Weekly Entertainment Guide – Grease, Hidden City, and Sawallish remembered

Looking for something to do this week? WHYY’s Robin Bloom has some recommendations on what’s happening in the Philadelphia region. Here are her picks:

Relive “Those Magic Changes” with Grease at Walnut Street Theatre

Walnut Street Theatre concludes its 204th season with an all-new production of the favorite “Grease,” directed by Bruce Lumpkin, with choreography by Michelle Gaudette, starring Matthew Ragas as Danny and Laura Giknis as Sandy, opening May 22 through July 14 on the Main Stage, 825 Walnut Street, Philadelphia.

First anniversary of the Barnes Foundation

Celebrate the first anniversary of the Barnes Foundation in its new location, Friday, May 17, 6pm-10pm, including live Brazilian music by Minas, special activities, cocktails, and programs for all, along with access to the collection, and the museum’s first contemporary exhibition since 1923, a selection of work by Ellsworth Kelly, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia.

Italian Market Festival

The 9th Street Italian Market Festival is this Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, 11am-6pm, rain or shine, with 100 outdoor vendors, live music on 3 stages, Procession of the Saints, children’s activities and more, along South 9th Street, from Fitzwater to Federal Streets, South Philadelphia.

PHAIR, new Philadelphia Open Air Market

A new weekly market offering art, handmade crafts, food, fashion, and vintage finds opens this weekend in Center City Philadelphia. PHAIR, Philadelphia Open Air Market, brings to the city a European style market where artists, vendors, residents, and visitors alike can mix and mingle outdoors. Opening day features gourmet food trucks such as GIGI & Big R Caribbean American Soul Food, Pupcakes, Bits & Pieces (pictured), Made in the Shade Beverage Co., and Sweet Box Cupcakes. PHAIR is located at the 23rd and Arch Street intersection in the Central Parking lot, bordered by the Schuylkill River Walk Trail, with a nearby entrance one block away at Race Street. The market will be open rain or shine Saturdays 10am-5pm beginning this Saturday, May 18 to Saturday, November 23 with 100+ vendors, many rotating each week.

“Spark Gap” at Vox Populi

Vox Populi presents “Spark Gap,” an exhibition of new and recent sculpture, photography, drawing, film, installation, and performance by Vox Populi’s new members, through June 2. “Spark gap” refers to the meeting place in which bursts of powerful energy such as sound, light, and heat appear. Each artistic dialog holds the potential for such a spark. Artists include Maria Dumlao, Leigh Van Duzer, Bobby Gonzales, William Haughery, Beth Heinly, Becky Huff Hunter, Jay Muhlin, Erin Murray, Catherine Pancake, Erica Prince, Chloe Reison, Alexander Rosenberg, and Ben Will. These new members will be on hand at an Ice Cream Social, Sunday, May 19, 3pm-6pm, inviting viewers to participate in a fresh artistic conversation with the 25-year old collective, 319 North 11th Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia.

Peace, Love & Horseshoe Crab Festival

The 4th annual Peace, Love & Horseshoe Crab Festival is Saturday, May 18, 10am-4pm, celebrating the spring spectacle of migrating shorebirds and spawning horseshoe crabs. Festivities include live music, crafts, vendors, food, family activities and more at DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Harbor Reserve, Milford, DE.

Public sculpture after dark tour

See what Philadelphia’s public sculptures look like at night with an “After Dark” tour. Join Violette de Mazia Foundation Director of Education William Perthes under the night skies to explore how lighting affects our experience of public sculpture, Saturday, May 18, 7:30pm-9:30pm. The walking tour meets at the Claes Oldenburg Clothes Pin sculpture at 7:15pm, Center Square, 15th & Market Streets, Philadelphia.  Rain date for this tour will be May 25.

