'll Paralyze You. Canadian band Finger Eleven have really burst onto the American scene this year, though they've been around for, well, over a decade. Still, some things get better with age. And now they're preparing to take over the stage of the Cain's Ballroom, 423 N. Main, on Thurs., July 26. Joining them will be California rockers Strata and the bouncing Aussies, Sick Puppies. Doors swing open at 7pm, and you can get advance tickets for $17.25 at the Box Office, Starship Records, Reasor's stores, and gettix.net.

Make Some Noise. Kansas City Tech N9ne rapper is making yet another appearance at the Cain's Ballroom on Fri., July 27, along with those krazy Kottonmouth Kings. They're sure to get the house bumpin', but not before bands Hed PE, Blaze Ya Dead Homie and Sub Noize Souljaz get a chance to make their own noise. Hope you can see the stage through all the smoke. Doors will open at 7pm, and advance tickets will run you $30.

And Now for Something New. Ever heard of death metal inspired by ancient Egyptian mysticism, art and religion? Well, now you have. Enter Nile, from South Carolina, hotbed of ancient Egyptian history. They'll show off their knowledge and chops on the second stage of the Cain's Ballroom, next door at Bob's, 423 N. Main, on Tues., July 31. Sharing the stage with them that night will be Muskogee metal band Spinefed, thrashers Sounds of War and headbangers Eighty Proof. Advance tickets to the show are $18. Doors are at 7pm.

What's In Your Closet? So, it's becoming a monthly thing at the Nightingale to have poor souls, like yourself, come in and air their proverbial dirty laundry in front of strangers in a black box theater and call it entertainment. We are, of course, talking about Old Crow Confessions, the forum in which anything goes, as long as it's from the heart and was, until now, a secret. Seems like there's something cathartic about this process. The "show" starts at 10pm, and it'll cost you $5 to get in. The Nightingale Theater is located at 1416 E. 4th. For more info, call 633-8666.

Friends of the Gaelic. Cairde na Gael is ready to take you by storm. This band's music is based on the styles of great Irish bands such as The Dubliners, The Clancys and The Wolftones, but they throw in a bit of Oklahoma style to get what they call Okie Irish music. Cairde na Gael plays traditional dance tunes, pub songs, ballads and sing-a-longs. They'll be performing in the Norman Theatre of the Tulsa PAC, 2nd & Cincinnati, on Fri., July 27, at 8pm. Tickets are $10, $12 for table seats, and can be purchased at the Box Office, myticketoffice.com or 596-7111.

Lifting Up Their Voices. Come be a part of celebrating women through the restorative power of theatre, music and poetry! Resonating Voices will show at 8pm on Sat., July 28, in the Norman Theatre of the Tulsa PAC, 2nd & Cincinnati. Award-winning actor Vanessa Adams Harris has gathered local talent to bring to life the triumphant and inspirational stories of some of the women served by Tulsa's Resonance Center for Women, Inc. The show consists of a series of women's monologues with musical numbers linking each act to the next. The show is recommended for mature audiences, and tickets range from $8-10.

A Salute to the Gentleman of Jazz. Sophisticated Ladies, presented by Lochran Theatrical Ventures, will showcase the best of jazz composer Duke Ellington's song library and is an absorbing and eclectic entree into the Harlem Renaissance and Cotton Club era. At 3pm on Sunday, July 29 at the Tulsa PAC, 2nd & Cincinnati, you can hear hit songs like "Satin Doll," "It Don't Mean a Thing (If You Ain't Got That Swing)," "Take the A Train," "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," "I'm Beginning to See the Light" and "I Got it Bad and That Ain't Good." Tickets are $10-25.

Curiouser and Curiouser. The Broken Arrow Community Playhouse, 1800 S. Main, is proud to present its first-ever Youth Theatre production, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which follows Alice and that rabbit to a delightful, entertaining world of childhood fantasies! Alice's Adventures in Wonderland gives a modern view to an old classic, where nonsense makes quite good sense. You can still catch the second weekend of this show at 2pm on July 28-29. All seats are $8. For more information, call 258-0077.

