Category Archives: Philadelphia Theater

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Suffragists in a Parade is an early 20th century photograph that is part of 19th Amendment an exhibit at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

Philly Welcomes A Centennial For Women’s Rights, New Hotels & More In 2020,Major Art Exhibits and Epic Anniversaries

Philadelphia and The Countryside® will give visitors many reasons to visit in 2020. The Philadelphia Museum of Art will complete phase one of its dramatic renovation—and unveil its new spaces in concert with an exhibition of works by Jasper Johns, which will occur alongside a complementary mirror exhibition of Johns work at the Whitney. The entire region is getting behind the 19th Amendment’s centennial with Women 100 programming throughout the year. In other anniversary news, the Philadelphia Orchestra has planned a weeks-long musical celebration to mark Beethoven’s 250th, and PHILADANCO wraps its 50th year of innovating in dance with must-see performances. Hotel openings include the city’s first W Hotel and a luxurious revival of River House at Odette’s in New Hope, Bucks County. All these new events are amazing, but in truth, Philadelphia and The Countryside has enough amazing annual events, visiting is great any time of year.

Here are some of the major events and openings to cover in the new year:

Museum News:

  • Philadelphia Museum of Art – The Benjamin Franklin Parkway’s landmark circa 1928 institution unveils the completion of its Core Project, a major redesign by architect Frank Gehry. The last phase of the project will welcome 23,000 square feet of new gallery space, reclaiming space beneath the East Terrace (site of the Rocky steps) for galleries of early American, modern and contemporary art. It will also reveal the renovation of the West Entrance and Lenfest Hall, create a major gathering space called the Forum (replacing Van Pelt Auditorium) and reopen the southern portion of the Vaulted Walkway. 
  • Fall 2020. In addition, the museum is partnering with the Whitney Museum of American Art on simultaneous exhibitions of the work of Jasper Johns, considered the country’s most significant living artist. The unprecedented collaboration chronologically shows paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, books and costumes that mirror the other’s display, creating an immersive exhibition that itself, is a study in Johns’ fascination with reflections. October 2020-February 2021. 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, (215) 763-8100, philamuseum.org

Performances:

Remote overhead shot of the Philladelphia Orchestra
  • BeethovenNOW – The Philadelphia Orchestra marks Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday in two epic celebrations. The first invites pianists Yefim Bronfman, Daniil Trifonov and Emanuel Ax to perform all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos (January 23-February 8, 2020). Next, the Fabulous Philadelphians spend four weeks juxtaposing Beethoven’s nine genre-transforming symphonies with contemporary works from composer-in-residence Gabriela Lena Frank and her diverse composers from the Creative Academy of Music. March 12-April 5, 2020. January performances, Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad Street; following performances, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 S. Broad Street, (215) 893-1900, philorch.org
  • PHILADANCO’s 50th – The Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO) continues its 50th anniversary celebration by hosting the 32nd International Conference and Festival of Blacks in Dance at the Kimmel Center Cultural Campus’ Merriam Theater and SEI Innovation Studio, as well as the DoubleTree Philadelphia, Cambria Hotel Philadelphia and The University of the Arts (January 14-19, 2020). The company’s season culminates with Fast-Forward, a look at the future of choreography in a co-commission with Toronto’s Dance Immersion, Vietnam’s Thang Dao, Broadway’s Ray Mercer and choreographer Kathy Smith. April 17-19, 2020. Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 S. Broad Street, (215) 387-8200, philadanco.org
PHILADANCO’s 50th – The Philadelphia Dance Company

Sports:

  • KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – The Women’s Professional Golf Association (PGA)’s second-longest running tournament—and one of five majors on the tour—brings 156 of the world’s best golfers to Delaware County’s circa 1896 Aronimink Golf Club for the first time. Aronimink’s course was designed in 1926 by renowned Scottish architect Donald Ross. June 23-28, 2020. 3600 St. Davids Road, Newtown Square, (610) 356-8000, KPMGWomensPGA.com

100th Anniversary of 19th Amendment:

