☀️ Kendrick starts the busy outdoor concert season | Things to Do
Plus, hiking trails, M. Night’s favorite local coffee, and Don Giovanni.

Happy May! With the city hitting 80 degrees in the sunshine, there’s little reason to stay indoors — at least today. The rain this weekend might impact some outdoor activities (so be on the lookout!) but hopefully it won’t be too disruptive.
This week’s lineup:
— Rosa Cartagena (@_RosaCartagena, Email me at [email protected])
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Get outside
Enjoying the outdoors is all I want to do right now after what felt like a much-too-long winter. While I know this region is rich in opportunities to get outside and experience nature, sometimes it can feel hard to know where to start (especially for Philly transplants like me) — so I was thrilled that we just published a quiz aimed at pairing people to the local trail that’s right for them. Now’s the time to walk somewhere new, and we’ve got just the hike for you.
The best things to do this week
🎹 A fresh look at Chopin: People’s Light’s production of Monsieur Chopin is more than a play. The one-man show delivers a mix of theater, music, and comedy about the life of the legendary Polish pianist. It’s like a fascinating music lesson.
🩰 Ropes, rocks, and bullies: Ballet X’s new work Maslow’s Peak delivers wild, imaginative, and innovative choreography inspired by the 1954 novel Lord of the Flies. The junglelike production premieres at the Mann Center.
🎻 Classic and classy: Mozart’s beloved grand opera Don Giovanni is playing at the Academy of Music this weekend with a mesmerizing set featuring Italian arches and a large decapitated hand. Read our review of Opera Philadelphia’s bumpy production.
😂 Deli boy: Actor-comedian Asif Ali, a star of the Philly-set Hulu comedy Deli Boys, brings his stand-up routine to Punch Line Philly for three nights. Get to know the former BoJack Horseman writer.
📚 Bookish chats: Philly-raised journalist Marc Lamont Hill will speak at the African American Museum in Philadelphia for an event celebrating Black-owned bookstores, tied to the release of Katie Mitchell’s Prose to the People. Mitchell and Hill join Well-Read Black Girl’s Glory Edim, Hakim’s Books owner Yvonne Blake, and Penn professor Jasmine Johnson for a panel discussion on Thursday.
📅 My calendar picks this week: Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival, South Street Live, Washington Crossing Brewfest
The thing of the week
A wacky, wide-ranging, and lovingly weird lineup of comedians will perform for the next two weekends in InterAct Theatre Company’s first-ever Variety Pack festival. Head to The Drake to see a drag king pageant, cabaret, live cartoons, improv (including a Sex and the City-themed performance), and an attempt to pack the entire Twilight saga into 60 minutes. The weirder, the better, especially here in Philly.
Spring fun this week and beyond
📺 Tune in: The third season of Jeopardy! Masters kicked off this week with two Pennsylvania champs Brad Rutter (Lancaster) and Victoria Groce (Pittsburgh) facing off. Meet all the contestants.
☕ Celeb sighting: M. Night Shyamalan and his wife, Bhavna, stopped by Vietnamese coffee shop Càphê Roasters recently. See why the horror filmmaker raved about it before trying out the spot yourself.
🏆 New on Broad: Philly’s Music Walk of Fame inducted a fresh class of hitmakers, including Schoolly D, Stephen Sondheim, and David Dye. You can view their plaques now.
🍽️ Comeback chef: Joey Baldino of Palizzi plans to resurrect South Philly’s recently shuttered Bomb Bomb BBQ Grill later this year, promising to stay true to the original.
⛳ Heads up: The PGA Tour’s Truist Championship arrives next week at the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course for five days. Masters champ Rory McIlroy will be one of the big names competing.
🍟 Fest food: The Roots Picnic this year will spotlight tons of local restaurants and chefs, from Black Dragon to Taste Cheesesteak to Amina. Catch up on the delicious lineup.
Our critic’s picks
Pop music critic Dan DeLuca breaks down the best upcoming shows.
🎸 All weekend: Sing Us Home, the spring fest on Venice Island in Manayunk presented by Roxborough-raised brothers Dave and Tim Hause, gets underway on Friday with Hause Family Campfire, an acoustic guitar pull with Dave Hause, Tim McIlrath, AJJ, and Jon Muq. The fest continues Saturday during the day with headliners, the Bouncing Souls and Dave Hause with his full band, plus an A-list one-two punch of Philly bands in Buzz Zeemer and Speedy Ortiz, plus Tim Hause and his excellently named backing band the Pre-Existing Conditions. Then on Sunday, British man-of-the-people songwriter Frank Turner tops the bill, along with an entirely different set from Dave Hause & the Mermaid, plus Philly twin sisters folk duo Lullanas, and Black Guy Fawkes.
🎸 Saturday: Punk rock show of the week: Lambrini Girls, the Brighton, U.K., duo of Phoebe Lunny and Lilly Maceira makes a righteous ruckus on their new album, Who Let the Dogs Out. Iggy Pop is their biggest fan. They play the Ukie Club on Saturday night.
🎤 Also Saturday: Kristin Chenoweth — the original Glinda in Wicked on Broadway — sings with the Philadelphia Orchestra on Saturday at Marian Anderson Hall.
🎤 Monday: The Kendrick-SZA “Grand National Tour” arrives at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philly. You saw it in a condensed, 13-minute form on TV during halftime of that glorious day in February when the Eagles won the Super Bowl. Now witness what the unparalleled Compton rapper Lamar and the North Jersey R&B singer-songwriter born Solana Amani Rowe — two of the most ambitious and imaginative figures in pop music — can do with three hours of time on their hands. The show kicks off the outdoor stadium season with a show that will be hard to top.
The take: Insects taste delicious, actually
Don’t believe me? Fellow Philadelphians are taking bites out of lil crawlies, with dishes like grasshopper tacos and ant soup. At Cantina La Martina, chef Dionicio Jiménez has crafted ambitious and tasty meals, incorporating chapulines (grasshoppers) and other insects. Not gonna lie, his agave worm tacos look pretty appetizing. At FDR Park’s Southeast Asian market, Cambodian vendor Oeun Oeum sells edible bugs from silkworms to tarantulas. I can’t say that would be my first choice but … would you eat it? Let me know!
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This weekend I’ll be tuning in to Saturday Night Live to see Philly star Quinta Brunson host the show. Have you been enjoying the 50th anniversary season? I’d love to hear your thoughts.