Friday
Chinese dance, song
INTERNATIONAL|Denver Sister Cities International hosts a performance by the Kunming Youth Arts Ensemble from China. Composed of 45 students ages 8-16 from across the vast Asian country, the ensemble travels internationally, presenting Chinese dance and song with traditional costumes.|7 p.m. today|Teikyo Loretto Heights University Theater, 3001 S. Federal Blvd.; $5; 303-279-3247.
Hot Billy Wilder
FILM|Arguably, the Civic Center Conservancy saved the cheekiest for last. Join Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), Josephine (Tony Curtis) and the delirious
Daphne (Jack Lemmon) for Billy Wilder’s still contemporary romp, “Some Like It Hot” (1959), the final night of the Great American Comedy series. Bring a blanket and a picnic; wine and beer for sale.|8 tonight|Greek Theatre at Civic Center park, approximately 14th Avenue Parkway and Bannock Street, across from the Denver Public Library and Denver Art Museum; free; 303-312-4286 or civiccenterconservancy@yahoo.com
Feminine power
PERFORMANCE ART|Hard to describe a performance piece ahead of time that involves five female artist-activists, a DJ spinning hip- hop tracks and the voices of 1,000 women from a “dialogue on feminine power.” Best go see for yourself, for a performance that hopes to “ignite a new paradigm of feminine centered leadership by bridging art and activism.”|8 p.m. Saturday.|Cleo Parker Robinson Theatre, 119 Park Ave. West, Denver; $7 to $25.
Saturday
Tim Burton madness
FILM|Landmark’s popular Midnight Madness at the Esquire continues this week with Tim Burton’s wacked-out “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” The enticing stop-motion animation has the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town kidnapping Santa Claus from nearby Christmas. |Midnight, Saturday.|Esquire Theatre, 6th and Downing, Denver; $7; 303-352-1992
Sunday
Sudanese play
THEATER|Helen Achol Aybei’s music-infused “Slaves No More” is the first play committed to paper by a Sudanese playwright. It tells the story of Achala, a woman from war-torn Southern Sudan, who leaves a hospital to find her son is missing.. Soon she discovers other mothers and other stories of suffering that span 40 years of civil war.|4 p.m. Sunday |Denver’s Saint John’s Cathedral, 1350 Washington St.; $15; 303-831-7115.
The Weekend
Vinyl and such
MUSIC and SHOPPING|Music browsers and fans of KGNU’s community radio format should head to Boulder for some buying opportunities. The KGNU Book and Record Sale adds a half-day on Sunday this year to accommodate shoppers, offering LPs, posters, books and CDs for a station fundraiser.|10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.|KGNU studio, 4700 Walnut St., Boulder; free to shop, members get discounts and early shopping; 303-449-4885
Delightfully miscast
THEATER|It’s glamorous, gender-bending – and more than just a little inappropriate. It’s Next Stage’s second annual musical revue, “Miscast,” with songs performed by actors who are completely wrong for the part. It has again drawn big names from all over the city, including John Ashton, Amy Board, Chris Boeckx, Preston Britton, Brian Hutchinson, Gene Kato, Traci Kern and host Jenny Hecht.|7:30 p.m. today and Saturday |Avenue Theater, 417 E. 17th Ave.; $25; 720-209-4105
The Week
Japanese P.O.V.
ART|Roger Shimomura, a third-generation Japanese American, blends traditional Japanese art and American pop to create distinctive works with a socio-political edge. He and his family were relocated to a Japanese internment camp in World War II, and those memories undergird a new group of lithographs that will be shown in an exhibition titled, “Three Suites on the Internment.”|Monday through Sept. 29|UMC Art Gallery, Broadway and Euclid Avenue, University of Colorado at Boulder; free; colorado.edu/umc/fun/artgallery.html.
Free Flamenco
MUSIC|Fill your senses with Argentina through music, food and drink, with the “fabulous Flamenco guitar” of Rene Heredia. Heredia will appear weekly at the Buenos Aires Grill, which is serving Spanish and Argentine favorites like sangria, paella, tapas, flan and other dishes.|8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Thursdays.|Buenos Aires Grill, 2191 Arapahoe Street, Denver; 303-296-6709
