Performing Arts

Please call the phone number listed with the venue for specific dates, times and ticket information.

dance

• CARMINA BURANA & SERENADE PA Ballet presents the world premiere of a new "Carmina Burana," a reinterpretation of a story about destiny, eternal love and passion as made famous by Carl Orff. Also included in the program is George Balanchine's "Serenade," a four-movement work showcasing Balanchine's philosophy in choreography. Runs through March 17, $10-$121, Academy of Music, Broad & Locust sts., 215-893-1999.
• CINDERELLA The 50-member Moscow Festival Ballet performs the story of a poor girl who is abused by her step-family but saved by Prince Charming, all thanks to a glass slipper. Travelling with the company are stars from the Bolshoi and Kirov ballets, Tue, March 20, 8pm, $25-$40, Stockton Performing Arts Center, Jim Leeds Rd., Pomona, NJ, 609-652-9000.
• EVENING OF ROMANCE AND DANCE 2007 Roxey Ballet presents an evening program of romantic and sensual works from a variety of the company's classical and contemporary repertory. Sat, March 17, 4 & 7pm, $20-$28.50, Canal Rehearsal Studios, 243 N. Union St., Lambertville NJ, 609-397-7616.
• FEMALE PERSUASIONS This fourth annual dance concert is a program of new works performed by local groups the Eclipse Dance Company, the A.D.D Company, and Venus. Sat, March 17, 8pm; Sun, March 18, 2 & 5pm, $15, Philadelphia Arts Bank, 601 S. Broad St., 610-835-1860.
• HUNGARIAN STATE FOLK ENSEMBLE Thirty folk dancers donning authentic Hungarian dress will be joined by the world-famous Gipsy and Folk Orchestras, Tue, March 20, 7:30pm, $32-$44, Irvine Auditorium, University of Pennsylvania, 34th & Spruce sts., 215-898-2848.
• JUNK ROCK Recycled Percussion presents a performance featuring a mix of African, Latin and American rock and hip-hop rhythms using trash-can lids, ladders, drills, water tanks and other "junk." Thu, March 22, 8pm, $8, Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall, West Chester University, 13-15 University Ave., West Chester, 610-436-2266.
• OPEN STUDIO SERIES Miro Dance Theatre is opening its studios to audiences who want to see the creative process and to respond to new dance works in progress and pieces from the Miro repertoire. Thu, March 15, 5:30-7:30pm, FREE , Girard College, Corinthian & Girard Aves., 215-962-4773.
• QUEST Group Motion and Network for New Music present an evening of music and dance, with commissioned music by George Crumb and local composer David Ludwig and new choreography by members of Group Motion. Thu-Fri, March 15-16, 8-10pm, $15-$20, Philadelphia Arts Bank, 601 S. Broad St., 215-387-9895.
• SCUBA '07 Philadelphia Dance Projects presents a performance program featuring Ben Levy/LEVYdance from San Fran, Tania Isaac/Tania Isaac Dance from Philly, and Mathew Janczewski/Arena Dances from Minneapolis, as part of the new national grassroots touring/artist exchange network, Fri, March 16, 8pm, $5, Conwell Dance Theater, Temple University, Conwell Hall, 5th floor, Broad St. & Montgomery Ave., 215-676-1540.
• SENIOR DANCE CONCERT Once more, with feeling: UArts senior dance students present their fourth dance concert of this season. Thu-Fri, March 22-23, 7pm, FREE , UArts Dance Theater at the Drake, 1512 Spruce St., 215-829-9800.
• YA'LLA Penn's Middle Eastern dance troupe presents two nights of sultry bellydance and drumming. Thu & Sat, March 22 & 24, 7pm, $5-$7, The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., 215-573-3234.

  theater

• ALL IN THE TIMING The evening of satires features five short plays tackling comedic scenarios ranging from the awkward first date for a boy and a girl, to three monkeys, a typewriter and "Hamlet," to the naked truth about Philly, to an old Bolshevik dealing with the inconvenience of having an ax in his head. Directed by Paul Muscarella. Runs through March 18, $12, Old Academy Players, 3544 Indian Queen Lane, 215-843-1109.
