Hottie local guitarist Kruno Spisic (pictured) brings his gypsy jazz guitar sounds to Chris’ Jazz Café for two shows on Saturday night. Think Django Reinhardt … Shakespeare gets a gay twist in Mauckingbird Theatre Company’s Romeo & Juliet, opening this weekend at the Adrienne … For more traditionally told Bard tales, it’s Shakespeare in Clark Park’s As You Like It through Sunday (and as a bonus, check out Vietnam’s new West Philly BYO just up the road) … A few days ago, there were no tickets for Saturday’s Earth, Wind & Fire show at the Borgata, and now there are. Go figure. … It’s First Friday, so if you haven’t been to Old City in a while, seems like it will be a nice night to get down there and do that gallery thing (especially before those severe thunderstorms roll in on Saturday). (And in case you didn’t know, the Main Line does First Friday, too.) … We love the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville! Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the original) tonight and Easy Rider on Sunday? To hell with Netflix! … And if you’ve bought into the whole NASCAR fantasy, you need to be in the mountains on Sunday for the Pocono 500.

All I can say is brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I hate this freakin’ weather. Should you desire to brave the wretched elements, I offer some fine filler for your agenda.

The same thing happened to me on 13th and Locust … If you still haven’t seen Philadelphia Theatre Company’s (fairly) spectacular new home, the Suzanne Roberts Theater, a good excuse would be the opening of M. Butterfly, a Tony Award-winning play about some French dude who’s all hot for a pretty little Chinese opera singer who turns out to have one Y chromosome too many. And closing this weekend is New City Stage Company’s powerful Extremities at Mum Puppettheatre. All about victimization and revenge. Get a sitter.

Not so pretty pictures … They can build all the condos they want — Philadelphia will always have a gritty, shadowy underbelly, which I, personally, love and which is perfectly captured by local photographer Natalie Hope McDonald in Evidence, a three-(Philly)-woman show at William Way. (An example: the lovely Anya). Plus there are both disgusting and beautiful vein-popping bodybuilding photos by Ellen Rosenberg.

(more…)

Were I a shameless self-promoter, I would go on and on about The Sea, a very cool play that I happen to be in and that happens to start this weekend. But since I’m not, I will just give you these perfectly respectable though undoubtedly inferior recommendations.

(more…)

The best thing about Christmas being over in less than a week is not that the relatives head back from whence they came or that your checking account will finally reveal a sliver of its former self. No, it’s the fact that dance companies the world over — including our own Pennsylvania Ballet — will close the curtain on their productions of the Nutcracker. Now, they say that this tired old tradition keeps the lights on for many troupes, but there are a lot of other folks out there who’d like you to buy a ticket to their Christmas shows, too. (Plus, I’m pretty sure that the Ballet has some friends with deep pockets, like, say, Wachovia, Chrysler, and Reliance Insurance.)

Should you choose to step outside of the comfy confines of the Academy of Music and venture out into a Yuletide world less traveled, I have a few suggestions …

(more…)

Missed Pig Iron Theatre Company’s sold-out run of Chekhov Lizardbrain at the Latvian Society? Don’t tell anyone, but they’re doing an open showing of selections from a new version of the show Friday night at 7 p.m. And it’s free. And weird. And really, really good. Wanna go? E-mail johnf@pigiron.org immediately. — Victor Fiorillo

If you’re reading this, you are not one of the 160,000 people (statistically anyway) who died yesterday. And if you play your cards right, you might just hold on through the weekend. Get out there and do something while you still can.

What does “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” mean, anyway? … For those uncultured among you, Patti LuPone is not just Corky’s mom on Life Goes On. She is, in fact, a Tony-Award-winning actress with lots of brass in both attitude and voice, and I hear that her musical revue at the Prince with Mandy Patinkin (think lots of Sondheim and undoubtedly a little Evita, which the two starred in back in the ’80s, and, hopefully, a little Sweeney Todd, in which Lupone was absolutely spectacular last year) is fabulous in that “your mom will love it” sorta way. The folks at the Prince tell us that good seats are still available for Saturday’s matinee.

Unwrap all candy BEFORE the show starts … This weather is movie theater weather, so stash some drinks and bagged popcorn in your bulkiest winter coat and catch a flick. If you know where Ambler is, you might consider checking out the newly renovated Ambler Theater, which the Philadelphia Weekly gushes over this week. Think art house, not multiplex. What would be much more fun, though, is a trip to the International House for the 24-hour Horror-thon, presented by Exhumed Films — local curators of the wickedest and cheesiest horror films known to man. At $20 for this entire day of gore, that’s less than a cent per liter of blood spilled.

Boooooooooo-tsie … Philly’s Bootsie Barnes may be old and cranky, but he can still blow one mean-ass tenor sax. Hear him do so tonight (Friday) with his organ quartet at Chris’ Jazz Cafe, a 2007 Best of Philly winner.

