Weekly Entertainment Guide – Philadelphia Folk Festival
From Center City to the Jersey Shore, we’ve got your week covered. WHYY’s Arts Calendar curator Robin Bloom searches hundreds of listings each week to find out what’s happening in the Delaware Valley. Here are her picks:
The Philadelphia Folk Festival is back for the 51st year now through August 19 at the Old Pool Farm near Schwenksville, PA. Featured performances include Brother Sun, Dennis Hangey, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Holmes Brothers, Lucinda Williams and many more with lots to do for families, including crafts, food and more.
Spanning over 45 acres along the Schuylkill River, Bartram’s Garden is the oldest botanical garden in the United States founded by father and son botanists John and William Bartram. The site includes the Bartram house, botanical garden, meadow, parkland and a wetland. Check out the “Franklinia” tree, the pair’s famous discovery, named for family friend Ben Franklin. Bartram’s hosts “Art of Nature: Botanical Illustration Series,” Saturday, August 18, 10am-1pm, and a Family Discovery Day “Ice Cream Tour,” Sunday, August 19, 1pm-2:30pm, for school-aged children and their families, with science and art based activities, walks through the garden and more, in Fairmount Park, 54th Street and Lindbergh Boulevard, Philadelphia.
“Mess Fest” at Franklin Institute
The Franklin Institute hosts “Mess Fest,” Saturday, August 18 and Sunday, August 19, noon-4pm, offering the best in slimy, oozing, exploding, and gooey science with fun demonstrations and “make-n-take” activities in the Bartol Atrium and on the Front Steps, 222 North 20th Street, Philadelphia. Bring a change of clothes and prepare to get messy! Free with museum admission. Check website for details.
Delaware River Waterfront Festivals
The Festival of India is Saturday, August 18, 1pm-7pm, produced annually by the Council of Indian Organizations, and the annual Caribbean Festival is Sunday, August 19, 12pm-8pm, with Caribbean food, musical performances, dancing, crafts, children’s activities and more. Both festivals take place at Great Plaza, Penn’s Landing, Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia. Free.
“Signs of the Times” in New Castle
Newark, Delaware playwright Collin Adams-Toomey pays homage to abolitionist Thomas Garrett with the audience-interactive play, “Signs of the Times,” about Garrett’s 1848 trial and story of the Hawkins family who escaped slavery with his help, set in the very building where events depicted in the play took place 164 years ago, the New Castle Court House Museum, 211 Delaware St, New Castle, DE, Saturday, August 18 and Tuesday, August 21 at 7 pm, and Sunday, August 19 at 2 pm. Admission is free, must make reservation by phone.
Jazz in the Garden at Paul Robeson House Museum
The West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s Paul Robeson House Museum hosts the 10th annual “Jazz in the Garden,” Sunday, August 19, 4pm -7pm, with performances by Juanita Holiday, Bootsie Barnes (pictured) and Ralph Penn & Friends, at the West Philadelphia Senior Community Center, 1016-26 N. 41st Street, Philadelphia. Tickets: $25 in advance, $30 at the door.
Little Feat comes to Ocean City, New Jersey to perform and promote their new album on Monday, August 20, 8pm, at the Music Pier, Moorlyn Terrace & The Boardwalk. Tickets: $32
P.M. Summer Nights Music Series
Summer concerts continue on Wednesdays with the P.M. @ Penn Museum Summer Nights Music Series featuring Animus (pictured) on August 22 and The West Philadelphia Orchestra on August 29, 5pm-8pm, including drinks and light fare from the Pepper Mill Café’s garden bar, 3620 South Street, Philadelphia. Admission: $5 (includes Museum entry fee); Penn Museum Members and PennCard Holders Free.
John and Bucky Pizzarelli at Surflight Theatre
John and Bucky Pizzarelli, the great contemporary interpreters of the American songbook, come to Surflight Theatre for two performances, one night only, Wednesday, August 22, 6pm & 8pm, Engleside and Beach Avenues, Long Beach Island, NJ. Tickets: $50-$89. Also, on the main stage is “The Sound of Music,” through August 25 and children’s theatre production of “The Wizard of Oz,” through September 1.
‘Art After 5’ at Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art’s “Art After 5” celebrates summer with concerts in the Great Stair Hall every Friday from 5pm-8:45pm, including Philly tenor sax legend Larry McKenna, Friday, August 17, and New York based songwriter Eleanor Dubinsky (pictured), Friday, August 24; Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia. Included with museum admission.
Onstage at Playcrafters of Skippack is Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” directed by Marie Bishop, through September 1 in their historic, converted barn, 2011 Store Road, Skippack, PA. Tickets: $15, $14 for groups of 20 or more.
‘Out of Bounds’ at Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education
On display at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education is the exhibit “Out of Bounds,” rare outdoor installations inspired by nature in three settings, a large pond that welcomes attendees in the front of the building, in the Center’s new sensory garden, and in a wooded picnic grove that leads to a forest behind the building. Many of the featured pieces of artists Susan Benarcik, Ana B. Hernandez, Brooke Hine, Darla Jackson, Mami Kato, Scott Pellnat and Caleb Nussear recreate vivid scenes from the outdoors. The sole indoor installation, Jackson’s “Birthday Party” (pictured), includes animal sculptures dressed in party attire, marking the 25th anniversary of the Schuylkill Center’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, which helps and treats thousands of animals each year, on view now through September 2 at 8480 Hagy’s Mill Road, Philadelphia. Admission is free.
