Wednesday, Sept. 9: Spamalot
If you're the kind of person who likes to put on your best bad British accent and throw one-liners into conversations, or you're the kind of person who makes eyes roll at parties by reciting lengthy passages from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (or even if you just like that one gimmick where the dudes run all over creation clomping coconut shells together and pretending to ride horses), you're in for a treat. Orlando Shakes is staging a production of the Tony award-winning musical Spamalot. The show wasn't produced or written by Monty Python – it was, as they say, "lovingly ripped off" by Python member Eric Idle – and some members of the group aren't fans of the musical at all (looking at you, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones). But large parts of it hew to the absurd story you know and love – expect to encounter killer rabbits, flying cows and the infamous Knights Who Say Ni – and fans just eat the stuff up. When this show was recently staged in Raleigh, North Carolina, it sold out before it even opened, and the theater company that staged it added another weekend before opening night. Expect to find yourself resisting the urge to talk about shrubberies and brave, brave Sir Robin for at least a week after seeing this. – Erin Sullivan
through Oct. 11 | 7:30 p.m. | Orlando Shakespeare Theater, 812 E. Rollins St. | 407-447-1700 | orlandoshakes.org | $30-$60
Saturday, Sept. 12: Purity Ring
It took three whole years after Purity Ring's celebrated debut, Shrines, for their follow-up this year, Another Eternity, but if you were stamping your feet with impatience, that motion soon morphed into uninhibited dance when the album dropped its distinct beats and the duo once again rattled the pop frontier. As has been well documented, the album marks the end of the pair's online songwriting collaborations and instead pushed them into the same room to pen gorgeous, intimate songs the listener wants to curl up as close as possible to (see: "Bodyache" and "Begin Again"). Hear it live and bounce within that mesmerizing pulse – the stage is set to swirl both casual and smart music fans into Purity Ring's otherworldly, blissful pop orbit. – Ashley Belanger
7:30 p.m. | House of Blues, 1490 E. Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista | 407-934-2583 | hob.com/orlando | $25
Saturday, Sept. 12: O-Town MacDown
Ten bucks doesn't get you much these days, but for that one meager bill, you can slurp down all the macaroni and cheese you can handle at the O-Town MacDown at Osceola Heritage Park. The event is a competition between 30 different vendors, including Jillycakes (known for their killer savory cupcakes), Pammie's Sammies, and grilled cheese restaurant Tom & Chee, a newcomer to the Orlando restaurant scene – but a favorite everywhere else in the South. Also on deck: live entertainment, cooking demos, kids play areas (including a macaroni art station, naturally) and (crucial) free parking. Proceeds benefit Give Kids the World Village, so you can balance that carby guilt with knowing you're doing good for children with life-threatening illnesses. – Holly V. Kapherr
11 a.m.-4 p.m. | Osceola Heritage Park, 1875 Silver Spur Lane, Kissimmee | otownmacdown.org | $10-$15
Saturday, Sept. 12: The Oxytocin Opera
The Oxytocin Opera by Orlando author Bret Hoveskeland sounds similar to a lot of romance stories we've heard: Boy and girl fall in love. Boy struggles with emotional issues as girl struggles with alcoholism. To top it off, girl gets pregnant as their relationship falls apart. The differences lie in the author's ability to weave his readers through his verse drama of Billy and Sestina's trials and tribulations with rich poetry and a narrative that he says imitates a live concert experience. Hoveskeland stages a live reading of The Oxytocin Opera on Saturday at Stardust Video and Coffee. The reading will be accompanied by a live musical performance from Daniel Liguori, who also wrote the arrangements. – Monivette Cordeiro
7 p.m. | Stardust Video and Coffee, 1842 E. Winter Park Road | stardustvideoandcoffee.wordpress.com | free
Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 12-13: Maker Faire Orlando
