The 20 Best Things You Can Possibly Do in Philly This Week
This week in Philly: Cornbread, Yo-Yo Ma, Philly Gaming Expo, Robotic art, and more
Pig Iron revives their manic Aimee Mann tribute Poor Judge at the Wilma. / Photograph by Eli-Eisenstein
This week in Philly: Cornbread, Yo-Yo Ma, Philly Gaming Expo, Robotic art, and more, as carefully curated by the arts and entertainment experts at Philly Mag.
On Stage
Poor Judge
The reliably wonderful Pig Iron Theatre Company revives a recent Fringe Fest favorite. Poor Judge is a work of “concert theater,” incorporating dance, cabaret and more into a story full of “lonely California highways, movie theater break-ups, and acoustic remixes of an Aimee Mann playlist.” You know: “Voices Carry,” “Wise Up,” “Labrador,” that dynamite Melancholia soundtrack, backed by Philadelphia talent.
$35-$78, January 13th-25th, Wilma Theatre, 265 South Broad Street.
Dance Theatre of Harlem
The stalwart but restless contemporary ballet company, now more than a half-century old, returns to the Annenberg to present works by choreographers Robert Garland, George Balanchine, Jodie Gates and more, set to music by Radiohead, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Bach, and several others.
$84-$105, January 16th-18th, Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut Street.
Cate Le Bon
The Welsh singer-songwriter is touring behind September’s Michelangelo Dying, a heartbroken baroque folk record laced that occasionally brushes your ears like fine sandpaper. It’s groovy and lovely, driven by a barely articulated gravity. Le Bon told the Guardian that Michelangelo Dying is about the end of a long romance, and “realizing you’ve completely abandoned yourself in the throes of this all-encompassing love. The breakup was always like an amputation that you don’t really want, but you know will save you.”
$40.73, January 13th, 8 p.m., with Frances Chang, Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden Street.
Suffs
The Tony-winning musical comedy about the suffrage movement arrives at the Academy of Music for an eight-show run this week. The L.A. Times says “Suffs, a musical for the public square, is as informative as it is uplifting. It is above all a moving testament to the power of sisterhood.” And if you walk out humming “Let Mother Vote” or “Finish the Fight” then more power to you.
$31-$164, through January 18th, Academy of Music, 240 South Broad Street.
Sherlock Holmes: The Great Detective
Walnut Street Theatre is best known for stating road-tested crowd-pleasers, but they’re offering something different this time. Sort of. Sherlock Holmes: The Great Detective is a brand-new world premiere by playwright Bill Van Horn, but based on classic stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — “road-tested crowd-pleasers” going back 150 years.
$31-$159, January 13th-February 15th, Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut Street.
Yo-Yo Ma
Ukrainian-born Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska continues her extraordinary run with the Philadelphia this week, including this show with world famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Dalia Stasevska leads the Philadelphia Orchestra from January 9th through 17th, Kimmel Center, 300 South Broad Street.
Natalie Cuomo
A little abrasive and frequently personal, this tatted-up Queens comedian has been known to put audiences on edge with explicit dating stories and some biting crowdwork. My advice? Let her cook. Nobody’s there to hear your un-mic’d comebacks. Cuomo, whose most recent special Shut Up You Loved It is on YouTube, comes to Helium for a one-off on Tuesday.
$33-$43, January 13th, 7:30 p.m., Helium, 2031 Sansom Street.
Don Was & The Pan-Detroit Ensemble
A decorated veteran of the music industry going way back, Don Was has six Grammys in his trophy case and a c.v. that includes producing records with Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Elton John. The B-52s and lots more. He also directed the 1995 documentary about Brian Wilson, I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times, and served as president of the esteemed Blue Note record label. Somewhere in there, Was has also built his own music career, released especially memorable dance/funk jams with Was (Not Was) in the late ’80s like “Spy in the House of Love” and “Walk the Dinosaur.” Was, now 73, is bringing his new jazz band to Ardmore Music Hall on Wednesday, but you can expect to hear some old favorites.
$33, January 14th, 8 p.m., Ardmore Music Hall, 23 East Lancaster Avenue.
Inheritors
The Philadelphia Artists Collective, known for reviving lost and little-known theater classics, presents Susan Glaspell’s 1921 drama about a small Midwestern college dealing with protests staged by its faculty and students, raising issues of class free speech and more. Inheritors has been revived now and again though not recently; ye olde newspapers dot com tells me Hedgerow Theater produced it in 1923, 1935, and 1973.
$38, through January 24th, Community College of Philadelphia, Bonnell Building, 1700 Spring Garden Street.
Art
Secret Summber by Wendee Yudis / courtesy InLiquid Gallery
Make-it-POP!
InLiquid Gallery is setting its members loose on a vivacious, multimedia group show with a Pop Art theme, “drawing on nostalgia and the use of timeless iconography.” Includes works by Jasmine Alleger, Ernesto Raúl Beckford, Lupien LaMountain, John Wind, Wendee Yudis and lots more. Expect color.
