FRIDAY
Rule’s big reopening
ART|After a six-month absence, one of the city’s top commercial spaces finally returns to the scene. The Rule Gallery, which has moved a block north to 227 Broadway, is reopening with a group of original prints by such heavy hitters as Lee Bontecou, Jasper Johns and James Rosenquist. The exhibition opens Friday and runs through Oct. 21.|Opening reception, 6 to 9 p.m. today
|Rule Gallery, 227 Broadway; free; 303-777-9473 or rulegallery.com.
Best of Almodóvar
FILM|In advance of Pedro Almodóvar’s “Volver,” Sony Pictures Classics was savvy enough to put together a traveling series of the Spanish director’s finest. Among the eight movies that prove him the maestro of neo- melodrama are “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” “All About My Mother,” “Talk to Her,” “Matador” and “Bad Education.”|Today through Oct. 5|Mayan Theatre; 303-352-1992.
SATURDAY
Bootleg remixes
MULTIMEDIA PARTY|The “100% Illegal Fun” party gets its name from the fact that all the participants at this slice-and-dice mashup competition are using bootlegs for their remixes. L.A.-based party rockers Troublemaker and Goldenchylde, who have worked with the Beastie Boys and the Flaming Lips, will join artists White Girl Lust, a local fashion showcase and a “remix” of the 1979 gang movie “The Warriors” at the audio-visual event.|8 p.m., Saturday|Oriental Theater, 4335 W. 44th Ave., Denver; $10; 18 and up.
SUNDAY
Play with Kitten
VAUDEVILLE|Missing that spice of life lately? Stop by Kitten on the Keys, a naughty vaudeville/variety act that has made numerous TV appearances and toured internationally before hitting Denver. Kitten (a.k.a. Suzanne Ramsey) will treat you to vintage piano, ukelele and accordion tunes while mixing in burlesque moves and Tin Pan Alley flapper comedy, with a nod toward the film divas of years gone by.|7 p.m. Sunday|Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret, 1601 Arapahoe St.; $10; 303-293-0075 or lannies.com.
“Big Bang” revue
THEATER|The Playwright Theatre, fresh of its eight-month run of “Party of 1,” returns with the regional premiere of “The Big Bang.” This silly 90-minute comic musical revue is staged as a backers’ audition for a rather large undertaking: an $83.5 million, 12-hour stage history of the world from creation to the present. Characters include Adam and Eve and Attila the Hun.|7:30 p.m., Thursdays-Saturdays through Oct. 21|Playwright Theatre, 2119 E. 17th Ave.; $20; 303-499- 0383 or playwrighttheatre.com.
THe WEEK END
See the old world
EXHIBIT|Rand McNally and satellite imaging were not always around. The Sixth Annual Rocky Mountain Antique Map Fair offers a sense of what it was like to envision the world and travel when map-making was considerably less exact. Featured are thousands of maps from the past five centuries, priced from $10 to $10,000.|5-8 p.m. today, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday|Denver Central Libary, 10 W. 14th Avenue Parkway; free; RMMaps.org.
Where art’s made
ART|Sixty artist studios will be open to visitors this weekend in and around Loveland and Fort Collins as part of “Studio Tour 2006.” Guides to the studios are available at the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, 201 S. College Ave.|10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday|Loveland and Fort Collins; guides are $20; 970-482-2787 or fcmoca.org.
Free tickets
THEATER|The Denver Center Theatre Company’s popular “Free for All” series returns with no-cost tickets to the season-opening new comedy “Living Out.” Tickets are available at the box office, one per person, on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 4:30 p.m. for Wednesday’s performance only|6:30 p.m. Wednesday|Space Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex; more information at denvercenter.org
Keret’s “Flipout”
THEATER|Stories on Stage, with the Buntport Theater, present “The Nimrod Flip- out,” a night devoted to the hilarious and anguish-ridden short stories of Etgar Keret. Israel’s Keret is part court jester, part national conscience. His unusual viewpoint is part fantasy, part universal truth.|7 p.m., Wednesday (also Sept. 27)|717 Lipan St.; $10; 720-946-1388.
Recital by Oppens
CLASSICAL MUSIC|Pianist Ursula Oppens has devoted much of her career to championing contemporary music. In that spirit, the well- known artist will present a recital featuring works written for her by Conlon Nancarrow, Elliott Carter and Frederic Rzewski. The program is part of Pendulum, a new-music series.|7:30 p.m. Wednesday|University of Colorado at Boulder, Imig Music Building, 18th Street and Euclid Avenue; free; 303-492-8008 or colorado.edu/music.
Italian feast, song
CLASSICAL MUSIC|Mention Italy, and food and music are among the first things that come to mind. Both will highlight “A Night in Naples,” which combines Neapolitan food, wine and songs performed by tenor Brian Downen and an orchestra led by John Baril, Central City Opera’s music director. The evening is part of the citywide Festival Italiano, which runs Wednesday through Sept. 24.|7:30 p.m. Thursday|University of Denver, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave.; $20-$35; 303-357- 2787 or ticketmaster.com.
