Weekly Entertainment Guide – ‘Wicked,’ ‘Love, Loss & What I Wore,” and Jennifer Bartlett at PAFA
"Wicked" returns to the Academy of Music from June 26 through August 4.
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:
The 24th annual Manayunk Arts Festival, considered the region’s largest outdoor juried arts festival, is Saturday, June 22, 11am-7pm, and Sunday, June 23, 11am-6pm, 300 artists along Main Street offering original works in photography, jewelry, paintings, woodwork and more. An “Emerging Artist Tent” features local artists new to the business on the corner of Main and Roxborough Streets. Train, bus and shuttle info at Manayunk.com. Free.
The West Oak Lane Festival moves indoors with 6 hours of non-stop music, Saturday, June 22 starting at 2:30pm, with Roy Ayers (pictured), Carol Riddick, Bobbi Humphrey, Urban Guerilla Orchestra, and Clef Club Senior Youth Band, Keswick Theatre, 291 N. Keswick Avenue, Glenside, PA. Sponsored by the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation.
Tuckerton Seaport hosts special events: Baymen’s Seafood and Music Festival, Saturday, June 22 and Sunday, June 23, 11am-5pm; Annual Red Wine and Blues Festival, June 29, 3-8pm; Tuckerton Creek, 120 West Main Street, Tuckerton, NJ.
“Fantasy Faire” at WheatonArts
WheatonArts hosts the “Fantasy Faire,” June 22 & 23, 10am-5pm, a family festival of Medieval arts and folk life, blending historical fact with myth and popular fantasy from the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Join the knights and princesses of Phoenix Swords, the Cumberland Players perform pieces of Shakespeare’s famous tragedies, The Misplaced Pub Musicians, and much more, 1501 Glasstown Road, Millville, NJ.
Mann Center’s “Party in the Park”
The Mann Center for the Performing Arts hosts “Party in the Park,” Sunday, June 23, 6pm. The outdoor gala begins with cocktails, skyline views and a summer inspired dinner from Stephen STARR Events. Featured performer, Mandy Patinkin, takes to the stage at 8:30pm, followed by a champagne and dessert reception, Parkside Avenue, Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.
“Love, Loss, and What I Wore” at Philadelphia Theatre Company
The Off-Broadway hit “Love, Loss, and What I Wore,” the intimate collection of stories by sisters Nora and Delia Ephron, takes to the stage June 25 at Philadelphia Theatre Company, featuring five women telling startling, funny stories based on memories triggered by articles of clothing and personal accessories. Karen Carpenter directs the production that stars nationally known actresses Mary Birdsong (“The Descendants”), Aisha de Haas (“Across the Universe”), Kate Flannery (“The Office”), Ashley Austin Morris (“Ugly Betty”), and Concetta Tomei (“China Beach”), through July 7 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia.
Neil Simon’s “Rumors” at Montgomery Theater
Neil Simon’s “Rumors,” takes to the stage at Montgomery Theater, starring Tony Braithwaite. Tom Quinn directs this light comedy, the only farce by the prolific playwright and screenwriter, which takes the audience on a path of miscommunication as characters fall into one hilarious misfortune after another, through July 7, 124 N. Main Street, Souderton, PA. Opening night “Brew Debut” offers a post-show celebration, June 21, with free beer, sponsored by Molly Maguire’s.
The Bryn Athyn Historic District hosts “Landmarks in Lights: A Celebration of Faith,” an opportunity to visit three Beaux Arts and Medieval-style buildings and their grounds as they are illuminated for nighttime tours, Tuesday, June 25 from 8pm-11pm. Free to tour grounds and some interiors at Bryn Athyn Cathedral, Cairnwood Estate, and Glencairn Museum, all on Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, PA. Ride to the top of Glencairn’s 149-foot tower to view the Philadelphia skyline. Rain date June 26.
