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Love Letters
Quintessence Theatre is staging a celebration of love.
The Germantown Avenue theatre is hosting a one-night-benefit supporting the Campaign for Quintessence at The Sedgwick: Feb. 14’s reading of playwright A.R. Gurney’s ‘Love Letters‘ with David Morse and Susan Wheeler.
“Quintessence Theatre is an important part of the community and Philadelphia’s theatre scene,” wrote Morse and Wheeler, jointly. “We’re happy to support them as they take their next big step as a vital regional theater.”
While Wheeler is a famed author (‘The Habit’), Morse is a favorite of the stage, screen and cinema with film roles in ‘World War Z’ and ’12 Monkeys’, television parts in ‘Escape at Dannemora’, ‘True Detective’, ‘Hack’ and ‘The Morning Show’, and on Broadway in ‘How I Learned to Drive’ among other credits.
“It’s an honor to celebrate Valentine’s with David Morse and Susan Wheeler, and a privilege to watch them take on A.R. Gurney’s beloved and classic American romance,” wrote Quintessence artistic director Alexander Burns.
Ticket options including VIP entrance with a Morse-Wheeler meet-and-greet are available online.
Groucho: A Life in Revue
Another funnier, more historic, celebration of theater comes with the Walnut Street Theatre’s 100th anniversary of comic giants the Marx Brothers.
In 1923, the legendary Marx Brothers — Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo — performed their musical-comedy revue, ‘I’ll Say She Is’ at the Walnut, becoming that theater’s still-longest running show. The following spring, the Marxes returned to the Walnut for three weeks, then debuted ‘I’ll Say She Is’ on Broadway immediately following the April Philly dates, therefore cementing their reputation as absurdist comic kings.
Actor-comedian Frank Ferrante has been doing his own Groucho show ‘Groucho: A Life in Revue’, since 1987, Off-Broadway as well as in Philly at the Walnut, and celebrates his 31st anniversary along with the Marxes’ 100th with a newly-updated ‘Groucho: A Life in Revue‘ from Feb. 13 to March 10.
For information and tickets, visit walnutstreettheatre.org
Girl from the North Country
When the Tony-winning ‘Girl from the North Country‘ hits the Forrest Theater (Feb. 27-March 10), playwright Conor McPherson’s dramatic re-imagination of Bob Dylan’s storied music features Philadelphia’s own Chiara Trentalange.
Not only was she in the Dylan-centric original Broadway cast musical as Kate Draper (and still is), Trentalange attended Gwynedd Mercy Academy in Lower Gwynedd, with her first production being ‘Annie’ at Bucks County Playhouse at 12.
“My mother said that I could definitely wail as a baby,” said Trentalange about her earliest days. “I remember starting to love music being in choir in grade school at Our Lady of Good Counsel and hearing all the harmonies fit together. I always wanted the most challenging line. When I performed in my first musical at Bucks County Playhouse, I knew I wanted to continue in theatre, too… whatever that meant to a 12-year-old.”
Reminiscing about her time at Bucks, Trentalange recalled this “absolute highlight of my childhood,” looking up to the adult actors, and getting her first paycheck there: “When I was 18, I was trusted in a leading role there, Peggy Sawyer in ’42nd Street’. I’ll be forever grateful to the folks there who set my foundation.”
“My mom drove me to and from every single rehearsal and show and sang show tunes with me in the car. My father still gives me pep talks about keeping my head in the game and to continue to train like an athlete.”
Athletic training as such comes in handy tackling the lyrical and melodic complexity of Dylan’s songs and Simon Hale’s award-winning orchestrations.
“Dylan has a power with his writing that creates an atmosphere,” noted Trentalange. “His lyrics can sometimes be taken literally, and then sometimes you hear a line so outlandish that it makes you think — wait, what did he just say? Most of the time when the poetic words wash over me, it’s not about getting it in a tangible sense… but I feel it emotionally. Listeners relate to that experience. His music sweetens the bitterness of the staged scenes, which is absolutely true for the duet that my character sings, ‘I Want You.'”
Calling her Kate Draper character “a young lady trying to make the right choice, so incredibly strong for moving away from her family and everything she’s known to try and start a better life” during the Great Depression, Trentalange returns to the power of its songwriter at the heart of ‘Girl from the North Country’ – even when she isn’t singing.”
“The opening of Act II starts with a woman singing a cappella on stage – ‘What Can I Do for You?,'” said Trentalange. “It’s a prayer, a simple, beautiful song, and the entire company enters to “ooohs” and “ahhs.” It ends with a harmonica solo from a character who has a disability that makes it very difficult for him to communicate with words. The music is his way of communicating in that moment. I find it chilling and holy.”
For information and tickets, visit forrest-theatre.com
