Preview night: Musikfest celebrates its 35th anniversary by kicking things off a day early with preview night at SteelStacks, 4:30 p.m.-midnight Aug. 2, featuring free performances by The Barrel House Brothers, April Mae and the June Bugs, Funky Dawgs Brass Band and Baby Soda Jazz Band. Also, in a ticketed concert, is Trombone Shorty’s “Voodoo Threauxdown Tour” at the Sands Steel Stage. The concert by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue also features Galactic, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and New Breed Brass Band, with Cyril Neville and Walter “Wolfman” Washington. Musikfest, Aug. 3-12, features more than 500 performances, most of them free, on 16 stages on Main Street, Sun Inn Courtyard and the 18th Century Industrial Quarter on the north side and at SteelStacks on the south side of Bethlehem. Styx and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are in concert, 7 p.m. Aug. 3, Sands Steel Stage. Tickets: Musikfest box office, ArtsQuest Center, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem; musikfest.org; 610-332-3378

Crowning achievement: Christian Coulson, above left, stars as King Richard II, with Justin Adams, above right, as Henry Bolingbroke, his challenger to the throne, in The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (PSF) production of “King Richard II,” in William Shakespeare’s history play, “King Richard II,” in its PSF debut through Aug. 5, Main Stage, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, Center Valley. Director Gina Lamparella makes “King Richard II” absolutely enthralling, working with Costume Designer Olivera Gajic, Scenic Designer Daniel Conway, Lighting Designer Eric T. Haugen and Sound Designer William Neal. The cast, including Christopher Patrick Mullen, Wayne S. Turney, Brandon J. Pierce, Luigi Sottile, Brandon Edward Burton, Christopher Coucill, Mairin Lee, Starla Benford and Jo Twiss, is also in “Shakespeare In Love,” through Aug. 5. “King Richard II,” first in Shakespeare’s series of history plays, is the 30th of Shakespeare’s 38 plays that PSF has produced. Tickets: Labuda Center for the Performing Arts lobby box office, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley; pashakespeare.org/psf_tickets.php; 610-282-WILL (9455)

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Loving “Shakespeare”: Mairin Lee, above, stars as Viola De Lesseps, opposite Luigi Sottile as William Shakespeare, in The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (PSF) production of “Shakespeare In Love,” through Aug. 5, Main Stage, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, Center Valley. Viola becomes Shakespeare’s muse for the writing of “Romeo And Juliet,” even though Viola is promised in marriage to Lord Wessex (Christian Coulson of “Harry Potter” movie fame). PSF Producing Artistic Director Patrick Mulcahy directs “Shakespeare In Love” in its Pennsylvania premiere. Mulcahy is also Fight Director for the show. The stage adaptation by Lee Hall is based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard for the 1998 film of the same title. The music by Paddy Cunneen was written for the stage show’s 2014 London West End premiere. Scenic Designer Daniel Conway evokes The Globe Theater. There’s courtly dancing by Dance Choreographer Erin Sheffield and sumptuous costumes by Costume Designer Lisa Zinni. Tickets: Labuda Center for the Performing Arts lobby box office, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley; pashakespeare.org/psf_tickets.php; 610-282-WILL (9455)

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