Looking for what’s hot in Philadelphia’s theater scene this month? Metro has you covered.
An Evening with Josh Gad
There’s still time to score tickets to Wednesday night’s ‘An Evening with Josh Gad‘ at the Kimmel’s Perelman Theater. Though beloved by children and parents for voicing Olaf in Disney’s animated ‘Frozen,’ Gad got his start in stage comedy as Elder Cunningham in the Broadway smash from ‘The Book of Mormon’, and recently returned to Broadway for the first time with his Mormon brethren Andrew Rannells for ‘Gutenberg! The Musical!’
Gad’s reason for his stop at Philly’s Perelman is the book tour for his humorous, family-friendly memoir — or what he calls a “tell-some” — ‘In Gad We Trust.’ My guess is it’s a winner.
Opera Philadelphia
Nearly one year into his reign as capo of Opera Philadelphia, Anthony Roth Costanzo has changed the face (and cost) of how Philly hears lustrous vocal music with his innovative $11 and up Pick Your Seat, Pick Your Price plan for the 2024/2025 season.
“It’s great working with this team, being embedded in Philadelphia – a richly dynamic cultural city – and, truthfully, hard, but rewarding running an opera company,” he says with a laugh.
Looking back, however, over his first 6 months in office, Costanzo raised $7 million, cancelled all Opera Philly debt, and became the only opera company in America to sell every seat for every show for the entire season (rush tickets are available).
“And now you can bring drinks into the opera – it’s art and a party with Opera Philadelphia,” says Constanzo
‘The Anonymous Lover’
‘The Anonymous Lover‘ — composed by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, with vocals from East Passyunk Opera Company members Ashley Marie Robillard, Johnathan McCullough and Joshua Blue — will hit the stage at the Academy of Music from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2.
Widely regarded as the first Black classical composer, Opera Philadelphia’s Costanzo calls Bologne an “extraordinary figure” who met and may have influenced Mozart, and entranced the European courts of the latter 1700s with his music. “The story within this romantic comedy, ‘The Anonymous Lover,’ could almost be something from a dating app, so along with being amazing, this opera is contemporary.”
‘Poker in a House with Women’ and ‘Earth Logic’
Starting Jan. 30, and running through Feb. 2, students in Temple University’s MFA Playwright’s Thesis program present their debut productions — and none of us in the audience need grade them.
Performed in-rep at Temple campus’ Randall Theater (2020 N. 13th Street) ‘Poker in a House with Women‘ is written by MFA student Jolie London-Glickman, directed by Barrymore-winning Amina Robinson and tells the story of a woman and her pregnant daughter-in-law gathering the family to sit shiva, only to learn that things refuse to stay buried while grappling with personal vendettas and cycles of violence.
Playwright London-Glickman quotes Adrian Piper in order to discuss her play’s issues of Jewish identity, including questions surrounding the war on Gaza.
“If this discussion made you, in the least degree, self-conscious about your political beliefs or about your strategies for preserving them; or even faintly uncomfortable or annoyed at my having discussed them; or has raised just the slightest glimmerings of doubt about the veracity of your opinions, then I will consider this piece a roaring success.”
Temple’s second in-rep play this January, ‘Earth Logic,’ is written by Peter Chansky, directed by Marcus Giamatti and involves an astronaut couple (and their cat) landing on a distant planet and meeting a native being who introduces them to the ways of this new world. From there, the two-some voyage on a path of self-discovery that opens new possibilities for their marriage. Satirical in nature, the dynamics of amorous relationships cut like a knife as far as the Temple MFA playwright is concerned.
“I felt that the act of landing on and exploring the unfamiliar terrain of a new planet is a great metaphor for the simultaneous but often conflicting needs for the security of a long-term relationship on the one hand, and for the discovery of the unknown on the other; discovery not only of other people, but yourself,” says Chansky. “‘Earth Logic’ presents a challenge to conventional, hegemonic relationship structures. I want audiences to leave with the awareness that monogamy is a cultural product, and a choice rather than an inevitability. There are other ways to love, and we don’t need to travel to other planets to explore those possibilities.”
The Bearded Ladies
A last-minute addition to this weekend’s theater slate is The Bearded Ladies’ NUTS!!! – an impromptu and “acorny” afternoon of sing-a-long songs with a live band for “a world gone nuts.” Starting at 2 p.m. on Jan. 19, at The Wilma Theater, squirrel-in-chief Jarbeaux and Bearded Ladies hosts Jess Conda, Cookie Diorio, and Jackie Soro sing for your pick-your-price delight.
