Every Thursday, WTTW News newsletter producer Josh Terry highlights his picks for the week’s must-see cultural events.

The fall arts season is getting into gear. Consider a day trip to Plano to see a masterwork of modernity. Get an early taste of Lyric Opera’s season. Upend country music cliches. Visit an immersive exhibit about family and culture. When in doubt, you can always see a play. Your couch will still be there when you get back.

It is spring, so break out the flip-flops and cargo shorts — but don’t put away the duck boots and snow pants just yet. Whether it’s freezing or frying outside, choose your outerwear carefully and wade into the waters of Chicago arts and culture.

Sculpture from Italy, theater from Peru, the inspiration for “Rent” — this week’s offerings include rare imports, an operatic favorite and a homegrown songwriter with a cinematic mind. See you at the show.

Billy Corgan is teaming with the Lyric Opera to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Smashing Pumpkins’ epic double LP “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” for a week of performances in late November.

The Super Bowl is over, and we are now in the 40th year since the Chicago Bears won the big game. Meanwhile, the arts and culture scene in Chicago just keeps winning. Here are a few favorites and underdogs to place your bets on.

“Blue” follows a Black family after they lose their son to police violence, all while the father serves as a police officer. The production explores injustice and finding healing through faith and community.

The music is familiar and downright catchy — Verdi famously forbade his cast from singing the songs or even humming the score until after its 1851 premiere in Venice.  Acclaimed Verdi specialist Enrique Mazzola conducts.

World-renowned soprano Renée Fleming has a new book called “Music and Mind” – a collection of essays curated and edited by the operatic superstar exploring the healing power of music and the arts, and what modern science is uncovering about that connection.

It is an absolute knockout — both literally and figuratively. And that is the most concise way to describe “Champion,” the physically, emotionally and musically stunning work now on the Lyric Opera stage, writes WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss.

There is something about the Cinderella story that never fails to delight. And it might just be that those with a good heart and a true understanding of love will invariably triumph over those who are greedy and hungry for social superiority, writes WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss.

WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss reviews recent performances from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera and Staatskapelle Berlin.

Over the years there have been countless interpretations of “Frankenstein,” Mary Shelley’s extraordinary 1818 Gothic novel. But the Joffrey Ballet’s production of the story that recently opened at the Lyric Opera House might very well be its most stunning interpretation yet.

Audra McDonald's glorious soprano voice sounded as beautiful and emotionally expressive as ever, and her delightful commentaries between each of almost 20 mostly classic Broadway songs were at once witty and revealing.

 Anthony Freud will retire as general director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago at the end of the season, ending a 13-year tenure.

Lyric Opera’s free outdoor concert in Millennium Park served as an ideal introduction to the six operas to be performed during the 2023-24 season. The absence of scenery and costumes only put the focus entirely on the singers, but also made the characters come fully to life.