Seat at the Table – A free, seven-day-a-week, interactive art exhibition by Dome Collective.
  • Votes for Women: A Visual History – The Brandywine River Museum of Art displays and explains century-old political cartoons, plays, posters, parades and fashion that formed the visual culture of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. Drawings, illustrations, photographs of marches and rallies, clothing and accessories—especially sashes—re-create and contextualize this time of tangible art and physical action, long before social media or television. February 1-June 7, 2020. 1 Hoffman’s Mill Road, Chadds Ford, (610) 388-2700, brandywine.org
  • WomenNOW Concert Series – Women who are composers, conductors, instrumentalists and vocalists star throughout the Philadelphia Orchestra’s season. Through June 6, 2020. Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 S. Broad Street, (215) 893-1900, philorch.org
  • 19th Amendment – The National Constitution Center’s upcoming exhibit about the movement for women’s voting rights will expand on the permanent exhibit Civil War and Reconstruction: The Battle for Freedom and Equality. The new exhibit explores constitutional arguments for and against women’s rights and offers fascinating historical context, spotlighting multiple generations of advocates and exploring the complex debates surrounding rights for African Americans versus rights for women. Summer 2020. National Constitution Center, 525 Arch Street, (215) 409-6700, constitutioncenter.org
  • Women 100 – This series of programs and events that celebrates American women and sparks new ideas about the path to gender equality, presented by Drexel University’s Vision2020, is the largest centennial celebration in the United States honoring the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. women100.org
    • Seat at the Table – A free, seven-day-a-week, interactive art exhibition by Dome Collective invites the public to experience women’s representation in places of power (seats at tables) through 3D infographic furniture, while a wall of interactive screens introduces gender barrier-breakers throughout women’s history. March 1-September 2020 (exact date TBA). Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 S. Broad Street, (215) 893-1999, domecollective.com
    • SHE Leads Road Rally – Race car drivers pull an all-night, roundtrip road trip from East Falls in Philadelphia to Seneca Falls, New York, site of the first Women’s Rights Convention. (Buses also available.) June 19-20, 2020. Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 W. Queen Lane, women100.org
    • Toast to Tenacity™ – Independence Mall honors the 100th anniversary of voting rights for women—Women’s Equality Day—with midday speakers, live music and glasses raised to suffragists. August 26, 2020. 599 Market Street, phlvisitorcenter.com
    • Celebrating Women – This 2,500-person celebration of American women begins with a ceremony featuring music, performance segments and a salute to 100 women who have blazed trails for others to follow in a multitude of fields. September 16, 2020. Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 S. Broad Street, (215) 893-1999, women100.org, kimmelcenter.org
Votes for Women: A Visual History, Brandywine Museum of Art.

Hotels:

  • W Philadelphia and Element Philadelphia – Center City will welcome two 52-story, side-by-side Marriott properties. The vibrant, modern W Philadelphia (the city’s first W hotel) will have 295 luxurious rooms, along with a bar terrace, Living Room lounge, lap pool and 22 meeting rooms. Philadelphia’s rapidly expanding, wellness-focused Element (another first for the region) will have 460 rooms. Early 2020 (dates TBA). W Philadelphia, 1439 Chestnut Street, w-hotels.marriott.com; Element Philadelphia, 1441 Chestnut Street, element-hotels.marriott.com
  • River House at Odette’s – The site of Bucks Country’s beloved cabaret greets a 38-room boutique hotel overlooking the Delaware River. Cabaret queen Odette Myrtil’s legacy remains in the vaulted-ceilings Piano Lounge, luxurious textiles, amazing views, a members-only rooftop bar, spectacular river view ballroom for weddings and events of up to 200 guests and a resurrected Odette’s, known for whiskey cocktails and local menu. Spring 2020. 274 S. River Road, New Hope, (215) 682-2022, riverhousenewhope.com
  • The Hyatt Centric Hotel – Philadelphia firm DAS Architects is behind the rustic modern design—and targeting LEED Silver certification—for 13-story, 332-room new construction one block from Rittenhouse Square. The Hyatt Centric will offer a second floor restaurant and onsite underground parking. Summer 2020 (date TBA). 17th & Chancellor Streets. hyatt.com

VISIT PHILADELPHIA® is our name and our mission. As the region’s official tourism marketing agency, we build Greater Philadelphia’s image, drive visitation and boost the economy.

On Greater Philadelphia’s official visitor website and blog, visitphilly.com and uwishunu.com, visitors can explore things to do, upcoming events, themed itineraries and hotel packages. Compelling photography and videos, interactive maps and detailed visitor information make the sites effective trip-planning tools. Along with Visit Philly social media channels, the online platforms communicate directly with consumers. Travelers can also call and stop into the Independence Visitor Center for additional information and tickets.

Thank you to Cara Schneider, VISIT PHILADELPHIA®, for the content of this post.

