After frivolity, the firebird celebration

Families can celebrate the mythology of the phoenix during the seventh annual Firebird Festival on Saturday in Phoenixville. The fest will feature storytelling, music performances, a puppet parade, and the lighting of a huge wooden phoenix.

At 4 p.m. at the fire site on the 300 block of Bridge Street, a craft bazaar will begin, with food, street performers, and entertainment. Barry Lee of the American Indian folk-blues group Spirit Wing will be master of ceremonies.

At businesses along the 200 block of Bridge, the festival will present modern flamenco ensemble Tres Compadres, guitarist Michael "Cougar" Reddy, and banjo trio Banjovi. Actresses Deborah and Jenny Stevenson will give a dramatic reading of the fantasy children's novel The Phoenix and the Carpet by E. Nesbit. Community storyteller Dagmar Hoell will relate the tale of Three Crows Jumping, the adapted Lenni Lenape story of "Rainbow Crow." From 6 to 7 p.m. at Colonial Theatre, Storytelling Irma will give an interactive performance as she conveys the phoenix myth, accompanied by the Firebird Improv Orchestra. The orchestra will feature a range of instruments from didgeridoos to violins, and each performance will feature a different conductor.

Beginning at 7 at the fire site, fire dancers from Playing Mantis will perform. At 7:15, the Peace Birds giant puppets parade will lead to and circle around the 28-foot-high phoenix. At 8, families can gather and watch the lighting of the bird.

Tune Up Philly will give a free orchestra performance Saturday at St. Francis de Sales School in West Philadelphia.

The group is a new after-school musical-education program created by the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. Tune Up Philly's mission is to keep urban children who live in challenging conditions engaged in success by providing musical instruction during weekday out-of-school hours. The concert, at 2 p.m., will include 85 elementary-school children.

On Saturday and Sunday, B. Someday Productions will present "A Fractured Christmas Carol" at Walking Fish Theatre, in Kensington.

The 2 p.m. show, with performances through Dec. 30, is sponsored by Eagle One Federal Credit Union. The adaptation of the story - written by the actors and young performers in the production - features updated characters such as Jacob "Bob" Marley, the Ghost of Christmas Present from da Hood, 11-year-old Emma Dietel-O'Neill as Scrooge, and 13-year-old Michael Trainor as Curly from the Three Stooges.

Walking Fish Theatre is home to nonprofit theater-arts corporation B. Someday. The organization is committed to bringing art to and creating art on the Frankford Avenue Arts Corridor, where the theater is located.