COMEDY

Margaret Cho
Sunday at 8pm, Revolution Hall
She played Kim Jong Il on 30 Rock (and got an Emmy nomination). Her stand-up album I’m the One That I Want grossed megabucks. Lately the wildly successful comedian has been drawing on her anger—over police brutality, racism, violence against women—for her new “Psycho Tour.” (As she notes, “there is no ‘I’ in team but there is a ‘Cho’ in psycho.”) 

MUSIC

Joan Armatrading
Friday at 8 pm, Revolution Hall
Since 1972, the legendary British-by-way-of-West Indies singer-songwriter has recorded more than 20 critically acclaimed albums, played for Nelson Mandela, and been honored by the Queen. No wonder she figures high on VH1’s list of rock’s most influential women. This, which Armatrading calls her final major tour, may be your last chance to see her perform live.

Marina and the Diamonds
Saturday at 9 pm, Roseland Theater
Welsh pop princess Marina Diamandis could give Lady Gaga a run for style; her vocals, meanwhile, transition from sweet, breathy squeaks to a husky, haunted-house Elvira. Diamandis tours with album Froot. (Popcrush calls it an anthem of brutal self-awareness in a candy shell.) 

Florence and the Machine 
Saturday at 8 pm, Veteran Memorial Coliseum
The third studio album from Brit soul popster Florence Welch, How Big How Blue How Beautiful, "is one long Ophelia mad scene," says Pitchfork: tearfully grand, anthemic, and built for stadiums like this one.

YACHT
Saturday at 8 pm, Wonder Ballroom
Portland's prodigal electronic band—now based in Los Angeles—thrives on live shows, incorporating elements like PowerPoint presentations and Q&A sessions. Not quirky enough? Their website includes a recommended reading list, which includes the sci-fi likes of William Gibson’s Neuromancer and Philip K. Dick’s Ubik. (More here on YACHT's thoughts on a cooler future.)

Lise de la Salle
Saturday and Sunday at 4 pm, Lincoln Hall
Portland Piano International bring the exhilarating young French recitalist to town for two afternoons of Brahms, Ravel, Liszt, and more. 

DANCE

New Now Wow
Thursday–Saturday at 7:30 pm, Lincoln Hall
This “all European evening” from Northwest Dance Project boasts two world premieres from award-winning choreographer Felix Landerer and Jirí Pokorny, whose original creations have graced stages since 2006. They are joined by Ihsan Rustem and his Mother Tongue, acclaimed as “a model of contemporary choreography.”

THEATER

CLOSING Passion Play Part III
Thursday–Saturday at 7:30 pm, Shaking the Tree
In Sarah Ruhl’s homage to medieval Christendom’s Eastertime passion plays (Parts I and II played in September), we find ourselves in Spearfish, South Dakota, at the onset of the Vietnam War. Reagan shows up, as do lots of fishies.

OPENING Carrie the Musical
Thursday–Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm, Brunish Hall
For spooky season, Stumptown Stages turns to the master Stephen King, with a musical version of his horror novel Carrie—about a bullied high school teenager who uses telekinetic powers to wreak havoc on her tormentors—adapted for stage by the screenwriter of the 1979 movie version with music from Academy Award winner Michael Gore.

The Homecoming
Friday & Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm, Imago Theatre
Director Jerry Mouawad has made the staging of Harold Pinter’s tense, minimalist early works something of a specialty. For The Homecoming’s fall run at Imago, Mouawad animates what some critics have called the best of Pinter’s “plays of menace.”

 VISUAL ARTS

Eyebeam
Thursday–Saturday from 11 am to 6 pm, Upfor Gallery
Future art! New York nonprofit Eyebeam tasked seven far-out multimedia and conceptual artists—from BAFTA nominee game designer Zach Gage to Chlöe Bass (a Culture Push Fellow in Utopian Practice)—to take their art and make it 3–D, as in, a physical object. Catch the show now, in its final two weeks.