This weekend's picks

THIS WEEKEND

Most of the axemen taking the stage for the eight-day Chris' Jazz Cafe Guitar Festival don't have much of a commute. The club is a virtual second home for local stalwart Jimmy Bruno, who kicks things off tonight. Frank DiBussolo and octogenarian Bucky Pizzarelli can carpool down from the Allentown area to continue their ongoing partnership tomorrow. And everyone else on the bill - Ryan Neitznick, Dave Manley, Craig Ebner and Mike Kennedy, and Steve Giordano - could take public transportation if the need arose. Kurt Rosenwinkel, whose quintet takes a two-night stint next Friday and Saturday, comes from Germany, where he heads the guitar department at the Jazz Institute of Berlin. But the guitarist was born and raised here, so gigs here mean reunions with family and friends. He'll be accompanied by his regular quintet, the fiercely simpatico unit of saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Ben Street and drummer Obed Calvaire.

Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom St., tomorrow through March 8, $8-$20, 215-568-3131, www.chrisjazzcafe.com.

Slave tales

James DeJongh has written "Do Lord, Remember Me," using slave narratives gathered by Works Progress Administration (WPA) Writers Project in the '30s. This dramatization with spirituals is being produced by FreshVisions as a perfect finale to this year's Black History Month.

Germantown Theatre Center, 4821 Germantown Ave., 8 tonight, 4 p.m. tomorrow, $15 adults, $12 kids, 267-334-1512.

Unconscious conversations

Playwright Deb Margolin's own experience inspired the cutting edge comedy "O Yes I Will," produced by Gas & Electric Arts at the Adrienne. A young woman, knocked out in preparation for surgery, begins free associating in the operating room, conducting a 12-minute monologue heard by the men with knives who will operate on her. What did she say? "O Yes I Will" imagine five different scenarios of what might have come from her unconscious state. The play is in previews beginning tonight, with its opening set for Tuesday.

Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 2 p.m. today, 7 p.m. tomorrow; opening night 7 p.m. Tuesday; 7 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, through March 16, $20-$15, 215-407-0556, www.gasandelectricarts.com.

Acrobatic adventure

The world famous Peking Acrobats bring their 2000-year tradition of tumbling, juggling, cycling and clowning to the Keswick Theatre tomorrow. Since 1952 (long before there was a Cirque du Soleil) the Peking Acrobats have been amazing audiences with their athleticism and agility, performing to music by a classical Chinese orchestra.

Keswick Theatre, Easton Road and Keswick Avenue, Glenside, 3 p.m. tomorrow, $26, $17.50 for kids under 12, 215-572-7650, www.keswicktheatre.com.

Petal power

Our town's most celebrated harbinger of spring, the Philadelphia Flower Show, is groovier than ever this year. The 2008 theme - "Jazz it Up" - pays homage to Philly as a great jazz town and honors New Orleans through breathtaking floral exhibits that recreate the charm of the Big Easy. Visitors this year will be infected with jazz fever as well as spring fever, as dozens of live music performances contribute to the festive atmosphere.

Pennsylvania Convention Center, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. tomorrow, 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-9:30 p.m. March 8, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. March 9; $24-$28 ($22 in advance), $17 students, $13 children 2-16; 215-988-8776, www.theflowershow.com.

NEXT WEEK

The cat's meow

The Storybook Musical Theatre brings "Puss 'n' Boots" to the Mitchell Performing Arts Center for a two-week run. The story of a young man who trusts his cat to bring him riches, fame and the girl of his dreams stars Glenside actress Deirde Finnegan as Puss. Lively tunes by Jeff Reim reinforce this tale of friendship and trust.

Mitchell Performing Arts Center, 800 Tomlinson Road, Bryn Athyn, 10:15 a.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. March 8, 2 p.m. March 9, through March 16, $10 children, $12 adults, 215-659-8550, www.storybookmusical.org

Key notes

August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning play "The Piano Lesson" opens at the Arden Theatre on Thursday, but you can see its final dress rehearsal on Wednesday as a "Pay What You Can" fundraising benefit for Art Sanctuary. "The Piano Lesson" is about two siblings in 1930s Pittsburgh who are battling over whether or not to sell the intricately carved piano that their grandfather, an enslaved plantation carpenter, has bequeathed them. The brother wants to sell the piano to buy land, but his sister thinks it carries too much history to be discarded.

Arden Theatre Company, 40 N. 2nd St., 8 p.m. Wednesday, "Pay As You Can" fundraiser, 215-922-1122.

Seniors stalk Sesame Street

Elmo is coming to town and he's reaching out to older Philadelphians. "Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music" sets up shop at the Wachovia Spectrum for five days, with singing and dancing Muppet friends making music in untraditional ways. Wednesday (opening night) is a special fundraiser for the Philadelphia Senior Center and lower-level tickets will be half price and funds raised will support programs for the PSC's 10,000 members. Can't make it Wednesday? The show continues through March 9.

Wachovia Spectrum, 7 p.m. Wednesday (tickets for this performance are $20-$27); remaining shows 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday and March 7, 10:30 a.m., 2 and 5:30 p.m. March 8, 2 and 5:30 p.m. March 9, $48-$12, 215-546-5879.

Doctor in the house

Dan Gottlieb, syndicated columnist, practicing therapist and host of "Voices in the Family" on WHYY 91FM, still makes time to write books. His "Learning from the Heart," about the problems facing family life, is the subject of an author event at the Free Library.

Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine St., noon Wednesday, $7-$14, 800-595-4849.