Tacoma Symphony Chorus sings “Messiah”

Hear the arias and choruses of Handel’s famous oratorio, sung by the Tacoma Symphony Chorus with Tacoma Symphony accompanying, and with soloists Denise Lees, Melissa Plagemann, James Brown and Benjamin Harris. 7:30 p.m. tonight. $25. St. Charles Borromeo Church, 7112 S. 12^th St., Tacoma. 253-272-7264, www.tacomasymphony.org

Flamenco at New Frontier

The 3 Glorias: Flamenco en Vivo performs at the New Frontier tonight, featuring sultry Seattle dancer Savannah Fuentes, singer Jesus Montoya and Pedro Cortez on guitar. 9 p.m. tonight. 21 and over. $20. New Frontier Lounge, …

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The locally made flicks at the Tacoma Film Festival – which screened yesterday, and are on again at 1:45 p.m. today – are always rather hit-or-miss. This year two out of four were definitely worth the watch, with the other two less thrilling.

One of the better two was  Mick Flaaen’s “Paint,” a hyper-local documentary showing how the City of Tacoma’s imaginative policy on graffiti murals has shaped the town both aesthetically and internally. In between interviews with everyone from artists to City administrator Amy McBride, to whom goes the credit for much of the moving and shaking, are …

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TSO chorus sings Mozart’s Requiem

The Tacoma Symphony Orchestra and Chorus perform Mozart’s famous last work and memorial to the dead, the Requiem, in a resonant church setting. 7:30 p.m. tonight. $20. Christ Episcopal Church, 310 N. K St., Tacoma. 253-591-5894, www.tacomasymphony.org

Click Flick: “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”

This month’s free Click Family Flick at the Grand follows Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) as he’s pulled out of adventuring retirement to solve a scary Inca mystery involving quicksand, evil talking skulls and more. Doors open 10 a.m., screening 10:30 a.m. Free to first 100 people. The …

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Click Flick: “Ghostbusters”

This month’s Click Flick at the Grand Cinema is the classic 1980s comedy “Ghostbusters” – just try not to sing along. Doors open 10 a.m., screening 10:30 a.m. Free to first 100 people. The Grand Cinema, 606 S. Fawcett Ave., Tacoma. 253-593-4474, www.grandcinema.com

“My Name is Asher Lev” theater collaboration

Lakewood Playhouse collaborates with the Broadway Center to present the Northwest premiere of “My Name is Asher Lev,” an adaptation of Chaim Potok’s novel about a young Jewish artist conflicted between tradition and self-expression. Opens 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19, then 3 p.m. and …

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If you want free, you gotta plan. Today my idea was to catch the monthly Click Family Flick at the Grand Cinema – but about 100 people had the same idea as I did, and sooner. The Flick is a free kid-friendly film every third Saturday, usually something adults like as well, but it’s pretty popular, and it’s worth planning out the morning. Today’s screening was the 1988 classic “Big,” about a boy who wishes he was bigger – and has it granted, by about six years in one night.

Doors open at 10 a.m. for the 10:30 a.m. screening, …

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Tacoma’s Grand Cinema is showing two Christmas classics this weekend and one seriously sinister Santa film.

First up is “A Christmas Story” on Saturday. Part of the Click! Family Flick series, the movie will show on two screens. Consider it a gift: it’s free. Just get there at 10 a.m. The film starts at 10:30 a.m. and might fill to capacity as last year’s showing of “The Polar Express” almost did.

If you haven’t seen the movie or the musical based on it currently showing at the Fifth Avenue Theatre here’s a synopsis: Ralphie (Peter Billingsley), a young boy growing up in the 1940s, dreams of getting a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. But his mother says no and poor Ralphie doesn’t get any support, even from Santa himself.
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Click Flick: “Free Willy”

The Click Family Flick at the Grand this month is the heart-wrenching orca tale, “Free Willy.” June 19, doors open 10 a.m., screening 10:30 a.m. Free, first 100 people only. The Grand Cinema, 608 S. Fawcett Ave., Tacoma. 253-572-6062, www.grandcinema.com

Persian poetry on the summer solstice

Celebrate the longest day of the year (if not the warmest) with an evening of Persian poetry, food, wine and music. A fundraiser for United for Peace Pierce County, the evening is set in a North-end rose garden, and features Rick Steves’ cinematographer Abdi Sami. 6-9 p.m. June 21. $30. …

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The Grand Cinema opens “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers,” Friday – a documentary on the publication of the Pentagon Papers. And of the directors of the recently Academy Award nominated film will be on hand to speak about it Saturday.

Rick Goldsmith, co-producer and co-director (along with Judith Ehrlich), will appear following the 4:45 p.m. and 6:50 p.m. screenings on Saturday. The nationally known documentary filmmakers’ films deal with the themes of personal risk, conscience, dissent and commitment to ideals.

Ellsberg, a former U.S. military analyst, leaked the classified account of the Vietnam …

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