The Chiara String Quartet ventures bravely where few classical chamber groups dare to go: rock clubs. Or in the case of its upcoming Cleveland-area appearance, a jazz club. While these Juilliard-trained players are undeniably serious classical musicians - they've been appointed artists in residence at Harvard starting in the fall and have won several major chamber music competitions - they aren't too proud to bring their repertoire of Brahms, Mozart and Beethoven to audiences who might not be as well-schooled as the average classical music aficionado. The group will be at Nighttown (12378 Cedar Rd., 216.795.0550) at 8 p.m. Tickets: $10. - Anastasia Pantsios

Thursday May 1

Born Yesterday

Garson Kanin's 1951 comedy Born Yesterday deals with a subject today's audiences should be comfortably familiar with: political corruption in Washington, DC with its favor-seekers, politicians on the take and opportunistic young women. But it's also at heart a love story involving a ditzy but good-hearted chorus girl who starts out as the tool and plaything of a corrupt lobbyist and ends up falling for the journalist who is investigating him. The cast at Actors' Summit (86 Owen Brown St., downtown Hudson) which opens its production at 8 tonight includes Peter Voinovich, son of a real-life politician, as the journalist, as well as artistic director Neil Thackaberry, Dana Hart and Alicia Kahn in the central role made famous by Judy Holliday. Tickets: $22-$25. Box office: 330.342.0800. It runs at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through May 18. - AP

BROOKLYN The Musical

Baldwin-Wallace College's musical theater program is one of the most renowned in the country, producing a herd of starry-eyed but well-trained kids who go on to careers in the theater. The program's director Victoria Bussert is now offering the students a chance to strut their stuff at Playhouse Square while giving Clevelanders an opportunity to catch some potential future stars. She's directing the regional premiere of the 2004 show BROOKLYN The Musical, the story of an orphaned Parisian singer named Brooklyn who returns home to the borough of her origin, looking for her long-lost father. To give more students a chance to perform, it's double-cast for the four performances taking place at the Playhouse Square at 7:30 tonight, tomorrow and Saturday and 10 p.m. Saturday. Tickets: $20. Call 216.241.6000. - AP

Cleveland Orchestra

Unfortunately, an eagerly anticipated appearance by hot young Dutch violinist Janine Jansen with the Cleveland Orchestra (which recorded the Tchaikovsky violin concerto with her) was cancelled at the last minute. But the orchestra, under the baton of Sir Andrew David, the music director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, will still be playing Franck's Symphony in D minor and Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor at the three concerts which take place at 8 tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at Severance Hall (11001 Euclid Ave.). A concert preview, free to ticket holders, takes place an hour prior to each concert in the Reinberger Chamber Hall. This weekend, it will feature a conversation with Davis and Cleveland Orchestra artistic administrator Frank Dans. Tickets: $30-$83. Box office: 216.231.1111. - AP

Friday May 2

Charmaine Spencer

The five pieces that make up artist Charmaine Spencer's installation, A Place to Dwell, are constructed from recycled materials. That's a pretty common artist approach these days. But the African-American Spencer is riffing on the inherent meaning of such materials as a tactic for filling needs on limited resources by using what others have discarded, epitomized by the creatively readapting of materials found in dwellings in African villages. Spencer, a 2005 BFA grad from the Cleveland Insitute of Art, is originally from Ann Arbor, but has become thoroughly integrated into Cleveland's arts community: She's shown at SPACES, Groop and the CSU Galleries, designed costumes for SAFMOD and serves as coordinator for the Hodge Youth Arts Project. The show, part of the Window to Sculpture Emerging Artist series, opens at the Sculpture Center (1834 W. 123rd St., 216.229.6527) with a free reception from 5:30-8:30 p.m., and an artists' talk with Spencer and sculptor Bruce Edwards at 6:30. It runs through May 31. - AP

Saturday May 3

Cleveland Poetry Scenes

Cleveland poetry is in the spotlight in a new volume called Cleveland Poetry Scenes: A Panorama and Anthology. The ambitious book attempts to chart the history of poetry in Cleveland from 1945 to today through the work of 40 poets and articles chronicling scenes and the evolution of the distribution of work from '60s mimeographed broadsides to slam and Internet poetry. Some of the poets included in the book will be part of a signing, poetry reading and reception at Visible Voice Books (1023 Kenilworth Ave., Tremont, 216.961.0084) at 3 p.m. Preceding the event at 2 p.m. is the dedication of a plaque honoring one of the poets featured in the book, Daniel Thompson, the Cleveland poet and poverty and social justice activist who died in 2004. That will take place at Daniel Thompson Way at West 2nd and Rockwell. Both events are free. - AP

