Tegan and Sara Play Stage AE; ‘Salome’ Onstage at Pittsburgh Opera (Sat.,11/5/16)

1) Identical twins Tegan and Sara Quin, who hail from Alberta, Canada, have been together for quite a while, clearly, However, they didn’t get around to collaborating musically until they were 15. The twins cut a demo using studio time won from Calgary’s Garage Warz competition in 1998, which led to their debut album, 1999’s Under Feet Like Ours. They spent a decade or so gaining momentum on the indie scene with a smattering of mainstream success (2010’s “Alligator” peaked at No. 32 on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart). With 2012’s “Closer,” which was certified platinum in Canada, they burst onto the scene. The follow-up, “I Was a Fool,” went gold. They later performed the theme song to The Lego Movie, “Everything Is Awesome,” which was nominated for Best Original Song at the 87th Academy Awards. Love You to Death, their eighth studio album, was released this year. The sisters’ Love You to Death Tour will be at Stage AE with opening act Torres, who headlined Club Cafe this January. Doors open 7 p.m. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (EC/CM)

Femme fatale: soprano Patricia Raceme is a steaming Salome in Strauss’s opera, one of many classics on Pittsburgh stages in this year’s 11th month. photo: David Buchman Photography.

2) If you want a sizzling opera they do not come much sizzlier than Richard Strauss’ Salome. Adapted from a play of the same title—which was written by Oscar Wilde, but could not be performed in England at the time, due to its gruesomely erotic irreverence—the opera carries a “brief nudity” warning for audience members who may be shocked to find the famous “Dance of the Seven Veils” performed to its utmost. Salome is a re-interpretation of the New Testament story in which Herod’s stepdaughter agrees to dance for the lecherous ruler if he will give her John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Here, Salome is portrayed as being passionately attracted to the ascetic and soon-to-be-decapitated prophet. One can imagine the wicked twists that flow from so bizarre an unrequited love, but in case one cannot, the opera brings them out dramatically and musically. Pittsburgh Opera’s Salome features soprano Patricia Racette in the title role and baritone Nmon Ford as the unfortunate object of her desire. 8 p.m. Pre-opera talk on Salome from 7 to 7:30 p.m. Continues through November 13. Benedum Center, 237 7^th Ave., Cultural District. (MV)

3) Whether you believe conspiracy theories or mock them, you may want to catch Throughline Theatre’s production of Yankee Tavern. The seriocomic play is set in a fictional bar near Manhattan’s Ground Zero. It’s a bar where the power went out on the morning of 9/11, stopping the jukebox in the middle of Don McLean’s “American Pie”—and where the patrons, long after the tragic event, include a hardcore conspiracy theorist who does not believe any conspiracy theories about John F. Kennedy’s assassination. He says there’s a conspiracy that invented those theories in order to make people mistrust the government. Yankee Tavern contains many bits of mind-bending silliness, which have drawn big laughs when performed in other cities. But in fact, the facts are not always what they seem to be, and the play eventually ventures into the far more mind-bending territory where reality and fantasy become hard to tell apart. 2 an 8 p.m. Ends Today. At the Grey Box Theatre, 3595 Butler St., Lawrenceville. (MV)

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