Hot Dates

BIG DEAL EVENTS

Academy of Music 157th Anniversary Concert & Ball

She's a great dame, an old dame and again the toast of the town as the rich and famous, including guest artist Jill Scott and host Kevin Bacon, flit in for the annual concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra - and for the pre- and post-show parties. But our Academy's not yet a sold-out dame. Prices start at $200. Coincidence?

Academy of Music, Broad and Locust streets, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, $200-$250 (concert only) or $350-$2,075 (with gala and largely tax-deductible), 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org.

Flyers Wives Carnival

The possibly second-best team in the city consistently throws the friendliest fanfest, this year with big stars on hand as always (Hartnell, Simmonds, Giroux) and some real gamers on seat in the dunk tank (Gustafsson, for one).

Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S. Broad St., 1:30-6 p.m. Sunday (early-admission enters at 1:30 p.m., others at 3) Sunday, $15-$35 (under 2 free), 800-298-4200, flyerscarnival.com.

QUIRKY BUT WORTHY

Canicular

On a clear night, gallerygoers can see something out of this world. The Canicular exhibit at the Print Center, by artist Demetrius Oliver, projects a high-powered telescope's view of Sirius, the Dog Star, for one fleeting hour at star rise (7 to 8 p.m.). The gallery's Facebook page tells whether the weather-dependent show is on for any given night.

Print Center, 1614 Latimer St., 7-8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through March 22, free, 215-735-6090, printcenter.org.

FAMILY FUN

CityPass Winter Special

Usually, we'd say good luck maxing out the value in a CityPass ticket booklet, which grants cut-rate admission to five top family attractions - provided you get to them within nine days.

Oh sure. When strollers fly.

But anyone who starts a booklet now has until Feb. 28 to hit the Franklin Institute, the Adventure Aquarium, the Philadelphia Zoo (or National Constitution Center), a Philadelphia Trolley Works/Big Bus Co. tour and the Please Touch Museum (or Eastern State Penitentiary). That's doable - and a deal, at $59 for adults and $39 for kids (ages 2-12).

CityPass booklets sold online at citypass.com/Philadelphia and at participating attractions.

MEATY THEATER

'Water by the Spoonful'

The 2012 Pulitzer Prize play, set in Philadelphia and written by Central High's own Quiara Alegría Hudes, comes home after playing Hartford and New York, where Times critic Charles Isherwood lauded it as "a moving collage of lives in crisis."

Arden Theatre, 40 N. 2nd St., through March 13, $15-$48, 215-922-1122, ardentheatre.org.

'Other Desert Cities'

An exercise in "thermonuclear family war" (as one character puts it), this Broadway hit by Jon Robin Baitz was also a Pulitzer finalist in 2012 - and considered the frontrunner until Hudes swept in for the upset. The Walnut Street Theatre production is a Philly premiere.

825 Walnut St., through March 2, $10-$85, 215-574-3550, walnutstreettheatre.org