Phish, Terrificon, Luke Bryan and ballet under the stars among 10 best things to do this week in CT

The Courant’s arts picks for the 10 best things to do the week of July 24 to 30 reflect the wide range of events happening as we hit midsummer. It’s not just the variety of music, theater, dance and more — it’s the variety of venues, from small clubs to city parks to the combined lawn and auditorium of the 30,000-capacity Xfinity Theatre.

You can find a mystical pop band like Elf Power in Hamden, jam icons Phish in Hartford and some ferocious ‘60 hit-makers all “Happy Together” at the Oakdale. You can see modern ballet in a city park and a woman cooking onstage at TheaterWorks Hartford. You can root for representatives of Connecticut towns competing at improv for the Sea Tea Comedy Theater or for cosplay enthusiast parading as superheroes at Terrificon. The month may be hot and sweaty but the arts options couldn’t be cooler.

Elf Power

Space Ballroom, 295 Treadwell Street, Hamden

Looking for a sweet little indie band amongst all the mainstream rock behemoths hitting state stages this week? Elf Power has been around since the mid-’90s, is from the magical pop city of Athens, Georgia, and is part of the mighty Elephant 6 collective, as grand a stamp of approval that can be conferred on July 24 at 8 p.m. at the Space Ballroom in Hamden. The opening act is local legend Kath Bloom, whose song “Come Here” was featured in the iconic movie romance “Before Sunrise.” $15 to 17. A couple of other iconic indie rock acts are playing Space Ballroom later this week: July 27: Deer Tick on July 17 and Nada Surf on July 28. spaceballroom.com.

Phish

Xfinity Theater, 61 Savitt Way, Hartford

Phish was originally together for 21 years, officially disbanded in 2004, reunited in 2008 and (except for that first COVID year of 2020) has toured every summer since. The consummate jam band of its generation returns to Hartford’s Xfinity Theater on July 24 at 7 pm. $49-$236. concerts.livenation.com.

Courtney Barnett and Shamir

College Street Music Hall, 238 College Street, New Haven

The Courtney Barnett and Shamir show originally scheduled for February finally happens July 26 at 8 p.m. at College Street Music Hall in downtown New Haven. Barnett is the scruffy, poignant and pithy Australian singer/songwriter. Shamir is the genre-jumping multi-threat recording artist from Las Vegas whose new album is (ironically) called “Heterosexuality.” $35-$49.50. collegestreetmusichall.com.

‘Secondo’

TheaterWorks Hartford, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford

TheaterWorks Hartford had one of the signature hits of its first 20 years with “I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti,” a memoir by Giulia Melucci about how her love of cooking helped her through a succession of broken romances. Ten years after that show’s success, its director Rob Ruggiero, playwright Jacques Lamarre and star Antoinette LaVecchia have reunited with Melucci to create a sequel. “Secondo” is based on the writer’s life now that she’s married. Performances are July 29 through Aug. 28. Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. $25 to $65. The show also streams on-demand Aug. 21 through Sept. 4 for $20. twhartford.org.

‘The Scandalous Hamiltons’

Mark Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford

Thanks to a certain Broadway musical, you’ve heard all about Alexander Hamilton, his wife Eliza and their son Philip. More than 80 years after the events of the musical “Hamilton,” Alexander’s great-grandson Robert Ray Hamilton is starring in a very different type of show: a courtroom drama and media scandal involving bigamy, bribery, a “baby farm” and a scam artist named Evangeline. Bill Shaffer is the author of a new book retelling this sordid tale: “The Scandalous Hamiltons: A Gilded Age Grifter, A Disgraced Descendent of a Founding Father, and a Trial at the Dawn of Tabloid Journalism.” He discusses it July 26 at 7 p.m. at the Mark Twain House and Museum. Admission is $5, which can be deducted from the price of the book if you purchase it. marktwainhouse.org. A free livestream is also available: register at ci.ovationtix.com

‘Ballet Under the Stars’

Burr Mall, 570 Main Street, Hartford and Elizabeth Park, 1561 Asylum Avenue, West Hartford

Connecticut Ballet brings its outdoor summer “Ballet Under the Stars” to two Hartford locations this month: July 28 in Burr Mall next to the Wadsworth Atheneum and July 30 on the John G. Martin Foundation stage in the Elizabeth Park Conservancy in West Hartford. There are four short dances on the program, including the Spanish standard “Paquita” and one scored with big band music. The rain dates for both performances are one day later at the same time, 6:30 p.m. Free. connecticutballet.org.

Luke Bryan

Xfinity Theater, 61 Savitt Way, Hartford

Luke Bryan knows how to throw a party, as one of his biggest hits — “Crash My Party” — attests. Among his other good time tunes: “Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day,” “Drink a Beer,” “I Don’t Want This Night to End” and “That’s My Kind of Night.” He’s at the Xfinity Theater in Hartford on July 30 at 8 p.m. $46-$561. concerts.livenation.com. (You no longer have to choose between seeing Luke Bryan and another country superstar in Connecticut on the 30th. Toby Keith’s Mohegan Sun Arena concert that night has been canceled.)

Happy Together Tour

The Oakdale, 95 S. Turnpike Road, Wallingford

The Happy Together Tour is a ‘60s flower-power nostalgia revue that has been happening since the mid-1980s. It’s a veritable live jukebox of bands who remember the Summer of Love. The Turtles (after whose 1967 megahit the tour is named) are naturally the headliners, and everyone on this year’s line-up has Gary Puckett (”Young Girl”), The Association (”Windy”), The Vogues (”Five O’Clock World”), The Cowsills (”The Rain, The Park and Other Things”) and The Buckinghams (”Don’t You Care”) has done the tour before. $22-$125.50. concerts.livenation.com.

Disconnecticut

Sea Tea Comedy Theater, 15 Asylum Street, Hartford

The Sea Tea Comedy Theater has more formats for staging improv sketch comedy than Connecticut has towns and cities. Indeed, the ongoing series “Disconnecticut: Town vs. Town: An Improv Comedy Competition” pits each of Connecticut’s 169 cities and towns against each other. Each team captain, Sea Tea says, has “intimate knowledge” of the town they’re representing, from having grown up there, worked there, or living/working there now. The competitors in this round had yet to be announced as of press time, so we can’t tell you to come root for your hometown. But we can tell you to come laugh at random Connecticut locations. You know you’ll enjoy that. seateaimprov.com.

Terrificon

Mohegan Sun, 1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard, Uncasville

The Terrificon comics convention, which boasts that it has “the biggest comic creator guest list in New England,” is back for a weekend of superheroic activities July 29 to 31 at the Mohegan Sun Expo Center. The convention runs Friday from 1:30 to 8 p.m. ($30 for the day, $15 children), Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. ($35, $15 children) and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ($33, $15 children). A three-day pass is $87, $40 children. terrificon.com.

Christopher Arnott can be reached at carnott@courant.com.