Runs January 16th-February 21st; opening reception February 12th, 6-9 p.m.; InLiquid Gallery, Crane Arts Building, 1400 North American Street.
Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design
An exhibition celebrating the two-time Oscar-winning costume designer, who worked on Sinners, the Black Panther movies, Dolemite Is My Name, and lots more. Includes sketches, costumes, insight into the design process, and more.
Included in museum admission of $20, ongoing, African American Museum in Philadelphia, 701 Arch Street.
Dancing through Life
Philly artist Erin Rose Boyle’s new exhibition at the Arts League “employs mechatronics within the artworks, enabling a subtle internal gesture — a pulse, a breath, a quiet reconsideration of form.” In other words: Robots. Boyle worked with UPenn’s Sung Robotics Lab to create sculptures, photographs and other works that doesn’t necessarily sit still. Public reception February 10th, 5:30-8 p.m.; workshop February 7th, 2-4 p.m.
Free, January 12th-February 20th, Arts League, 4226 Spruce Street.
Cornbread: Legendary
World-famous and groundbreaking Brewerytown graffiti artist Darryl “Cornbread” McCray comes home for a big solo, multi-floor exhibition at Paradigm.
Free, January 16th-February 15th, Paradigm Gallery + Studio, 12 North 3rd Street.
Festivals, Parties, Games
CCD Restaurant Week
Restaurant Week is two weeks long!? That’s right, Center City District’s annual celebration of downtown dining offers no fewer than 14 days of $45-$60 dinners (and $20 lunches) at something like more than a hundred restaurants. The list is impressive: a.kitchen, Buddakan, Charlie was a sinner., Sampan, Tequila’s Casa Mexicana, and on and on.
$20 for lunch; $45-$60; January 18th-31st, multiple locations.
GayBINGO
AIDS Fund’s popular, campy GayBINGO promises music, prizes and “drag queen antics” while raising emergency funds for people living with HIV in the Greater Philadelphia Region. Hosted by the Bingo Verifying Divas (BVDs). This Saturday: Superhero Smash.
$50, January 17th, 6 p.m., Rodeph Shalom, 615 North Broad Street.
Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend
This Monday, January 19th, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the national holiday designated to honor the legacy of the civil rights leader and to continue his work. In Philly at least, MLK Day has sprouted into a whole weekend of events including music, art, readings and more. Here are some of the ways you can get involved in continuing Dr. King’s mission.
Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo
This annual four-day convention in Oaks celebrates games of the non-video variety, as in table-top, role playing, board games, and so on. This year they’re promising panels, “special industry guests” and a big, busy flea market and vendors area.
$50-$67 for a one-day pass; $90 for a three-day pass; January 16th-19th, Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, 100 Station Avenue, Oaks.
Outdoor Fun
Lunch with Ducks
Hang out with the Bird Philly peeps at the Navy Yard. Eat your lunch. Look at some ducks. Don’t share your lunch with the ducks. If you’re a bird nerd, subscribe. (P.S. The Flyers beat the Ducks last week and it was awesome.)
Free, January 16th, noon-1 p.m., Philly Navy Yard, 13th and Admiral Peary Way.
Philly Goat Project’s Tree-Cycling
Have a Christmas tree you need to get rid of? Feed it to some friendly goats. A suggested donation of $20 helps you get rid of your tree in a fun, eco-friendly way, plus it supports PGP’s free programming. Don’t have a tree? Come anyway, because there will be farm walks, goat visits, hot cocoa by the fire, and more goat-adjacent fun.
Free to attend, $20 donation suggested for tree-cycling, January 17th (Laurel Hill West, 215 Belmont Avenue, Bala Cynwyd), and January 24th (Awbury Arboretum, 6336 Ardleigh Street).
See Also: How to Recycle Your Christmas Tree in Philadelphia
Blue Cross RiverRink Winterfest
The holidays may be over, but the family-friendly Winterfest — along the Delaware River, just north of the Ben Franklin Bridge — is sticking around for more ice skating, hot chocolate sipping, food munching, game playing, etc. You can even rent a little warming cabin! Want more skating? Visit Dilworth Park, who’s keeping their rink up through February 22nd.
Free till you skate or buy or do something else that costs money, through March 1st, Blue Cross RiverRink, 101 South Columbus Boulevard.
Winter in Franklin Square
Franklin Square is full of sparkle, mini golf, and plenty to eat, drink, and celebrate every day through February. Gather a group of up to eight to enjoy their iceless “street curling” rinks, or just warm up and make s’mores at the fire pits. Catch the Electrical Spectacle light show every 30 minutes beginning at 5 p.m. daily and running through 9 p.m.
Free to attend, Thursdays through Sundays through February 28th, Franklin Square, 200 North 6th Street.
