Eran Kolirin, The Band’s Visit. This modest, wise, and funny movie plops down a band of Egyptian policeman-musicians in an Israeli nowhere land. Kolirin sidelines explicit political themes in favor of drawing out characters who are, to be sure, shaped by their cultures but not defined by them. Filled with subtle surprises, from the musical passion simmering quietly beneath its characters’ uniforms to the deeper truths that fuel that passion (OGIC).

A.J. Liebling, World War II Writings (Library of America, $40). An omnibus collection of wartime dispatches to The New Yorker, plus twenty-eight previously uncollected articles and Normandy Revisited, the uncommonly elegant 1958 memoir in which Liebling wove together present- and past-tense accounts of his wartime and postwar visits to the site of D-Day. The contents may sound miscellaneous, but in fact they’re magnetically readable. Except for Ernie Pyle, no American journalist did a better job of serving as a witness to war in the twentieth century, and these pieces combine lightness of touch with high seriousness to tremendously powerful effect (TT).

Diebenkorn in New Mexico (Grey Art Gallery, New York University, 100 Washington Square East, up through Saturday). Fifty glorious abstract paintings and drawings by Richard Diebenkorn, a great American artist who made the professional mistake of spending most of his career in California. No matter how good they are–and Diebenkorn was as good as it gets–West Coast artists find it hard to get East Coast critics, curators, and dealers to take them seriously. A case in point is this tightly focused show of works made between 1950 and 1952, when Diebenkorn was a graduate student at the University of New Mexico. It belongs in a major museum, but instead it’s being exhibited in a university gallery. Go see it there, far from the madding crowd, and marvel at the impenetrable mysteries of art-world politics (TT).

Richard III (Strawdog Theatre, 3829 N. Broadway, Chicago, closes Mar. 29). Nic Dimond’s lean, mean production of Richard III is anchored by a charismatic title role performance by Strawdog ensemble member John Henry Roberts and a soulful one by Jennifer Avery as Queen Elizabeth. The fine supporting cast barely fits all at once in Strawdog’s tiny performance space, but Joe Schermoly’s pared-down set makes the most of the claustrophobia. All in all, electrifying (OGIC)

The Trip to Bountiful (Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, Chicago, closes Apr. 6). A Chicago revival of the off-Broadway production that was the talk of Manhattan playgoers two seasons ago. I praised it to the skies in The Wall Street Journal: “Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful is fully as worthy of regular revival as Our Town or The Glass Menagerie, and this production, directed by Harris Yulin and acted with quiet skill by Lois Smith and the best ensemble cast in town, leaves no doubt of its special quality….I doubt you’ll ever see it performed better, especially by Smith, whose acting is so beautifully straightforward that you feel as though you’re eavesdropping on her.” It should have transferred to Broadway, but no theaters were open at the time, so instead it’s being presented a second time as part of the Goodman Theater’s Horton Foote Festival. Do not miss this extraordinary show under any circumstances, no matter how far you have to drive, fly, or ride a bus in order to see it (TT).

Nancy LaMott, Ask Me Again (Midder Music, two CDs). Twenty previously unreleased cuts–airchecks, live performances, demo recordings–by the best cabaret singer of her generation. The songs include “Call Me Irresponsible,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Easy to Love,” “The Shadow of Your Smile,” and a medley of Stephen Sondheim’s “No One Is Alone” and “Not While I’m Around.” Nancy and I were good friends, so I can’t be objective about this one, but I’ll be very surprised if you don’t find Ask Me Again as beautiful and moving as the studio recordings that brought her brief but well-deserved fame. Also available is I’ll Be Here With You, a companion DVD of live performances and interviews taped between 1978 and Nancy’s untimely death in 1995 (TT).

William Maxwell, Early Novels and Stories (Library of America, $35). At last–at last!–the Library of America brings out the first in a pair of volumes devoted to the writings of the New Yorker editor who in his spare time produced some of America’s most lyrical and poignant fiction. Maxwell was never widely recognized in his lifetime, nor is he well known now, but connoisseurs covet his books with obsessive passion. (Don’t take my word for it–read this.) Start with The Folded Leaf, his exquisitely sensitive 1945 novel of adolescent friendship, and go from there (TT).

Jane Freilicher: Recent Paintings (Tibor de Nagy, 724 Fifth Ave., up through Saturday). New work by an underrated artist whose deceptively quiet landscapes and still lifes reflect the influence of Bonnard and the cubists yet remain utterly American in tone and tint. (One of them is in the Teachout Museum.) Don’t be deceived by Freilicher’s soft, even-toned palette and seemingly conventional subject matter–her art is life-enhancing (TT).