Theater to see this week: Ta’Rea Campbell, a CAPA grad, performs in ‘Hamilton’

Let’s deal with the cheesesteak first: When it’s time to advise her fellow cast members on the best version of Philly’s iconic sandwich, Ta’Rea Campbell, who grew up in Philadelphia and plays flirty Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton at the Academy of Music, will push Paganos Steaks & Hoagies on Ogontz Avenue not far from her childhood home in West Oak Lane.

» READ MORE: Best cheesesteaks in Philly

The sandwich itself: Provolone, ketchup, onions, and maybe a little mayo on the bread. “I can’t imagine Cheez Whiz,” Campbell said. What she’ll miss, she said, are the doughnuts at the now-closed Mom’s Bakery on Stenton Ave., which used to be a special treat after services at Mount Airy Baptist Church.

Campbell is a true road warrior, having toured with various Broadway shows including The Lion King, since 2002. She doesn’t have a home anywhere. “I live on the road,” she said. She drives from town to town, her car packed with pots, pans, all her spices, “my special knives, a wok, and my tea set” in the apartments or houses she rents in each town.

“I cook all the time,” she said. “I need to have some sort of normal life. I need a kitchen and a giant bathtub.”

When the pandemic began, Campbell returned to Philadelphia and settled into her parents’ house, reclaiming her old bedroom. “You don’t get to spend a lot of time with your family.” Touring companies have one day a week off — Monday — and just two weeks of vacation.

“Being in Philadelphia was an amazing blessing that I wouldn’t have been afforded if it weren’t for the world being shut down,” she said. “That was the silver lining.”

During Hamilton’s run (Oct. 20-Nov. 28), Campbell will be renting a place in Center City. “When I’m working it’s better to be in my own space so I can keep my own hours,” she said. “Getting out of work at 11 p.m., it might 2 in the morning before I get to bed.” It’s brutal, she said, when everyone else is banging around at 8 a.m. to begin their days.

Campbell, who graduated from the Creative and Performing Arts High School (CAPA), said she originally hoped to land the more demure role of Angelica’s sister, Eliza, Alexander Hamilton’s wife. But the casting crew had a different perspective. Since Campbell joined the show in 2017, “I’ve been playing Angelica. It’s a really fun role. I get to be sassy. I get to be flirty.

“I feel like I lucked out with this role,” Campbell said. “I am truly an Angelica.”

Oct. 20-Nov. 28, Academy of Music. For tickets, information, call 215-893-1999, kimmelculturalcampus.org. Masks, proof of vaccination required for adults, recent negative COVID test for children under the age of 12.

Playwright Larry Gallagher’s creative process sounds a lot like drafting a term paper. Compile a list of the top ten songs, week by week in the 1960s, and then examine the connection between the music and social shifts, such as the women’s movement. The result, Beehive — The ‘60s Musical, opening the season at the Walnut Street Theatre, is anything but academic. It’s a rocking celebration of the era’s most well-known and well-loved female voices — Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Carole King, and Tina Turner, among others. “The music reflected the change in the national mood,” Gallagher said in an interview before he died in 1988. “We went from … lighter songs in the earlier years to the more serious content of the later years.” Sara Gallo, a Philadelphia actress, plays Laura, a young woman who, as part of her role, will belt out a vibrant version of Janis Joplin’s Somebody to Love. Gallo will also sing To Sir With Love, Try, and I’ll Never Change Him.

Through Oct. 31. For tickets walnutstreettheatre.org or call the box office, 215-574-3550. Masks and proof of vaccination or recent negative COVID test required.

For Theater Horizon director Nell Bang-Jensen, pulling the story of theater from the stories of real people has long been an artistic focus. Last year, for example, she encouraged boys, ages 12 to 15, to imagine their futures as men, making them the content-creators in the Boy Project, shown at the 2020 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. “These teenagers have been so vulnerable, and I see them finding their power in sharing,” she said in a video about the project. What the boys are sharing is what it means to be a man in a time of gender fluidity, among the many stereotypes of masculinity. Now, through Theatre Horizon, which is based in Norristown, Bang-Jensen is turning her attention to its citizens in Our Norristown, a three-act play with music by the Philly band Ill Doots and the plot by, well, the people of Norristown, set to be performed outdoors next summer. Residents who want to participate can join this week’s Story Circles.

Story Circles, 6-8 p.m., Oct. 20 and 2-4 p.m., Oct. 23. For information and to register, theatrehorizon.org or call 610-283-2230, ext. 705. Vaccine proof and masks required.

Sound familiar? As a mysterious disease emerges, authorities are slow to grasp the seriousness of the problem. Depression, deceit, and depravity ensue. That’s the basis for the plot of The Plague, a play based on Albert Camus’ novel by the same name. The American digital premiere of the adaption by British playwright Neil Bartlett is streaming on demand by Lantern Theater Co. through Nov. 7. Meanwhile, Lantern’s earlier online effort, Steve H. Broadnax III’s Me and the Devil, about a blues musician who makes an ill-conceived bargain with you-know-who, has been extended until Nov. 21.

For tickets to both, lanterntheater.org or the box office at 215-829-0395.

Yes, it will rain on stage for the SALT Performing Arts production of Singing in the Rain. The Chester Springs company promises that the play will make a big splash whether you see it in person (masks recommended) or via live streaming.

Through Oct. 30. For tickets, saltpa.com/singinintherain. Masks recommended.

Just in time to prepare for Halloween, Glen Foerd, the public park and nonprofit cultural site in Philadelphia, will present The Poison Garden, a roving, immersive Halloween experience centered on a mysterious garden with an intriguing allure. Look for actors, aerialists, and circus performers. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at the Oct. 22 launch party.

Through Oct. 26. For tickets, information, glenfoerd.org. 215-632-5330. Masks required.