CONCERTS

Fri, May 20
Billy Joel
♫Ol’ Billy Joel, here in May, Safeco Field, He will play, In the outfield, His piano, Man we gotta go / All the classics, he will play ’em, New York State of, Modern Woman, Piano Man, Uptown Girl, Oh boy what a show / Glass Houses, Storm Front, Songwriting, It’s not blunt / My Life, Can’t wait to see, It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me / Music’s power, We scream, Italian restaurant scene / Songs are timeless, He reminds us, of all that in one night! We didn’t start the fire...♫ Safeco Field, $54–$134

MUSEUMS

May 21–Feb 27
Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds
It’s been a half century since the crew of the starship Enterprise first dared to go where no man has gone before. Now the universe of Star Trek fandom seems more expansive than any of the galaxies Kirk or Picard ever explored. To celebrate the franchise’s 50th anniversary, EMP hosts Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds. It’s a definitive look at the series’ legacy, featuring more than 100 artifacts, including original costumes, the actual spaceship models, and Kirk’s command chair. EMP Musuem, $27

THE SPORTING LIFE

Sun, May 22
Opening Night: Seattle Storm vs. Minnesota Lynx
While the team hardly matches the Mariners for local sports futility, it has been four seasons since the WNBA’s Seattle Storm finished the season with a winning record. But a youth revolution looks to change the fortunes of ageless wonder Sue Bird and co. See 2015 Rookie of the Year Jewell Loyd and this year’s overall No. 1 pick—UConn center Breanna Stewart—in action when the Storm tip off the season’s home slate against the WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx. KeyArena, $19–$155

COMEDY

Sun, May 22
Bill Burr
When comedian Bill Burr gets on a rant, there's no stopping the barrelling freight train of laughter. But the skill that sets him apart is his ability to win an audience over to a position they initially recoil when hearing. He makes his comedic cases with a surgical precision in situations where other standups would be struggling to keep the audience from bleeding out. WaMu Theatre, $47–$67

CLASSICAL & MORE

May 20–22
Sci-Fi at the Pops
Stanley Kubrick cracked the code when he set 2001: A Space Odyssey to Strauss: science fiction and classical music pair perfectly together. Take your ears on an interstellar journey as Seattle Symphony presents Sci-Fi at the Pops featuring scores from Star Trek, E.T., Independence Day, The Last Starfighter, and myriad pieces from a little franchise called Star Wars. Benaroya Hall, $30–$98

FILM

May 19–June 12
Seattle International Film Festival
The joy of the Seattle International Film Festival arises from its overwhelming heap of options to explore. For three and a half weeks, cinephiles and causal moviegoers can dart around town catching everything from future award contenders to obscure foreign films. With hundreds of films on the docket America’s largest film fest is an exercise in unbridled hope, as each screen offers a new chance to be utterly surprised. Various venues, $12–$250

Thur, May 19
SIFF 2016 Opening Night Gala: Café Society
After the latest round of Woody Allen molestation claims from his own children, SIFF probably wishes they weren’t opening with the director’s latest film Café Society. But that bed is made. Jesse Eisenberg (the only natural and logical nebbish stand-in now that the director is finally too old to play the Woody roles) stars as James, young man that moves to Los Angeles during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He’s taken in my his big shot uncle Aaron (Steve Carell), and soon falls for Aaron’s assistant, Theresa (Kristen Stewart). So maybe think of it as Woody Allen’s 1930s Adventureland? Adding a dash of local connection, the film comes our way via Amazon Studios. McCaw Hall, $50–$250

Sat, May 21
All the Way
Seattle playwright Robert Schenkkan's Tony-winning play about President Lyndon B. Johnson's political battle to get the Civil Rights Act passed gets the cinematic treatment when HBO premiere's All the Way. The play's Broadway star Bryan Cranston reprises his role as LBJ, a man struggling to keep a country from tearing itself apart while he maneuvers and gambles political capital. Anthony Mackie steps in as Martin Luther King, Jr., who fluctuates between ally and adversary to LBJ depending on the president's promises. Televised on HBO

BOOKS & TALKS

Fri, May 20
Hugo Literary Series: The Writing on the Wall
The last event in the old Hugo House building appropriately looks at the inevitability of ends. Now that writing actually adorned the literary center's walls (after the Epilogue/Prologue party earlier this month), novelists Jenny Offill and Laura van den Berg team up with Egyptian-American poet Maged Zaher to read new work mulling over the idiom "the writing's on the wall." Hugo House, $25

THEATER

Thru May 28
Bernie's Apartment
Spanish dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca explored the issue of female oppression with 1945′s The House of Bernarda Alba. Since the themes still resonate, playwright Rose Cano modernizes the tale via Ese Teatro’s production of Bernie’s Apartment. The drama centers on foster home matriarch Bernie, who controls and essentially traps her daughters by preying on their inescapable feelings of trauma, social pressure, and fear. ACT Theatre, $30