• ALMOST, MAINE This Off-Broadway comedy tells the story of residents of a small, fictional town in northern Maine, who are falling in and out of love at an alarming rate. Directed by Dan Kern. Runs through April 8, $25-$40, Act II Playhouse, 56 E. Butler Ave., Ambler, 215-645-0200.
• ANGELS FALL Simpatico Theatre Company presents the story of a group of strangers who test their faith in their lives while stranded at a church in a remote Navajo reservation. Directed by Carol Laratonda. Runs through March 25, $12, 2nd Stage @ the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 215-423-0254.
• BEAUTY IS Drawing inspiration from the rates of HIV infection among gay men who use crystal methamphetamine, this ensemble-created production explores the emotions and reasons behind self-destructive behavior. Runs through March 17, $15, Sisters Nightclub, 1320 Chancellor St., 215-735-0735.
• THE BULLY PULPIT A cheerful biographical story about Teddy Roosevelt, Rough Rider, rancher, writer, adventurer, the 26th president of the United States, the inspiration for the teddy bear, and an excellent father to boot. Written and performed by Michael O. Smith. Runs through March 18, $10-$37, Bristol Riverside Theatre, Radcliffe & Market sts., Bristol, 215-785-0100.
• CAROLINE, OR CHANGE Arden Theatre Company presents the story about a divorced black mother of three working as a maid in 1963 Louisiana who finds herself in the middle of a family conflict when the lady of the house allows her to keep any spare change she finds while doing laundry. Directed by Terrence J. Nolen. Runs through April 8, $27-$45, Arden Theatre Company, 40 N. 2nd St., 215-922-1122.
• CHESS An American musical theater cult favorite (with lyrics by Tim Rice) about star-crossed lovers during the Cold War, set against the riveting stage of political espionage and chess championship games. You can just hear the clock ticking. Runs through March 24, $10-$12, West Chester & Barley Sheaf Playhouse, 810 N. Whitford Rd., Lionsville, 610-363-7075.
• THE CHOSEN The Players Club of Swarthmore Theater presents the stage adapatation of Chaim Potok's story about two Jewish young men whose chance friendship by chance changes their lives in unexpected ways. Directed by Dennis Bloh. Runs March 22-April 7, $8-$15, The Players Club of Swarthmore, Fairview Rd., off Rt. 320, Swarthmore, 866-811-4111.
• COMING APART InterAct Theatre Company presents an evening of works by contemporary writers read aloud by Philly actors, featuring Clare Keefe Coleman's "The Black Box" read by Deborah Seif; Jim Ray Daniels' "Feeding the Ducks" read by Drucie McDaniel; Niama Leslie Williams' "The Embrace" read by Ed Shockley; and Greg Downs' "Between States" read by Dan Kern. Directed by David Sanders, Mon, March 19, 7pm, $6-$12, Adrienne Theatre, 2030 Sansom St., 215-568-8079.
• DAMN YANKEES Watch middle school students flex their thespian muscles in this musical comedy about baseball, the devil and temptation. Runs March 15-17, $10, Cedarbrook Middle School, 300 Longfellow Rd., Wyncote, 215-881-6420.
• DEFENDING THE CAVEMAN Starring local actor Vince Valentine, this comedy about men and women returns to Philly for an encore performance. Runs through March 18, $47, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 S. Broad St., 215-731-3333.
• THE DEVILS Based on real events, this is a story set in 17th-century France about demonic possession. Directed by David O'Connor. Runs March 15-24, $20, Tomlinson Theater, Temple University, 1301 W. Norris St., 215-204-1122.
• THE DOMESTICATION OF WOMEN: A HOUSEWARES PARTY IN TWO ACTS A comedy celebrating the fighting spirit of women trapped in consumer hell, the play starts with Elaine, whose husband just left her, fleeing to her friend Julie's housewares party for a taste of normalcy. Directed by Jose Aviles. Runs March 22-April 7, $12-$20, Walnut Street Theater, Studio 5, 825 Walnut St., 215-551-3376.