Cinderella

Ballet Theater of Ohio started out as a pre-professional company for children but currently it includes some of Northeast Ohio's best professional ballet dancers. The mix of professional dancers and well-schooled non-professionals results in entertaining productions with some of the best ballet dancing around, an oasis in the desert that is local ballet. Its current production of Cinderella stays close to the traditional rags-to-riches story we're familiar with from Charles Perrault and Walt Disney. BTO's Cinderella uses the beautiful Prokofiev score and original set designs by, among others, Hollywood designer Jack Balance. As Cinderella, they've cast Jessica Schroeder who, we hear, may herself be on the verge of striking out for greener pastures. The prince is danced by Eric Carvill, whose youthful good looks and years of solid professional experience should serve well in the role. All well and good, but we're especially looking forward to the ugly stepsisters. The Royal Ballet has a long tradition of casting older men in drag as the stepsisters but our favorite approach was the one taken by Nureyev with Paris Opera Ballet, which cast ballerinas as the stepsisters and choreographed lots of broad physical comedy. According to reports, BTO's stepsisters, Andrea Blankstein and Eryn Hanes, have made solid contact with their inner harpies. Performances at 2 and 7 p.m. today and 2 p.m. tomorrow. Tickets: $18-$25. Box office: 330.253.2488. Prior to each performance patrons can have their picture taken with Cinderella, shop the ballet boutique and view the top entrants in "The Greatest Shoe on Earth Contest." - Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas

Sunday May 4

An Evening of Classical Music

Each year, the Mandel Jewish Community Center offers an evening with some of the area's top classical musicians, several of whom play with the Cleveland Orchestra. The collection of nine pianists, string players and singers will perform works by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Mozart, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff, among others. This year's concert will also feature a one-night show of art by Israeli artists with a reception at 6:30 for Clevelander Victoria Dumesh, whose photography is also part of the show. The concert takes place at the JCC's Stonehill Auditorium (26001 S. Woodland Rd.) at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $12-$22. Call 216.593.6264. - AP

Monday May 5

JCC Photo show

The annual Mandel JCC Photo Show, now in its 38th year, is a respected juried show that is known for the quality of the work it shows. Open to both professionals and amateurs, this year's show features 62 photos chosen by juror Robert Thurmer, director of the CSU art gallery, from 540 submitted. Prizes will be awarded at tonight's free opening reception at 7:30 p.m. at the Mandel JCC (26001 S. Woodland Ave., 216.831.0700). The show runs through June 8. - AP

Tuesday May 6

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

The latest offering of Playhouse Square's Broadway Series, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, doesn't deal with the cut-throat, high-stakes competitive world of the National Spelling Bee. Rather, it's a lighthearted look at those competitions you either loved or loathed as a grade-schooler, depending on your spelling proficiency. And, jumping on the interactive theater trend, it gives audience volunteers a chance to try their hand at spelling. The show which had its New York debut in 2005, opens at the Palace Theatre at 7:30 tonight and runs Tuesdays-Sundays through May 18. Tickets: $10-$57.50. Call 216.241.6000. - AP

CityMusic Cleveland

For its latest program, CityMusic, which presents free concerts by top classical musicians in different neighborhoods and suburbs, presents music by composers who broke new ground. Vivaldi, Ligeti, Ives and Beethoven (who wasn't always a familiar repertoire staple!) are the spotlighted composers, and the Ligeti Violin Concerto will feature internationally noted soloist Jennifer Koh, a 1997 Oberlin grad. The concerts will be accompanied by a traveling show of watercolors and offer an intermission meet-and-greet with the musicians. The first performance is at 7:30 tonight at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights; it then moves on to St. Vitus Church (7 p.m. May 7), Elyria's St. Mary Church (7:30 p.m. May 8), St. Noel Church in Willoughby Hills (8 p.m. May 9), the Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus in Slavic Village (7:30 p.m. May 10), and the Westlake Schools Performing Arts Center (7 p.m. May 11). Call 216.321.8273 or go to citymusiccleveland.org for directions and more info. - AP