Peace Train, ‘Much Ado,’ the last Bastille Day, and more this weekend

Things to do this weekend include events in Philly and others farther afield, in case July has you wanting to hit the road, even if only for an evening.

On Friday night, South African musical revolutionaries Nonhlanhla Wanda and Sharon Katz of the Peace Train have a special concert downstairs at World Café Live celebrating the release of their new album, Side-By-Side. The show also marks the launch of the Peace Train’s Transcending Barriers project in North America, which will head cross-country to southern California, where singers and supporters will parade across the U.S.-Mexico border for a Unity Concert alongside young singers in Tijuana.

“Eighteen months ago, while planning this project, we knew it was really important to work across the border,” Katz says, “but we didn’t realize just how critically needed our work would be, and how the timing of singing with children’s choirs in Mexico would become such a political statement.”

Tickets for the World Café Live concert (doors at 7pm, show at 8pm) are $25, and, along with proceeds from album sales, benefit youngsters participating in the project and other Peace Train causes. The Philly show features Wendy Quick on vocals, Monnette Sudler on bass, Mark Beecher and Jan Jeffries on percussion, and Suzzette Ortiz on the keyboard.

Openings in the park

Commonwealth Classic Theatre Company’s annual outdoor production opens this week, and it’s not Shakespeare: Carlo Campbell, Robert Ian Cutler, and Maggie O’Connor star in The Complete History of America (Abridged). The 90-minute show is a whirlwind tour of “the glorious quagmire that is American History.” Kristen Schier directs.

Opening night is Wednesday, July 11, at Lansdowne’s Hoffman Park, and the show comes to McMichael Park in East Falls for a 7pm curtain on Thursday. It’ll land at West Goshen Community Amphitheater on Saturday at 7pm and continues at parks around the region through July 29. Most performances are free. Visit online for details and the full schedule.

If you want some Shakespeare outdoors before Twelfth Night opens in Clark Park later this month, it’s an easy ride down I-95 to Wilmington’s Rockwood Park, where Delaware Shakespeare presents Much Ado About Nothing from July 13 through 29 ($16 to $40).

Anyone who ventures from Philly will enjoy familiar faces, like J Hernandez in the role of Benedick and Krista Apple as Beatrice. Philly’s Bi Jean Ngo directs (fresh from her role as Ariel in the Lantern’s Tempest).

Bye to Bastille Day

On Saturday afternoon, witness the end of one of Philly’s weird but well-loved traditions, when Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site hurls its last Tastykakes at its final Bastille Day festival. The Bearded Ladies will perform their drag cabaret reenactment of the storming of the Bastille, with ESP promising Larry Krasner as a “special guest.” The penitentiary is open for regular ticketed tours during the day, and the Bastille Day program runs on Fairmount Avenue from 5:30 to 6:30pm, with 'kakes flying at about 6:15pm.

Tattooed Mom and the Big Top

On Sunday afternoon, take a one-of-a-kind jaunt (jawnt?) with Atlas Obscura Society Philadelphia’s Locally Grown Art Spaces tour of South Street’s Tattooed Mom and artist Adam Wallacavage’s South Philly brownstone.

The 21-and-over tour meets at 1pm at Tattooed Mom, whose “un-curated and anarchistic” walls hold 20 years of “street art, graffiti, wheat pastes, stickers, love notes, and memories,” including flourishes from Shepard Fairey, Steve Powers (of Love Letter fame), and many more. Later, participants will walk eight blocks to the nearest Broad Street Line station and ride to Wallacavage’s storied home.

Wallacavage is perhaps most famous for his realistically fantastical octopus-inspired chandeliers and lamps. In 2015, the Inquirer compared his home to “The Munsters set on the Wildwood boardwalk, starring Von Dutch.” $45 tickets (advance booking is a must) include a cocktail and your SEPTA ride.

Finally, it’s a little over our usual weekend price point, but it’s cool: Cirque du Soleil’s new show, Volta, lands near Philly in its own big top, beside the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks. Tickets start at $49 (parking is free).

Written and directed by Bastien Alexandre, the show’s music boasts the “space-age future pop” stylings of M83’s Anthony Gonzalez, and it’s inspired by the edgy, daredevil acrobatics of street sports. It’s “a story of transformation,” being true to yourself, and finding your potential. Volta runs July 12 through August 5.

Above: Volta's BMX riders are ready to dazzle Philly-area audiences. (Photo by Michael Kass.)