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14 things to do in San Diego this weekend: Fleet Week, San Diego Ballet, San Diego Opera and more

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“The Jungle Book”

8 p.m. tonight and Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Lyceum Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, downtown. $15-$50 (senior, military and student discounts available). (619) 544-1000. lyceumevents.org

As a hip-hop dancer who plays King Louie the orangutan in San Diego Ballet’s production of “The Jungle Book,” David Simmons is skillful at monkeying around. His orange, camouflage-print costume is festooned with yellow fur that sprouts from his arms and legs, and he models his “big moves” after the animated, long-armed ape in the Disney version of Rudyard Kipling’s classic tale. His kids think he’s hilarious. “We have a 17-month-old and two adopted children, an 11-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son,” says Simmons, whose wife, Christiana, also dances in the show. “They always say, ‘Daddy, you shake your butt too much.’” MARCIA MANNA

Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Del Mar

6:45 p.m. Saturday. Del Mar Arena at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. $30 general admission; $142 box for six. westpalmsevents.com

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Spectator-friendly and easy to understand, show jumping requires precision and strength from both horse and rider as the team negotiates a series of obstacles. The winner is the one with the best time and the fewest faults. The Longines FEI Jumping World Cup — in Del Mar on Saturday as part of the Del Mar International Horse Show — features Olympic veterans and other world-class equestrians competing for a spot in the World Cup Finals next spring in Sweden. CYNTHIA ZANONE

Fleet Week San Diego

Saturday through Oct. 28. Various locations in the county (although a number of events will take place at Broadway Pier, 1000 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego). (619) 858-1545. fleetweeksandiego.org

From a military family tailgate party to a viewing party for the big football game between the Navy and Notre Dame, Fleet Week San Diego is filled with a week of events to celebrate the men and women serving in the military and demonstrate support for that service. The community is invited to join in the celebration through this year’s golf tournament, a breakfast and a luncheon, ship tours and military displays, a concert featuring Tim Hurley, and activities for kids and adults. LISA DEADERICK

Camarada presents “The Four Seasons of Tango — Music of Astor Piazzolla”

6:30 p.m. Saturday. Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Barrio Logan. $15-$55. (619) 231-3702. camarada.org

Camarada launches its new season with something unique. Make that two unique things: a world-renowned musician and a premiere. The San Diego chamber music group’s opening concert Saturday will feature arranger, composer, bandoneon player and tango master Raúl Jaurena, who will bring to San Diego his “electrifying arrangements” of “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, says Camarada executive director Beth Ross-Buckley. “Primal and powerful, the tango is the ultimate pairing of music and dance.” Saturday’s concert will feature Ross-Buckley on flute, David Buckley on violin, Jaurena on bandoneon, Dana Burnett on piano, Jeff Pekarek on bass and dancers from Tango Alma. MICHAEL JAMES ROCHA

Festival of Lights, Diwali Celebrations

1 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Several locations in Balboa Park. $5 for adults; free for children under 12. sdias.info/festival-of-lights

The night sky will be illuminated as San Diego celebrates the 11th annual Festival of Lights on Saturday at Balboa Park. Also known as Diwali, it is one of India’s most important festivals; it “symbolizes the spiritual victory of good over evil, the triumph of virtue over vice, and the conquest of ignorance with reason and understanding,” according to organizers. Lamp-lighting is a hallmark of the festival, which features dozens of lamps, large and small, representing different eras, traditions and regions of India. The event will include a lamp-lighting procession of 1,008 small lamps, an exhibit of traditional Indian dolls and figurines, music and dance, and vendors selling Indian delicacies. Ambassador Venkatesan Ashok, consul general of India in San Francisco, is the chief guest. CAROLINA GUSMAN

San Diego Kids Expo & Fair

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. O’Brien Hall building and adjacent parking lot, Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. Ages 13 and up: $8 in advance; $10 at the gate; free for children 12 and under; outdoor fair attractions require an all-access wristband; check the website for details; parking is $14 per car. (619) 269-9441. sandiegokidsexpo.com

It’s a time out for kids — and parents — this weekend as the semiannual San Diego Kids Expo & Fair returns to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Held in April and October, it is billed as one of the largest open-to-the-public kids expos in the United States, with nearly 12,000 children and parents expected to attend. The festival features a little more than 3 acres of indoor-outdoor exhibit and activity space, with up to 150 vendors offering products and services ranging from health and fitness to soccer coaching and dentistry. There are also art workshops, remote-control cars, a video game trailer and aerial acrobatics. CAROLINA GUSMAN

Grand Avenue Festival

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Along West Grand Avenue from Centre City Parkway to South Juniper Street, downtown Escondido. escondidochamber.org/grand-avenue-festival

Dancing, twirling, acting and more fun are part of the annual Grand Avenue Festival in Escondido this weekend. Hundreds of vendors will be downtown with handmade items, along with food and local entertainment. While strolling along Grand Avenue, be sure to stop by the Maple Street plaza stage to check out mixed martial arts or a performance by Los Pacheco Bros. At the Chase Bank lawn stage, enjoy belly dancing, a canine unit demonstration from the Escondido police, and pet contests for the best dressed, best trick, and the pet and owner who look the most alike. LISA DEADERICK

San Diego Opera presents “The Marriage of Figaro”

7 p.m. Saturday. San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown. $49 and up. (619) 533-7000. sdopera.org

