11th Hour Theatre COMPANY, Skybox @The Adrienne, 2030 Sansom Street. This local premiere of THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES features some of the legendary music of the 50’s and 60’s. Our musical trip down memory lane begins at a High School prom in 1958. Four best friends are the trophy winning varsity song leaders for Springfield High. If you’re old enough (like us!), you may remember fondly songs like “Mr. Sandman” or “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me” and try hard not to sing along! Ten years later, the same girls meet for their reunion. The audience discovers what happened after the prom and beyond graduation. Popular hits of the 60’s such as “Heat Wave,” “It’s In His Kiss” and “You Don’t Own Me” help to define the transition from the 50’s to the 60’s. Directed by Megan Nicole O’Brien, the cast includes Kat Borrelli, Laura Catlaw, Colleen Hazlett and Janet Rowley. To June 24: 267.987.9865.
AZUKA THEATRE, Off Broad Street Theatre at First Baptist Church – 1638 Sansom Street. As Azuka closes its season it can look back on three major accomplishments – the Philly premiere of HAZARD COUNTY, a new off Broad Street home and the beginning of their New Professionals Program. This program showcases the talents of recent college grads starting with their critical roles in HAZARD COUNTY. A young producer stumbles into a rural Kentucky town looking for stories. He finds Ruth with no money, unable to access her children’s trust fund set up after her husband’s murder. The story line is interspersed with monologues from critics and fans of the Dukes of Hazard. Starring Brandi Burgess (University of The Arts), Jihad (Jay) Milhem (Oberlin College), Julia King (Temple), Brian Ratcliffe (Swarthmore) and Bailey Shaw (Arcadia). June 14 to July 1: 215.563.1100.
BRISTOL RIVERSIDE THEATRE, 120 Radcliffe Street, Bristol, PA. Every summer, Keith Baker and the BRT band fill the Bristol stage with the glorious music from Broadway to Hollywood. The season opens with HOORAH FOR HOLLYWOOD: MUSIC FROM THE SILVER SCREEN. The singers for this show; Anthony D’Amato, Melissa Joy Hart, Elisa Matthews, Philip Chaffin and Anette Michele Sanders recreate the glitz and glamour of Hollywood’s greatest musicals – from the popular classic, Mary Poppins to the moving rhythms of Fame. We attend all the summer programs, know almost every song and have never been disappointed! June 21-July 1: 215.785.0100.
CENTER CITY OPERA THEATER, Alternating venues at the Prince Music Theater (1412 Chestnut Streets) and the Helen Corning Warden Theater at the Academy of Vocal Arts (1920 Spruce Street). The World Premiere of SLAYING THE DRAGON by composer Michael Ching and librettist Ellen Frankel demonstrates that new opera can enliven our musical tradition while clarifying our social conflicts. The plot is inspired by real events of the 1990’s when the Nebraska Klan launched a vicious anti-Semitic hate campaign. A Cantor and his wife reached out to the Grand Dragon despite his threats. As a result, he turned his back on bigotry and campaigned for tolerance until the day he died in the Cantor’s home. The cast consists of Christopher Lorge, Jason Switzer, Theresa Eichel, Roland Burks, Jodi Kidwell, and David Koh. June 7-17: 215.238.1555.
OPERA COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA, Kimmel Center-260 S. Broad Street. DARK SISTERS is a new American chamber opera, which follows a woman’s attempt to escape from her life as a member of a Fundamentalist Mormon-like group. The setting is a red earth landscape filled with revelations, prophets and temples stretching toward heaven. One woman seeks self-discovery in a world, which disallows personal identity. The opera, with music by Nico Muhly and a libretto by Stephen Karam, features strong female stars led by Caitlyn Lynch, Jennifer Zetlan, Eve Gigliotti, Margaret Lattimore and Jennifer Check, with Kevin Burdette as the charismatic prophet. Award-winning Broadway director Rebecca Taichman stages this new work with conductor, Neal Goren. June 8, 10 and 13: 215.893.1999.
PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The myth of Arcadia, an Eden-like paradise here on earth, periodically captures the imagination of artists in every age. The new exhibition, GAUGUIN, CEZANNE, MATISSE: VISIONS OF ARCADIA explores this theme and its place in modern art. Featuring more than 40 works by 23 artists, the heart of this new exhibition is nevertheless three monumental masterpiece canvasses. Cezanne’s The Large Bathers caused a sensation when first shown in 1907. Gauguin’s Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? places his Arcadian vision in the Polynesian Islands where he spent his last years. Matisse’s Bathers By A River, partially inspired by Cezanne, is perhaps his peak achievement. Among the other Arcadian masterpieces are works by Corot, Seurat, de Chavannes, Rousseau, Derain, Delaunay, and even Picasso. June 20-September 3: 215.763.8100.
TINY DYNAMITE, Studio 5 -Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut Street. This company gave Philadelphia a wonderful gift for two seasons of A Play, A Pie, and A Pint. Now grown up, they bring us a full-length work by acclaimed British Playwright, Martin Crimp. The Phila. Premier of THE COUNTRY is a suspenseful, darkly humorous play that destroys the myth of the countryside as a place of order, harmony, and continuity. When a doctor and his wife move to the country with their children to start a new life, their rustic idyll is shattered by the discovery of an unconscious stranger. This production will be directed by David O’Connor. The cast includes Laura Edoff, Carl Granieri and Emma Gibson (artistic director of Tiny Dynamite and producer of A Play, A Pie, and a Pint. June 20-July 1: 800-838-3006.
