Friday, Oct. 11-Sunday, Oct. 13

Oklahoma City Ballet heads to the jungles of India to dance with Mowgli, Baloo, Shere Khan and Kaa – the beloved characters of Rudyard Kiplings’ grand imagination. The Oklahoma City Civic Center stage transforms into a topical rainforest set with magnificent animals made possible through the fantastical and elegant puppetry and costume design of Emmy Award winner Gregory Crane. Shows are at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11; 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13. “Mowgli: The Jungle Book Ballet” will be on the Thelma Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre Stage at the civic center, 201 N. Walker Ave., Oklahoma City. Tickets are $25-$61, available at www.okcballet.com.

Sunday, Oct. 13

In the music industry, Kris Kristofferson is one of those names that belongs in the strata of legends like Neil Young and the late J.J. Cale – consummate songwriters with an affinity for live performance that exceeds even their finest recordings. The writer of “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” continues his craft into a fifth decade with the aptly titled album “Feeling Mortal,” released early this year. Catch him at the Mabee Center, 7777 S. Lewis Ave., at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13. This time, the ever-generous Kristofferson is playing to benefit the Woody Guthrie Childhood Home Reconstruction Project to restore the London House, a six-room, two-story structure in Okemah that the Guthrie family called home. The house has since been taken apart, its parts placed in storage, but the campaign works to restore and preserve the structure to promote Guthrie’s legacy. Concert tickets are $25-$100, available at www.mabeecenter.com. For more about the London House restoration, visit www.thishouseisyourhouse.org.

Sunday, Oct. 13

If you asked Sarah Brightman what it’s like to be the “world’s best-selling soprano,” you might hope for a diva-like, bon-bon dipped reply: “Well, obviously, it’s fine.” Although Brightman – international star of musical theater, the concert hall, film and the recording studio – has earned enough stripes for snarky retorts, you’re more likely to hear about all the future projects she’s working on and the gratitude she has for her fans. Brightman has sold a lot of albums, and on her latest, “Dreamchaser,” she continues her own dream of bridging the gap between the classical and contemporary music worlds. “Dreamchaser” contains covers of work by Sigur Ros, Sia Furler and the Cocteau Twins. You can hear it live when she performs and intimate show at the BOK Center, 200 S. Denver Ave., Tulsa. Show time is at 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13, and tickets ($84-$255) are limited as the arena will be transformed into a theater setting for this performance. For more, visit www.bokcenter.com.

On any given week, a new rumor springs up in media land about Blake Shelton. Most recently, he nixed certain reports that he was sent to rehab and that he was having heart problems. And then there are those rumors always afloat that country music’s hottest couple is headed for divorce like a fast-moving dually headed for a turtle on pavement. By his account, Shelton and wife Miranda Lambert are as enchanted with one another as ever, and, if that isn’t bliss itself, their careers are soaring.

With 12 No. 1 singles to his career (eight of them consecutive), three CMA Male Vocalist of the Year titles and as current CMA Entertainer of the Year, the singer from Pontotoc County, Okla., is undoubtedly on everyone’s proverbial radar. You have to wonder if it can all be too much? Heck no.

Shelton was the driving force behind the Healing for the Heartland concert raising money for victims of April’s disastrous tornado in Moore. Also, Season 5 of The Voice, the NBC singing competition in which Shelton has coached three winners, is back on Monday and Tuesday nights, and he is wrapping up his Ten Times Crazier Tour, which began in July. One of the final stops will be at the BOK Center, 200 S. Denver Ave. Jana Kramer, ACM’s New Female Vocalist of the Year nominee, opens the show beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4. Tickets are $27.75-$52.75.

So no matter what you’ve heard about Blake Shelton, all you really need to know is wrapped up in his latest single, “Mine Would Be You” – smart, sexy, comfortable and unerringly poignant. That’s how they grow ‘em in Ada.

Tickets are available online at www.bokcenter.com

Even when you were small, you swore you would never listen to the same music your parents “forced” upon you during road trips. You dared the world to give up Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam for Echo & the Bunnymen in 1987 and grumbled when it didn’t. Country music? Yeah, but just the really classic stuff. Only the most original sounds and bands make it to your playlist, and if that’s the case, this is your month for concerts. Tulsa and Oklahoma City become hives (no, not The Hives) of indie-alt-hipster-folk fervor with a roster that includes the Lumineers (Oct. 3) at the OKC Downtown Airpark; Vampire Weekend (Oct. 5) at Brady Theater; and even more at Cain’s Ballroom – Local Natives (Oct. 6), Toro Y Moi (Oct. 8), Silversun Pickups (Oct. 9) and Portugal. the Man (Oct. 15). Check out the In Concert calendar for more on these and other hot bands basking at the fringe and headed your way in October.

If you had been speaking for 79 years, your message might grow stale to even yourself. Not so for the Tulsa Town Hall, even as it nears an eighth decade bringing enlightening discussions from engaging speakers to Tulsa. Writer Khaled Hosseini opens a new season of lectures with “Afghanistan Through the Decades: An Émigré’s Personal Perspective” at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 4, in Chapman Music Hall at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, 101 E. Third St. The author of the best-selling novels The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns will also be a special guest the night before at a Tulsa Reads author event (see calendar). Want more? Tulsa Town Hall has also booked journalist Dan Rather (Nov. 8), author-historian Timothy Egan (Feb. 7), actress Mia Farrow (March 14) and chief engineer of the Curiosity Mars rover missions, Gentry Lee (April 11). Subscriptions to the series are $75, available at www.tulsatownhall.com.

Friday, Oct. 4-Saturday, Oct. 5

When your children grow up, one day they’ll tell their own kids about the time they visited a little town in Oklahoma’s gorgeous Kiamichi Mountains and camped in the heart of sasquatch country. No matter the reaction you get from future progeny or your family at the next Thanksgiving dinner, you and yours will always remember the fun of the Honobia Bigfoot Fall Festival & Conference. This year’s event includes a mountain music showcase, the Big Foot Crossing 2k Run, storytelling around the fire, Big Foot Music Idol, unique crafters, food vendors and contests. Imagine people competing for the best big foot camouflage, tire tossing, rock rolling, limb chucking and “Sasquallin’” for the bronchially gifted.

Primitive camping means you’ll need to provide your own water or buckets for hauling it from the well. Whether you’re a serious ‘squatch researcher or looking for a unique family outing, the conference is certain to leave you with some great memories. Events will be Friday, Oct. 4-Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Ludlow Rock Schoolhouse grounds on Oklahoma 144 west of U.S. 259 (south of Heavener). Parking is $10 per carload all day. For more, go to www.honobiabigfootprint.com.