RAIN A Tribute to the Beatles

Beatles Fans…This is Your Lucky Weekend! Broadway Philadelphia presents Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles at the Merriam Theater through Sunday February 14.  Members of this national tour are from the original Broadway cast. The musicians are extraordinarily talented and all have started playing their prospective instruments at a very young age.  So perfectly nuanced are the dozens and dozens of every song they sing, you could close your eyes during the performance and believe you were actually hearing the original Beatles but you won’t want to. The projections are phenomenal. Never have I seen a more wide-spread use of projections on the stage - 3D backdrops, clips of actual events in which the Beatles appeared, animation, audiences watching the Beatles’ concert, the audience watching the Rain concert, projections of the band members playing with the actual Beatles playing behind them and so much more. It has to be seen and heard to be believed. To give the experience an  even more authentic time frame, film clips of old commercials were shown while band members left the stage to change into their St. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club costumes. “Ooooohs” filled the room when Barney Rubble and Fred Flintstone relaxed by having a Winston cigarette break. No one can stay still in his seat for the entire show. At a band member’s prompting, everyone gets up, claps their hands and dances. A camera pans the audience and the result is projected onto the large screen on the stage. It is just a night of great fun.  Time is limited to purchase your tickets. Get your Valentine a ticket to see the performance of this incredible tribute band.  It’s a gift that won’t be forgotten for a long time.  Call 215-893-1999, visit online at www.kimmelcenter.org or visit the Kimmel Center Box Office.

Oscar Wilde: From the Depths

Marc LeVasseur as Oscar Wilde

The Lantern Theater, located in St. Stephen’s Church, 10^th and Ludlow Streets, is presenting the world premiere of Oscar Wilde: From The Depths through February 14, 2016.  A letter Oscar Wilde wrote in prison to his lover inspired Lantern’s own artistic director Charles McMahon to write this piece. It is the tale of Oscar Wilde (Marc LeVasseur), who was one of the most talented, celebrated and beloved 19^th century literary giants of his time.  Incredibly he was swept to ruin and did nothing to prevent the devastation. Not heeding warnings, perhaps because he felt above them and was so sure of public support, Wilde instituted a libel suit against a member of the gentry (who was also his lover’s father). This backfired into a two year prison term in which Wilde was vilified and tortured.  In an effort to keep his sanity and his feelings of self-worth, he evoked memories of the past few years. LeVasseur gives a fine performance of the complex character of Oscar Wilde, whether he is living the good life or languishing in prison. David Bardeen and Jered McLenigan are excellent as they play myriad roles from jail keepers to aristocracy. For more information or tickets to this provocative play, call 215-829-0395 or visit online at LanternTheatrer.org. 

Exit Strategy

Philadelphia Theatre Company is presenting an East Coast premiere of a bomb shell.  Exit Strategy is a co-production with New York’s Primary Stages and will move to the Cherry Lane Theatre in March.  It can be seen at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 489  S. Broad Street, through February 28.  It is not often that you have an opportunity to see an original drama in Philadelphia immediately before it reaches the stage in New York.  Grab this opportunity.  You won’t regret it.  Exit Strategy has an excellent ensemble cast.  Michael Cullen, Deirdre Madison, Aimé Donna Kelly, Brandon Pierce, Rey Lucas, Christina Nieves and Ryan Spahn are all involved to some degree or another in coping with a failing school destined to be closed and fighting back to make the administration allow the school to remain open. Alliances change and altered attitudes are surprising.  Action is quick-paced and dialogue is contemporary.  Playwright Ike Holder gets to the soul of the heartbreak of a potential school-closing and the effect it has on so many-administration, faculty, and student body alike. For more information or tickets to this moving monument to comradery, cohesiveness, and concord, call 215-985-0420 or visit online at PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org. 

Harvey

Ben Dibble  Susan Riley Stevens, 
Ellie Mooney  & Mary Martello

Walnut Street Theatre, located at 825 Walnut Street, is presenting Harvey through March 6 on its main stage.  Harvey is an age-old Pulitzer Prize winning gem, which, thanks to its supremely talented ensemble cast and excellent creative team, has its present audience enthralled as much as the original which ran on Broadway for four years when it premiered in 1944.  Although the play is stylized, the actors portray their roles so well that you can laugh right along with them as well as laugh at them and their farcical antics. Mary Martello, who enriches every script she touches, is none-the-less remarkable as the slightly hysterical Veta Louise Simmons, society wanna-be. Ben Dibble is perfectly cast as good-natured Elwood P. Doud, kind to all, including his best friend who just happens to be an invisible 6’3” tall rabbit.  Ellie Moonie is very convincing as Myrtle Mae Simmons, desperately longing for a social life that seems beyond her reach because of her unusual uncle. Ian Merril Peakes and Greg Woods, two other local favorites, portray psychiatrists at the sanatorium where Elwood and his Aunt Vita are alternately and intermittingly committed. Spoiler Alert! Perhaps the doctors should be committed as well! There are two totally different sets which are changed after the curtain closes for less than a minute. Thanks to scenic designer Robert Koharchik and the days of modern miracles, an ornate mansion’s mahogany library becomes the sterile white ante room of a psychiatric facility. This is not a show to be taken seriously but one to be taken for the sheer  fun of it. Laughter abounds at the utter absurdity that happens onstage and off. For more information or tickets, call 215-574-3550 or 800-982-2787, or visit online at www.WalnutStreetTheatre.org or Ticketmaster.

