Best bets: Bad Boys Arena Cross at Sears Centre
Mud will fly
Thousands of yards of dirt are to be carted into the Sears Centre Arena for the Bad Boys Arena Cross plus Mud Bog Championships. See motorcyclists and more race around the Super Cross-style course this weekend at 5333 Prairie Stone Parkway, Hoffman Estates. $14-$39; $7 kids ages 12 and younger. (800) 745-3000 or searscentre.com. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 14 and 15
Nibble, nibble
Watch what happens when “Hansel and Gretel” get lured into a gingerbread trap as Opera Music Theatre finishes its run of Humperdinck’s classic 1893 opera this weekend in the Billy Graham Center’s Barrows Auditorium, 418 N. Chase St., Wheaton. $10. (630) 752-5099 or wheaton.edu. 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14, and 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15
Child prodigy
The show is “Ethan Bortnick and his Musical Time Machine,” and the star is, of course, 10-year-old piano prodigy Bortnick. After seeing Bortnick displaying his amazing skills on national TV shows, why not see him live tonight at North Central College’s Wentz Concert Hall, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville. $30-$35; $10 students. (630) 637-7469 or finearts.northcentralcollege.edu. 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14
‘Lizard’ duo
Fans of Broken Lizard comedy group films like “Super Troopers” and “Beerfest” won’t want to miss troupe members Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme when they appear this weekend at Zanies, 230 Hawthorn Village Commons, Vernon Hills. $25 plus a two menu-item purchase. (847) 549-6030 or zanies.com. 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14, and 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15
Gospel ‘Messiah’
Think you know Handel’s oratorio “The Messiah”? See how this classical masterpiece gets interpreted with an all-American sound when “Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah” returns this weekend to the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, Chicago. $30-$69. (800) 982-2787 or auditoriumtheatre.org. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16
Steel drummin’
Escape the winter weather with sonic waves of tropical heat when Od Tapo Imi breaks out its island steel drums for a Saturday concert featuring music ranging from Harry Belafonte to Sheryl Crow at the Raue Center for the Arts, 26 N. Williams St., Crystal Lake. $19-$25. (815) 356-9212 or rauecenter.org. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15
Blues legend
The 15-time Grammy Award-winning artist B.B. King returns to town to show exactly why he’s been dubbed the “King of the Blues.” King’s Saturday concert is at the Paramount Theatre, 8 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora. $59.50-$89.50. (630) 896-6666 or paramountaurora.com. 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15
MLK music tribute
The Chicago Sinfonietta performs music of Gershwin, Robinson and more for its annual Martin Luther King Jr. tribute concert “A Dream Unfolds,” which will be performed this weekend at three locations: North Central College’s Wentz Concert Hall, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville, $50-$60; Dominican University, 7900 W. Division St., River Forest, $26-$40; and at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, $26-$96. (312) 236-3681, ext. 2, or chicagosinfonietta.org. 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, in Naperville; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16, in River Forest; 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 17, in Chicago
An icon of Israel
Critically acclaimed stage and screen star Tovah Feldshuh holds the record for Broadway’s longest-running one-woman show for her 15-month run in “Golda’s Balcony,” William Gibson’s 2003 drama about the life of late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. See Feldshuh re-create her Broadway triumph for two Sunday performances at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. $48-$58. (847) 673-6300 or northshorecenter.org. 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16