The Maker movement has exploded in the public consciousness over the past few years. Circuit-bending, 3-D printing, steampunk: It's all tied in to a growing subculture of people who get more joy out of building than consuming. This marks the second year that the Orlando Maker Faire has been big enough to be "official" and sponsored by Make magazine, the source for project ideas for people who are way less lazy than the rest of us. This sheer number and diversity of exhibitors at this year's two-day Faire is astounding. You'll be able to learn how hard candy or beef jerky are made, watch adults race around on souped-up Power Wheels, build a dinosaur puppet, or pick up any number of artworks, crafts or take-home DIY kits. With more than 250 exhibitors – not to mention all the workshops, talks and panels – you may want to spring for the two-day ticket just so you have a chance to see them all. – Thaddeus McCollum
10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday | Orlando Science Center, 777 E. Princeton St. | makerfaireorlando.com | $16.25-$30.25
Sunday, Sept. 13: "When Leaders Stop Listening"
Keith Lay is proving to be our area's most inventive composer. Last year, he put on one of the most interesting public pieces of symphonic art to hit Lake Eola Park with "Distance Music," a suite that had the audience walk around the lake to experience how notes blasted from brass ensembles and train horns sounded different based on where in the park one's ear happened to be. He teams up with Cirque du Soleil music director Benoit Glazer tonight for a piece billed as an in-the-flesh cartoon written for a brass trio and three mimes. Glazer, Juan Berrios and Joey Vascik pull double duty on horns and pantomime in a "brass march in vaudeville style" as composer Lay continues to play with form and presentation. We can't wait to see what he comes up with next. – TM
7 p.m. | Timucua White House, 2000 S. Summerlin Ave. | timucua.com | free
Monday, 14: David Liebe Hart
David Liebe Hart is known popularly for his roles on Adult Swim (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!) and in underground music circles as one of the more illustrious outsider artists alongside luminaries like Wesley Willis. The noted eccentric came through back in 2012 with a punk rock band to open for Black Moth Super Rainbow. But this time he returns freshly rebooted with new electronic-minded collaborator Jonah Mociun (Th'Mole) to drop fresh material from his current album, Astronaut, and bring some new bump to his left-field classics. Expect a mind-bending multimedia show blending music and comedy that will include stand-up, his famous puppets, videos and an interactive exercise routine. You know, the usual David Liebe Hart stuff. After the show, fans can have some face time with the man himself and purchase his custom art. – Bao Le-Huu
with Fortune Howl and DJ Prom Nite | 8 p.m. | Will's Pub, 1042 N. Mills Ave. | willspub.org | $10
Monday-Tuesday, Sept. 14-15: John Sims at Rollins
You may remember an article we ran in June detailing the local performance of a 13-state art project called "13 Flag Funerals," in which Sarasota artist John Sims organized a burning and/or burial of the Confederate Flag in all 13 of the Confederate states. It ruffled a few feathers, to say the least, but with just a couple of months' hindsight anyone can see that it was on the leading edge of a nationwide sea change. "13 Flag Funerals" is part of Sims' 15-year Recoloration Proclamation, an exploration in sculpture, performance, painting, design and sound of the effects of racism on the American psyche, focusing on the Stars and Bars as a symbol of oppression. Now Sims has been moved to take on the de facto anthem of the Confederacy, "(I Wish I Was in) Dixie." Sims says that "to make the point that the African-American experience is central to any notion of Southern heritage," he was "inspired to confront this song subversively via remixing, remapping and cross-appropiation." Monday night he hosts a listening party in the Cornell galleries for The AfroDixieRemixes, a 14-track CD that recasts "Dixie" in what Sims calls "the many genres of black music: Spiritual, Blues, Gospel, Jazz, Funk Calypso, Samba, Soul, R&B, House, Hip Hop." Tuesday night, Sims takes part in a Q&A about his ongoing body of work in Rollins' Bush Auditorium. – Jessica Bryce Young
7 p.m. Monday at Cornell Fine Arts Museum, 7 p.m. Tuesday at Bush Auditorium | Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave., Winter Park | calendar.activedatax.com/rollins | free
