Skip to content
Entertainment
Link copied to clipboard

Meek Mill comes home and 15 other things to do in Philadelphia this weekend, February 10-12

Hip-hop artist Meek Mill last year. He'll bring his show to the Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 10.
Hip-hop artist Meek Mill last year. He'll bring his show to the Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 10.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

STAGE

» READ MORE: “Sans Everything”

The Philly physical theater troupe Lightning Rod Special teams with Rhode Island's Strange Attractor Theater Company to produce this unlikely mash-up of Shakespeare and sci-fi. In a future in which humans become disembodied minds, a prized vacation is a cruise on a spaceship giving tourists a chance to inhabit a human body and experience aging and all that comes with it. Then a strange force coerces a performance of As You Like It. …  In space, everyone can hear you emote. — Michael Harrington 

8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday, FringeArts, 140 N. Columbus Blvd., $14 to $20, 215-413-1318, fringearts.com

» READ MORE: “Saint Joan” and “Hamlet”

Two classics about the demands of conscience in the face of evil authority. The New York theater company Bedlam, which features just four actors playing all the roles, presents George Bernard Shaw's portrait of the rebel woman warrior and the Bard's tale of the indecisive prince in a repertory run ending this weekend.   M.H.

"Hamlet": 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Sunday; "Saint Joan": 3 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place, Princeton, $25 to $74, 609-258-2787, mccarter.org

KIDS

» READ MORE: iLuminate

Here's a great way to introduce kids to terpsichorean delight … ah, who are we kidding? Bring the wee ones along to see America's Got Talent finalists, but this New York-based dance troupe in glow-in-the-dark suits is, literally, electrifying and will thrill all ages. — M.H.

8 p.m. Friday, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St., $29.50 to $54, 215-893-1999, https://www.kimmelcenter.org

» READ MORE: “The Secret World of Arrietty”

This Studio Ghibli masterpiece, directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, is based on Mary Norton's beloved book The Borrowers, about the little people who live beneath the floors and in the walls of everyone's house. (You know they're there.) When a human boy meets a tiny girl, adventure ensues. — M.H.

2 p.m. Saturday, International House, 3701 Chestnut St., $5, 215-387-5125, ihousephilly.org.

HISTORY

» READ MORE: Ife Nii Owoo

The Germantown artist and designer presents a workshop, Deconstructing History/Reconstructing Memory: Explosion Books and Collage Art, exploring segregation, integration, and education reform in Philadelphia public schools. Participants can write personal notes and memorable quotes on craft paper to create collages in pop-up scrapbooks. It takes place in Concord School House, Germantown's first English-language school, which opened in 1775. — M.H.

10 a.m. Saturday, Concord School House, 6309 Germantown Ave., free, www.freedomsbackyard.com

FILM

» READ MORE: Secret Cinema

The found-film preservation society presents Fasten Your Seat Belts: Films from the Jet Set Era, a selection of promotional movies from the 1950s and 1960s, a time when plane travel was still a novelty. Among the offerings: 6 1/2 Magic Hours, from 1954, extolling the now long-gone luxuries airlines once featured, including on-board powder rooms, lounges, and gourmet food; the 1958 Pan Am short New Horizons: Caribbean, with scenes of calypso bands and snorkeling; Boeing's The Tail That Wags the Dog, from 1966, a sales pitch for twin-rotor transport helicopters to take wealthy travelers in a rush from a city rooftop to the airport; and 1962's Across the World in Three Seconds, in which Pan Am shows off its new computerized reservation system. — M.H. 

8 p.m. Saturday, Horticulture Center, West Fairmount Park, North Horticultural Drive and Montgomery Avenue, $8, 215-685-0096, www.thesecretcinema.com

LOVE

» READ MORE: RetroLove

Poet Beth Feldman Brandt, guitarist Monnette Sudler, and singer Joilet Harris perform songs and stories about romance before the dawn of the internet (we somehow made do, kids). — M.H. 

5 p.m. Sunday, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., $25, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com

DRINKS

» READ MORE: Pegsicle

Nights at Old City's La Peg will get a little cooler — and more tipsy — with the debut of Pegsicle, a temporary ice bar. Pegsicle will be in place through Feb. 13, providing it doesn't melt before then. La Peg chef-owner Peter Woolsey, whom a release calls an "amateur ice carver," will create the bar out of 16 blocks using Japanese ice chisels and chainsaws. The ice bar will be  in La Peg's Haas Biergarten, which features fire pits to keep folks from getting too cold. Pegsicle also will be open for La Peg's Big Game Hot Chicken Pop-Up event Sunday. The outdoor bar will have drinks available, including mulled wine and alcoholic hot cocoa, and craft beer from such breweries as Sly Fox and Oskar Blues. — Nick Vadala

Through Feb. 13, La Peg, 140 N. Christopher Columbus Blvd., www.lapegbrasserie.com.

