Out and About: The 5 Things to Do This Month

Dancing With the Boss

Nationally acclaimed husband-and-wife choreographers Danial Shapiro and Joanie Smith bring Jersey native Bruce Springsteen’s music to life in this month’s world premiere of Anytown: Stories of America. Minneapolis-based Shapiro & Smith dance company was granted rights to nine of the Boss’s songs (including “Human Touch”), plus several tunes by E Street band members Patti Scialfa (Springsteen’s wife) and Soozie Tyrell (Smith’s sister). Featuring a multigenerational cast, the performance explores themes of community and work through three rural American families. Highlights include a poignant solo scored by Tyrell’s poetic meditation on mortality, “Ferdouganal,” and a muscular male duet (right) capturing the challenges of physical labor, set to Springsteen’s mill-worker classic “Youngstown.”

PTC’s Witty Musical Premiere

As Broadway costs soar and audience adventurousness plummets, distinguished playwrights are turning to regional theaters to produce their new works — which explains why Christopher Durang premieres his latest piece, Adrift in Macao, at the Philadelphia Theatre Company this month. The musical — a wacky, witty film-noir parody — boasts a first-class pedigree: Book and lyrics are by Durang, who ranks among the best of America’s clever playwrights (Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You; Beyond Therapy); music is by Peter Melnick, a member of America’s preeminent composing dynasty (he’s the grandson of Richard Rodgers, nephew of Mary Rodgers, cousin of Adam Guettel); and the cast is headed by Michael Rupert, a Broadway veteran with a Tony Award and a slew of memorable performances to his credit

Hot Happenings

Gang Of Four
The last great surviving band from Britain’s first punk era, this raging quartet mixed the period’s radical politics with a metallic funk that influenced current stars like Linkin Park and still rocks twice as hard. —Ramsay Pennypacker
$25. October 3rd. 8 p.m. Theater of Living Arts, 334 South Street; 215-336-2000.

Open Studio Tours
Get a unique, beyond-the-galleries glimpse of Philadelphia’s vibrant visual arts community at the sixth annual Philadelphia Open Studio Tours event, as more than 150 artists in 20 neighborhoods reveal their workspaces and exhibit paintings, sculpture, photography, furniture, jewelry and more. —K.G.
Free. Open Studios west of Broad Street, October 8th and 9th, noon to 6 p.m.; Open Studios east of Broad Street, October 15th and 16th, noon to 6 p.m. 215-546-7775, x13.

DogHaus
Don’t miss the Pennsylvania SPCA’s newest home design experiment, DogHaus 2005, located at the historic Brock-Naglee house in Chestnut Hill. The elegant Italianate, stuccoed three-story home has more than 30 rooms featuring work by top area interior designers and architects. —B.M.
$20 in advance; $25. ­October 15th to November 12th. Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. 32 Summit Street, Chestnut Hill; 215-426-5030.