Angela Perley/Erik Huey’(Thursday)
Huey, co-founder of the mid-’00s cowpunk band The Surreal McCoys, arrives at Club Cafe, South Side, touring behind the debut solo album “Appalachian Gothic,” which explores the Uniontown native’s family history of coal mining in Morgantown, W.V. It also looks back with nostalgia on his youth in Appalachia. Americana Highways described his shows as "upbeat and transcendent.” He opens for Perley, a Columbus, Ohio-based roots rocker. It’s at 8 p.m. $14; clubcafelive.com.
Resonance Works (Thursday and Saturday)
The company closes its 10th anniversary season by revisiting Giuseppe Verdi’s “Macbeth,” the work that launched RW back in 2013. It will utilize an ensemble cast from which the opera’s characters will be drawn, and a new chamber orchestration by associate producer Robert Frankenberry. “I've always admired Verdi's unflinching commitment to giving the characters full room to be contradictory and complex,” director Frances Rabalais said in a statement. It’s at the Charity Randall Theatre, Oakland. Times are 8 p.m. Thursday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $12.50 to $60; resonanceworks.org.
Lil Tjay (Friday)
The Bronx rapper, who was shot seven times last June during a robbery attempt, is back on tour, stopping at UPMC Events Center in Moon. Having gained recognition on YouTube and Soundcloud in 2018, the rapper, inspired by Drake, Meek Mill, and Usher, released his debut album, “True 2 Myself,” in 2019. He followed that in 2021 with the acclaimed “Destined 2 Win,” which went to No. 5 on the album charts. Following the shooting, he resumed touring in September and last week he turned himself in on gun charges. The show is at 7 p.m. Tickets are $39.50; ticketmaster.com.
Millvale Music Festival (Friday-Saturday)
Gene the Werewolf, The Cheats, The Filthy Lowdown, Royal Honey, Liz Berlin, Grand Piano and The Legendary Hucklebucks are among the marquee acts that will descend upon Millvale this weekend for the free annual festival, which will feature more than 300 artists. There will outdoor shows at GAP Park, Strange Roots, Grist House and on Butler Street, as well as indoor sets at Mr. Smalls, Cousin’s Lounge and other venues. Two of the bands, Kahone Concept and The Roof, will appear at the GAP Park stage and then again next weekend at the WonderWorks Festival (Hartwood Acres), which last year debuted on the same weekend as Maple House Music Festival. It begins Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at noon. Full schedule at millvalemusic.org. You can also find a Spotify playlist for the Millvale Music Festival 2023.
EQT Children’s Theater Festival (Friday-Sunday)
The Cultural District will be the kids’ place to be this weekend for the 37th annual EQT Children’s Theater Festival, presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. The festival will consist of 50 performances and activities happening outside (at 7th Street and Penn Avenue and Backyard at 8th and Penn) and inside (Point Park Playhouse, Trust Arts Education Center, Byham Theatre, SPACE Gallery, among others). Ticketed events include “Origami Tales,” “The Gruffalo,” “Hiccup” and “Sakasaka.” There will also be pop-up performances by musicians, magicians, storytellers, and street artists, arts and crafts stations, creative learning workshops, face-painting, chalk and balloon art, Lego systems and larger-than-life games. Details at TrustArts.org/CTF.
Big Storm Performance Company (Friday-Saturday)
The Pittsburgh company takes the stage of Kelly Strayhorn Theater, East LIberty, with “Or Forever Hold Your Peace,” a 75-minute “play with dancing” that “explores the B-plots, uncomfortable interactions, and opportunities for personal discovery that occur at weddings.” It’s set at a Pennsylvania wedding “where the sister of the bride is about to snap, the only guest who believes in love is a wedding crasher, the 13-year-old ring bearer has a secret mission, and everyone needs a change.” It was created by dance teachers and Big Storm co-founders José Pérez IV and Taylor Couch with the key elements of movement and music. Times are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $10 to $25; kelly-strayhorn.org.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Friday and Sunday)
German pianist and Deutsche Grammophon recording artist Alice Sara Ott makes her PSO performing Edvard Grieg’s Concerto in A minor for Piano and Orchestra, which is a change in program from the previously announced Liszt piano concerto. Pablo Heras-Casado conducts the program which also features the Pittsburgh premiere of Boulanger’s “D’un matin de printemps” and Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” Concerts are at Heinz Hall at 8 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets start at $21; pittsburghsympony.org.
Princess (Saturday)
The Andy Warhol Museum welcomes Princess, the gender-fluid art-pop duo of Alexis Gideon and Michael O’Neill, with the premiere of “@1minworld” (One Minute World), a video song cycle featuring live music and projections of original animations. As a press release describes it, “With intentionally brief one-minute video songs, @1minworld 's primary-colored bubblegum visuals contrast the songs’ content which explore the discontents of our social media age: filter bubbles, surveillance capitalism, and shortened attention spans, to name a few.” Princess has created a 250 limited edition artist run of vinyl records of the piece. It’s at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10; $8 members/students; warhol.org.
MORE THAN PINK Walk (Sunday)
There is still time to register for the Susan G. Komen MORE THAN PINK Walk, which begins at 8 a.m. with an opening ceremony at Flagstaff Hill, Schenley Park, Oakland. The walk, which raises funds for breast cancer patients, research and patient navigation services, begins at 9:30 a.m. There is no cost to register; komen.org/pittsburghwalk
First Published: May 16, 2023, 9:30 a.m.