The Week Ahead: Arts and entertainment highlights

Movies

"Trumbo"

Through a combination of vintage film clips, interviews and dramatic readings by some of today's finest actors, director Peter Askin has crafted an elegant tribute to blacklisted "Hollywood Ten" screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (1905-76). It's based on Christopher Trumbo's play about his father's unconventional life and career. At the Varsity. For showtimes, see Page 6. For Jeff Shannon's 3 ½-star review, see www.seattletimes.com/movies.

Pop music

The Raconteurs

This Nashville-based rock-blues band features Brendan Benson, Jack White (of The White Stripes) and Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler (both of The Greenhornes). But their sound is their own. 8 p.m. Friday, WaMu Theater, 1000 Occidental Ave. S., Seattle; $35 (206-628-0888 or www.ticketmaster.com).

Carrie Underwood

"American Idol's" sweetheart does the Puyallup. 7:30 p.m. Friday, Puyallup Fair, 110 Ninth Ave. S.W., Puyallup; $50-$75 (206-628-0888 or www.ticketmaster.com).

Alicia Keys

While the recording industry is sinking, R&B artist Keys is selling her latest album "As I Am" by the boatload. 8 p.m. Saturday, WaMu Theater, 1000 Occidental Ave. S., $35-$100 (206-628-0888 or www.ticketmaster.com).

Theater

"Saint Heaven"

This touted new musical weaves country, gospel and R&B tunes into an interracial 1950s romance with spiritual overtones set in rural Kentucky. Wednesday-Oct. 26, Francis J. Gaudette Theatre, 303 Front St. N., Issaquah; $18-$58 (425-392-2202 or www.villagetheatre.org). Oct. 31-Nov. 23, Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave., Everett; $16-$51 (425-257-8600 or www.villagetheatre.org).

Classical music

Orchestra Seattle/

Seattle Chamber Singers

Chinese phenom Chuanyun Li lends his violin to a fall gala featuring two showy concertos. 7 p.m. Tuesday, Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle; $15-$70 (206-628-0888 or www.ticketmaster.com).

Dance

So You Think You Can Dance Tour

If the names Chelsie, Comfort, Courtney, Gev, Joshua, Katee, Kherington, Mark, Twitch and Will mean anything to you, go buy tickets immediately for this one-night-only tour of the popular, high-energy Fox-TV dance contest. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma; $35-$54.50 (206-628-0888 or www.ticketmaster.com).

Pacific Northwest Ballet Gala

Artistic director Peter Boal has assembled an evening of dance treats to whet your appetite for PNB's 2008-09 season — including a healthy serving of Balanchine and a taste of Twyla Tharp. A gala party follows. 6:30 p.m. Saturday, McCaw Hall, Seattle Center, Seattle; $55-$75 show only; $125-$5,000 for the post-show party (206-441-2424 or www.pnb.org).

Visual arts

Liz Magor

The Vancouver, B.C., sculptor examines the collision of domesticity and the wild — a subject explored with increasing urgency in the art world. Her show "The Mouth and Other Storage Facilities" continues through Dec. 14, Henry Art Gallery, 4100 15th Ave. N.E., Seattle; $6-$10 (206-543-2280 or www.henryart.org).

"Empire"

The five video installations of "Empire" act as a conceptual counterpoint to the historic images of "Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt," an exhibition that opened in August at the Frye. The installations are said to look at "the mechanisms of empire building and destruction, modernity and its discontents." Opens Saturday and runs through Jan. 4, 2009, Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave., Seattle; free (206-622-9250 or www.fryeart.org).

Readings

Garrison Keillor

The National Public Radio host will discuss his novel "Liberty" at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Town Hall, Eighth Avenue and Seneca Street, Seattle; $5 (206-624-6600 or www.brownpapertickets.com).