Weekly Picks- Nov. 6

 Before Keanu battled those Armani suited digivillians or Jackie Chan defeated bad guys with a whisk broom, there was the magnificent Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa’s epic action film. You might have seen it in all its restored glory at last month’s Milwaukee Film Festival, but now you have a chance to experience in a new way. The ultimate can-do individualism, David Gaines arrives this weekend with his acclaimed one-person version of Kurosawa’s film, 7 (x1) Samurai. A hit at fringe festivals around the country, Gaines frenetic show has been called “part Chaplin, part Looney Tunes and more than a little Cirque de Soleil.” Gaines is a frequent performer with Theatre Gigante, who will pair his piece with Malcolm Tulip’s …and…Action!, a meditation on the nature of action on stage and screen. Gigante’s “A Night at the Movies” runs only one weekend–no procrastinating now. 

There’s enrichment of another sort at the Jewish Book and Culture Fair, which opens Monday with a dose of comfort food, stacked high pickle included. Author David Sax arrives to read from his new book, Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye and the Heart of the Jewish Delicatessen. And yes, there will be corned beef sampling before the talk, courtesy of Dennis Samenfield of Benji’s. 

If you like a little, um, cheese with your pastrami, you might want to head to the movies, which have discovered the joys of going highbrow with Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. Marcus Theatres features an impressive roster of live High-Definition broadcasts from New York this year. Lately, the Met has been managing a battle between the old and the new. It’s new Tosca, directed by Luc Bondy, was booed on opening night. But there should be no trouble with this production, Franco Zefferelli’s Turandot, a sparking spectacle that’s been in the repertory for over two decades. 

For drama that hits a little closer to home, Dylan Bolin (of ComedySportz and WKLH fame), performs his one-person autobiographical show, Peace, Love and a 30-Year Mortgage, the story of his journey from a hippie child in Indiana to a respectable, tax-paying Milwaukee comic. 

Another comedian is performing down the street from In Tandem this weekend. We’d like to recommend Jerry Seinfeld’s shows at the Riverside Theater, as he’s one of the best in the business and just keeps getting better. But hasn’t there been enough applause for New Yorkers this week? I mean…really! 

And speaking of Seinfeld! the Maestro isn’t in town this weekend, but the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s Edo de Waart has left the gang in good hands. Shi-Yeon Sung leads the orchestra in music by Mozart and Shostakovich. With pianist Jeremy Denk performing Mozart’s final piano concerto.