Best Bets: Monster Jam, Halloween scares, craft beers and Joffrey premieres ‘Carmen’
Monster jammin’
Massive trucks weighing some 12,000 pounds barrel into the Allstate Arena, 6920 Mannheim Road, Rosemont, for the 2025 Monster Jam. Grave Digger, Megalodon and Terminal Velocity will roll through skill and speed competitions. $22.60-$150.06. rosemont.com/allstate/event/monster-jam. 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12; 1 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13; and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13
More family fun
Parkway Bank Park, 5501 Park Place, Rosemont, hosts Rosemont’s Family Fall Fest consisting of pumpkin painting, balloon sculpting, a petting zoo, bounce houses and live music by Jeanie B! and The Jelly Beans. Free. parkwaybankpark.com. 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14
‘Beyond the Shade’
The Driehaus Museum, 50 E. Erie St., Chicago, draws from its expansive collection and the private collection of Richard H. Driehaus to showcase Louis C. Tiffany’s famed creations as part of “Tiffany Lamps: Beyond the Shade.” The exhibition showcases decorative lighting fixtures Tiffany Studios created between the 1890s to the 1920s. The museum hosts workshops, performances and seminars, including a conversation with “Downton Abbey” actress Elizabeth McGovern, at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22. $50. Museum hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. $20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 students. driehausmuseum.org. Friday, Sept. 12, through March 15, 2026
Elmhurst welcomes beer fans
The Elmhurst Heritage Foundation hosts the 10th Elmhurst Craft Beer Fest benefiting the Elmhurst History Museum. More than 50 brewers will offer samples of beer, cider, seltzers and mead during the fest, which includes music and food at 120 E. Park Ave., Elmhurst. $70 early entry; $55 general admission; $20 designated driver. elmhurstcraftbeerfest.com. 2-6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13; early entry at 1 p.m.
Teachers Lounge Comedy
Educators-turned-comedians Ted Willson, Chris Schlichting, Jeanie Doogan and Samantha Chiappone share their professional ups and downs during Raue Center for the Arts’ Teachers Lounge Comedy show at 26 N. Williams St., Crystal Lake. TV and radio veteran John DaCosse hosts. Tickets start at $43, $27.30 for RaueNOW members. (815) 356-9212 or rauecenter.org. 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13
Great America, Arboretum scare up early Halloween fun
• For its 34th season, Six Flags Great America, 1 Great America Parkway, Gurnee, unleashes new nightmares as part of Fright Fest, including a haunted maze inspired by “The Conjuring” film series, three new scare zones — “Oddities: Circus of Madness,” “Head Bangerz” and “Los Muertos” — along with returning favorites “Henchmen Alley,” “Forbidden Forest,” “Underworld” and “Lost Souls.” The fest includes live music, cabaret performances, a scare-free Boo Fest for kids and an Oktoberfest Food Festival. Haunted attractions pass starts at $40; haunted attractions pass and a park ticket start at $90; all-access gold pass for season pass holders is $75. sixflags.com/greatamerica/events/fright-fest-2025. Select nights Saturday, Sept. 13, through Nov. 2
• Spooky season commences this weekend at The Arboretum, 100 W. Higgins Road, South Barrington, with the opening of Duchess Manor, a new immersive haunted house. $17 through Oct. 19; $27 Oct. 23-Nov. 2. shopthearb.com. 5-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays in September; 5-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2-7 p.m. Sundays the first two weeks of October; 5-10 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 2-7 p.m. Sundays the last two weeks of October, from Saturday, Sept. 13, through Nov. 2
New music venue
Access Contemporary Music, the nonprofit organization that champions contemporary classical, opens The CheckOut, a new venue and music school at 4116 N. Clark St., Chicago. The season starts with 12 concerts featuring local ensembles and composers including Black Oak Ensemble, Kontras Quartet and the genre-bending Wicked Drawl, among others. $18-$25. thecheckout.org. Saturday, Sept. 13, through Sept. 28
Illinois Rock Hall of Fame
The Smashing Pumpkins, Richard Marx, Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Head East, Enuff Z’Nuff, Tim Drummond, Delmark Records, Vee-Jay Records, radio hosts Mitch Michaels and Bob Stroud, and Chicago radio stations Q101 and WCFL are the 2024 and 2025 artists to be inducted into the Illinois Rock Hall of Fame at Joliet’s Illinois Rock & Roll Museum. Richard Marx, Enuff Z’Nuff, Billy Branch, Freddie Dixon Blues Band and Ronnie Baker Brooks will perform at the induction ceremony, which takes place at the Rialto Square Theatre, 102 N. Chicago St., Joliet. $49-$69. roadtorock.org. 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14
Broadway vet channels Tony Bennett
Former Chicago-area theater artist, Broadway veteran, Tony Award nominee (“Jagged Little Pill”) and Joseph Jefferson Award-winner Sean Allan Krill channels one of the great crooners in “The Best is Yet to Come: Sean Allan Krill Sings Tony Bennett,” a cabaret show featuring personal stories and songs made famous by the late singer. Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, presents the show in cooperation with Artists Lounge Live. $65. (847) 634-0200 or marriotttheatre.com. 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, and 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16
Museum celebrates Latinos in baseball
The Smithsonian, in cooperation with The National Puerto Rican Museum and The Roberto Clemente Museum, celebrates Latinos’ impact on American culture and society in a bilingual, traveling exhibition produced by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. “¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues/En los Barrios y las Grandes Ligas” opens next week at 3015 W. Division St., Chicago. It examines how generations of Latinos and Latinas helped make the game what it is today. “From youth and community teams to the Major League, the exhibition reveals how baseball brings people together, regardless of race, class or gender,” helping to connect us on and off the diamond. Free. Hours: 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday; and 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday. (773) 486-8345 or nmprac.org. Tuesday, Sept. 16, through March 14, 2026
Joffrey premieres ‘Carmen’
The U.S. premiere of Liam Scarlett’s “Carmen” opens The Joffrey Ballet’s season at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago. Set in 1930s Spain, the ballet tells the story of the independent, uncompromising Carmen, who insists upon loving who she chooses. Her choice of Don Jose, whose passion is all-consuming, threatens them both. $49-$217. (312) 386-8905 or joffrey.org. 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Sept. 18-19 and 25-26; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20 and 27; and 2 p.m. Sept. 21 and 28