Regional arts and entertainment events

Sunday

Medium is the message In the show Clay Possibilities, two dozen local artists investigate the different ways the material can be used. The show opens with a reception at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Cheltenham Center for the Arts, 439 Ashbourne Rd., Cheltenham, and continues Mondays through Fridays to Dec. 10. Admission is free. Call 215-379-4660.

Strike up the band If you don't know Meredith Willson's classic 1957 musical The Music Man - well, you got trouble. But it's easily remedied, with "Seventy-Six Trombones" and the enduring love song "Till There Was You." The show goes on at 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., and continues on a Tuesday-through- Sunday schedule (no show Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day) to Jan. 6. Tickets are $10 to $95. Call 215-574-3550.

The struggle In Ismael Ferroukhi's compelling 2011 thriller Free Men, an Algerian street hustler in Nazi-occupied Paris is forced by the authorities to infiltrate a local mosque led by a wily imam suspected of helping the Resistance and harboring refugee Jews and discovers a capacity for heroism and sacrifice he didn't know he had. The film screens as part of the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival at 3 p.m. at the Gershman Y, 401 South Broad St. Tickets are $10. Call 215-545-4400.

Monday

Making a show In addition to being one of the more intriguing young actors around, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is also the do-it-yourself mogul behind hitRECord, "an open collaborative production company" that invites, well, everyone in the world to upload their creative efforts (writing, music, film, photography) to the project's website, interact with others in remixing the work, and share in whatever profits can be had. Gordon-Levitt hosts an evening of short films, music and writing from the project, and invites the audience to take part in a live event at 9 p.m. at the Merriam Theater, 250 South Broad St. Tickets are $19.50 to $39.50. Call 215-893-1999.

Tuesday

Key player The eminent pianist Seymour Lipkin presents an all-Beethoven recital, including the challenging Sonata in B-flat major ("Hammerklavier") at 8 p.m. at the American Philosophical Society, 427 Chestnut St. Tickets are $24. Call 215-569-8080.

Forever young Part of the fascination with James Dean is that there's just enough of him - three films - to tantalize with the thought of what he could have done with another half-century on celluloid, instead of dying in a car crash at 24. And, of course, that's the other part - he'll remain 24 forever, cheated of the chance to get fat and foolish and more interesting (a la Marlon Brando). The Chestnut Hill Film Group screens Dean's last film, George Stevens' 1956 epic melodrama Giant (in which Dean gets to act out aging as a surly rancher), at 7 p.m. at the Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Ave. Admission is free. Call 215-247-0476.

Wednesday

On the beat Percussionist Pablo Batista performs with his band the Mambo Syndicate at 7:30 p.m. at the Kimmel Center's Plaza Stage, Broad and Spruce Streets. Admission is free. Call 215-893-1999. . . . Percussionist Francois Zayas plays at 7:30 p.m. at the Universalist Church of Delaware County, 145 Rose Tree Rd., Media. Tickets are $10; $5 for students. Call 610-745-3011.

Thursday

Thanksgiving groove The outstanding local jazz-funk jammers Bodega can help you work off that tryptophan drowse at 9 p.m. at the Note, 142 E. Market St., West Chester. Tickets are $10. Call 484-947-5713.

Friday & Saturday

From France to America Conductor Stéphane Denève leads the Philadelphia Orchestra in Debussy's Images, Poulenc's Suite from "Les Biches," and Gershwin's An American in Paris at the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall, Broad and Spruce Streets, at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. next Sunday. Tickets are $26 to $127. Call 215-893-1999.

Rock legend One of our favorite rock-and-roll factoids: When organist Garth Hudson joined what would eventually become the Band, he did so with the stipulation that his bandmates pay him for music lessons, lest his parents back in Ontario think he was wasting his classical training. Hudson joins with with Conan bandleader Jimmy Vivino and members of the Levon Helm Band to visit the back catalogue at the Keswick Theatre, Easton Road and Keswick Avenue, Glenside, at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $40 and $50. Call 215-572-7650.