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Top weekend events: Cinco de Mayo, ‘Beyond Bollywood,’ San Diego Opera

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Fiesta de Reyes Cinco de Mayo Folklorico Festival

9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, 4002 Wallace St., San Diego. Free. (619) 297-3100. fiestadereyes.com

Dancers from California and Mexico will compete during an annual celebration of this traditional Latin American dance combining folk culture and ballet. As part of the Cinco de Mayo celebration, performers will compete in three categories for prizes and titles, in front of a number of respected judges from Mexico. Children and adult performances will alternate throughout each day. There will also be live music and games, rides and crafts for children. Plus, there’s a free concert at 6 p.m. Saturday featuring Lupillo and Don Pedro Rivera. For more about this and other Cinco de Mayo events, go to page 21. LISA DEADERICK

Fresh Sound welcomes guitarist Gyan Riley

7:30 p.m. Sunday. Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights. At the door: $20 general admission, $10 students. freshsoundmusic.com

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You can say music has been a big part of Gyan Riley’s life. His father is composer, pianist and vocalist Terry Riley, renowned for his minimalist approach to Western classical music. At the age of 12, he got his first guitar, winning it in a raffle. And later, he received a full guitar scholarship at the San Francisco Conservatory — a first for the school. On Sunday, the New York-based guitarist and composer will perform in San Diego as part of the Fresh Sound music series. MICHAEL JAMES ROCHA

Dragon Boat Race Festival

9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Tecolote Shores North, 1740 E. Mission Bay Drive, San Diego. Free. sdalliance.weebly.com

Teams test their endurance as their dragon-shaped boats cut through the water during the annual Dragon Boat Race Festival. The traditional art and sport of dragon boat racing celebrates Pan-Asian culture as competitors race to beat of the drums. Watch the races and enjoy the food and entertainment, too. LISA DEADERICK

Eric Andersen and his band

7:30 p.m. tonight. AMSDconcerts, Laura R. Charles Theater, Sweetwater Union High School, 2900 Highland Ave., National City. $25 and $35. (619) 201-0520. amsdconcerts.com

Erik Andersen was the first singer-songwriter to be widely hailed as the “new Bob Dylan” in the 1960s. He may be the only one to actually be praised by Dylan, who — in 1977 — declared: “Erik Andersen is a great ballad singer and writer.” Now 75 and a resident of the Netherlands, Andersen is on a rare U.S. tour to promote his new, 42-song two-CD career retrospective, “The Essential Eric Andersen.” Andersen’s songs have been recorded by Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, The Kingston Trio and others. GEORGE VARGA

“Smokey Joe’s Cafe”

8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through June 9. OnStage Playhouse, 291 Third Ave., Chula Vista. $25. (619) 422-7787. onstageplayhouse.org

The unstoppable pop songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller had a hand in more than 70 chart hits, including such tunes as “On Broadway,” “Stand by Me,” “Yakety Yak” and the Elvis hits “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock.” Those songs and more will be showcased as OnStage Playhouse rolls out the revue “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” named for another of the duo’s compositions. Shirley Johnston directs and choreographs for the Chula Vista company. JAMES HEBERT

“Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation”

Through July 8. New Americans Museum, 2825 Dewey Road, Liberty Station. Free. (619) 756-7707. newamericansmuseum.org

One out of every 100 Americans can trace their roots to India. “Beyond Bollywood,” a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution and hosted in San Diego by the New Americans Museum, will offer a glimpse into Indian-American culture, history and contributions to society from the 1700s to the present. An opening reception sponsored by the San Diego Indian American Society will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday during Friday Night Liberty. The exhibit will include work by local artist Bhavna Mehta, photographs, artifacts and interactive learning stations. “The vibrant life, culture and history of immigrants from India and Indian Americans is the story of America,” said Konrad Ng, former director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.

