Saturdays just got more interesting.
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Disney's 'Frozen the Musical' (Provided by Deen van Meer)
The Garden State Film Festival in Asbury Park kicks off this weekend, bringing a little Hollywood down the shore. Tribute bands continue their reign, as “The Stones” and “The Beatles” come to South Jersey on Friday for a head-to-head battle. A 74th birthday celebration for the late soul crooner Teddy Pendergrass is happening Sunday at City Winery. In Delaware, Winterthur’s House of Style Weekend features a special appearance by designer B. Michael, who designed custom ensembles for the late Cicely Tyson. Plus, the annual Pancakes and Booze art show is back — and the pancakes are still free!
New Jersey | Delaware | Special Events | Arts & Culture | Food & Drink | Comedy | Music
It’s the battle of the tribute bands for bragging rights in Stones vs. Beatles. The Weeklings, who bill themselves as the most unique Beatles tribute band, play the Fab Four’s music as well as some of their own. Keith Call and Bernie Bollendorf do the honors as Mick and Keith in their traveling show “Classic Stones Live.” In this one-night-only show, both bands will battle for world supremacy…er, the audience’s approval.
The Garden State Film Festival brings filmmakers and film aficionados together to highlight the state’s contributions to the film industry. The four-day fest includes panels, screenings and special events, including a filmmaker’s breakfast, the winning screenplay competition table read, a cocktail reception and the already-sold-out awards banquet. A unique element of the festival is the screenings of films made by high school students.
The Winterthur opens its doors to a House of Style weekend of fashion, style, gardening and home design. Among the events are a guided tour of rooms designed by Henry Francis du Pont on the former estate’s first and sixth floors, a wine-tasting event with glassmaker Riedel and a night with designer B. Michael, who helped curate the Ann Lowe exhibit and has just released a book “Muse: Cicely Tyson and Me: A Relationship Forged in Fashion” about his longtime work with the renowned late actress.
The Eastern State Penitentiary is mounting a limited exhibition, “Spring Break: Sports & Recreation,” that incorporates the history of sports in prison. Though it took until 1947 for major league baseball to integrate, Black and white prisoners played side by side. Special programming featuring the sports’ contribution to prison life at Eastern and beyond is explored through tours, talks and interactive installations.
The Franklin Institute heralds the arrival of spring with its annual Spectacular Spectacular. The party includes a “secret” speakeasy, live music and dance performances from The Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, Iris Spectre and Bear Trap, Angelo Outlaw, Reese Florence, Opera on Tap Philly and magicians Lindsey Noel and Francis Menotti. Secret Cinema curated a selection of vintage films playing throughout the night.
We’ll always toast women who inspire during Women’s History Month and beyond. On Saturday at Roxborough Pocket Park, raise your glass to girl power at “Cheers to Women: A Celebration of History Brews and Community.” Brewer and author Tara Nurin will be there signing her book “A Woman’s Place Is in the Brewhouse,” and an all-female vendor marketplace will also be on-site.
Disney’s instant-classic “Frozen” moves to the stage in the latest incarnation of the film. Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and her husband, Robert Lopez, won an Oscar for “Let It Go,” a song that has now become part of the pantheon of great Disney songs. That’s reprised in the musical along with new songs, while the relationship between sisters Elsa and Anna gets further exploration in the new medium.
In 2017, a man who was never identified was jogging on a bridge in London when a woman walking by stepped into his path. He shoved her to the ground and she narrowly missed being run over by a double-decker bus. In “Once Upon a Bridge,” put on by Inis Nua Theater, playwright Sonya Kelly imagines a backstory for each of the three people involved.
The annual art show Pancakes & Booze was created to make the world of art collecting more democratic. Adding pancakes helped bring the elitist art scene down to Earth, and since its inception in 2009, P&B has expanded to more than 35 cities worldwide. Organizers advise an early arrival to the popular event, and yes, the pancakes are free (assuming butter and syrup are too), but you do have to pay for the booze.
The Irish Heritage Theater presents “Don Juan in Hell,” a George Bernard Shaw play with its genesis as the third act of “Man and Superman,” which is also performed as a stand-alone work. Based on Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni,” it’s a wide-ranging conversation between four people, including the hedonistic Don Juan and the religious Doña Ana, who is more than perturbed that they ended up in the same hot place.
Philly native Rennie Harris is not just celebrating his 30th anniversary with a retrospective of his “greatest hits,” he’s also contributing his talent to raise awareness of gun violence. The production is part of Penn Live Arts’ contribution to Toll the Bell, an effort to honor grassroots organizations that combat gun violence and commemorate its victims.
The 1988 Tom Hanks classic has become an equally beloved state production. “Big The Musical” centers around Josh Baskin, a dorky pre-teen who discovers a vintage arcade machine. When it grants his wish to become a grown-up, he realizes that adulting is harder than he first thought.
There’s pasta, and then there’s rasta pasta. The American Vegan Society celebrates the return of the popular dish with an on-site cooking class. Sure, the class is to get you in the door and proselytize the health advantages of veganism, but it’s also a hands-on weekend event that sounds like fun. Food “enthusiast” Watta Kesselly teaches her vegan-friendly version of the dish, which combines elements of Italian and Jamaican culture.
Comedian Jo Koy valiantly tried his best, but as a last-minute add to host this year’s Golden Globe Awards, he struggled some, leading to mixed reviews. But after six Netflix comedy specials, he wasn’t fazed by one tough crowd. He rebounded in a big way, heading to Philly on Friday on the latest stop of his 2024 world tour.
Funnyman Bruce Bruce clocks into Punch Line Philly for three nights of shows starting on Friday. The comic is a household name — if your household includes African Americans — for his decades of work on the Black comedy circuit, as well as his years as the host of the pioneering BET comedy show “Comic View.”
The band Blue October has been steadily making records for almost three decades. Over time, they’ve included songwriting seminars and exclusive soundcheck experiences as part of their offering. Their latest project, “Spinning the Truth Around (Pt. II),” is the second part of a trilogy of albums that they started releasing in 2022.
Rapper, entrepreneur, Philly hip-hop ambassador and nice things curator, Chill Moody, debuts the latest extension of his brand, Moody’s Klubbhouse Live. The new artist showcase will be an ongoing series that features the debut of his Chateau nice things wine.
The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers played together several times in their ‘70s heyday. So, it’s no surprise that they continue to be associated with each other. Steal Your Peach is the band that combines the two, mashup-style, as the loosely affiliated group of local musicians say those classic bands are who got them interested in playing in the first place. They’ll be at Ardmore Music Hall on Saturday night with Apple Juice Jones.
Teddy Pendergrass would have turned 74 this month. The legendary crooner was in a tragic car accident in 1982 but continued to make music until he retired in 2007, despite becoming a paraplegic. At “The Official Teddy Pendergrass Band 74 Birthday Celebration,” his life and legacy are celebrated by four members of his band: Robert “Wah Wah” LeGrand, Bill Jolly, Brett Jolly and Johnny Croom.
The Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra celebrates its spring season with a performance of two classics: Rachmaninoff’s Symphony #1 in D Minor, which completes their Rachmaninoff symphonic cycle, and Aaron Copeland’s Pulitzer Prize-winning composition “Appalachian Spring.”
Saturdays just got more interesting.
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