Six Shows to See This Week

From the “Sounds of Star Wars” to free concerts with your cocktails.

The Curtis Opera Theatre’s production of Mozart's “Le Nozze di Figaro”

The Curtis Opera Theatre’s production of Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro”

John Williams @ The Kimmel Center | Wednesday, May 4th

The Philadelphia Orchestra will perform the timeless cinematic scores of five-time Academy Award–winning composer John Williams. Williams, the maestro behind the music of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and E.T, will himself guest-conduct the concert’s Star Warsfinale.

The Christians @ The Wilma  | Opens Wednesday, May 4th

In Lucas Hnath’s critically acclaimed play, Pastor Paul spends 20 years transforming his modest church storefront into a mammoth megachurch of spiritual services with a baptismal font the size of a swimming pool. To celebrate the church’s newly debt-free status, the pastor delivers a vexing sermon that attacks the very cornerstones of his congregation.

L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love) @ The Academy of Music | Through Sunday, May 8th 

The Sante Fe Opera presents Gaetano Donizetti’s romantic tale, set in the 1940s Italian countryside. The opera centers on an impoverished peasant named Nemorino who is enticed by the quack Dr. Dulcamara. The peculiar enchanter persuades Nemorino to drink a tincture — billed as “the potent potion to drive devotion” — to gain the love of the wealthy and winsome Adina.

“Picasso: The Great War, Experimentation and Change” @ The Barnes  | Closes Monday, May 9th

The Barnes Foundation’s two-month collaborative exhibition with the Columbus Museum of Art , which explores extreme contrasts in Picasso’s paintings from 1912 to 1924, concludes next week. Unlike other Parisian artists of the World War I era, the avant-garde mastermind did not directly address the war in his watercolors, but rather cultivated a “naturalistic representation” of the matter through a medium of classical figure drawings.

Jazz At Volvér! @ The Kimmel Center | May 5th

Bar Volvér bar inside the Kimmel Center features free concerts every Thursday from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) @ The Kimmel Center | Through Sunday, May 8th
The Curtis Opera Theatre performs Mozart’s comedic four-act opera about servants deceiving their masters. Figaro, a valet, and Susanna, a maid, are amid their wedding plans when Count Almaviva of Spain conspires ploys to delay the civil union. His wife, Countess Rosina Almaviva, orchestrates tricks with the household staff to recapture the fizzling love of her husband.