The Quest For Human Dignity. The Elephant Man is the true story of the life of John Merrick, a remarkably sensitive and intelligent man trapped within a hideously deformed body. Merrick's tale is the heartbreaking yet somehow uplifting story of his journey from social revulsion to celebrity. The play tells the story of his struggle for survival, making his living as a circus sideshow attraction, before he is "rescued" by a compassionate young surgeon, Dr. Frederick Treves, who finds Merrick a home in the London Hospital where he works. You can see this play in the Helmerich Theatre of Cascia Hall, 2050 S. Yorktown, July 25-29. Showtimes are Wed.-Sat. at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm. Tickets range from $25-28 and a portion of all proceeds will be donated to DVIS. To get yours, call (877) 238-5596 or visit smarttix.com.

It's Hot, Hot, Hot. Outside anyhow. Inside the Pearl Gallery, 1201 E. 3rd St., the air will be cool, but the art will be sizzling during "Long Hot Summer." Come see a collection of nudes and summer themed art on Thurs., July 26. The opening reception will be from 5-9pm and is open and free to the public. The show will continue to run through August 17, Wed.-Fri. from 1-6pm, with extended hours on Thurs. until 8pm, or any time the lights are on. For more info, call 588-1500.

And All That Jazz. Sunday, July 29, brings yet another concert from the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, and this is one you won't want to miss. Catch CEO Chuck Cissel play with renowned Tulsa pianist Sonny Gray and his quintet at 5pm in the Jazz Depot, 111 E. 1st. They'll be playing some favorite swinging jazz standards that will make you wanna get up and dance. Tickets for the show run $3-10, and you can make your reservations by calling 596-1001.

The Perfect Bad Seed. Joshua is a smart, bone-chilling psychological thriller about an upscale American family faced with an inner source of horror. Joshua is remarkably intelligent and chillingly precocious. He has an angelic courtesy and an easy cool that contradict his young age of nine. But his family's perfect life and happy faces begin to crack. Is it all a series of eerie coincidences, or are they in the presence of an evil mind? And could it be Joshua who, like his Biblical namesake, is bringing the house tumbling down around his family? Find out, when the film opens July 27 at the Circle Cinema, 10 S. Lewis. Call 592-FILM for showtimes.

Ain't No Business. Like Show Business, the new documentary that follows four Broadway musicals from rehearsal through the 2004 Tony Awards: "Caroline, or Change," "Taboo," "Avenue Q" and "Wicked." On top of the usual challenges (fundraising, rewrites, auditions, marketing), they all have to endure scrutiny by a Greek chorus of theater critics and gossip columnists. Yikes! Enjoy the film on July 29, 31, & August 2 at the Circle Cinema. 592-FILM for showtimes.

A Time and Place, Not So Far Removed. In collaboration with Tulsa Public Library, Circle Cinema will screen Killer of Sheep on July 30-31 at 7pm for free, with a Q&A with lead actor Henry Sanders. The film examines the black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, an insightful dreamer who is growing numb from the toll of working at a slaughterhouse. Frustrated by money problems, he finds respite in moments of simple beauty: the warmth of a coffee cup against his cheek, slow dancing with his wife in the living room, holding his daughter. The film offers no solutions: it merely presents life--sometimes hauntingly bleak, sometimes filled with inspirational joy and tender humor.

Wrapping the Season. On Sat., July 28, the af2 league Tulsa Talons will play their final game of the season against South Georgia, hopefully making their season record 13-2! Way to go, guys. The kickoff will be at 7pm in the Tulsa Convention Center at 7th & Houston. It'll also be Fan Appreciation Night, meaning that the evening will be full of giveaways and tokens of appreciation for those faithful followers, so go prove you're one of them. Tickets range from $10-50 and may be bought at 294-1000 or tulsatalons.com.

