Weekly Entertainment Guide – The Female Gaze, Satchmo, and Christmas in Philly
WHYY’s Robin Bloom searches hundreds of listings each week to find out what’s happening in the Delaware Valley. Here are her picks:
The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making their World at PAFA
Opening this weekend at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is “The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making their World,” a new exhibit of over 200 works from the Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women of almost 500 works donated to PAFA in 2010. The collection offers a diversity and multiplicity of voices with the aim of helping female artists gain more visibility and be integrated into museum exhibitions and public programming alongside their male peers. On view through April 7 with related programs and events at the Samuel M. V. Hamilton Building, 128 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia. Admission: $15 adults, $12 seniors and students, $10 youth (12-18), children under 12 and members free. Pictured: We Came to America, from the series “The American Collection,” Faith Ringgold.
Wilma Theater: Satchmo at the Waldorf
The Wilma Theater has added a limited engagement of “Satchmo at the Waldorf,” a new one-man play by author and critic Terry Teachout, about Louis Armstrong trying to pull himself together following his performance, set backstage at the Empire Room of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in March 1971, November 16 through December 2, directed by Long Wharf Theatre Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein and starring OBIE Award-winning actor John Douglas Thompson, 265 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia. Tickets: $39-$54.
Gingerbread House Competition & Display at Peddler’s Village
Peddler’s Village hosts the annual Gingerbread House Competition & Display, debuting Friday, November 16, 10am with a display of confections in categories including traditional, authentic reproduction of a significant building, amateur, unusual 3D creation, and more, through January 5, 2013 in the gazebo. Friday, November 16, 6-10pm is the “Grand Illumination Celebration,” as Santa switches the outdoor holiday light display on to kick off the holiday season, with cider and marshmallow toasting, Routes 202 and 263, Lahaska, Bucks County, PA. Free admission and free parking.
“The Nutcracker” at Upper Darby Performing Arts Center
Members of the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet Society perform the region’s first holiday performance of “The Nutcracker” at the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center this weekend, Friday, November 16, 7:30pm, Saturday, November 17, 11am and 3pm, and Sunday, November 18, 1:30pm and 5:30pm at 601 North Lansdowne Avenue, Drexel Hill, PA. Production is approximately 90 minutes and appropriate for children ages 4 and up. Free parking. $10-$22.
Aladdin: A Musical Panto at People’s Light & Theatre
People’s Light & Theatre presents “Aladdin: A Musical Panto” opening this weekend, November 17 through January 6, based loosely on the classic story of Aladdin finding a magic lamp, adding outrageous jokes, songs, dancing, and audience participation, 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA. Tickets: $35-45.
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse & Peter Pan at Metropolitan Ballet
The Metropolitan Ballet Company opens its season with two storybook productions, “Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse,” an adaptation of Kevin Henkes’ children’s book with choreography by Jennifer Clagett Sommers, and Kanji Segawa’s contemporary telling of “Peter Pan.” The program also includes Robert Rodham’s “Snow Scene” and “Snow Pas de Deux” from “The Nutcracker,” Saturday, November 17 and Sunday, November 18, performances at 1pm and 4pm each day, Abington Friends School, 575 Washington Lane, Jenkintown, PA. Tickets: $12 in advance, $15 at the door.
Leila Josefowicz with Symphony in C
Symphony in C presents “Pictures at an Exhibition,” a program of Mussorgsky/Ravel, Prokofiev, and a rare performance of the Bernd Alois Zimmermann concerto, with violinist Leila Josefowicz (pictured) and Rossen Milanov conducting, Saturday, November 17, 8pm, Rutgers Camden Center for the Arts, Camden, NJ. $23-$50.
A Tu Corazón – Canciones Y Dansas
Lyric Fest presents “A Tu Corazón – Canciones Y Dansas,” (To Your Heart ~ Songs and Dances), a concert of diverse Spanish songs including Early Spanish folk music with middle eastern ornamentation of the Moors and Sephardic Jews, Zarzuela, Mexican song with Mayan influence, African rhythms mixed with Spanish in Cuba, and Colombia, and more, with soprano Maria Aleida, mezzo-soprano Carla Dirlikov, tenor Diego Silva, baritone Luis Ledesma, and pianist Laura Ward, Sunday, November 18, 3pm, at the Academy of Vocal Arts, 1920 Spruce Street, Philadelphia. Tickets $25.
