SUGARLAND: "Why don't you 'Stay'" as Nashville's newer-to-the-scene "Incredible Machine" super duo swoons their spellbinding strains on lust, loss, love and life. With Little Big Town and Randy Montana. When: Oct. 2, 7:30pm. Starting at $39.25. Buy tickets | Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek
AS YOU LIKE IT: Ink a metered and memorable moment in which you can't have "too much of a good thing" as Chapel Hill's Paul Green Theatre raises the curtain on romantic-comedy heroine Rosalind in "a world better than this" — where, in the lush Forest of Arden, "all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." When: Through Oct. 10, times and prices vary. More information | Paul Green Theatre
CIRQUE DE LA SYMPHONIE: Classical meets carnival in this symphonic spectacle of simultaneous bedlam and beats, as top Big Top acrobats tumble alongside the North Carolina Symphony as they perform some of classical music's best under the direction of resident conductor William Henry Curry. When: Oct. 1-3, times and prices vary. Buy tickets | Meymandi Concert Hall
25th INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF RALEIGH: Go global in your backyard when Raleigh transforms the city center into an international playground for a three-day fest, celebrating cross-continental tunes, eats, customs and cultures in a colorful and carousing fete of exhibits, bazaars, sidewalk cafes, demos, activities and a palatable Biergarten. When: Oct. 1-3; visit festival site for schedule and more info: internationalfestival.org. More information | Raleigh Convention Center
FIREBIRD Whirl over to Fletcher Opera Theater as artistic director Robert Weiss spins out his captivating staging of the much adored Russian folktale "Firebird," set to the music of Igor Stravinsky. Also featuring a new ballet, Walpurgisnacht, from Company Principal Timour Bourtasenkov. When: Through Oct. 3, times vary, $25-$65. Buy tickets | A.J. Fletcher Opera Theatre