“Wicked” at the Academy of Music
The Broadway sensation “Wicked” returns to Philadelphia June 26 through August 4, telling the untold story of the witches of Oz, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, at the Academy of Music, 240 South Broad Street, Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Independent Film Festival
The 6th Philadelphia Independent Film Festival kicks off June 26-30 at various venues in Greater Philadelphia including the Franklin Institute, Bryn Mawr Film Institute and National Constitution Center. Movie Maker Magazine calls this event a top 50 movie festival this year, bringing local and international filmmakers. This year’s festival features films and shorts from the post-apocalyptic horror film, Horizonte to Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution about the Syrian struggle for freedom (pictured). Sean McKnight conducts a free Adobe After Effects/ Premiere Pro seminar, Saturday June 29, 2:30pm at Indy Hall, 22 North 3rd Street in Philadelphia. Tickets and passes available online.
Jennifer Bartlett: History of the Universe – Works 1970-2011 at PAFA
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts presents a retrospective of Jennifer Bartlett, who emerged as a leading American artist in the 1970s and was one of the first female painters of her generation to become both commercially successful and critically influential. Major museums in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Jerusalem, Tokyo, and London have collected her work. “Jennifer Bartlett: History of the Universe – Works 1970-2011,” displays 30 pieces, produced over a 40-year period of her prolific career, that range from highly controlled abstract works to those reflecting a more painterly realism, June 27 through October 13, Samuel M. V. Hamilton Building, 128 North Broad Street, Philadelphia.
Tommy Emmanuel at Colonial Theatre
Australian guitar “wizard” Tommy Emmanuel brings his finger picking style to the Colonial Theatre for two performances, Thursday, June 27 and Friday, June 28, 8pm, 227 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, PA.
“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” at Players Club of Swarthmore
The Grimm Brothers’ classic tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” comes to life in an imaginative treatment by The Players Club of Swarthmore, for all ages including dancing, plotting, heartbreak, redemption, and comic relief, through June 30, 614 Fairview Avenue, Swarthmore, PA.
“Portrait Stories” at Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens
Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens presents “Portrait Stories,” an exhibition featuring the work of Isaiah Zagar and assistant Majid Iraei, through July 7. The mastermind behind Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, Isaiah Zagar, tells stories from his own life with “A Year of Self Portraits,” which utilizes personal and found objects and material to create different representations of himself. Majid Iraei’s “Exploring the Figure,” includes three dimensional life-size portraits created from paper mache, plaster, and painted elements to create surreal and intimate portraiture, 1020 South Street, Philadelphia.
“George M!” at Surflight Theatre
Enjoy “Broadway at the Beach” with “George M!,” onstage at Surflight Theatre, the musical hit that tells the life story of George M. Cohan, the giant of the American musical, known for songs such as “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” “Over There!,” “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” and “Give My Regards to Broadway,” through July 7, Engleside Avenue, Beach Haven, NJ.
Photojournalist and documentary photographer Noah Addis, whose pictures have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, and Life’s Year in Pictures, shows his work at Heavy Bubble’s 110 Church Gallery through July 27. Sponsored by the Center for Emerging Visual Artists, “Future Cities – Cairo” is part of Addis’s ongoing project that explores informal settlements and unplanned growth in the world’s major cities. Addis has documented a range of settler communities from simple huts to multi-story reinforced concrete structures, which are on view in the Cairo exhibition, 110 Church Street, Old City Philadelphia.
The Print Center presents three solo exhibitions by artists Taryn McMahon, Lydia Panas, and Soledad Salamé awarded from their 87th Annual International Competition, through August 27. Printmaker and installation artist Taryn McMahon displays Shade Beneath Trees of My Own Planting, a site specific instillation made of printed mylar panels. Photographer Lydia Panas’ After Sargent, inspired by John Singer Sargent’s Four Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, displays complex portraits of individuals and groups. Soledad Salamé’s Looking Back… Looking Forward… utilizes experimental print processes to explore the environmental impact of our industrial history (pictured). The Print Center is located at 1614 Latimer Street, Philadelphia. Free admission Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-6pm.