“Failure: A Love Story” at Azuka Theatre

Set in 1928 Chicago, Philip Dawkin’s “Failure: A Love Story” tells the tale of three sisters, Nelly, Gerty, and Jenny June, and their world of parakeets and talking clocks. Their lives rapidly change one Sunday afternoon when a young man named Mortimer Mortimer stops by their clock shop. Featuring magic and music, Azuka Theatre’s production is the play’s East Coast premiere and is part of the theater’s New Professionals Program, which showcases talent by recent graduates and young artists in the Philadelphia area, and stars noted local actor Kevin Meehan leading the cast, onstage through May 26 at Off-Broad Street Theater, in the First Baptist Church, 1636 Sansom Street, Philadelphia.

“How to Make a Rope Swing” at Cape May Stage

Opening this weekend at Cape May Stage is “How to Make a Rope Swing,” exploring a piece of long-suppressed history in Oakbranch, New Jersey, a fictional South Jersey town. Two local elders have been selected to decide whom to honor when the town re-names a newly renovated school. As the elders deliberate, they recall their first meeting, which happened when the school was first integrated and the region earned its nickname, “The Mississippi of the North.” The play is onstage through June 7 at the Robert Shackleton Playhouse, Bank & Lafayette Streets, Cape May, NJ.

Hella Fresh Theater’s “The Gambling Room”

Hella Fresh Theater presents “The Gambling Room,” a play set in the fall of 1963, as two brothers attempt a coup d’état from a rooftop in Saigon, written and directed by John Rosenberg, starring Dan Tobin, Calvin Atkinson and Sebastian Cummings, May 18 through June 9, Papermill Theater, 2825 Ormes Street, in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.

Invasion: Diaries and Memories of War in Iraq at Drexel University

Timed with the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, Drexel University’s URBN Center presents “Invasion: Diaries and Memories of War in Iraq,” a multimedia exhibit that has received national and international acclaim for its uniquely human view of life on the frontline. Breaking new ground in documentary storytelling, the innovative grid-design includes diary pages blown up to poster size along with pictures, maps and poems, presenting three different experiences of the invasion from within the same unit. Former Marine Lt. Timothy McLaughlin, posted at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, was a tank commander with the first marine battalion to enter Baghdad in 2003. He captured the raw and unfiltered emotions of the moment in his diaries, as did journalist and author Peter Mass, and photographer Gary Knight. Previously on display at the Bronx Documentary Center in New York, “Invasion” can be seen through May 23, in the Lobby, 3501 Market Street, Philadelphia.

Main Line Art Center’s “5+1 Sense Ability and Awareness”

Sometimes a disability can lead to increased ability: when one of the five senses is lost, other senses can grow sharper. Main Line Art Center’s exhibit, “5+1 Sense Ability and Awareness” celebrates artwork produced by children and adults with cognitive and physical disabilities. On display are self-portrait busts made by students from the Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, ceramic sculpture and glass plates by teens from the Presbyterian Children’s Village, and prints and paintings from young people from the Exceptional Art and Elwyn Education Division Programs. The exhibition runs May 17 through June 5 at the Ludington Library, 5. S. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA, the Gladwyne Library, 362 Righters Mill Road, Gladwyne, PA, and the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, 919 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. An opening reception will be held at Ludington Library, Saturday, May 18, 1pm-3pm.

Bluegrass & BBQ Festival at Tuckerton Seaport

Tuckerton Seaport hosts special events: Bluegrass & Barbecue Festival, Sunday, May 19, 11am-5pm, with live music, crafts, food, family activities, decoy carvers, boat rides and more including a petting zoo; Privateers and Pirates Festival, Saturday, June 8, 11am-5pm; Baymen’s Seafood and Music Festival, Saturday, June 22 and Sunday, June 23, 11am-5pm; Annual Red Wine and Blues Festival, June 29, 3pm-8pm; Tuckerton Creek, 120 West Main Street, Tuckerton, NJ.

“Prints Link” at Woodmere Art Museum

“Prints Link,” the latest exhibition of Woodmere Art Museum’s Helen Millard Children’s Gallery, features prints by students from public, charter, and independent schools, kindergarten to college age. The exhibited artwork was created through Prints Link Philadelphia, a collaboration of art educators in the Philadelphia region who share their knowledge of printmaking with children and teens, on view Sunday, May 19 through August 11 at 9201 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia.

