Regional arts and entertainment events

Sunday

In David Hare's drama

Skylight

, a restaurateur reunites with his former lover, now a teacher, with volatile results. The

Lantern Theater Company

production goes on at 2 p.m. at

St. Stephen's Theater

, 10th and Ludlow Streets, and continues with shows on a Wednesday-through-Sunday schedule to March 2. Tickets are $25 and $30. Call 215-829-0395. . . . One of the touchstones of the modern musical, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt's

The Fantasticks

is famed for its four-decade Off-Broadway run. The minimalist masterpiece goes on at 3 p.m. at the

Kimmel Center's

Innovation Studio, Broad and Spruce Streets, and continues with shows at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 3 p.m. next Sunday. Tickets are $47. Call 215-297-8540.

As a collision of modern dance, Chinese opera and sculpture set to music by Steve Reich and the singing of a Tibetan nun,

Shen Wei Dance Arts

fairly defines innovation. The troupe performs at 2:30 p.m. at the

Kimmel Center's

Perelman Theater, Broad and Spruce Streets. Tickets are $34 and $44. Call 215-893-1999.

Norwegian singer

Sissel

is renowned for her crystalline vocals on epic interpretations of the standards. But it's her yearning electronica that hooked us. She sings at 7:30 p.m. at the

Keswick Theatre

, Easton Road and Keswick Avenue, Glenside. Tickets are $27 and $37. Call 215-572-7650.

Monday

Two longtime local theater veterans,

Grace Gonglewski

and

Tom McCarthy

, talk craft and career in one the Arden's invaluable salons,

Sustaining a Career in Theatre

, at 6 p.m. at the

Arden Theatre Company

, 40 N. Second St. Tickets are $25. Call 215-922-1122.

Based on a manga by Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy, Rintaro's 2001 anime masterpiece

Metropolis

is a dense tale of a boy detective searching a labyrinthine, mechanistic city for a missing robot (in true Tezuka manner, made to resemble a little girl). Just as in Astro Boy, under the veneer of a children's adventure lurk complex questions of human identity. The film screens at 7 p.m. at

Villanova University's

Connelly Center Cinema, Ithan Avenue and Route 30, Villanova. Tickets are $5. Call 610-519-4750.

Pianist

Piotr Anderszewski

has drawn notoriety for his perfectionist playing (he once abandoned a performance when he didn't feel happy with it) and lauded for his thoughtful performances of Bach. He plays works by Bach, Schumann and Szymanowski at 8 p.m. at the

Kimmel Center's

Perelman Theater, Broad and Spruce Streets. Tickets are $22.50; $10 for students. Call 215-569-8080.

Tuesday

On their fine new CD

59.59

, London's

Sian Alice Group

veers from dreamy pop to the edges of avant-garde jazz, with the result being distinctive and truly free of labels. The quartet plays on a three-band bill at 8 p.m. at

Johnny Brenda's

, 1201 Frankford Ave. Tickets are $10. Call 267-765-5210.

Wednesday

Novelist and filmmaker

Paul Auster

aims at merging the narrative power of fiction with the visceral immediacy of film. His newest effort,

The Inner Life of Martin Frost

, is about a writer whose muse comes to life (maybe). Auster presents a screening of his film, in a program sponsored by

Drexel University

, at 7 p.m. at the

Ritz 5 Theater

, 214 Walnut St. Admission is free; reservations required. Call 215-895-1029.

For his new piece

Syllables of the Poetry of Marianne Moore

, the estimable jazz composer and pianist

Dave Burrell

seeks to translate the poetic process itself into music, breaking it down to sonic and syllabic basics. Burrell performs and discusses the work at the

Rosenbach Museum and Library

, 2008 Delancey Place, at 6 p.m. Wednesday and 2 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $8; $5 for seniors and students (includes museum admission). Call 215-732-1600.

Thursday

In his tales of Indiana lore and life, short-story writer

Michael Martone

experiments with fictional form in surprising and funny ways. He's one of the best writers in America. Seriously. Martone reads at 6 p.m. at the

Kelly Writers' House

, 3805 Locust Walk. Admission is free. Call 215-573-9748.

Grammy Award-winners the

Turtle Island Quartet

play their interpretations of John Coltrane at 7:30 p.m. at

Longwood Gardens

, Route 1, Kennett Square. Tickets are $50 and $55. Call 610-388-1000.

Friday & Saturday

Jazz names to conjure with collide as the

T.S. Monk Sextet

(playing a tribute to Coltrane) and

the Mingus Big Band

team at the

Kimmel Center's

Verizon Hall, Broad and Spruce Streets, at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $26 to $69. Call 215-893-1999.

In Ayelet Menahemi's 2007 drama

Noodle

, a flight attendant, twice widowed by war, has her life upended further when she becomes the

de facto

caretaker of a Chinese boy whose mother has been deported. The film opens the

Israeli Film Festival

at

the Gershman Y

, 401 S. Broad St., at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $15; $13 for seniors. Call 484-904-5421.