Ah, the Smell of Freshly Mowed Grass. Nothing like an evening at the ballpark for stimulating the senses. Here's another series this week: the Tulsa Drillers will face off against those rascally Wichita Wranglers, July 31-August 2. On the 31st, it's Tulsa Police Department Night and Let it Rain Night. Do your rain dance, and if it rains, someone will win $10,000. On the 1st, it's another Wayback Wednesday, when the Drillers kick it old school style. Then, on the 2nd, it's favorite Thirsty Thursday, 2-for-1 Brat night and Oktoberfest Night, which promises all of the fun of Oktoberfest, in the grandstands. All games start at 7:05pm and are played in Drillers' Stadium at the corner of 15th & Yale. For tickets, visit the Box Office, tulsadrillers.com or call 744-5901.

Vroom! Vroom! Youth Onstage will present "Leader of the Pack: The Ellie Greenwich Musical" at the Southeast Campus-TCC's Studio Theater, located in the VanTrease Performing Arts Center, 81st & Hwy 169, on July 27, 28 at 8pm and July 29 at 2pm. This hit Broadway musical celebrates the life and music of Ellie Greenwich, whose doo-wop sounds skyrocketed to the top of the sixties charts. Tickets are $13 for adults and $8.75 for students and can be purchased at the Box Office, myticketoffice.com or 595-7777.

America in 500 Words or Less. Six hundred years of history in just 6,000 seconds! From Washington to Watergate, the Bering Straits to Baghdad, New World to New World Order, the three artistic guerillas of the Reduced Shakespeare Company will take you on a 90-minute phantasmagoria ride through the hilarious quagmire that has been American History in the Compleat History of America (Abridged). If you saw the Complete Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged), you'll know just what to expect. The show will run at 8pm on July 26-28 in the Doenges Theatre of the Tulsa PAC. General admission tickets are $17.50 at the usual outlets.

She's "Crazy." Always...Patsy Cline tells the true story of Louise Seeger, a devoted fan who meets the legendary country music star by chance at a Houston honky-tonk in 1961. Thus begins an unlikely friendship that continues through letters and phone calls. The show is now back in Tulsa, featuring 17 of Cline's hits, including "Crazy," "Sweet Dreams" and "Walkin' After Midnight," with Janet Rutland reprising her role as Patsy Cline. The show will run July 26-28 and Aug. 2-4 in the Williams Theatre of the Tulsa PAC. Tickets are $20-24 in the normal places.

Calling All Muggles! It's time to catch the fifth film installment of the Harry Potter mania. Even if you already saw it opening night, now you can see it on IMAX. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, young Potter is about to start his fifth year at Hogwarts. He's desperate to get back to school and find out why his friends Ron and Hermione have been so secretive all summer. However, what Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down. Cinemark IMAX is located at 10802 E. 71st. For showtimes, call 307-2629.

Views Of an Ancient Land. Through Aug. 19, you can view "Celestial Nights" at the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, 2021 E. 71st. The exhibit will feature black and white photography by Neil Folberg of the night skies over Israel. Folberg's photographs describe places where the spiritual is at once near, imprinted in the forms of the arid landscapes, and far away in the dark, starlit recesses of space. The museum is open Mon.-Fri., 10am-5pm, and on Sundays from 1-5pm. For details, call 492-1818.

Icon of the Great American West. Through Sep. 30, you can witness Space Silent Spirit: Maynard Dixon's West. Dixon's style moved from defined realism toward modernism, abstraction, and cubism--though he spurned such titles. He simply sought the poetic beauty of the West and in the process created some of the most iconic images of the American West of the early 20th century. See them for yourself at Gilcrease Museum, 1400 Gilcrease Museum Rd. For more information, call 596-2700.

For Your Viewing Pleasure. Thru Aug. 26, you can take another peek at the personal collection of the late Hungarian-born Jewish artist, Theodore Fried, a selection of paintings of animals and still lifes. Fried was a rising star in post-WWI Paris, exhibiting alongside Picasso, Kandinsky, Munch, and Nolde in a circle of young expatriate painters before fleeing the German occupation of Paris in 1940. This unique and thankfully recovered collection will show at The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, 2021 E. 71st. For details, call 492-1818 or visit jewishmuseum.net.

