Bully and Sissy

(DANCE) If you missed the latest screening of Showgirls, here's your only other chance to catch a bunch of women who can dance like hell while looking like they want to kick your ass. Before Amii LeGendre comes after me to kick mine, I should note that LeGendre: Performance, the dancer/choreographer's all-female company, is not for leering misogynists -- it's a gift to fans of theatrical athleticism in dance. LeGendre has choreographed for local theater (most recently, Einstein's Dreams at Annex) and dance (the terrific d-9 Dance Collective), and now she's back at On the Boards with her own group, vaulting into an expression of gender roles in Bully. The piece -- paired with her look at the other side of the coin, Sissy -- promises to be tough and wildly physical, and is accompanied by artist Anat Pollack's set design and a live performance from local rockers Violent Green. STEVE WIECKING

On the Boards, 100 W Roy, 217-9888, Thurs-Sun March 30-April 2; Fri-Sat April 7-8, 8pm. $16-$18.

Charlatans UK/ Stereophonics

(LIVE MUSIC) Hard to believe that the whole "Madchester" scene that spawned the Charlatans, Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, etc. happened a DECADE ago. Where'd the time go? Unlike their peers, who seemed to buckle under all the attention and pressure, the Charlatans have been busy putting out album after album of beautiful, slightly psychedelic British pop. They've survived wave after wave of trends over the years by stressing good old-fashioned songwriting over fashion. That may be part of the reason they've never achieved the success they deserve, but it doesn't explain why they've never gotten due credit. Lovely to see them back in the States -- go pick up a copy of their latest album, Us & Us Only. Now. BARBARA MITCHELL

Showbox, 1426 First Ave, 628-3151, 8 pm, $17.

PONCHO "Picks"

(THEATER) The award for Bravery Above and Beyond the Theatrical Call of Duty goes to the panel of 25 professionals who willingly sat through much of the latest Seattle Fringe Theatre Festival in order to select the three companies most worthy to appear onstage at the Rep. The least we can do in return is check out the winners. The valiant panel waded through the (shudder) 78 participating shows, and came up with an interesting trio that will play in tandem on the Seattle Rep's mainstage over three nights, sponsored by PONCHO: Reason and Rhyme's Ballyhoo, Kazoo's Kazoo 5!, and Riverside Ensemble's The Beard and The Sermons of Jean Harlow. (The People's Pick for audience favorite, by the way, went to Bellingham Children's Theatre's Once upon the End.) STEVE WIECKING

Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Center, 443-2222. Fri-Sun at 6 pm (Ballyhoo), 7:45 pm (Kazoo 5!), and 9:45 pm (The Beard, Sermons), March 31-April 2 only, $12 per show, or $30 for all three on the same night.

Apu Trilogy

(FILM) To the extent that art is about form and craftsmanship -- questions of skill -- Satyajit Ray made several later films that surpassed his accomplishments in the Apu Trilogy. But if art's primary goal is to capture humanity, then these -- his first, second, and fifth feature films -- are his pinnacle achievements. The growth of the eponymous Apu from enchanted child (Pather Panchali), through his emboldened but self-absorbed schoolboy years (Aparajito), to the distress, grief, and ultimate acceptance of adulthood (Apur Sansar), is one of cinema's great journeys to follow -- technically a bit raw, but never less than a wonder to behold. BRUCE REID

Grand Illusion, NE 50th St and University Way NE, 523-3935, call for times, through April 6, $4.50(matinee)/$7.

Tron

(FILM/PARTY) In Tron, the Atari generation watched breathlessly as a young Jeff Bridges got sucked into his computer, tossed into a surreal world where he battled his way through video games while an amazing backdrop of special effects (this was 1982, for Christ's sake!) and computer graphics provided eye candy for aspiring hackers and designers. This evening's post-screening blacklight party will feature visuals by HPX and Ultrareel; sound design by Sentient Audio; a live pirate microcast by Free Seattle Radio, 87.9; "stimuli" by Humanlab; and performances from DJ MissKick, Ota Prota, and Elemental, for all you jaded, high-tech smarty-pantses who think this futuristic classic film is "so last century." As always, this is a benefit for the historical, strapped-for-cash Kalakala ferry. MIN LIAO