• DRIVING MISS DAISY Can anyone match Morgan Freeman's or Jessica Tandy's performance in the Hollywood adaptation? Only one way to find out. Starring Louisa Flaningam, Roscoe Orman and Scott Wakefield. Directed by Meredith McDonough. Runs through March 25, $28-$48, Delaware Theatre Company, 200 Water St., Wilmington, DE, 302-594-1100.
• ENCHANTED APRIL Love is in the air: Two lonely married women rent and share an Italian villa with a crusty Englishwoman and a lonely aristocrat, expecting a relaxing vacation, until their husbands make a surprising visit in this Broadway muiscal hit. Runs through April 29, $10-$57.50, Walnut Street Theatre, 9th & Walnut sts., 215-574-3550.
• THE FANTOCCINI BROTHERS In honor of great puppets and puppeteers, Mum Puppettheatre presents the sixth installment of this popular series, highlighting the weird, the wonderful, and the touching world of puppets with original works and detailed art and choreography. Directed by Robert Smythe. Runs through March 18, $1-$30, Mum Puppettheatre, 115 Arch St., 215-925-7686.
• GODSPELL A musical based on the Gospel of Saint Matthew transposed into a contemporary urban setting, including the stories of Lazarus, the Good Samaritan, Judas' kiss, and more Christian parables and stories, all in song. Directed by Ann Rosen. Runs March 16-31, $8-$15, Barnstormer's Theater, Ward & Tome sts., Ridley Park, 610-461-9969.
• THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE DEADLY This murder mystery dinner theater takes place in the Old West, so expect an evening of can-cans, outlaws, sharp-shooting and maybe a murder or two. Every Sat. Runs through April 28, 7pm, $40-$45, Fisher's Tudor House, 1858 Street Rd., Bensalem, 215-244-9777.
• GREASE! Innocent first loves: watch Danny Zuko and Sandy fall in love while Rizzo talks tough and everyone at Rydell High sings and dances in poodle skirts and leather jackets. John Travolta may not be in this local stage adaptation of the musical favorite, but "Greased Lightning" will go on without him. Runs through April 22, $47, The New Candlelight Theatre, 2208 Millers Rd., Ardentown, DE, 302-475-2313.
• THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, PART II The Curio Theatre Company brings Douglas Adams' modern classic radio script to the stage with more than 200 sound effects, a selection of actors reading multiple characters, and original storyboard illustrations created by Nonthaporn and Ray Saunders. Runs March 15-April 7, $10-$22, Calvary Center, 48th & Baltimore sts., 215-525-1350.
• IMAGINARY FRIENDS Nora Ephron's (the writer of "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail") playful take on what would happen if real-life authors and rivals Mary McCarthy and Lillian Hellman met in the afterlife. Directed by Neill Hartley. Runs through March 18, $20, Walnut Street Theater, Studio 5, 825 Walnut St., 215-574-3550.
• IN THE CONTINUUM Named by New York Times as one of the top four plays in 2005, this is the story of the darkly comic events of two young women living worlds apart in L.A. and Zimbabwe with one life-changing thing in common: a positive diagnosis of HIV infection. Directed by Robert O'Hara. Runs March 16-April 15, $33-$51, Plays & Players Theater, 1714 Delancey St., 215-985-0420.
• INFINITE ACHE Hope and Charles are in bed and about to say good night when they find themselves on a journey through time, flashing back to the beginning and forward to the end, from the couple's first date to their first child in a humorous take on love and relationships. Runs through April 1, $28, Walnut Street Theater, Studio 5, 825 Walnut St., 215-574-3550.
• MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL This celebration of hot flashes, night sweats, memory loss, chocolate binges and "The Change" includes such chart-toppers as "I Heard It Thru the Grapevine; You No Longer See 39" and "Stayin' Awake! Stayin' Awake!" Ongoing, $45, Society Hill Playhouse, 507 S. 8th St., 215-923-0210.
• MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT Lovingly ripped off of the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," this musical comedy is a chronicle of the perils (killer rabbits! Taunting Frenchmen!) faced by King Arthur and his knights in their search for the Holy Grail. Directed by Mike Nichols. Runs March 20-April 8, $28-$100, Academy of Music, Broad & Locust sts., 215-731-3333.
• MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Yet another Shakespearean battle of the sexes: this time with the incorrigible Benedick and the sarcastic Beatrice, whose hate at first sight translates to marriage before long. Runs March 15-April 14, $17-$25, The Ritz Theatre Company, 915 White Horse Pike, Haddon Township, NJ, 856-858-5230.
• NOISES OFF The show must go on: A British theater company takes their sex farce on tour. Before long, the shenanigans, romances and jealousies of the backstage move to the front, where players begin to sabotage fellow actors, rewrite dialogues and destroy props. All in good fun, of course. Directed by Catherine Pappas. Runs through March 17, $12-$15, Stagecrafters Theater, 8130 Germantown Ave., 215-247-8881.
• THE ODD COUPLE Felix and Oscar, together again: the classic Neil Simon comedy about a recently separated sportswriter and his friend who find their mismatched selves under the same roof. Runs through March 24, $25, Broadway Theatre, 43 S. Broadway, Pitman, NJ, 856-384-8381.
• ONCE IN A LIFETIME The Drama Group presents this Kauffman and Hart classic about three down-and-out Vaudevillians who head out to Hollywood in the 1920s to teach silent movie stars how to speak properly and the adventures they encounter along the way. Runs March 16-31, $8-$12, First United Methodist Church of Germantown, 6023 Germantown Ave., 215-438-3677.
• ONLY A GIRL LightKeeper Productions presents the story of Irene Gut Opdyke, a 17-year-old girl who risked her own life to save the lives of 12 Jewish workers in Poland by hiding them in the basement of a Nazi officer. Performed by Jen Faith Brown and David Mulholland. Reservations recommended, Sun, March 18, 4pm, $20, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th St., 215-545-4302.
• OTHELLO See Iago lie. See Iago plot. See Iago ruin the lives of Moorish general Othello, Othello's trusted friend Cassio, and Othello's wife Desdemona in this Shakespearean tragedy about race, geopolitics, and deception. Directed by Carmen Khan. Runs through May 19, $12.50-$25, Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, 2111 Sansom St., 215-496-8001.
• PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES Media Theatre Company presents a country-and-Western musical, featuring a story that involves gasoline pump boys joining forces with the ladies of the Double Cupp Diner for a good time of singing, dancing and banging on kitchen utensils. Whoo-wee. Runs through April 1, $22.50-$39, The Media Theatre, 104 E. State St., Media, 610-891-0100.
• RADIO GOLF This sequel to August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean" is set in the Pittsburgh Hill District in 1997, about a successful real estate developer and mayoral candidate who confronts his heritage when his aunt's house is slated for demolition. Directed by Kenny Leon. Runs March 18-April 8, $28-$40, McCarter Theatre, 91 University Pl., Princeton, NJ, 609-258-2787.
• SMALL FISH 1812 Productions inaugurates its new Development Series with a new musical performed entirely by puppets about La Pulcina Piccola, a vivacious chicken who leads a life of adventures and intrigues as a feathered prima donna in the under-water world of the Bermuda Triangle. Created by Susan J. Vitucci and composer Henry Krieger. Runs through March 25, $10, 1812 Productions Rehearsal Studio, 421 N. 7th St., 2nd floor, 215-592-9560.
• SOUVENIR This musical comedy is about a widowed society matron who followed her dreams all the way to Carnegie Hall in 1944 — as the "the worst singer who ever lived.î Directed by Anders Cato. Runs through March 25, $28-$62, George Street Playhouse, 9 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick, NJ, 732-246-7717.
