Philadelphia Spotlight: December 2007
Tony Award winner Melba Moore, Eugene Fleming, and Ken Prymus are among the stars of the Prince Music Theater’s production of the popular musical revue Ain’t Misbehavin’ (December 4-31). Featuring nearly 30 tunes composed or recorded by the incomparable Fats Waller, the show is a foot-tapping trip back in time to 1930s Harlem.
Local audiences looking for a taste of western humor should mosey over to the Walnut Street Theatre’s intimate Independence Studio on 3 where they’ll discover the runaway hit comedy Greater Tuna (through December 30). Directed by Madi Distefano, the new production stars wily local actors Ben Lloyd and Jon Zak who between them will play 21 residents from the bizarre backwater town of Tuna, Texas.
1812 Productions’ follows up its hugely popular 2006 show This is the Week that Is with the company’s new holiday production This is the Week that Is: More Political Humor for the Holidays (Adrienne Theatre, through January 13). Reflecting the evolving political landscape, the show’s script changes on a nightly basis, ensuring theatergoers will be treated to a barrage of topical humor.
The Wilma Theater presents the U.S. premiere of Canadian playwright Linda Griffiths’ acclaimed feminist comedy Age of Arousal (December 5-January 6), which focuses on a lesbian couple that runs a business school for young women in search of financial independence in Victorian England. The Barrymore Award-winning 11th Hour Theatre Company serves up The World Goes ‘Round (Walnut Street Theatre, December 13-30), a revue of the music of John Kander and Fred Ebb, while Stomp, the dynamic visual and aural extravaganza that began on the streets of London and has gone on to become a world phenomenon, arrives for a brief stay at the Merriam Theater (December 26-January 2).
Finally, the Arden Theatre Company brings to life one of the world’s most beloved stories with the company’s new production of Sleeping Beauty (December 5-January 27). An updating of the classic fairy tale, director Whit MacLaughlin’s production is an adventurous tale filled with swordfights, evil witches, magical dragons and over-protective parents.
