Best Bets: Lunar New Year markets, ‘The Lehman Trilogy,’ the Assad Brothers and a Rust-Edelmann recital

Freebie(s) of the week: This weekend offers a couple of events for those who want to keep the Lunar New Year celebration going. In San Francisco, the annual Lunar New Year Sunset Night Market runs 5 to 10 p.m. Friday along a five-block stretch of Irving Street (between 20th and 25th avenues). The event is inspired by the massive street markets you’ll find in Asian cities, which, first and foremost, means it’s highly unlikely that you’ll walk away feeling hungry. A wide variety of food vendors will be on hand offering a plethora of food items and takeout meals. You’ll also find a nice array of arts, crafts and other vendors on hand. More information is at sunsetmercantilesf.com. Meanwhile, Redwood City is celebrating the Year of the Horse from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday  at the San Mateo County History Museum, 2200 Broadway. On Courthouse Square, you’ll find performances by lion dancers, martial artists and taiko drummers. The museum will also offer kids arts & crafts and other activities with a Lunar New Year theme. More information is at historysmc.org. And if markets are your thing, know that the massive and fun annual White Elephant Sale to benefit the Oakland Museum of California is heading into its final weekend, which means prices will be slashed and the bargains will be plentiful. And of course, the browsing is free. The sale runs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the White Elephant Sale Warehouse, 333 Lancaster St., Oakland. More information is at www.whiteelephantsale.org.

And they all fall down: Why would anyone in their right minds want to go see a 3½-hour play about a bank? The answer is yes when that bank is the former Lehman Brothers financial company and the play is “The Lehman Trilogy,” now playing at San Jose Stage Company. Stefano Massini’s intensely captivating drama about how the stunning collapse of the 158-year-old financial institution helped bring about the 2008 subprime-mortgage-fueled collapse is way more than a recounting of financial principles and theories. The 2013 play, which was nominated for eight Tony Awards and won five (including for best play) digs into the three brothers who founded the company and how they were propelled by the American Dream, only to eventually trigger what came close to being the destruction of the global economic order. The play came to American Conservatory Theater in 2024 — fresh off its smash London and Broadway runs — and was the talk of the San Francisco theater scene. San Jose Stage is featuring a different production and a different cast, but it’s the I-can’t-believe-this-happened story line that will keep you glued to your seat past two intermissions. “The Lehman Trilogy” runs through Sunday at San Jose Stage, 490 S. 1st St., San Jose; tickets are $34-$84; go to thestage.org.