'A Little Princess' is a royal treat
Everybody knows a princess. (Sometimes one is born to you, sometimes you marry one - sometimes both.) Based more on the 1939 Shirley Temple classic film than the great 1905 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Alfonso Cuarón's film A Little Princess is no fairy tale, but it is gorgeous. The 1995 gem is unfortunately little known, but well worth a look for th
Everybody knows a princess. (Sometimes one is born to you, sometimes you marry one - sometimes both.)
Based more on the 1939 Shirley Temple classic film than the great 1905 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Alfonso Cuarón's film A Little Princess is no fairy tale, but it is gorgeous. The 1995 gem is unfortunately little known, but well worth a look for the Emmanuel Lubezki cinematography as well as the affecting story of a young aristocratic girl whose fortunes take a turn for the worse when her father is lost in World War I.
Those of a certain age may be surprised to see Eleanor Bron (the ingenue of the Beatles' Help!) as the cruel, mendacious school headmistress who forces the title character into indentured servitude. The film is rated G, and the mean are punished, and the nice rewarded - but the melodrama may be a bit too intense for tinier royals, who should probably stick to Sofia the First for just a bit longer.
2 p.m. Saturday at the Colonial Theatre, 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville. Tickets: $9; $7 seniors and students; $5 ages 3 to 13; ages under 3 free. Information: 610-917-1228 or http://thecolonialtheatre.com.
Double bill
The young dancers of the Metropolitan Ballet Academy perform two works with stories familiar to all ages - Alice in Wonderland and The Little Engine That Could - featuring choreography by Jennifer Clagett Sommers.
Plus, the troupe celebrates its 20th anniversary in wacky fashion with The Mad Hatter's Very Merry Un-Birthday Bash between Sunday performances at 2:30 p.m. (tickets are $35, including the show).
1 and 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Abington Friends School, 575 Washington Lane, Jenkintown. Tickets: $20. Information: 215-663-1665 or www.metropolitanballetcompany.org.
Sea turtle salute
The Adventure Aquarium's resident sea turtles Bob, Stitches, Old Green, and Ozzy are welcoming a new addition, a rehab-and-release hatchling. (There's a contest to name the newcomer - vote for McIntyre, Koopa, Timek, or Turtellini.) So they're having a party, the Sea Turtle Awareness Weekend, featuring interactive feeding sessions, games, educational activities, and turtlesque items for sale benefiting the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Adventure Aquarium, 1 Riverside Dr., Camden. Tickets: $25.95; $18.95 ages 2 to 12; ages under 2 free. Information: 856-365-3300 or www.adventureaquarium.com.