Theatreworks USA brings “Bunnicula” to the Gordon Theater at Rutgers, Monday, November 19, a new family-friendly musical co-written by Tony-nominated playwright Charles Busch and based on the best-selling books by James & Deborah Howe about a vampire rabbit that arrives on the doorstep of the Munroe household. Performances at 10am and 12:30pm, Fine Arts Building, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ. Good for grades 2-6. Tickets: $7 per student, $5 for Camden schools and residents.
The Annual Christmas Village in Philadelphia
The 5th annual Christmas Village in Philadelphia returns to LOVE Park in Center City Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 22 through Christmas Eve, an outdoor holiday market with vendors in more than 90 wooden booths offering international seasonal arts and crafts, gifts, ornaments, food and more as well as a life-size Advent calendar and a stage with daily live performances of local choirs, orchestras and bands. Saturday, November 24, the original Nuremberger Christkind performs in the Grand Opening Ceremony; Mayor Michael Nutter lights the municipal tree, Wednesday, December 5, with special events to follow through Christmas, JFK Plaza, 1500 Arch Street. Hours: Sunday through Thursday, 11am-7pm, Friday and Saturday 11am-8pm, and Thanksgiving and Christmas 11am-5pm. Free admission.
Twelve Gates Arts presents “Multiples,” Philadelphia-based abstract artist Antonio Puri’s latest series, Chakra, on display through December 15. Puri’s inspiration comes from the unity between the microscopic and macrocosmic, and where he and his art fit in that spectrum. His pieces utilize symbols, form, and space in ways that are normally considered clashing in order to reveal a harmony between the known and the unknown at 51 North Second Street, Philadelphia.
Recent paintings by Peter Sculthorpe at Somerville Manning Gallery
Somerville Manning Gallery opens its newest exhibit, “Peter Sculthorpe – Recent Paintings” this weekend, displaying the artist’s realist oil and watercolor paintings of Maine and the American Mid-Atlantic through December 29 with an opening reception Friday, November 16, 5:30pm to 7:30pm, 101 Stone Block Row, Greenville, DE. Free.
The Clay Studio’s annual holiday exhibition “Gifted,” hand made objects including plates, bowls, mugs, ornaments, tiles and more, representing a wide aesthetic range of more than 200 artists, affordably priced for holiday gift giving, through December 30 at 137-139 North Second Street, Old City, Philadelphia.
Nikon Small World Exhibit at Delaware Museum of Natural History
See the world on smaller scale at the Nikon Small World Exhibit at the Delaware Museum of Natural History, the first stop for the exhibit’s national tour, presenting winning photographs from the 2012 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition. The exhibit hosts 20 images of magnified objects, which showcase a balance of scientific precision and artistic aesthetic. This year’s winners, Dr. Jennifer Peters and Dr. Michael Taylor, submitted what is believed to be the world’s first-ever image of the blood-brain barrier forming in a live animal. The winning photomicrograph is on display (pictured), along with photos of minerals, fruit fly eye development, lynx spiderlings, and more, through January 6, 4840 Kennett Pike, Wilmington, DE. Admission: $9 for adults, $8 for seniors, $7 for children, Free for members and children under 2.
Dancing Around the Bride at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
On display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is “Dancing Around the Bride,” the first exhibition to explore the works and lives of Marcel Duchamp, and four American postwar artists: composer John Cage, choreographer Merce Cunningham, and visual artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. The four artists’ engagement with Duchamp’s ideas of chance, use of everyday materials, boundaries, and his seminal painting, “Bride.” The painting serves as a central character for the exhibition, which has been constructed to allow a variety of visitor experiences through stationary works of art and timed sequences of audio and visuals. Contemporary filmmaker and artist Philippe Parreno has choreographed encounters into the space of the exhibition, adding time and motion to the art and inviting visitors to join the artists in a ballroom setting. “Dancing Around the Bride” can be seen through January 21, Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia. Pictured: Trophy II (for Teeny and Marcel Duchamp), Robert Rauschenberg. $20, discounts for seniors, students, and children.
