Carolyn Lamberson

Six actors will take the stage. The set will consist of a few chairs. There will be no elaborate costumes. But when the lights go down and the curtain rises, those in the audience will see something remarkable. Dennis Franz. Patty Duke. Ellen Travolta. Jack Bannon.

It cannot be easy playing the straight man in “Spamalot.” In the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre production of the Tony-winning musical comedy, that task falls to Eric Jensen as he assumes the role of Arthur, King of the Britons.

The Spokane String Quartet has announced its 2012-’13 season, with works by Ludwig von Beethoven, Joseph Haydn, Johannes Brahms, Dmitri Shostakovich, Antonin Dvorak and Franz Schubert among the pieces to be performed. The season opens Oct. 7 at the Bing Crosby Theater with special guests Meredith Arksey, violin, and Andrea Chandler, cello, joining the quartet for a concert featuring Haydn, Brahms and Dan Visconti. Arksey and Chandler are the daughters of the late Leon Arksey, a longtime member of the Spokane Chamber Music Association Board.

Michael LeFevre, an award-winning classical guitarist and professor at Walla Walla University, will perform Friday at the Holy Names Music Center. LeFevre will present the premiere of “Sonata” by Bryan Johanson, an Oregon-based award-winning composer. He also will play works by Jorge Morel, Leo Brouwer, Marco Pereira in addition to J.S. Bach’s BWV 995.

When the Nashville band Herrick takes the stage during this weekend’s Cheney Jubilee, they won’t be strangers. Lead singer Donna Herrick grew up in Cheney. Her husband, bassist Kerry Herrick, grew up in Spokane Valley, “back when it was all Spokane,” he said in a phone interview this week.

Sharma Shields grew up on Spokane’s South Hill. As she wrote in an essay for the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, she always wanted to leave Spokane to “flee the idiot ghost of my younger self.” Still, she never got very far. Seattle, Missoula, the Idaho Panhandle. So rather than fleeing that “idiot ghost,” she wrote, she kept “tiptoeing closer to her.” Now she is married, with children and settled happily in Spokane. She’s also just published her first book, a collection of short stories called “Favorite Monster” (Autumn House Press), in which she writes about serial killers, neigborhood one-upmanship, a cyclops, Medusa and infidelity. She’ll read from her book Wednesday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

The Spokane Jazz Orchestra will take us down the “Jazz Alley” in its 2012-’13 concert season. The orchestra, under the direction of Thomas Molter, will team with renowned soloists for three of the four shows.

Last year a friend of mine did her first Ironman Coeur d’Alene. As evening turned to night, her friends gathered on Sherman Avenue to watch her cross the finish line. It was a jovial moment. One friend, however, was miserable. She’d spent her day running from place to place, keeping tabs on our buddy’s progress. Not only was she exhausted, she hurt. Her clothes chafed. Her feet – clad only in flip-flops – were killing her.

Pearl Jam is only playing a few festivals in the U.S. this year. But if you’re dying to see the band play live in 2012, a three-hour road trip to Missoula might be in order. The band announced it will play the Adams Center at the University of Montana on Sept. 30. Mudhoney will open the show.

There are dozens of reasons to see John Fogerty in concert. First, there are the hits he made with the classic country-swamp rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Kim Barnes, the University of Idaho English professor who has just published her third novel, will be in Spokane this week to read from her new book. “In the Kingdom of Men” tells the story of Gin Mitchell McPhee, a poor Oklahoma girl who marries the local basketball star and heads off to a new life in an oil company compound in Saudi Arabia. When a young Bedouin women is found dead, Gin’s life begins to unravel.

Fifteen years ago, Jess Walter and his wife traveled to Italy to visit her family. While there, the idea for a novel was born. That novel, “Beautiful Ruins,” will hit bookstores on Tuesday. It spans two continents and five decades, two central characters and a half dozen supporting players.

Dolly Levi is back in Coeur d’Alene, and Ellen Travolta couldn’t be more thrilled. For Travolta, once again assuming the role of the beloved heroine of “Hello, Dolly!” for Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre is like visiting with an old friend.

Connoisseur Concerts’ Mozart on a Summer’s Eve performance in Manito Park is shaping up to be a must-see. The concerts, at 7 p.m. July 17 and 18, will feature three professional sopranos who graduated from Whitworth University: Heather Steckler Parker, Colleen Bryant Palmer and Heather Peterson.