Bearded Ladies, Samantha Rise, and Temple Theater highlight the first weekend of April

The city continues to bloom into the spring, and the first weekend of April is loaded with plenty to discover. Equal Pay Day this week set the cadence of the season and there are dueling versatile musicians, classic compositions deconstructed and repurposed for contemporary measures, and a gripping theatrical conversation around women in the workforce to continue those conversations. Let’s all rise together and find the superhero in us, and use the power of music and performance to continue all the precedents we contemplated in the first third of the year.

In other words, let’s discover for the sake of diversion, emotional freedom, and equality, dang it!

An evening of solos and duos

Tonight at 8pm, Vox Populi Gallery (319 North 11th Street) is hosting Ava Mendoza, John Dikeman, Matt Hollenberg, and Philadelphia’s own Julius Marsi for an evening of solos and duos. Mendoza is a Brooklyn-based guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer who leads experimental rock band Unnatural Ways as well as performing solo. Dikeman is a saxophonist specializing in improvising music and is a true collaborator. Hollenberg subverts heavy metal formalism; Marsi is a Philadelphia-based multi-instrumentalist and a performer and composer for the city’s dance community. The mashups are sure to be eclectic, to say the least. The show is $8 to $10, sliding scale. For more information on accessibility, visit Vox Populi/Fire Museum online.

Samantha Rise at PMA

On Friday, April 5, 2019, at 5pm, Samantha Rise performs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her music is billed as “weaving together mountain folk and neo-soul” and “channels vocalists like Joni Mitchell and Erykah Badu.” The show will be on at the Great Stair Hall and is free after museum admission.

Bearded Ladies Cabaret’s John Jarboe and Revolution Winds

What if Prokofiev’s beloved composition were fake news? Bryn Mawr College's Learning to Listen Series presents Peter and the Wolves with Bearded Ladies Cabaret’s John Jarboe and Revolution Winds, Saturday, April 6, 2019, at 7pm in the Great Hall, Old Library (212 North Merion Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA). The adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev’s classic music lesson “Peter and the Wolf” becomes a “meditation on metaphor, Soviet influence, and the pitfalls of story time.”

The show is free and open to the public and all ages.

Animal Superhero Weekends at the Academy of Natural Sciences

Animal Superhero Weekends kick off at the Academy of Natural Sciences this weekend. The family-friendly events offer kids and adults alike to discover the inspirations behind their favorite superheroes and villains in comics and movies. Live animal encounters, hands-on activities, and training camps highlight the weekends, which run on April 6 and 7 and April 13 and 14. Check it out online to find out about scheduling and tickets.

These Shining Lives comes to a close

Temple Theater’s These Shining Lives wraps this weekend. It’s your last chance to catch this performance inspired by a true story from the 1920s centered on women friendships, strength, and determination. It retells the story of the radium girls and their fight for safe working conditions in the face of death and diminishing health. Catch the show at Randall Theater (1301 West Norris Street) on the Temple University campus. Tickets range from $10 to $25 and can be purchased online or by calling (215) 204-1122.