Other events in Philly:
Allens Lane Theater presents “Expecting Isabel,” by Lisa Loomer, a comedy that chronicles the journey of a Manhattan couple and their desire to have a baby, directed by Loretta Lucy Miller, November 16 through December 1, 601 West Allens Lane, Philadelphia. Tickets: $18 with reservations, $20 at the door, with Sunday special for seniors and students $15 and $17 at the door.
Curtis Opera Theatre performs Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” with Vinay Parameswaran, conducting, with stage direction by Chas Rader-Shieber, Friday, November 16, 7:30pm, Saturday, November 17, 7:30pm and Sunday, November 18, 2:30pm (sold out), in a fully staged production with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, sung in German with English supertitles and dialogue and including singers from the Philadelphia Boys Choir, at the Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. Tickets: $35.
Spellbound Dance Company, from Italy, makes its North American debut at Annenberg Center, Friday, November 16, 8pm, and Saturday, November 17, 2pm and 8pm, Zellerbach Theatre, 3680 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. Presented by Dance Celebration. Tickets: $20-$55.
The First Person Arts Festival’s PNC Arts Alive Story Day: All Roads Lead to Philadelphia, is Saturday, November 17, 11am-5pm, a family friendly day of storytelling, dance performance, workshops, food and more, including Pasion y Arte Flamenco’s Juerga, audience-participatory flamenco performance, at the Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American Street, Philadelphia. $10, $8 for First Person Arts members, free for children under 12.
The Watoto Children’s Choir arrives in the Philadelphia area to raise awareness about the plight of the orphaned and vulnerable children of Africa with a series of free concerts. “Beautiful Africa: A New Generation” will be performed November 17-23 at locations in Philadelphia, Glenside, and Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.
Onstage Tuesday, November 20 is “War Horse,” part of the Kimmel Center’s Broadway at the Academy of Music, based on the book by the same name by Michael Morpurgo, through December 2, Broad Street, Philadelphia. Tickets: $25-$110.
Philadelphia’s annual Thanksgiving Day parade, in its 93rd year as the oldest Thanksgiving Day parade in the country, is Thursday, November 22 beginning at 8:30am at 20th & JFK Boulevard to 16th Street and then along the Ben Franklin Parkway, concluding at Eakins Oval in front of the Art Museum. Special guests include American Idol finalist Justin Guarini, Rita Coolidge, Ryan Howard, Frenchie Davis from The Voice, and many more.
The Comcast Holiday Spectacular 2012 returns to the Comcast Center from Thanksgiving Day, November 22 until New Year’s Day, shown on the state-of-the-art Comcast Experience Video Wall, the largest four-millimeter LED screen in the world, spanning 83.3 feet wide by 25.4 feet high, capturing the essence of the holidays with performances by the Pennsylvania Ballet, Broadway dancers, the Commonwealth Youth Choir’s Keystone State Boychoir, and more. 15 minute shows begin at the top of every hour, 10am-8pm daily (except for weekdays at 5pm), Comcast Center, 1701 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Philadelphia. Free.
The Drama Group presents David Mamet’s “Race,” directed by Colleen Bracken and Marc C. Johnson, featuring Jim Golden, Marc C. Johnson, Liz Priestley, and Dante Zappala, through November 24 at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, 6001 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia. Tickets: $15.
The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium presents an evening of short comedic pieces ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime with “Impassioned Embraces: Pieces of Love and Theatre,” by playwright John Pielmeier, author of Agnes of God, through November 28. Cast includes Lou Seitchik, Colleen Hughes, James Kiesel and more, directed by IRC’s Producing Artistic Director Tina Brock at L’Etage Cabaret, 6th & Bainbridge Streets, Philadelphia. Tickets $15.
Onstage at Temple Theaters is Christopher Durang’s Obie Award-winning comedy “The Marriage of Bette & Boo,” directed by Dan Kern, through December 1, Randall Theater, 2020 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia. Tickets $5-$20.
Iron Age Theatre presents “Mana,” by Ray Saraceni, a World Premiere exploring the experiences of the first archaeologists on Easter Island, directed by Randall Wise and John Doyle with Laurie Norton and Adam Altman, through November 25 at the Center Theater, 208 DeKalb Street, Norristown, PA and through December 2 at the Off Broad Street Theater, First Baptist Church, 1636 Sansom Street, Philadelphia. Tickets: $15-$22.
