Jill Barber Performs at Club Cafe; “The Book of Mormon” Continues Pittsburgh Mission (CPs Tues., 9/30/14)

1) Canadian singer/songwriter Jill Barber is at South Side’s Club Cafe for a show tonight. Barber started on the folk-pop scene but has since migrated to a more musically vocal jazz sound.  She’s touring in support of Fool’s Gold, her sixth studio album; she describes her style as being evocative of the iconic New York City songwriting haven “the Brill Building, where hook and melody reigned.” Barber’s also influenced by R&B and Motown music. Special guest is Heather Kropf.  8 p.m. 56 – 58 S. 12th St.

The Mormon missionaries have their work cut out for them. Left to right: Monica L. Patton, David Larsen, Cody Jamison Strand. “The Book of Mormon” national tour. Photo by Joan Marcus 2014.

2) THE BOOK OF MORMON by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone continues its run with the national touring company performing at Heinz Hall. If you missed The Book of Mormon last time it was in town, you’ll know to reserve tickets early. The show won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, in 2011. Some critics call it one of the best musicals ever. In an age when few things can truly shock an audience, this work, by the creators of the “South Park” TV series, Parker and Stone, and Avenue Q co-creator Lopez, is shockingly (and hilariously) irreverent while also being surprisingly uplifting. Two naïve young Mormon missionaries are sent to win converts in a remote African village, and the hijinks unfold from there. The touring production is brought here by Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s PNC Broadway Across America series. 7:30 p.m., runs through Oct. 5. Heinz Hall, 600 Penn Ave., Cultural District.

3) In 1853, the steamboat Arabia was built and launched in Pittsburgh. Three years later, it struck a tree and sank in the murky waters of the Missouri River, filled with countless items destined for the frontier. In 1987, after years of searching, Missourian Bob Hawley and his sons unearthed the remains of the Arabia and found thousands of artifacts perfectly preserved in the mud. Pittsburgh’s Lost Steamboat: Treasures of the Arabia at the Senator John Heinz History Center features nearly 2,000 of these objects, eyewitness accounts from passengers aboard the doomed vessel, and a memorial to the wreck’s only casualty—a mule tied to sawmill equipment on a lower deck. The exhibit runs through Jan. 4 and is open along with the rest of the Heinz History Center seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 1212 Smallman St., Strip District.

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