OPERA

» READ MORE: Rossini’s “Tancredi”

Rossini's first opera to achieve real fame had a happy ending, revised to the now-standard tragic one. The tale of chivalry and lost love is relocated from the 11th century to the aftermath of WWII, and features star mezzo Stephanie Blythe in the title role, with Brenda Rae as Amenaide and Michele Angelini as Artirio making their company debuts. Maestro Corrado Rovaris is the master of this music, with Emilio Sagi making his first local appearance as director. —Tom Di Nardo

8 p.m. Friday and Feb. 17; 2:30 p.m. Sunday and Feb. 19; 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15, Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Streets, $19-$239, 215-732-8400, operaphilly.org

DANCE

» READ MORE: BalletX

The cutting-edge company scores again with a commission,"The Letter," from Norwegian Jo Stromgren, a world premiere of R. Colby Damon's "On the Mysterious Properties of Light" and cofounder Matthew Neenan's "Credo" in its East Coast premiere. —T.D.

8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, eight more performances through Feb. 19, Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., $25-$50, 215-546-7824, balletx.org.

CLASSICAL

» READ MORE: Philadelphia Youth Orchestra

Led by Louis Scaglione, these stars of the future present a challenging program: Shostakovich's First Symphony, the magnificent Second Suite from Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" ballet suite and Stravinsky's Suite from "The Firebird." —T.D.

3 p.m. Sunday, Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Streets, $15-$25, 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org

» READ MORE: Temple University Symphony Orchestra

Andras Delfs conducts these impressive performers in a program of exuberant spinoffs: Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphosis on a Themes of Weber and Chopin's Variations on Mozart's "La ci darem la mano," with Sara David Buechner as soloist. —T.D.

7:30 p.m. Friday, Temple Performing Arts Center, 1837 N. Broad St.; 3 p.m. Sunday, Centennial Hall at Haverford School, 450 Lancaster Ave., Haverford, Pa., free, 215-204-7609, temple.edu/boyer

» READ MORE: Peter Stumpf

In a tour-de-force, two-part recital, the acclaimed cellist performs one of the towering achievements in music, Bach unaccompanied cello suites. — M.H.

3 and 6 p.m. Sunday, American Philosophical Society, 104 S. Fifth St., $30, 215-569-8080, www.pcmsconcerts.org

MUSIC

» READ MORE: Allison Crutchfield & the Fizz

Unlike like her twin sister Katie who records as Waxahatchee, Alabama-born, West Philadelphia-based indie songwriter Allison Crutchfield has taken her time making solo moves. The former cofront person (with Kyle Gilbride) of Swearin' and frequent collaborator with her sibling has stepped out in style, however, with Tourist In This Town, her wholly impressive full length debut album released late last month on Merge. Crutchfield and her band, named for her fondness for carbonated beverages, celebrate with an all-ages headlining show, joined by on a five act bill by fellow West Philly luminaries Radiator Hospital, Pinkwash and Empath, plus Tongan-American songwriter Bean Kaloni Tupou a.k.a. Try The Pie. — Dan DeLuca

DWith Radiator Hospital, Pinkwash, Try The Pie, and Empath, 7:30 p.m. Friday, First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., $12. 215-821-7575, r5productions.com.

Read more: Allison Crutchfield steps out on her own with 'Tourist In This Town'

» READ MORE: Meek Mill & Friends

Everything hasn't gone swimmingly of late for leading Philadelphia street rapper Meek Mill, who split with his paramour Nicki Minaj in December and has since had to endure the indignity of seeing his ex pose for an Instagram photo with his mortal enemy Drake. Minaj is present, however, on DC4, the latest in the Philly emcee born Robert Rahmeek Williams' Dreamchasers mixtape series, which came out in October and also features Young Thug, Pusha T and local rising star Lil Uzi Vert, among others who are possible drop-in guests at Meek's annual South Philly blowout. — D.D.A.

7 p.m. Friday Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S. Broad St. at 7 p.m. Friday. $39.50-$149.50, 215-336-3600, livenation.com.

» READ MORE: The Radio Dept.

Although Sweden's the Radio Dept. released their first album in 2003, their visits to the U.S. have been exceedingly rare. Tuesday's Union Transfer show is the first date of their U.S. tour following the release of last year's excellent Running Out of Love, their fourth album (not including a sterling singles collection). Running Out of Love found the band merging their seductive synthpop and shimmery shoegaze with timely political content deriding Sweden's gun industry and far right movements, and songs like the New Order-ish "Occupied" are as pointed as they are mellifluous. —Steve Klinge

8 p.m. Tuesday, Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St. $15 - $18. 215-232-2100, utphilly.com.