Funnyman

Bruce Graham has done it again! He has written another well-crafted, exquisitely subtle smash hit! Arden Theatre Company, located at 40 N 2^nd Street is presenting the world premiere of his play Funnyman on its Arcadia stage through March 6, 2016.  Set in NYC in 1959, Funnyman relates the tale of  an aging Vaudevillian who struggles to find relevance in a time when his art is no longer in vogue. Bewildered by the changes around him, Chick Sherman (Carl N. Wallnau)   takes offense at being called a comedian. “Comedians say funny things. I am a comic. I AM FUNNY,“ he declares.  Yet, he is tormented and cannot share this torment with a daughter (Emily Krause) who longs to engage him in a meaningful conversation.  The rest of the ensemble cast of Kenny Morris, Keith Conallen, Brian Cowden, and Charlie DelMarcelle, are affected by his “shtick” to a greater or lesser degree. The story line unravels so seamlessly that the actors do not even appear to be acting; rather they are enabling Bruce Graham’s tale to unfold. While many productions have an obvious star or two, the star of this production is the play itself.  Added to Bruce Graham’s craftsmanship is the extraordinarily talented artistic team including Scenic Designer Brian Benbridge, Lighting Designer Thom Weaver and Sound/Video Designer Jorge Cousineau. The set is brilliant in its simplicity.  A desk moved horizontally or vertically on the stage transforms one office to another and a chair pushed across the stage is added to an easy chair to form a living room. There is nothing about this production that doesn’t work.   Purchase your tickets now as some performances are already sold out.  For more information or tickets, call 215-922-1122, visit online at www.ardentheatre.org, or walk up to the box office at 40 N 2^nd Street.

PIPPIN

The Manson Trio 

             Broadway Philadelphia Presents

               The Philadelphia Premiere of

             Four-Time Tony Award Winner

                 PIPPIN

     National Tour of the Award-Winning Revival Comes to

                             The Academy of Music

                              February 23-28, 2016

Broadway Philadelphia presents the Philadelphia Premiere of the 2013 Tony-Award winning revival of Pippin for a limited engagement at the Academy of Music from February 23-28, 2016. This is the first revival of Pippin since its original run on Broadway 40 years ago.  With a wonderful score by Tony nominee Stephen Schwartz, Pippin relates the story of a young prince on a death-defying journey to find meaning in his existence. The production features choreography by Tony Award nominee Chet Walker in the style of Bob Fosse and circus creations by Gypsy Snider of the Montreal based circus company Les 7 doigts de la main (also known as 7 fingers.) Performances will be on Tuesday through Sunday evenings with matinees added on Saturday February 27 and Sunday February 28.  Tickets are on sale to the general public now and can be purchased by calling (215) 893-1999, visiting www.kimmelcenter.org, and at the Kimmel Center box office. Group sales are available for groups of 10 or more and can be purchased by calling (215) 790-5883. For more information, visit www.PippinTheMusical.com.

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RAIN A Tribute to the Beatles

EXPERIENCE AN ALL NEW SHOW!

Featuring New Songs and High Definition Imagery

For the 2016 Tour!

Opening on February 11 for a limited engagement at

The Merriam Theater

Experience an all new show when the internationally-acclaimed Beatles concert, RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles, returns to Philadelphia February 11-14.  They will appear at the Merriam Theater as part of Broadway Philadelphia, presented collaboratively by The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Shubert Organization. RAIN performs the full-range of Beatles music, from their early hits to their later ones. The performance will include updated sets with LED High-Definition Screens as well as some new songs that the Beatles recorded in a studio but never performed before an audience. Just as the Beatles were outstanding performers, so, too are the members of RAIN. For more information, visit www.raintribute.com.  Tickets are on sale to the public now and can be purchased by calling (215) 983-1999, visiting online at www.kimmelcenter.org, at the Kimmel Center box office, or at the Merriam Theater box office (open during performances only).Group sales are available for groups of 10 or more by calling (215) 790-5883.