Regional arts and entertainment events
Sunday Our friends, the weeds Ever been stuck on the Schuylkill Expressway and noticed the weeds stubbornly growing on the concrete median, or seen the grass growing up through the cracked sidewalk, or wondered about that crazy tree growing off the side of the a
Sunday
Our friends, the weeds Ever been stuck on the Schuylkill Expressway and noticed the weeds stubbornly growing on the concrete median, or seen the grass growing up through the cracked sidewalk, or wondered about that crazy tree growing off the side of the abandoned building across from your office while staring out the window trying to get a witty idea to pop into your head? We have. So, probably, has Harvard University biologist Peter Del Tredici - but he's made observations of such flora his topic of research. His lecture Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast will not only help with identifying the common lambsquarters, princess trees, and fall panicum that surround us, but also will explain why this vegetation provides benefits for city dwellers. The lecture is at 2 p.m. at the Morris Arboretum, 100 E. Northwestern Ave. Admission is free; reservations are required. Call 215-247-5777, Ext. 156.
Astral works An Astral Artists ensemble made up of violinist Benjamin Beilman, violist Teng Li, cellist Susan Babini, harpist Bridget Kibbey, flutist Jasmine Choi, soprano Dísella Làrusdóttir, and pianist Debra Scurto-Davis performs an intriguing recital of works by Aaron Jay Kernis, Lou Harrison, Gustav Holst, and Ernst von Dohnanyi at 3 p.m. at the Trinity Center for Urban Life, 2212 Spruce St. Tickets are $18; $16 for seniors; $5 for students. Call 215-735-6999.
Monday
Historical drama Noh, the 14th-century Japanese theatrical genre, is a highly stylized and formal tradition using music and masks. The Kashu-juku Noh Theater presents a three-part performance - a dance, a comedy, and a drama - at 7:30 p.m. at the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, 300 S. Broad St. Tickets are $25 and $40. Call 215-893-1999.
Tuesday
Bending the frame Artist and curator Fred Wilson has created site-specific installations in collaboration with museums around the world, with the aim of questioning and expanding the idea and practice of the museum itself. He discusses his work in the lecture The Silent Message of the Museum at 6 p.m. at Bryn Mawr College's Thomas Great Hall, 101 N. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr. Admission is free. Call 610-526-5335.
Fear and trembling In the early 1970s, the American Film Theater series presented great plays on screen, with prominent directors and casts drawn from the movies. One of the best is Tony Richardson's 1973 version of A Delicate Balance, starring Katharine Hepburn and Paul Scofield in Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about an upper-middle-class couple whose life is shattered when their neighbors are driven by a nameless dread to take shelter in their house. The film screens at 7:30 p.m. at the Chestnut Hill Library, 8711 Germantown Ave. Admission is free. Call 215-248-0977.
Wednesday
What fools For its production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Lantern Theater Company took an antic approach, highlighting the physical comedy inherent in Shakespeare's tale of gods and mortals driven barmy by love. The show goes on at 7 p.m. at St. Stephen's Theater, 10th and Ludlow Streets, and continues on a Wednesday-through-
Sunday schedule to April 10, with added shows April 16 and 17. Tickets are $10 to $36. Call 215-829-0395.
The old-time sounds Pop musicologist D. Charles Speer (a.k.a. Dave Shuford of the improvisational experimental collective No-Neck Blues Band) unleashes his electric bouzouki on the Greek tradition of hasiklidika (hashish songs) and somehow discovers a kind of bluegrass jug-band sound therein. He plays at 8 p.m. at Kung Fu Necktie, 1248 N. Front St. Tickets are $8. Call 215-291-4919.
Thursday
Mozart and the French Conductor Stéphane Denève leads the Philadelphia Orchestra in Mozart's vibrant and virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major ("Jenamy") with soloist Imogen Cooper, plus works by Dutilleux, Debussy, and Roussel, at the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall, 300 S. Broad St., at 8 p.m. Thursday, 2 p.m. Friday, and 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $39 to $113. Call 215-893-1999.
Friday & Saturday
Next step With her ethereal vocals wrapped in a smart, arty approach,
Ellie Goulding
redeems dance-pop and elevates it beyond the beat (her sensational "Starry Eyed" has been a constant on our playlist for a while, lately joined by the infectious "Lights"). If there's any justice, she's the next big thing. The dynamic British chanteuse and multi-instrumentalist brings her first U.S. tour to
World Cafe Live
, 3025 Walnut St., at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $18 and $23. Call 215-222-1400.
On the edge Choreographer Mina Estrada presents her autobiographical dance quintet The Far Walk & a Stairway to the Moon at the Community Education Center, 3500 Lancaster Ave., at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. next Sunday. Tickets are $12; $10 for seniors and students. Call 215-387-1911.