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Four

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Four Must-Experience Art Events This Fall In Philadelphia

Four Philly Art/Music
Moon Viewing Platform by Nadia Hironaka, Matthew Suib and Eugene Lew, is part of
Site/Sound: Revealing the Rail Park, through October 19, 2019.

by Arturo Varela

One-of-a-kind artistic installations and experiences: Philadelphia’s full of them in October. Visitors can enjoy three weekends of audio-visual stimulation along the footprint of the Rail Park; five Halloween-themed experiences by famed choreographer Brian Sanders; an eerie, three-dimensional Ghost Ship along the Delaware River; and a colorful display of spinning tops (large enough to spin humans) at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

The best way to enjoy these and other fall happenings in Philly: the Visit Philly Overnight Hotel Package, offering free parking and other perks and bookable at visitphilly.com.

  1. Site/Sound: Revealing the Rail Park – For three Saturdays in October, Philadelphia’s emergent Rail Park and its surrounding neighborhood hosts a new festival that combines audio-visual art installations and diverse musical performances that are all shaped by their surroundings. Taking place above and below city streets, the 20 performances and programs honor the past, present and future of the historic corridor along the famed Reading Railroad. The event is a collaboration between Friends of the Rail Park, Mural Arts Philadelphia and America Composers Forum, Philadelphia Chapter. Through October 19, 2019. Various locations between Vine & Spring Garden Streets, 9th & 18th Streets, muralarts.org
  2. 2nd Sanctuary: A Multi-Experience Halloween Attraction – Brian Sanders’ JUNK brings Halloween-inspired performances to 2nd Sanctuary, a 19th-century Victorian church in the city’s Graduate Hospital neighborhood. The five distinct experiences—all focused on the 1970s and all encouraging audience participation—include a virtual reality, live action tour; a modern dance performance; and an escape room (all three of which require separate tickets; other two experiences included with all ticket purchases). Through November 3, 2019. 2040 Christian Street, (267) 406-6080, briansandersjunk.com
  3. Ghost Ship – A 90-foot, site-specific, 18th-century ghost ship appears after nightfall on the Delaware River between Race Street Pier and Pier 12 (near the Benjamin Franklin Bridge). The eerie, three-dimensional hologram, created by Biangle Studio, recalls the free and forced migration people made on these American waters. Visitors to the ship can also enjoy the River Beer Garden at Race Street Pier, featuring food from Lost Bread Co. Bakery and drink from Mainstay Independence Brewing Company. Through November 3, 2019. (215) 922-2386, delawareriverwaterfront.com
  4. Los Trompos – The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts’ Commonwealth Plaza is filled with more color and movement than usual thanks to Los Trompos (translation: the spinning tops), a creation of Mexican designers Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena. The installation features 10 beautifully woven three-dimensional spinning tops of various shapes and sizes that showgoers can sit in and spin on—all in an effort to promote collaboration and community interaction. Through November 17, 2019. 300 S. Broad Street, (215) 893-1999, kimmelcenter.org
2nd Sanctuary: A Multi-Sensory Halloween Experience

VISIT PHILADELPHIA® is our name and our mission. As the region’s official tourism marketing agency, we build Greater Philadelphia’s image, drive visitation and boost the economy.

On Greater Philadelphia’s official visitor website and blog, visitphilly.com and uwishunu.com, visitors can explore things to do, upcoming events, themed itineraries and hotel packages. Compelling photography and videos, interactive maps and detailed visitor information make the sites effective trip-planning tools. Along with Visit Philly social media channels, the online platforms communicate directly with consumers. Travelers can also call and stop into the Independence Visitor Center for additional information and tickets.

Thank you to Arturo Varela for the content of this post.

CONTACT: Arturo Varela, (267) 765-0367, arturo@visitphilly.com

Tweet Us: @visitphillyPR

Like DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog on facebook

Follow the new DoNArTNeWs.com

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Donate via safe and secure PayPal in the sidebar.

DoNArTNeWs – celebrating eleven years reporting on Philadelphia artists and art.


