7Days: Regional arts and entertainment, by Michael Harrington
Sunday Love in the garrets Puccini's indelible story of impoverished artists in 1830s Paris, La Bohème, was first performed in London's Covent Garden in 1897. A film of the Royal Opera's January production screens at 12:30 p.m. at the Ambler Theater, 91 E. Court St., Doylestown. Tickets are $18. Call 215-348-1878.
Sunday
Love in the garrets Puccini's indelible story of impoverished artists in 1830s Paris, La Bohème, was first performed in London's Covent Garden in 1897. A film of the Royal Opera's January production screens at 12:30 p.m. at the Ambler Theater, 91 E. Court St., Doylestown. Tickets are $18. Call 215-348-1878.
King and country Shakespeare's Henry V sees the former wastrel prince wearing the crown and leading his underdog army into war and a hard-fought peace, armed with some of the Bard's most rousing speeches. The Lantern Theater Company production goes on at 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Stephen's Theater, 10th and Ludlow Streets, and continues on a varied schedule to April 14. Tickets are $28 to $38. Call 215-829-0395.
Monday
Honor thy mother In Bill Cain's funny and moving play How to Write a New Book for the Bible, a man moves in with his ailing mother when she becomes too frail to care for herself, and finds he has wounds that also need binding. The show goes on at 7 p.m. at People's Light & Theatre, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern. Admission is free. Call 610-644-3500.
Thunder and rhythm The taiko drum troupe Kodo performs Japanese contemporary and folk music at 7:30 p.m. at the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall, Broad and Spruce Streets. Tickets: $30 to $65. Call 215-893-1999.
Tuesday
Bass man The deft bassist Tony Levin is known for his work with King Crimson and Peter Gabriel, among others, as well as his mastery of the 10-string electronic Chapman Stick. He performs with his band, Stick Men, at the Sellersville Theater 1894, 24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville. Tickets are $29.50 and $40. Call 215-257-5808.
Wednesday
Sing, O muse In 1924, Swiss archaeologist Emil Forrer announced that texts found at the site of an ancient Hittite capital seemed to have accounts of the Trojan War. Though his theory was once disparaged, recent research and excavations have confirmed it. Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier of German Archaeological Institute at Athens discusses Forrer's work in his lecture Greece and Asia in the Late Bronze Age: The Historical Background of Homer's "Iliad" at 6 p.m. at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 3260 South St. Admission is free. Call 215-898-4000.
Smart pop Singer and multi-instrumentalist Casey Crescenzo performs with his prog-rock project the Dear Hunter at 8 p.m. at Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St. Tickets are $15. Call 215-232-2100.
Thursday
Liberation celebration The third night of Passover in 1969 was April 4, also the first anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. Hundreds gathered in a church in Washington for a seder and to talk about common purpose. In the program Freedom Seder Revisited, the Rev. Alfred T. Day III of St. Georges United Methodist Church, the Rev. Dr. Mark Kelly Tyler of Mother Bethel AME Church, and Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center (author of the updated haggadah used at the 1969 seder) discuss the meaning of the event for our time. The program, which launches the monthlong Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, goes on at 6:30 p.m. at the National Museum of American Jewish History, Fifth and Market Streets. Tickets are $15. Call 215-923-3811.
Power and glory Also part of PIFA: Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Philadelphia Orchestra in Bach's magnificent St. Matthew Passion, with soprano Malin Christensson, mezzo Karen Cargill, tenor Andrew Staples, and bass-baritones Andrew Foster-Williams and Luca Pisaroni as soloists, at the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall, Broad and Spruce Streets, at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Tickets: $26-$124. Call 215-893-1999.
Friday & Saturday
Country girl Former Nickel Creek fiddler and singer Sara Watkins performs her Americana gems at the Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., at 8:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $20. Call 215-928-0978.
Power of voice Karen L. Smith's musical 3 Divas 3, with a score by James Solomon and Alfie Pollitt, tells of two vocalists trying to mystically connect with a long-missing, legendary jazz singer. The show goes on at the Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square, at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $25; $12 for ages 12 and under. Call 215-219-8769.