🐰 Hop your way into your weekend plans | Things to do

Spring has been announced by cherry blossoms, ball games at Citizens Bank Park, and the kind of blissful weather that makes you joyful. For most of us, anyway.

So I’m here, seasonal allergies and all, to deliver a fresh list of spring events this weekend.

The list includes new arts exhibitions, restaurant openings, and Easter-themed attractions that will leave you searching all corners of the Philadelphia Zoo.

So, prepare to bunny hop your way into some fun shenanigans this weekend. It’s time to shell-ebrate.

— Earl Hopkins (@earlhopkins_, Email me at thingstodo@inquirer.com)

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The annual celebration of local theater returns with a 10-day slate of plays, musicals, opera, circus performances, comedy, workshops, and more throughout the Philly region — all with discounted tickets.

Running from April 23 to May 3, Philly Theatre Week will provide limited tickets for more than 40 productions at pay-what-you-can pricing for the fourth year in a row.

The lineup includes the world premiere of Pulitzer-winning playwright James Ijames’ Wilderness Generation at Philadelphia Theatre Company, a jazzy Fats Waller musical at Norristown’s Theatre Horizon, a Molière comedy from 1673 at Quintessence Theatre in Mount Airy, and more.

Read more of my colleague Rosa Cartagena’s story here.

🛣️ Open Streets are back: Shoppers and diners across the city can roam the corners of Rittenhouse for the return of Open Streets this Sunday. Through May 17, this Sunday-only excursion will clear seven blocks for a scheduled list of retail events and entertainment.

🍲 Blazing flavor returns to FDR Park: Among the season’s returns is the Southeast Asian Market in FDR Park. The seasonal pop-up is back for a new slew of Khmer, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Lao food vendors that will leave you salivating well beyond operating hours.

🎭 The ‘Big Baby’ comes to Miller Theater: With the momentum of her all-new "Big Baby Tour," Whitney Cummings returns to Philadelphia on Friday with the same edgy, satirically-coded humor that’s made her one of the most dynamic comics of her time.

🎥 Honoring a feminist trailblazer: The first comprehensive survey of pioneering feminist artist and filmmaker Susan Kleckner is running at Haverford College’s Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery. Sunday is the last day.

📅 My calendar picks this week: Beard Pap’s opening in Chinatown, the Sound of Music at the Academy of Music, and the opening of the Chanticleer in Wayne.

For the past 25 years, April has been known as Jazz Appreciation Month, a 30-day celebration of the America-born art form.

A city like Philadelphia is rich with its own jazz history. Which is why, as writer Shaun Brady says, that the city is doing things “in its own way.”

Around these parts, April is also Philly Jazz Month. Some of the celebration’s highlights include the East Passyunk Jazz Crawl, the Philadelphia Jazz Kissa at SOOK Vinyl & Vintage, Jazz Vespers at Mother Bethel AME, and more.

For the full list, read Brady’s story here.

🍔 A new eatery along the river: There’s a new spot to enjoy views of the Delaware River this spring. Lucky Duck, conceived by the minds behind Libertee Grounds, is a new American bistro offering traditional pub-grub fare and a mix of decadent entrees to complicate your breezy cocktails.

🐰 Easter at the Philadelphia Zoo: The Philadelphia Zoo will be home to holiday-themed activities this weekend and beyond. There will be a traditional easter egg hunt, and a scavenger hunt highlighting the animals that have made West Philly home through April 12.

🖼️ New visual works at PMA: On the final stop of its international tour, the work of Seattle-born visual artist Noah Davis, which highlights the intricacies of contemporary Black life, is on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through April 26.

🎞️ Celebrating an auteur: 1988’s Damnation is a mid-career masterwork by legendary Hungarian art house filmmaker Béla Tarr, who passed away in January. The 4K restoration plays at 5 p.m. on Sunday at Bok Auditorium.

🐛 An author’s creations come to life: The tiny creatures that author and designer Eric Carle conceived have already drawn the curiosity of his readers, both young and old. But now, these illustrations will cover the Michener Art Museum’s walls in the new exhibition, “Small Living Things,” running through May 24.

Pop music critic Dan DeLuca lists the top concerts this weekend.

🥁 Thursday: Percussionist and “cosmic facilitator” Carlos Niño has two shows on Thursday. The first is an in-exhibit performance at the Fabric Workshop’s “Moki Cherry the Living Temple show,” and the second is at Solar Myth later in the evening.

🎸 Friday: Singer-guitarist Joe Pernice is bringing his impressive work of alt-country and indie-pop power to Free at Noon. It’s part performance, and part-celebration of his new solo album, Sunny, I Was Wrong.

🎸 Saturday: The Philly band The Donuts will celebrate the release of its new album, Pleasure of Seconds, and play at Fishtown’s Kung Fu Necktie this Saturday.

🎤 Tuesday: Off the heels of a new album, and just months after giving birth to her fourth child, Cardi B is back on the road for her “Little Miss Drama Tour.” The hip-hop super nova will take over Xfinity Mobile Arena Tuesday night.

That’s all folks. I hope I encouraged you to explore the city with the same enthusiasm and wonder like a child on an Easter egg hunt.