Hidden City Festival

Many buildings in Philadelphia that were once architectural landmarks and vital to the neighborhoods around them have become hidden over the years, even to the people who walk or drive past them everyday. The Hidden City Festival returns these sites to life by featuring original artwork produced by world-renowned artists in site-specific locations. Dance, music, sculpture, video, print, and mixed-media pieces inspired by the history and architecture of selected sites will be featured in locations throughout Center City, Germantown, Frankford, South Philadelphia, and University City. Artists include the Dufala Brothers, Jacob Wick, Ruth Scott, Zach Webber, and more. The “social practice art” festival kicks off Thursday, May 23 through June 30 in nine locations throughout Philadelphia, including Kelly Natatorium at Fairmount Park, Germantown Town Hall, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Frankford, Congregation Shivtei Yeshurun-Ezras Israel, Hawthorne Hall, Fort Mifflin, John Grass Woodturning, and Globe Dye Works (pictured).

Maestro Sawallisch remembered in Philadelphia Orchestra’s closing concert

The Philadelphia Orchestra honors former music director and conductor laureate, Wolfgang Sawallisch, who recently passed away on February 22, 2013, with its final season subscription concerts, May 23-25. Guest artist Gil Shaham, a favorite collaborator of the late esteemed maestro, joins the Orchestra to perform Brahms’s Violin Concerto with Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting. In addition to Brahms, the program includes the third movement from Schumann’s Symphony No. 2, as well as Janácek’s Sinfonietta and Dvorák’s Slavonic Dances Nos. 1, 8, and 10. A display in the Kimmel Center lobby showcases archival materials and memorabilia commemorating the 6th music director’s indelible artistic imprint on the Orchestra, Verizon Hall, 300 S. Broad St., Philadelphia. Wolfgang Sawallisch made his debut as guest conductor in 1966 (pictured).

The Jōst Project at World Café Live

The Jōst Project hosts “Can’t Find My Way Home,” Thursday, May 23, 8pm, featuring vibraphonist Tony Miceli, vocalist/harmonicist Paul Jost, acoustic bassist Kevin MacConnell with drummer Charlie Patierno, offering unique interpretations of rock music classics in a jazz format, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia.

“Mame” at Bucks County Playhouse

Broadway’s Andrea McArdle plays the title role in the Bucks County Playhouse’s production of “Mame,” about an eccentric socialite whose life changes completely when she learns she has been entrusted with the care of her young nephew. The play also stars Lea DeLaria as Vera, is directed by Jesse Cline, and after its run at the Media Theatre, is onstage May 23 through June 9, 70 South Main Street, New Hope, PA.

“Renoir: A Legacy” at Ocean Galleries

Ocean Galleries celebrates the summer season with a rare collection of oil paintings, lithographs, etchings, and drypoints by the Renoir Master Impressionists, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir and his two great grandsons, Alexandre Renoir and Emmanuel Renoir.   “Renoir: A Legacy,” is on display May 23 through June 2. Opening receptions on Friday, May 24, Saturday, May 25, and Sunday, May 26, 6pm-10pm, with Alexandre Renoir sharing his artistic talents and he and Emmanuel will be on hand to provide curatorial lectures and insight into the collection of paintings and the Renoir family, 9618 Third Avenue
Stone Harbor, NJ.

“Heroes” at Lantern Theater Company

The Philadelphia premiere of Tom Stoppard’s “Heroes,” an adaptation of Gérald Sibleyras’ “Le Vent Des Peupliers,” is onstage at Lantern Theater Company. Three World War I veterans are stuck in a retired soldiers’ home where the staff members are dictatorial “captors” and their companions are untrustworthy fellow “prisoners.” The three main characters plot an escape to Indochina, but must struggle with reality of being young at heart while subject to life’s aches and pains. Playful, bawdy, heartbreaking, and funny, “Heroes” won a prestigious Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2004. It is the final production for Lantern’s record-breaking 2012-13 season, through June 9 at St. Stephen’s Theater, 10th and Ludlow Streets, Philadelphia.