It’s been nearly a dozen years since San Diego Opera produced Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” which returns Saturday as the company’s season-opening production. In the intervening years, much has changed at San Diego Opera and in the public consciousness. That might make the 18th-century opera’s plot — about an Italian count’s plot to deflower a reluctant female servant — extremely tricky in today’s #MeToo age. But sensitive opera-goers needn’t worry. “The Marriage of Figaro” is a comedy/drama, and the women are the true stars of this show. They amusingly upend the Count’s plot and destroy his sense of entitlement by the final curtain. The lavish period scenery and costumes that local audiences will see is a new co-production owned by San Diego Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Philadelphia and Palm Beach Opera. PAM KRAGEN

“Fade”

Opens Saturday. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through Nov. 11. Moxie Theatre, 6663 El Cajon Blvd., Rolando District. $18-$43. (858)598-7620. moxietheatre.com

A spirit of confronting clichés and upending expectations runs through Tanya Saracho’s “Fade,” which is about to receive its San Diego premiere at Moxie Theatre. So who better to direct the play than an artist who has (talk about upending expectations) a law degree? Of course, Maria Patrice Amon also holds a doctorate in theater, and deep stage experience that includes launching San Diego Rep’s Latinx New Play Festival and serving as that theater’s producer in residence for National New Play Network projects. But while Amon ultimately chose theater over the legal world, she sees connections between her passion for performing arts and her initial interest in the law. JAMES HEBERT

“Songs of Bernadette,” a memorial concert for Bernadette Thorn

Featuring Jim Hinton, Dave Humphries, Bart Mendoza & David Fleminger, Steve Rosenbaum, Liz and Kent Abbott, Bill Hartwell, Scott Samuels and more.

5 p.m. Sunday. Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 2051 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., Ocean Beach. Free admission. (858) 550-8088

Bernadette Thorn was a vital part of the San Diego music scene, which she lovingly chronicled through the concert photographs she took for The Troubadour. After she suffered severe neck and head injuries in a fall last month, the music community responded. While Thorn was on life support, no fewer than six prominent local singer-songwriters sang at her bedside at Mercy Hospital, where she died Sept. 8. All six will perform next Sunday at “Songs of Bernadette,” a memorial concert. It will feature some of the favorite songs of Bernadette and her husband, award-winning history professor and San Diego music historian Steve Thorn. Donations will be accepted to Donate Life California, the nonprofit to which Bernadette Thorn left her body. GEORGE VARGA

Art San Diego: “On the Horizon in Today’s Art World”

3 p.m. Saturday. Wyland Center, Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. Three-day pass (includes Friday Collectors’ Opening Night Party plus full weekend) $40; two-day pass $25; one-day pass $20. Discounts available. Parking $14 a day. art-sandiego.com

Marching into Art San Diego’s 10th anniversary event is the spiritual army of artist Stephen Farland — aka “The Chairman” — and Brian Sartor, master builder and artist, both of whom are destined to make a larger-than-life impact on visitors to the annual festival. Fashioned from thousands of chairs, six giant sculptures bearing the names “Victory,” “The Sentinel,” “The Guardian,” “Brotherly Love” “The Soul Man” and “The Creator & Humanity” are part of the touring exhibit — titled “Victory.” LAURIE DELK

“The Heart of Rock & Roll”

8 p.m. tonight; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Old Globe’s Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, Balboa Park. $39 and up. (619) 234-5623. theoldglobe.org

The next stop just might be Broadway for “The Heart of Rock & Roll,” the Old Globe’s good-time musical set to the songs of Huey Lewis and the News. But you’ve got one more week to catch the world-premiere production of this show that celebrates the power of love and the hipness of being square. (More or less literally: The story is cleverly set in a cardboard-box factory.) Broadway stars Katie Rose Clarke and Matt Doyle shine as a romantic pair trying to walk the thin line between devotion to each other and commitment to their dreams, and the show puts up all kinds of splashy visuals as it dips into Lewis’ impressive catalog of singable hits. If the musical’s storyline comes off as more modest than the spectacle that surrounds it, “Heart” should still stir the souls of true Huey-heads. JAMES HEBERT

San Diego Master Chorale: Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem”

4 p.m. Sunday, with a pre-concert lecture at 3:15 p.m. Point Loma Presbyterian Church, 2128 Chatsworth Blvd., San Diego. First Presbyterian Church, 320 Date St., San Diego. $25 adults; $15 seniors (60 and up), military and students. Free for children under 12. sdmasterchorale.org

The San Diego Master Chorale will present the rarely performed choral masterpiece “Ein Deutsches Requiem” (“A German Requiem”) in two performances, the first one next Sunday at Point Loma Presbyterian Church. Johannes Brahms’ piece will be performed by the more than 100-member San Diego Master Chorale under the direction of music director John K. Russell. Joining the chorale will be pianists Bryan Verhoye and Jessie Chang as well as soprano Tatiana James and baritone Matthew Fallesen. Jahja Ling (pictured), the San Diego Symphony’s conductor laureate, will deliver a pre-concert lecture. MICHAEL JAMES ROCHA

Athenaeum Jazz at TSRI fall concert series

Featuring: John Scofield Combo 66. 7:30 p.m. tonight. TSRI Auditorium, 10620 John Jay Hopkins Drive, La Jolla. $32 members; $37 nonmembers. (858) 454-5872. ljathenaeum.org

It’s not surprising that Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Bill Frisell form the triumvirate of a very exclusive mutual admiration society. As three of the guitar world’s most acclaimed and distinctive artists of the past 40 years, their singular careers are matched by the esteem they have for one another as musicians and friends. Each of them has developed a playing style so innovative and distinctive that listeners can identify their work within just a few notes. Just how distinctive will be demonstrated over a nine-day period this month, when these three Grammy Award-winning guitarists perform separate San Diego concerts. GEORGE VARGA

lisa.deaderick@sduniontribune.com

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