October 5, 2015 | Culture
From ballet to Broadway, the stage lights go up—and shine brighter than ever—when the 2015-2016 arts and culture season begins in October.
Get ready for flappers, mobsters, and ingenues when the national touring production of Bullets Over Broadway makes its Philadelphia debut.
You’ve waded through the subscription booklets, checked the programming schedules, and Googled the names of any unfamiliar directors: It’s arts and culture season once again, and Philadelphia’s theatergoers and music lovers know it’s time to plan their entertainment calendars. Look to this roster of stellar shows, beginning this month, to ease the agony of decision-making.
The Philadelphia Orchestra (Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999) unveils its 115th season, with an October program that “highlights works written in response to patriotism, shared roots, and a connection with the homeland,” says Jeremy Rothman, vice president of artistic planning. The program For Love of Country (October 8-10) will feature Suite No. 1 from Grieg’s Peer Gynt, inspired by traditional Norwegian music; Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2, which references Hungarian folk tunes; and Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony, which he wrote in honor of a new national holiday declared by the Finnish government—his 50th birthday.
This season the Pennsylvania Ballet's (Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999) new artistic director, ángel Corella, is putting his stamp on the company, introducing “progressive works that have never been done by the ballet.” The opening program Speed and Precision (October 22–25) begins with Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, set to a score by Johann Sebastian Bach. Next comes Chroma, a company premiere that incorporates orchestral arrangements of three White Stripes songs. The final piece, another company premiere, DGV, is choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon and danced to the “sound landscapes” of Michael Nyman.
Chief among the anticipated openings is the Arden Theatre Company’s (40 N. Second St., 215-922-8900) production of Equivocation (October 22–December 13). Bill Cain’s thought-provoking, humorous script examines the challenge of telling the truth in complicated times. In it, William Shakespeare—or Shagspeare, as he’s called in the play—has been commissioned by King James to write a play based on a contemporary historical event.
The Broadway Philadelphia season at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999) gets off to a roaring start with Bullets Over Broadway (October 27– November 1), the Philly premiere of the national touring production. Based on the 1994 Woody Allen film, the show takes a nostalgic look—complete with flappers, mobsters, and ingenues—at the making of a Broadway show in the 1920s.
photography by Matthew Murphy