Noyes Museum of Art’s “Sum of All Parts”

Noyes Museum of Art of Stockton College presents “Sum of All Parts,” an exhibit celebrating six artists of the mid-Atlantic region whose sculpture varies widely in style, symbols, and subject. Artists include David Carrow, Lennox Warner, Kenny Delio, Jack Larimore, and Eric Schultz. Curated by Michelle Post, the exhibit is on view through July 28 at Kramer Hall at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Galloway, NJ.

Additional events and listings in the region:

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) celebrates “Art Museum Day,” in conjunction with International Museum Day, with the theme “Museums (memory + creativity) = social change,” offering free admission to museums on Saturday, May 18. Participating institutions in our region include the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Brandywine River Museum, Delaware Art Museum and Princeton University Art Museum.

The Historical Society of Delaware hosts “A Day in Old New Castle,” Saturday, May 18, 10am-4pm, the oldest home and garden tour in the United States, featuring tours of the Read House and Gardens, 42 The Strand, New Castle, DE, guided historical walking tours along with craft and plant sale, period music, dance and more, Immanuel Episcopal Church on the Green.

Salem County’s 5th annual “Arts in Bloom” is this Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, 10am-5pm, showcasing new work by over 70 artists including painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, collage, glass art, ceramics, furniture making, woodworking, leatherwork, fashion design, fiber arts and more, along with family activities at more than 30 locations in Salem County, NJ.

The Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival is this Saturday, May 18, noon-5pm rain or shine with live music, food, children’s activities and more at 19th Street & Walnut in Philadelphia.

The Trenton Avenue Arts Festival is Saturday, May 18, 12pm-5pm, celebrating East Kensington’s mix of local artists, musicians and eateries. Organized by the volunteers of the East Kensington Neighbors Association and featuring over 200 local arts and food vendors, the festival is free and open to the public at Trenton Avenue and East Susquehanna, Philadelphia and is held in conjunction with the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby, a design competition and parade of human powered vehicle floats, beginning at noon at Trenton Avenue and Norris Street, Philadelphia.

The annual Brewerytown Spring Festival is Saturday, May 18, 12pm-5pm, as the 2700-2800 blocks of West Girard Avenue are transformed into a street festival celebrating art, food and live music, along with crafts and children’s activities, Philadelphia.

Friends of Clark Park hosts “Party in the Park,” as part of the citywide Love Your Park week, with food trucks, beer, music, family activities and more, Saturday, May 18, 4pm-8pm, 43rd Street and Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia.

Penns Woods Winery’s 3rd annual Wine & Jazz Festival is Saturday, May 18 including a wine seminar with Blind Tasting with Penn State Extension Enologist Denise Gardner, 3pm-5pm and Wine & Jazz Under the Stars featuring the Dave Wilson Quartet and Jazz artist Rocco Fiorentino, 5:30pm-9:30pm, 124 Beaver Valley Road, Chadds Ford, PA.

Acting Without Boundaries, a theatre workshop for the disabled, performs “The Velveteen Rabbit,” Sunday, May 19, 3pm, West Wike Theatre at The Agnes Irwin School, Ithan Avenue and Conestoga Road, Bryn Mawr, PA.

The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia performs Haydn’s masterpiece “The Creation,” which depicts the creation of the world as described by the Book of Genesis and Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost.” The group will sing with Symphony in C, a professional training orchestra that is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Rossen Milanov, director of both Symphony in C and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, conducts. The concert will be held at Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, known for its historic beauty and fine acoustics, Sunday, May 19, 4pm, 3723 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

Simpatico Theatre Project presents its first commissioned work, “The Lysistrata Project,” by P. Seth Bauer, a contemporary update of Aristophanes’ classic comedy about the war of the sexes, onstage through June 2, Walnut Street Theatre Studio 5, Walnut Street, Philadelphia.

Cecily Garber contributed reporting to this week’s guide.

To submit an event to be considered for the Weekly Entertainment Guide email Robin Bloom at artscalendar@whyy.org.

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