Art, Unleashed. Acclaimed by the critic Théophil Gautier as the "Michelangelo of the Menagerie," Antoine-Louis Barye (1795-1875) was called one of the greatest French sculptors of the nineteenth century. Rodin acknowledged him as his teacher and his work was an important inspiration to Henri Matisse. This exhibition, "Untamed: The Art of Antoine-Louis Bayre," features more than 130 highlights from the Walters Art Museum's renowned collection of his sculptures. It runs through September 2 at the Philbrook Museum, 2727 S. Rockford Rd., 749-7941.

Search For Our Okie Identity. Through Sep. 16, the Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville, 510 Dewey Ave., will be exhibiting "Out of Oklahoma: Contemporary Artists from Ruscha to Andoe." Starting with the Pop Art movement of the '60s and traveling through abstraction, minimalism, photorealism and even the new figurative painting. The work of 20 artists, including Larry Clark, John Fincher, and Daniel Lang, encompasses works in paint, watercolor, photography, glass, bronze and more to represent the diversity of Oklahoma and its people. For more info, visit pricetower.org.

The Joys of the Simple Life. Through Aug. 26, you can glimpse the beauty, elegance and simplicity of rural American life through the art of Andrew Wyeth. The rarely-seen works in "Andrew Wyeth Drawings and Watercolors: Selections from the Marunuma Art Park Collection, Japan," may allow you to see more clearly into the rural existence of the Christina and Alvaro Olson family of Cushing, Maine, which Wyeth so loved painting. The exhibition is at Gilcrease Museum, 1400 Gilcrease Museum Rd. For more information, call 596-2700.

Your Dream Job... was to be an astronaut when you were a kid, right? Well, now you can glimpse the magnificence of floating in space with Astronaut, the most recent film to show at Tulsa Air and Space Museum's Bertlesmeyer Planetarium. It argues that the exploration of space is the greatest endeavor humankind has ever undertaken. You will explore the amazing worlds of inner and outer space, and encounter the perils that await space travelers, as they subject a test astronaut, Chad, to everything space has to throw at him. Discover if you have what it takes to become an astronaut! The planetarium is located at 3624 N. 74th E. Ave. For showtimes, call 834-9900.

Boomers and Sooners. During the first few years of the twentieth century, a series of events took place that lead Congress to grant single statehood for the Oklahoma and Indian Territories together. The exhibit, "Divided Territory, the Quest for Sequoyah," details the process that led two territories, each desiring to be admitted to the Union as their own separate state, to join together to form the State of Oklahoma. Come see this and other exhibits at the Tulsa Historical Society, 2445 S. Peoria, through July 28.

Celebrate Oklahoma's Rich History! In 1945, Thomas Gilcrease commissioned Vinson Lackey to research, record, and then create works of art representing the early institutions of Indian Territory.

This historic group of Oklahoma's pre-statehood buildings included forts, old Indian capitols, agencies, schools, churches, homes, and industrial structures. Each painting was to be a faithful reproduction of the original structure. The project took Lackey four years to complete.

He traveled to the sites and made sketches of the terrain, took copious notes, and tracked down any available information that might be useful to the project.

Do your civic duty and help the mayor and her cohorts find direction for the museum by letting 'em know you heard about the show in your ever-lovin' UTW. Gilcrease Museum through Sept. 30.

America 24/7. In the 1930s & '40s, Oklahoma artists were part of the "American Scene" movement, a reaction in part to abstraction and other modernist movements. These artists documented the America they knew best, whether it was the hills of Oklahoma, the ranch land of West Texas or the shores of New England.

They worked with a single purpose: to capture the myths and truths of an America that was rapidly changing. An exhibit of these works, "The Oklahoma Scene," at Philbrook Museum, runs through Aug. 5. For more information, call 749-7941.