But is it a fruit or a vegetable? … If you haven’t done so already, right now is probably a good time to think about your Halloween pumpkin. First, you need a pumpkin, and while going to the Ack-a-me might be the easiest solution, picking your own is a bit more rewarding. (Plus there are usually corn mazes around, so you might finally lose your kids once and for all.) Once you’ve acquired said pumpkin, avoid the modern trappings, like those Pimp My Pumpkin kits, and get into a little old-school carving the Martha Stewart way. Finally, whatever you do, don’t try making pumpkin pie with your pumpkin flesh. In this one very specific instance, canned is always the way to go. Or better yet, leave the pie-making to local charity Manna.

What if I gave him fangs??? … Everyone knows the story of Dracula, but the should-be-better-known Rosenbach Museum near Rittenhouse Square presents the story of the story of Dracula using the original research and notes of Bram Stoker, the novel’s author. If you go on Saturday and notice a bunch of ghoulish characters from the book roaming around the Square, it’s just the Rosenbach’s annual Dracula parade.

As always, e-mail me with your Weekender ideas and dinner invitations.

As Nathan Lane, Edie Falco and other New York theater celebs hit town for tonight’s $2,500-per-person grand opening gala of Philadelphia Theatre Company’s Suzanne Roberts Theatre, I rang its 86-year-old namesake at home to discuss all the important things in life: strippers, ugly buildings, why her husband (Comcast founder Ralph Roberts) can’t hook her up with cable and, oh yeah, a little theater, too. — Victor Fiorillo

How did you get interested in theater?
When I was a young woman, I was encouraged by my teachers to pursue it. I studied first with N. Richard, who wrote The Rainmaker, and I studied for several years in New York. This was during the war. When I finished, I got married to Ralph in Philadelphia, and he was stationed at the Navy Yard. He was an ensign. And he said, “You know, I’ll hardly see you anyway, why don’t you go back to New York and try to get work.”

And did you get good roles in New York?
Well, I saw this ad that said they were looking for a tall blond woman for a play in Philadelphia. Well, I couldn’t think of anything better than working in Philadelphia. So I went for an audition. It was in a crummy-looking building in Manhattan. And I went up four crummy flights. And I get into this crummy-looking office and this man comes out and he says, “You’re just what I’m looking for.” And I thought, “Oh my God, the first place I go, I’m offered a job.” Then he says, “And you only have to strip from the waist up.” The audition was for a job at the Troc, and in those days, the Troc was a strip joint. I left New York right away and moved back to Philadelphia.

Was there much theater work here in those days?
I got in with a group that was doing little plays all around the city for the Treasury Department and the International Red Cross. We were doing plays to get people to buy war bonds and to give blood. After the war, I did plays on alcoholism. I played an alcoholic, but I don’t drink. So I went to bars at 10 in the morning, I went to AA meetings. And I did plays in the theaters as well.

Did you have to drag out Mr. Roberts to see the shows?
Oh no. He always came to see the plays. It was a vicarious pleasure for him. I think he would have liked to have become a producer, but life takes different paths.

When was the last time you were on stage?
I gave it up, wisely, when I was about 78. I was acting at the theater in Delaware, and I was struggling for lines. A couple of years later, Ralph bought out Plays and Players Theater and I did Love Letters by Gurney, but in that show, letters are read back and forth between a man and a woman, so the entire thing is read. I don’t think there were too many people that didn’t think that I was awfully good.

What do you think about your signature being a permanent, glowing fixture over Broad Street?
I was shocked at how bright it is. There’s a man in California tying his shoe by that light. I did ask the architect about putting a dimmer on it. But it seems so self-serving to have my name that big. People think I chose to have it done that way, but I had nothing to do with it.

Will you be doing any acting this evening at the gala?
I may be doing a little scene from Deuce. I wanted to do something from Master Class, but somebody else got to choose first. In Deuce, there’s this one monologue. It’s fair. It’s not wonderful. But it’s from Angela Lansbury’s role in that show. I’m going to the theater at 3 to do a reading, and if they say don’t do it, I won’t.

What are your thoughts on the new Comcast tower?
Originally, I thought it was the ugliest thing I’d ever seen. I said, “Why don’t you do something like the Cira Centre?” That’s a smashing building. But now I see the glass, the different shapes. It’s a bit more appealing now. But I wouldn’t want an office on the 53rd floor. Cars look like fingernails.

Do you watch much cable?
No, but I have a reason. If you saw the damn set in our bedroom … To get a station that’s clear, you have to do a lot of things to it. I’d love to watch more.

Maybe you should try the DISH network.
I’ll pass that onto my husband. Maybe DISH would be a lot easier.

The Philadelphia Theater Company had to scramble recently after Kathy Bates dropped out of Terrence McNally’s drama Unusual Acts of Devotion. The veteran actress, known for Misery and Fried Green Tomatoes, was set to appear October 23rd through December 2nd at the new Suzanne Roberts Theatre, but she’s backed out of the play for health reasons — and now PTC has to open its season without her star power.

(more…)