Regional arts and entertainment events
Sunday Public lives Noël Coward, a creative powerhouse as an actor, playwright, and songwriter, had a long friendship with the witty and impulsive actress Gertrude Lawrence. In his play Noël and Gertie, Sheridan Morley, who wrote biographies of both, weaves songs, stories,
Sunday
Public lives Noël Coward, a creative powerhouse as an actor, playwright, and songwriter, had a long friendship with the witty and impulsive actress Gertrude Lawrence. In his play Noël and Gertie, Sheridan Morley, who wrote biographies of both, weaves songs, stories,
and play excerpts into a revue that follows their relationship. The show, starring Will Stutts and Susan Wilder, goes on at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Walnut Independence Studio on 3, 825 Walnut St., and continues on a Tuesday-through-Sunday schedule to Dec. 31. Tickets are $30.
Call 215-574-3550.
Pop life, Part One It all starts with a guy with a guitar playing his favorite songs. Dashboard Confessional front man Chris Carrabba returns to basics on his new solo CD, Covered in the Flood, a collection of covers including a timely version of R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It" and a sprightly take on the Replacements' "Skyway," plus songs by Big Star, John Prine, and the Dandy Warhols, among others. He plays
at 7:30 p.m. at the Theatre of the Living Arts, 334 South St. Tickets are $28. Call 215-922-1011.
Monday
Two classics Two versions of The Nutcracker, one by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and the other by Tchaikovsky, will be performed by trumpeter Terell Stafford with the Temple University Jazz Band and the Temple University Orchestra (conducted by Luis Biava) at 7 p.m. at the Temple Performing Arts Center,
1837 N. Broad St. Admission
is free. Call 215-204-8307.
A dog's life In her new book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, author Susan Orleans (The Orchid Thief) tells the amazing tale of the German shepherd puppy found by doughboy Lee Duncan on a World War I battlefield and brought back to America, where the dog became one of Hollywood's greatest canine stars. Orleans discusses her work at
7:30 p.m. at the Free Library, 1901 Vine St. Admission is free.
Call 215-567-4341.
Tuesday
How it is This edition of Cinema Speakeasy, presented by the Philadelphia Independent Film & Video Association, features three documentaries: Michael Dennis' Ladies and Gentlemen, Jordan Rock, about a stand-up comic, 20, in New York; Brian B.Kyle Atkins' Ghetto Dreams, a behind-the- scenes look at a colla- boration by rappers Common and Nas; and This Time It's Real, about the effort to bring back old-school roller derby. The films screen at 7 p.m. at L'Etage, Sixth and Bainbridge streets. Tickets are $5. Call 215-382-2579. . . . Taggart Siegel's 2010 doc Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? looks at the worldwide blight on beehives and what it might mean for us. The film screens at 7:30 p.m. at Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr. Tickets
are $10; $7 for seniors
and students.
Call 610-649-5220.
Wednesday
Ancient of days In his lecture The Mystery of Stonehenge, anthropologist Utsav Schurmans discusses far-fetched theories and the more enlightening archaeological studies about the famed Neolithic stone circles on Salisbury Plain. He speaks at 6 p.m. at the University of Penn- sylvania Museum of Arch- aeology and Anthropology, 3260 South St. Tickets are $10. Call 215-898-4000.
East meets west The New York-based Tori Ensemble mixes traditional Korean instruments and music with downtown avant-jazz sounds. The sextet plays at 7:30 p.m. at the Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St. Tickets are $8 to $24. Call 215-729-1028.
Key player The acclaimed pianist Christian Zacharias plays a recital of works by C.P.E. Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, and Schubert at 8 p.m. at the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, 300 S. Broad St. Tickets are $23;
$10 for students.
Call 215-569-8080.
Thursday
Dance trio The Montreal avant-garde dance troupe Compagnie Marie Chouinard performs Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) plus two other works choreographed by its namesake, at the Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St., at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $20 to $50. Call 215-898-3900.
Friday & Saturday
Pop life, Part Two The luminous pop-folkie
Dar Williams
plays at
the Colonial Theatre
, 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville, at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $20 to $35.50. Call 610-917-1228. . . . Pop craftsman
Francis Dunnery
, a perennial fave, plays at
the Tin Angel
, 20 S. Second St., at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $25.
Call 215-928-0770.
Dans la musique Outside of the Anglophone pop world, there's a lot of interesting stuff going (check out Brazil's Lurdez da Luz, say, or Russia's Glukoza). The French trio Yelle (fronted by the intriguing alt-ingenue Julie Budet) has developed the jump-rope anthem/dance pop of their 2007 hit "Je Veux
Te Voir" into an intense, edgy electronica on their new CD, Safari Disco Club. They share a bill with the similarly smart (and Gallic) synth-pop duo Housse De Racket at Union Transfer, 1024 Spring Garden St., at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $15. Call 215-232-2100.