Philly
The Atlantic Coast Opera Festival showcases up-and-coming opera stars with the full production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Otello,” accompanied by the Philadelphia Symphony, under the direction of Maestro Louis Menendez, Friday, August 17-18, 7pm-9pm, and Sunday, August 19, 2pm-4pm, at the Ethical Society on 1906 S. Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia and on Thursday, August 23 and Saturday August 25, 7:00pm-10pm, at Congregation M’Kor Shalom, 850 Evesham Road, Cherry Hill, NJ. Tickets: $36 for VIP seating, $25 for adults and $18 for children, seniors and students.
Wag Theater Company presents “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead,” by Bert V. Royal, through August 25, Shubin Theatre, 407 Bainbridge Street, Philadelphia. Tickets: $18 adults, $15 seniors and students.
Philadelphia Weekly’s Free Concerts in the Park return for the 22nd year to Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia with Ground Up featuring The Lawsuits, August 22, and Strapping Fieldhands/The Spinning Leaves, August 29, from 7-9pm.
PA Suburbs & Delaware
The first Brandywine Family Film Festival kicks off Friday, August 17 through Sunday, August 19 with a different full-length feature screened each night, preceded by short animated films for very young viewers, at the Delaware Museum of Natural History, 4840 Kennett Pike, Wilmington, DE. Animated films begin at 7:30pm. Full features begin at 8:00pm. Tickets: $5 for children,12 and under and $10 for adults per night. Three day package is $15 for children and $30 for adults.
Enjoy spud derbies, food tasting contests, and much more family fun as Green Partners celebrates home grown grub with its “Mater Tater Festival,” Saturday, August 18, 10am-2pm, at the Longview Center for Agriculture, 3215 Stump Hall Road, Collegeville, PA. Free.
The Kennett Symphony Orchestra commemorates the centennial of the sinking of the Titanic with “Water Music: Titanic 100 Years” in the Open Air Theatre of the Longwood Gardens, Saturday, August 18, 7:30pm. Mary Woodmansee Green conducts a program of music inspired by water, such as Handel’s “Suite on the River Thames,” Richard Rodger’s “Victory at Sea,” and the score from the film “Titanic.” The tribute ends with Longwood’s spectacular Fountain and Light show, 1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square, PA. Tickets: Adults $35 in advance, $40 at the door, Members $30, Students $5.
El Centro Cultural celebrates Latino arts and culture with the 18th annual Festival Hispano, a fiesta featuring traditional music, food and dance, children’s activities and more, August 19, 12pm-6pm at Millsboro Little League Complex, 262 West State Street, Millsboro, DE. Free.
Glen Foerd on the Delaware hosts a summer concert “Jazz with The Clef Club,” featuring music of some of the best musicians in the city, Tuesday, August 21, 7pm, 5001 Grant Avenue, Philadelphia.
Pennsbury Manor presents “A Revolutionary Weekend,” an extensive bus tour of the Morrisville area including a live musical production commemorating American Revolution financier, Robert Morris called “The Man Who Bought a Country,” by Joe Doyle. Tours begin in Williams Park, 639 North Delmorr Avenue, Morrisville, PA, Thursday, August 23 at 8am, concludes Sunday, August 26 at 5pm. Admission: $90 for adults, $85 for seniors ages 62 and older, $80 for children ages 12 and under, $20 for tickets to show only, $70 for tickets to bus tour only.
Kate Fodor’s “100 Saints You Should Know,” a live drama about several characters who search for God, takes to the stage this weekend at Langhorne Players through September 1, Spring Garden Mill in Tyler State Park, 1140 Newtown-Richboro Road, Newtown, Bucks County, PA. Tickets: $15.
New Jersey
The 7th annual Collingswood Crafts and Fine Arts Festival is Saturday, August 18 and Sunday August 19, 10am-5pm, with over 150 craft and fine artists from all over the country presenting contemporary works in wood, clay, glass, metal, fiber and more, along with food, entertainment, family activities, silent auction and more, along downtown Haddon Avenue, Collingswood, NJ. Free.
The 2nd annual African American Pride Festival is Saturday, August 18, 12pm-6pm, with food, live music, children’s activities and more at Cadwalader Park, Trenton, NJ. Free.
Onstage at the Washington Crossing Open Air Theatre is “Cole Porter’s Anything Goes” and “Pinocchio,” through August 19, 355 Washington Crossing-Pennington Road, Titusville, NJ. Tickets: Adults $15, Children 12 and under $10.
“Down the Shore”
The Jersey Cape Shell Club invites shell fanatics to its 38th anniversary Jersey Cape Shell Show and Sale, August 17-19, with shell showcasing competitions, conservation promotion, craft classes and more at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, NJ. Admission: Free for Jersey Cape Shell Club members, non members $2, children 12 and under are free.
Witness artistic development and strategies as artists prepare their work in Stainton’s “Arts on the Avenue,” Wednesday August 22, 1pm-4:00pm, at 810 Asbury Avenue, Ocean City, NJ.
The hit Broadway show, “Rock of Ages,” is onstage at Caesars’ Circus Maximus Theater, through September 2, telling the story of a small-town girl and a big city rocker who fall in love to the songs from the ‘80s, 2100 Pacific Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ. Tickets: $55-$105
To submit an event to be considered for the Weekly Entertainment Guide email Robin Bloom at artscalendar@whyy.org.
Pamela Seaton and Jerome Gallman contributed reporting to this week’s guide
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