Regional arts and entertainment events

Sunday

Dying to live In Morris Panych's black comedy Vigil, a middle-aged cipher waits (and tries to hurry up) the demise of his wealthy, bedridden aunt, so he can end his caretaking ways and live it up, if he ever knew how. The Lantern Theater Company's production goes on at 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Stephen's Theatre, 10th and Ludlow Streets, and continues with shows at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. next Sunday. Tickets are $20 to $36. Call 215-829-0395.

Old story, new music If pressed to name the perfect art form, we'd go with opera - the genre, not just the repertoire. Which is why we welcome the U.S. premiere of Hans Werner Henze's 2007 opera Phaedra. The creation of the tale of love and death was complicated by an illness midway through that put the composer into a coma for two months, and the break is reflected in two varying treatments of the story's themes. Though it's something new for us in the United States, Henze has been working in the form for more than 50 years, so it's about time some group got adventurous. The Opera Company of Philadelphia presents the challenging 12-tone work based on the classic Greek myth at the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, Broad and Spruce Streets, at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, 8 p.m. Friday, and 2:30 p.m. next Sunday. Tickets are $30 to $130. Call 215-893-1018.

Variety show The fourth season of the ETC. Performance Series finishes with a typically eclectic terpsichorean lineup as the B. Loos Dance Company, Eng & Friends Dance Company, Infatuation Dance Company, MM2 Dance Company, Marion Ramirez/Jung Woon Kim, Wabisabi Dance Company, Lauren Williams, and Underground DanceWorks (UDW) present new work. The show goes on at 8 p.m. at the Community Education Center, 3500 Lancaster Ave. Tickets are $10; $8 for seniors and students. Call 215-387-1911.

Monday

Hell on wheels The title of David Nehls and Becky Kelso's The Great American Trailer Park Musical says it all. The 11th Hour Theatre Company's production of the raucous, broadly comic show about human foibles and immobile mobility opens with a performance at 7 p.m. Monday at the Arden Theatre's Arcadia Stage, 40 N. Second St., and continues on a varied schedule to June 19. Tickets are $15 to $30. Call 267-987-9865.

Tuesday

You could label what the Austrian trio

Radian

plays electronica, jazz, or noise-rock, and you'd be right. They use the standard power-trio lineup - guitar, bass, and drums - pass the output through synthezisers and computers, then digitally chop and splice it into something compelling and cool. The Vienna combo plays at 8 p.m. at

Kung Fu Necktie

, 1248 N. Front St. Tickets are $12. Call 215-291-4919.

Wednesday

Jazz time Since it features Lars Halle Jazz Orchestra vet Mike Cemprola on alto sax, backed by percussionist Doc Gibbs, bassist Tyrone Brown, vibraphonist Hideo Morris, and pianist Matt Yaple, you'd expect the quintet Exuberance to be a tight swing combo, and you'd be absolutely right. They play at 7 p.m. at Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom St. Tickets are $10; $5 for students. Call 215-568-3131.

Smart pop The Chicago quartet Yourself and the Air plays a spacey, cerebral indie-pop shot through with glam-rock speckles. They perform at 8 p.m. at Kung Fu Necktie, 1248 N. Front St. Tickets are $8. Call 215-291-4919.

Thursday

Putting on a show When the original lighting board, music stands, hand-painted signs, and scenery were discovered during the renovation of the 1926 Broadway Theatre in South Jersey, an intriguing bit of archaeology arose: why not recreate the experience of a show from the time, with specialists using only the dramatic technology found on the site? Voilà - Vaudeville at the Broadway, featuring the Give and Take Jugglers, the comic team of Clancy & Muldoon, the singing Baybee Sisters, the Valentino Tango dancers, actor Ray Croce as Cyrano, escape artist Doug Young, singer Caroline Kearney, and the Chris Sooy 5. The show goes on at the 85-year-old theater, 43 S. Broadway, Pitman, N.J., at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, and 2 and 6 p.m. next Sunday. Tickets are $19.26. Call 856-384-8381.

With strings Seattle-based violist Alex Guy performs her gorgeous, heartfelt chamber pop as Led to Sea. She plays on a three-band bill at 8 p.m. at First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St. Tickets are $14. Call 215-821-7575.

Jam on The consummate jam band

Phish

performs at

the Susquehanna Center

, 1 Harbour Blvd., Camden, at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $60. Call 1-800-745-300.

Pop perfection The San Francisco duo the Dodos performs exquisitely crafted pop gems at the Theatre of Living Arts, 334 South St., at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $15. Call 215-922-1011.