Experience Design in Philadelphia – Salon Movie Night @ The Plastic Club, Piffaro the Renaissance Band – The Royals’ Baptism & Ballet and Macbeth @ The Wilma

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Late in October, Piffaro the Renaissance Music Band, Philadelphia’s, if not the world’s, premier early music ensemble, opened their 25th season with a transporting experience that began early in the evening at Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square.  The spectacular space with the Tiffany stained glass dome was the backdrop to a once in a life time collaboration between Piffaro The Renaissance Music Band, with their ethereal recorder harmonies, Blue Heron Choir‘s excellent, eclectic renaissance vocals, Parthenia’s viols which sounded like an entire orchestra in the lush acoustics of the church rivaling the sound quality of the Academy of Music, built around the same time. The music was A Royal Baptism: Stuttgart 1616, 80 minutes of entrancing music based the elaborate celebration of a royal baby christening but was actually a party to honor the father, forget the baby.  The extensive information in the catalog for the show illustrates dancers emerging from giant heads while musicians played, escorting the Royals in their fancy horse drawn carriages.  But this was just the beginning, after the concert the audience broke for dinner (DoN dined at the Irish Pub with super-friends and Piffaro volunteer coordinator Dody Magaziner & Len Blumenthal) and then the audience came together again for part 2 of the evening at Trinity Center for Urban Life @ 22nd & Spruce Streets, the entire orchestra was already there plus the most excellent soprano Laura Heimes and the New York Historical Dance Company.  A stage was set up in the high vaulted chamber of the old church for the dancers in full period costume who demonstrated courtly moves, poses and jigs while the players and singers created a deeply resonate beat, music that played in DoN‘s head long after the concert was over.

Piffaro‘s masterminds, Joan Kimball & Bob Weimken have been creating divine musical experiences in Philadelphia for ages but The Royals Baptism & Ballet was not just an exploration of historical music but an adventure into a world of high art, enthralling architecture, acoustic perfection and unique artistic collaborations combined with a civilized dinner break to spend time with friends, old & new, in beautiful Center City, then with a short walk resume deep immersion into another time and space in a different place.  The evening of music, dance, food and drink was so civilized and refined, eclectic and amusing, big yet accessible – an experience designed to delight the senses and educate the mind.

Halloween Eve, the Salon @ The Plastic Club, hosted by Anders Hanson, ran a double bill movie and cartoon featuring The Thing From Another World, the original 1951 black & white Howard Hawkes production and Bubba-Hotep, based on the Bram Stoker Award nominee short story by acclaimed author Joe R. Lansdale, Bubba Ho-tep tells the story of what really did become of Elvis.  “We find the King (Bruce Campbell) as an elderly resident in an East Texas rest home, who switched identities with an Elvis impersonator years before his “death”, then missed his chance to switch back. Elvis teams up with Jack (Ossie Davis), a fellow nursing home resident who thinks that he is actually President John F. Kennedy, and the two valiant old codgers sally forth to battle an evil Egyptian entity who has chosen their long-term care facility as his happy hunting grounds”.
Between movies the audience talked about how The Thing influenced their childhoods, causing kids to sleep with their heads under the covers for years.  The scene when the dead dog falls out of the cabinet still draws gasps from the crowd.  And in Bubba Hotep, recommended by the inimitable Rick Wright, seeing fat Elvis played by macho heart-throb Bruce Campbell trapped in a nursing home after switching identities with an impostor is a wonderful metaphor for fame & art stardom.  Sitting in the dark with art friends, watching movies, laughing and drinking is casually convivial to conversation and friendship, especially when the comfortable backdrop is one of the most historic art clubs in the USA.

The production of Macbeth @ The Wilma Theater is like being in a live movie with an intense intimacy, dark corners, hand held lighting and high tech special effects.  The play could be set at any time in the past present or future, DoN imagined David Lynch’s Dune must have been an influence with the ancient/future vibration running through the designs.  The industrial two tiered set, designed by Mimi Lien with lighting by Tyler Micoleau, was conducive to intimate conversations by candle light to wild battle scenes accompanied by gore and gasps.  A techno squeal represents the screech of a cat screaming at night, halogen lights through the fog like a scene from Alien and abstract music by Pavel Fajt transports the audience far away to an imaginary Scotland.  When Lady Macbeth, realized by actress Jaqueline Antaramian, appears in a puplish gown amidst the stark black & white set and drab costumed men she is luminous in the darkness like a Sargent painting.  When the witches appear, their throw-away entrance is so amazingly confounding that the whole former Warner Brothers cartoon image of witches stirring a kettle from DoN‘s childhood has been over-written by a dream-scape inhabited by peasant Earth mothers with spiritual powers.

The ancient and the future live in Philadelphia, as a culture vulture, DoN views the options and variations of art, theater and music to be as cosmopolitan and extravagant, elite or accessible, classic and contemporary as any place in the world, that there is literally something special happening nearby every day.  Support your local arts.

LoVe

DoN