“The English Bride” is onstage at Theatre Exile, a psychological thriller by Lucile Lichtblau that follows a series of interrogations carried out after an attempted bombing on a London flight, through December 2. Starring Corrina Burns, J. Paul Nicholas, and Damon Bonetti, and directed by Deborah Block at Studio X, 1340 South 13th Street, Philadelphia. $10-$34.
The Free Library of Philadelphia continues its celebration of Charles Dickens’ Bicentenary, “A Year of Dickens,” with special events and exhibits including “At Home on the Stage: Charles Dickens and Theatre,” through January 4, 2013, Central Library, Philadelphia.
Onstage at Walnut Street Theatre is “The Music Man,” through January 6 on the main stage, bringing together the talents of Jeffrey Coon and Jennifer Hope Wills as leads, and directed and choreographed by Marc Robin. Set in River City, Iowa, the musical shows what happens when a fast-talking con man falls in love with the town’s librarian, 825 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, $10-$95.
On display at the Franklin Institute is “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition,” marking the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the iconic ship and showcasing more than 300 legendary artifacts conserved from its debris field, offering visitors a poignant look at the vessel and its passengers. The 15,000 square foot exhibition takes visitors on a chronological journey through the life of the Titanic, from its building to life on board, and is designed to focus on the compelling human stories, through April 7 at 222 N. 20th Street, Philadelphia. Tickets: $14.50-$29.
On display at the Rosenbach Museum and Library is “War Stories: Hard Earned. Unforgettably Told. An Exhibition: Soldier’s Stories Then and Now,” a display of historic letters and documents from the Rosenbach’s collection. The exhibit explores the parallel experiences of American soldiers throughout history, from the American Revolution to Operation Enduring Freedom with first-person accounts, through May 26 at 2008-2010 Delancey Place, Philadelphia. Admission: $10 adults, $8 seniors, $5 students, and free for children under 5.
Other events in the region:
The “Re-Do AC” three day music festival is this weekend, November 16-18 at Le Grand Fromage, featuring nearly 75 bands including The Mahlors, Ill Rendition, No Such Noise!, Chip Rishell and more. All money raised to benefit the Brigantine Marine Mammal Stranding Center and the Ocean City Repertory Theatre, both severely impacted by Hurricane Sandy, 25 Gordon’s Alley, off Pennsylvania Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ. $10 cover charge.
Burlap and Bean hosts concerts with Beth Wood and Jarrod Dickenson, Friday, November 16; Psalmships, The Feverfew, and Allison Polans, Saturday, November 17; Ethan Pierce, John Schmitt and Jayme Salviati, Friday, November 23; John Grecia Band and Drew Nielands, Saturday, November 24; all shows start at 8pm, The Shops at Springton Pointe, 203 South Newtown Street Road, Newtown Square, PA. Tickets $5-$15
Renowned folk singer/songwriter Tom Paxton comes to the Wesley College Chapel this Saturday, November 17, 7:30pm for a concert presented by the Delaware Friends of Folk Coffeehouse. Doors open at 7pm, Division and Bradford Streets, Dover, DE. $20.
Rowan University highlights the 100th concert of Dean Witten, Professor of Percussion, Director of Percussion Studies and conductor of the Percussion Ensemble at Rowan since 1979, with a World Premiere specially-commissioned new work by composer Jennifer Higdon, “Like ClockWork,” featuring Witten performing along with current and former Rowan percussion students, Monday, November 19, 8pm, Pfleeger Concert Hall, Wilson Hall, Route 322, Glassboro, NJ. Tickets $25.
The Resident Ensemble Players perform the French comedy “Anything to Declare,” which combines raucous humor and bawdy innuendo to tell the tale of a newly married couple unable to consummate their marriage, through December 9, Roselle Center for the Arts, 110 Orchard Road, Newark, DE. Tickets: $12-$27.
The Michener Art Museum hosts a one-of-a-kind installation by fiber artist Ted Hallman. Considered a seminal figure in the modern textile as art movement since the late 1950s, the Bucks County native has influenced an entire generation to embrace fiber art and the installation, “Suspended Harmonies: Fiber Art by Ted Hallman,” features pieces that show off Hallman’s playful and exuberant style by using colored streamers, tape, wire, and other materials to form environments and forms visitors can weave through, on display through March 3, 138 South Pine Street, Doylestown, PA. $15, $13 for seniors, $11 for students with ID.
Brett Rader 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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