The Kalakala, 2505 N Northlake Way (near Gasworks Park), 8 pm, $10 donation, 21+ only.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

(FILM) Oh, what a tangled web Pedro Almodóvar weaves in his 1988 classic, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. After being dumped via answering machine, Pepa (Carmen Maura) is desperate to uncover the identity of her lover's lover, leading her straight to a series of seemingly impossible coincidences that propel this simple story into a full-on farce, featuring sleeping-pill-laced gazpacho, a stuttering Antonio Banderas, a Picasso-faced Rossy DePalma, a beehived madwoman on a motorbike, a couple of terrorists, orgasmic dreams, and at least one bed on fire. And just when you think this movie doesn't make any sense, it all comes together in classic Almodóvar style, colliding accident into fate to create comic bliss. S. PAUL OCAMPO

Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055, Thurs-Sun March 30-April 2, 5:30, 7:30, & 9:30 pm, $4.50(matinee)/$7.

Crooked Fingers, Empire State, Barton Caroll

(LIVE MUSIC) Considering the fact that Crooked Fingers' debut was recorded right here in the Emerald City, tonight will be a sort of homecoming for former Archers of Loaf frontman Eric Bachmann and his latest incarnation. Crooked Fingers abandons the overt angst and tumult of Archers of Loaf for a more plaintive, subdued, and -- dare I say -- mature sound that gets its point across through arrangement and orchestration rather than screeching vocals and careening guitars. Fear not -- Bachmann's raspy vocals and dark lyrical territory safely keep him out of the easy-listening realm (although there are a couple of moments when he comes across as Neil Diamond soaked in booze and cigarette smoke...). It's beautiful, unsettling stuff. BARBARA MITCHELL

Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave, 441-5611, 9 pm, $7.

Backdoor Basics

(SEX WORKSHOP) Perhaps you're one of the many people who still consider the butt to be merely an orifice for waste excretion, an avenue of eroticism open only to sickos and inmates, or (if you're an uppity vegetarian) a handy receptacle for your head. Well, lucky for everyone, the smart 'n' lusty ladies at Toys in Babeland are here to set things straight. In honor of "Anal April," Seattle's best sex toy shop is hosting Backdoor Basics, an Anal Sex 101 workshop open to all genders and sexual orientations. From basic anatomy to advanced exploration, the Babes will shed fresh light on the lowly anus, and help you discover the gold buried right in your own backyard. DAVID SCHMADER

Toys in Babeland, 707 E Pike St, 328-2914, 8 pm, $10 (sliding scale).

Verbena

(LIVE MUSIC) Last time Verbena came to town, I wrote an article praising them up and down, hell and high-water, calling them the best thing to happen to Southern rock in 20 years. So naturally, they went into the Crocodile -- and sucked. Mostly because their female co-frontperson -- the honey of the band -- was not in attendance. Thankfully, she's back. Give them another chance. KATHLEEN WILSON

Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave, 441-5611, 9 pm, $7.

Jonathan Raban

(LECTURE) Interloping Seattleite Jonathan Raban, the author of one of the greatest city studies ever (Soft City, about London), as well as last year's lovely riff on maritime history, Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings, lectures tonight as part of Stranger writer Charles Mudede's Hugo Talks series. These talks focus on writers' relationships to the cities in which they live; such discussions lend to Seattle the sheen of textuality and the concrete roughness of written history. Last month's talk, by Matthew Stadler (also a Stranger contributor), inspired arguments and poetic flights of fancy. Perhaps Raban will inspire riots -- who knows? TRACI VOGEL

Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7:30 pm, $5.

Susan Robb

(ART) After her recent sculpture explosion at the Pound, Robb settles down for a more sedate exhibition at the Lead Gallery and Wine Bar. Titled Macrofauxology, Robb's show features work from the series of photos she also showed at the Pound. It's "artist as mad scientist," according to the press release: Robb creates a mess with Play-Doh, rice, moss, spit, pudding, flour, and lint, then shoots photos at a high degree of magnification, fixing the glop into images of microbe-like forms. ERIC FREDERICKSEN

Lead Gallery and Wine Bar, 1022 First Ave, 623-6240. Through April 28.