• SPRING AWAKENING Gather ye rose buds: written in 1891, this 'cutting-edge classic' about the sexual awakening of a group of 14-year-olds launched the 20th-century avant-garde theater. Directed by Lane Savadove. Runs through March 25, $28, Adrienne Theatre, 2030 Sansom St., www.egopo.org.
• TINY DANCER An intimate musical comedy about a Scottish Orthodox Jewish immigrant, his wife, their soon-to-be-born baby, and their struggles in America in the 1980s to pursue art and love. Runs through April 1, $25-$40, Prince Music Theatre's Black Box, 1412 Chestnut St., 215-569-9700.
• TROY STORY: YOU ODYSSEY IT TO BELIEVE IT Mask and Wig presents a story of myths and legends: following the death of her beloved father, an average Greek girl lands in the Trojan War after attempting to save her family estate from the Athenian government. Runs through March 30, $12-$25, Mask and Wig Clubhouse, 310 S. Quince St., 215-923-4229.
• TWELFTH NIGHT A classic Shakespearean romantic comedy about a girl who loves a boy who loves another girl who loves another boy who's actually the first girl in disguise. Witty hijinks and surprises abound. Directed by Abigail Adams. Runs through April 7, $28-$48, People's Light & Theatre Company, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, 610-644-3500.
• TWO ROOMS Azuka Theatre and Blue Ridge Theatre Festival present a story about a woman's tug-of-war with the government and the media when her husband, an American professor teaching in Beirut, is abducted by Shiite militiamen. Directed by Bev Appleton and Deborah Seif. Runs through March 24, $10-$20, Playground at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 215-733-0255.
• VICTIMS OF DUTY Ionesco's 1952 work, a parody of conformist modern life, is a comic story about a bourgeois couple who becomes involved with a detective's attempt to track down the previous tenant of their flat. Presented by the Idiopathic Ridculopathy Consortium. Runs March 15-28, $15, L'Etage, Beau Monde, 2nd floor, 6th & Bainbridge sts., 215-925-9665.
• THE WIZARD O'MARGARITA ISLE An interactive musical comedy starring Mango Men Band and Friends, celebrating St. Patty's Day. Sat, March 17, 8pm, $25-$30, Keswick Theatre, Easton Rd. & Keswick Ave., Glenside, 215-572-7650.

  cabaret

• BOB'S BIG MONDAY SHOWCASE These weekly shows present performances by seven to eight singers, with two songs apiece. A special Monday menu is offered by the restaurant; a minimum $10 food or drink is required. Every Mon, 7:30pm, $8, The Stockton Inn, 1 Main St., Stockton, NJ, 609-397-1250.
• A DISNEY CABARET The Rainbow Chorale of Delaware presents an evening of favorite Disney songs with a special twist. Fri-Sat, March 16-17, 8pm, $25-$50, Opera Delaware Studios, 4 S. Poplar St., Wilmington, DE, 888-512-5093.
• FLASHBACKS Suzan Bartel and friends (Jan Kelly, Jeff Kline, George Sinkler and Jim Rowland) take a trip down memory lane with an extended cabaret performance of 1950s and 1960s rock. $10 food/drink minimum. March 14 & 21, 8pm, $8-$30, The Stockton Inn, 1 Main St., Stockton, NJ, 609-397-1250.
• A SALUTE TO SASSY BROADS! You go, girl: Susan Speidel presents a program of lively songs and animated stories about the triumphs and tribulations of independent women. $10 food/drink minimum. Sun, March 18, 7:30pm, $8-$30, The Stockton Inn, 1 Main St., Stockton, NJ, 609-397-1250.
• ST. PATRICK'S DAY SHOW Janelle Farmer and Gene Cavanaugh celebrate St. Patty's Day with a cabaret performance. $10 food/drink minimum. Sat, March 17, 8pm, $8-$30, The Stockton Inn, 1 Main St., Stockton, NJ, 609-397-1250.