Weekend event picks: Beard & Mustache Championship, arts & more

The last weekend in March is upon us. Any reason to celebrate, right?

Nobody puts Baby in the corner. The two-week run of "Dirty Dancing" continues this weekend at the Academy of Music (Broad and Locust Streets) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 26, 8 p.m. on Friday, March 27, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 28 and 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 29.

The latest work from Koresh Dance Company, "Aftershock," uses artistic director Ronen Koresh's emigration from Israel to the United States as inspiration for a choreographic representation of building a new life in a foreign land. You've got two chances to see it: Thursday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. and Friday, March 27 at 8 p.m. Another performance is slated for Saturday, March 28 at Koresh Kouture: a High Fashion Performance, Silent Auction and Gala, running from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. All of this weekend's Koresh entertainment is held at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (480 S. Broad St.).

While the Philly Love Run Half Marathon officially gets underway at 8 a.m. on Sunday, March 29, the fun kicks off on Friday, March 27 with the pre-race expo at Citizens Bank Park (1 Citizens Bank Way), running from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 28. The venue's main concourse and Hall of Fame Club will be outfitted with racing and sport vendors and more. See all the race action around 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway throughout the morning on Sunday.

Blow off some steam with a little late-night comedy action on Friday, March 27 when Two Late with Rob and Joe, a live comedic talk show, returns to the Philly Improv Theater (2030 Sansom St.). Beginning at 11:55 p.m., the Philly-inspired show will feature guests John DeBella of 102.9 WMGK, Mike Ferrero of Fat Jack's Comicrypt, and folk duo Jesse & El Revelator.

Sweat it out at Chestnut Hill's Hoops Madness on Saturday, March 28. Both kids and adults will play half court, 3-on-3 games of basketball from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy (500 W. Willow Grove Ave.). Registration is available at the door, but you can also sign your team up online until 7 p.m. on Friday.

Local malls — like the Cherry Hill Mall (2000 Rt. 38, Cherry Hill), Springfield Mall (1250 Baltimore Pike, Springfield), Plymouth Meeting Mall (500 W. Germantown Pike, Plymouth Meeting) and the Moorestown Mall (400 NJ Route 38, Moorestown) — will host Mad Hatter Tea parties from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 28. Expect not only visits with the Easter Bunny, but crafts and refreshments, too.

It's spring cleaning time for select NoLibs shops. From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 28 and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 29, Art Star (623 N. 2nd St.), Bloom (910 N. 2nd St.), Once Worn Consignment (906 N. 2nd St.), Swag Boutique (935 N. 2nd St.), Ritual Ritual (819 N. 2nd St.), City Planter (814 N. 4th St.) and AGORA (958 N. 2nd St.) will be offering discounts during the NoLibs Sidewalk Sale.

Brides! Take a ride to Terrain at Styers (914 Baltimore Pike, Glen Mills) for a bridal open house featuring a tour of the site's wedding venue, a peek at Anthropologie's bridal line BHLDN's dresses and accessories and a number of different vendors ranging from hair and makeup to wedding stationary. It goes down from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 28.

It's about to get hairy at the TLA (334 South St.) on Saturday, March 28. The East Coast Beard and Mustache Championship is set to go down, starting at 7 p.m. with 13 categories (ranging from styled mustache to women's most realistic fake beard), food from Phoebe's BBQ, tattoo artists and more.

Revel in the swing of the Prohibition era for the annual Lemon Society Speakeasy at the Pyramid Club (1735 Market St.), benefiting Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation's Annual Childhood Cancer Symposium. You'll be treated to cocktails from top mixologists, food and music from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, March 28.

11th Hour Theatre Company takes on the uncertainty of life through song in "A New Brain," a music-filled journey of a composer's battle with terminal illness and his journey for his legacy song. The show plays at the Skybox at the Adrienne (2030 Sansom St.) at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 28 and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 29.

Chill out with some chili on Sunday, March 29. The 5th Annual Fishtown Chili Cookoff brings restaurants like Loco Pez, Lloyd, Fette Sau and more to the Skybox at 2424 Studios (2424 York St.) for unlimited chili eating and beer (not unlimited) from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Take a note of your faves, you'll have a chance to vote for the People's Choice Award.

Inquirer's Picks

The title says it all in Paul Slade Smith's comedy "Unnecessary Farce," a delightful mix of slapstick, slammed doors, mistaken identities, scantily clad maidens, and a police procedural (beware the kilted killer). The show goes on at Act II Playhouse (56 E. Butler Ave, Ambler) at 8 p.m. Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28 and 7 p.m. Sunday, March 29. 

Acclaimed New York ensemble LeeSaar the Company performs its cerebral modern dance at Rowan University's Pfleeger Concert Hall (201 Mullica Hill Rd., Glassboro) at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 27.

In a concert made timely by yet another unspeakable act of terror in her homeland, Tunisian singer Emel Mathlouthi — whose song "Kelmti Horra (My Word is Free)" made her "the voice of the Arab Spring" — performs her distinctive mix of trip-hop and traditional North African melodies at Bryn Mawr College's Goodhart Hall (101 N. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr) at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 27.

A clever mix of fanciful history and fast-moving graphics, "The Croods," about a family of fearful cave people confronted with a more advanced fellow (he's got tools and lore), screens at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute (824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr) at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 28.

If there's any better surfing, skydiving, Nixon-masked bank-robbing movie than the 1991 classic "Point Break," we don't want to know. (Seriously, if there are any, we really don't want to know.) "Point Break" Live is just what it says it is, a zany live-on-stage adaptation of the Patrick Swayze-Keanu Reeves thriller. But, dig this, Brah: The part of Johnny Utah, the ex-college QB turned undercover FBI agent played by Reeves, can be yours — a lucky participant is chosen from audience. You don't need acting chops, obviously — those would just get in the way of the vibe, man. (Yeah, we know Gary Busey was in the flick, too — stole it, really — but you could hurt something trying to be Busey.) The show goes on at Underground Arts (1200 Callowhill St.) at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 28.