This file photo taken on February 15, 2016 shows singer Adele performing onstage during the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California.ROBYN BECK/AFP / Getty Images
Adele
"Hello, it's me," Adele sings on last year's wistful hit single, as if there could be any mistaking the voice "from the other side" of the telephone connection. At 28 years old, the Tottenham sensation is the Streisand of her generation. She presents herself four times at Air Canada Centre, a big room for a big-voiced LP-selling queen. And although her latest album 25 is an unadventurous soul-ballad situation from an artist who may play it safe in the studio, Adele on stage never phones it in. Oct. 3, 4, 6 and 7, 8 p.m. $49.50 to $195. Air Canada Centre, 40 Bay St., 855-985-5000 or ticketmaster.ca.
The Moth
The podcast set will be out in full force for a live presentation from the Moth, a not-for-profit organization based in New York dedicated to the art and craft of telling stories. Doing their thing will be five hip minstrels, including Ophira Eisenberg, a New York-based Canadian standup comic of the smarty-pants kind who hosts National Public Radio's Ask Me Another, an upbeat trivia-game concern. Oct. 6, 8 p.m. $29.50 to $69.50. Massey Hall, 178 Victoria St., 855-985-5000 or ticketmaster.ca.
The Numbers Game
Here's something interesting: A six-episode play, written in the collaborative manner of a television-series writers' room, presented over multiple weeks. The idea is to transport the Netflix experience into theatre. Set in the dirty thirties, The Numbers Game is based on the race-fuelled gang war that tore through Harlem when the underworld turned from booze to gambling when Prohibition was repealed. The first episode plays to Oct. 2 (7 p.m.), with subsequent weeks offering two episodes a night (7 and 8:30 p.m.). To Nov. 6. $15 to 20 (passes available). Storefront Theatre, 955 Bloor St. W., 416-531-1117 or thestorefronttheatre.com.
Nuit Blanche
The annual all-night art affair lost its white knight when title sponsor Scotiabank pulled its financial support after a decade's affiliation. Though slightly slimmer this year, the 12-hour festival will still serve up 80 contemporary art happenings, including four city-produced exhibitions. One of those is Paco Barragan's Militant Nostalgia, which will take up a blocks-long stretch of John Street with a 10-piece meditation on history and time. The event is a little wild, as visual arts events go, and much anticipated by the sociable all-night types. Oct. 1, sunset to sunrise. Free. Various downtown locations, nbto.com.
Norma
A bel canto masterpiece, Vincenzo Bellini's two-act opera is a showcase for the soprano. Sharing the demanding role in this Canadian Opera Company co-production are the Canadian-American Sondra Radvanovsky and the South African Elza van den Heever, a high-note hitter of rising reputation. The American director Kevin Newbury makes his COC debut with a new staging that sets Norma's passion and betrayal in a fiery Game of Thrones-inspired environment. Oct. 6 to Nov. 5. $35 to $350. Four Seasons Centre, 145 Queen St. W., 416-363-8231 or coc.ca.
Brad Wheeler