Danny Green Trio Plus Strings

8 p.m. tonight. Panama 66 in James S. Copley Auditorium, San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. $15 (general admission), $25 (front row reserved seating). (619) 696-1966. brownpapertickets.com/event/3389519

Danny Green is having a banner year. In March, the resourceful pianist took home Best Jazz Artist honors at the 2018 San Diego Music Awards. His trio’s current tour includes a Friday evening concert in Balboa Park to celebrate the release of their audacious new chamber-jazz album, “One Day It Will.” Ten compositions strong, it teams Green, bassist Justin Grinnell and drummer Julien Cantelm with a string quartet that features San Diego Symphony violinists Kate Hatmaker and Igor Pandurski. How well will the carefully calibrated music on “One Day It Will” translate to the concert stage? You can find out Friday when Green and his colleagues perform the album live with violinist Isaac Allen, violist Travis Maril and cellist Erika Erenyi. GEORGE VARGA

The San Diego Early Music Society presents Jean Rondeau

5 p.m. next Sunday. Cuyamaca College Performing Arts Theatre, 900 Rancho San Diego Parkway, El Cajon. $23-$35. (619) 291-8246. sdems.org

Few early-music practitioners inspire such phrases as “baroque and roll” and “badass virtuoso,” but harpsichordist Jean Rondeau — a Frenchman in his mid-20s — has done just that with his passionate performances. He first began to play the harpsichord at the age of 6 after hearing the instrument on the radio. He studied under harpsichord teacher and later at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. In this concert — the last of the San Diego Early Music Society’s 2017-18 season — he’ll play pieces by J.S. Bach, Jean-Philippe Rameau and Pancrace Royer.

“Red”

7:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through May 20. Oceanside Theatre Company at the Brooks Theatre, 217 N. Coast Highway, Oceanside. $15-$29. (760) 433-8900. oceansidetheatre.org

In 1958, the fiercely iconoclastic artist Mark Rothko accepted a commission to paint several murals for a posh new restaurant in New York City. Rothko was more than a little conflicted about the assignment and its commercial and class implications — he famously said he hoped the murals would make diners lose their appetites. “Red,” John Logan’s Tony Award-winning 2009 play, explores that episode, and in particular the fraught relationship between Rothko and a (fictionalized) assistant named Ken. The work received its area premiere at San Diego Rep in 2014. Now Oceanside Theatre Company puts up the provocative piece, and it should be in good hands: The director is Kevin Hafso-Koppman, an accomplished San Diego actor and alumnus of the Old Globe/USD Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. JAMES HEBERT

Brian Stokes Mitchell, at the USO San Diego’s 77th Annual Stars and Stripes Gala: For Love of Country

5 p.m. Saturday. San Diego Marriott Marquis and Marina, 333 W. Harbor Drive, downtown. $150 for active duty; $500 individual; $1,000 VIP individual ticket. (Event is a benefit.) usosandiego.org/gala-2018

It takes sacrifice, ambition, a little luck and a ton of raw talent to scale the heights of Broadway. It does not necessarily take a motto. But Brian Stokes Mitchell has one of those, too — and it’s a particularly fitting one for a guy who came of age on the beaches of San Diego: “Ride the wave.” “You know, just see where the wave takes you,” the Tony Award-winning stage and screen actor is saying over the phone from his New York home, speaking of both performing live — which he’ll do here Saturday as a benefit for the United Services Organizations — and the broader task of carving out a career in the arts. JAMES HEBERT

Pug Party

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Del Mar Fairgrounds, Infield Pavilion Area, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. $10 adults; $5 children 10 and under. Parking is $14. pugsandiego.com

Dust off your pug’s mini sombrero and serape and head to the Del Mar Fairgrounds on Saturday for Pug Rescue of San Diego’s 27th annual Pug Party. Billed as the largest gathering of pugs on the West Coast, the canine confab draws more than 400 of the wrinkle-faced pets and their human companions. Among the pug-tastic events are a pug costume contest, a wet T-shirt contest (dogs only, please) and a cupcake chomp (made with dog-friendly ingredients). CAROLINA GUSMAN

“One Amazing Night” with Lise Lindstrom and Greer Grimsley in concert with the San Diego Symphony

7 p.m. Saturday. Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., San Diego. $35-$160 (limited availability). (619) 533-7000. sdopera.org/get-tickets/single-tickets

The last time opera stars Lise Lindstrom and Greer Grimsley were onstage together in San Diego, she demanded his head on a silver platter. But the reunion of these “Salome” co-stars and longtime colleagues will be on happier terms Saturday when they team up for “One Amazing Night,” a joint concert for San Diego Opera at the Balboa Theatre. The season-closing recital with the San Diego Symphony will feature a two-act program of opera and operetta arias and duets, musical theater classics and overtures. PAM KRAGEN

lisa.deaderick@sduniontribune.com

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