Three Aksha performances at the Painted Bride
Three Aksha presents the classical Indian dance show, “Pushkara,” “Saha,” and “Aarambha,” Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29, 7-9pm at the Painted Bride Art Center. Choreographed by Artistic Director Viji Rao, the show illuminates the beauty of Bharatanatyam, a South Indian classical dance form to the sounds of the Tabla, a traditional Indian percussion instrument. Three Aksha dancers perform styles that date back 2,000 years but express messages of modern themes through expressive movement, 230 Vine Street, Philadelphia.
Stand-Up Comedy weekend at Act II Playhouse
Act II Playhouse hosts a weekend of Stand-Up Comedy, Friday, June 28, 8pm, and Saturday, June 29, 7pm and 9pm, with Norm Klar and Vince Valentine (pictured). Klar, who has opened for comics Tim Allen and Soupy Sales, is known as “the comedian who does magic.” Physical mishaps and uneven concentration make for botched tricks but big laughs. Valentine is a Philadelphia native who has performed in the Broadway hit “Defending the Caveman” and was a finalist in “Philly’s Last Comic Standing” competition, 56 E. Butler Avenue, Ambler, PA.
Additional events in the region:
The Atlantic City Summer Concert Series at Gardner’s Basin continues with the Battle of the Soul Artists (Unifics, Temprees, Escorts, Black Ivory, Ray, Goodman & Brown, Blue Magic, Intruders) and Rob Base, Saturday, June 22; Sly’s “Original” Family Stone and New Birth, Saturday, July 20, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Saturday, August 24, 1pm, New Hampshire Avenue & the Bay, Atlantic City, NJ. Free.
The annual Midsommarfest takes place this Saturday, June 22, 4pm-7:30pm, at the American Swedish Historical Museum with family entertainment including the raising of the Maypole, Swedish food, music and more, at 1900 Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia.
The 18th Annual Summer Solstice Celebration at Solberg Airport is Saturday, June 22, 4pm until dusk, including a hot air balloon launching around 6pm, aircraft fly-ins, food, live entertainment and more, 39 Thor Solberg Road, Whitehouse Station, NJ. Bring blanket or lawn chair. Free. Rain date Sunday, June 23.
The full brass and percussion sections of the Kennett Symphony Orchestra perform music from the Renaissance to ragtime in the Longwood Gardens Open Air Theatre on Saturday, June 22, 7:30pm. “Sound the Brass!” features nine pieces, including Handel’s symphony classic, “Overture to the Royal Fireworks,” Puccini’s expressive “Nessun Dorma” from the opera “Turandot,” Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing!,” an original composition by Anthony DiLorenzo, and the definitive brass and percussion piece, Henri Tomasi’s “Fanfares Liturgique.” Rain date, Sunday, June 23. Kennett Square, PA.
Terhune Orchards hosts a “Firefly Festival,” celebrating the insects and wild animals living on the farm in this “electrifying” event Sunday, June 23, 4-9pm, with an evening of nature, music, wagon rides, crafts, games, food, and more, 330 Cold Soil Road, Princeton, NJ.
The historic riverfront estate Glen Foerd on the Delaware kicks off its summer concert series with PSQ, the Philadelphia String Quartet, Tuesday, June 25, 7pm, performing both traditional pieces and tributes to the likes of the Rolling Stones, U2, Radiohead and more, 5001 Grant Avenue, Philadelphia.
SmokeyScout Productions presents Josh McIlvain’s “Return of Confessions of a Plate and Shoe,” onstage through June 29 at The Adrienne’s 2nd Stage. Comprised of 14 one-act shorts no longer than eight minutes each, the raunchy comedy aims to break the boundaries of traditional theatre to make for an outrageous production. Starring Jennifer Summerfield, Sebastian Cummings, Danielle Adams, Katherine Perry, Sarah Knittel, and Ryan Walter, 2030 Sansom Street, Philadelphia.
Cecily Garber and Ilana Levinson 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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