Pittsburgh Opera Plays “Sumeida’s Song”; No Bad JuJu at The Meadows (CPs Sat., 2/21/15)

That is indeed a dagger he sees before him. The photo shows baritone Dan Kempson as Alwan in the New York premiere of “Sumeida’s Song”; Alex DeSocio has the part in Pittsburgh.

1) Operas in English are relatively rare. And rarer yet, Sumeida’s Song is, at heart, an Egyptian opera written and sung in English. Set in a small town in Egypt in the early 1900s, it has a story line involving a tense clash between emerging modernism and the ways of the past: A woman plots revenge against a man she believes murdered her husband. Her university-educated son wants to stop the scheme but is enmeshed in it, with tragic consequences. American composer Mohammed Fairouz based the opera on an Egyptian play. Sumeida’s Song premiered in New York in 2013 to strong reviews; now Pittsburgh Opera is staging it in a special, limited run at its headquarters. 2425 Liberty Ave., Strip District. 8 p.m. Continues through March 1.

2) No Bad JuJu is an energetic eight-piece band that calls Pittsburgh home. It’s made up of veterans from all corners of the musical landscape, though most are either Pittsburgh born or educated. Vocalist Sabrina de Matteo has been performing in Pittsburgh since she sang with salsa bands in night clubs when she was 16; she’s gained acclaim for her stage work, winning the Gene Kelley Award for playing Timone in Once on This Island. Band cofounder and lead guitarist Mark Matteo has worked as a session musician with the likes of Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and ‘N Sync; he’s written and recorded music for movies, TV shows, and commercials and performed live with Bo Diddley and Peter Noone. 8 p.m. No cover. The Meadows Casino, 210 Racetrack Rd., Washington.

“My Fair Lady” at Pittsburgh Public Theater

3) There aren’t many musicals better known or loved than My Fair Lady by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Nor are there heroines more captivating than the show’s Eliza Doolittle—a Cockney flower girl who learns to be a cultivated lady, then turns the tables on her teacher, Professor Henry Higgins. That’s why Pittsburgh Public Theater chose the 1956 Broadway classic as the musical entry for its 40th anniversary “Season of Legends.” The Public’s My Fair Lady features all the songs that are classics in their own right: “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live,” “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” and more. 2 and 8 p.m. Ends tomorrow, O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Cultural District.

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