A new comedy set at the Jersey Shore is in the works from Irish writer Lisa McGee, the creator behind the hilarious hit show Derry Girls.
Called Wildwood, the series will follow a group of college girls visiting New Jersey from Ireland in the summer of 2000 with “no money, no visas, no plan, no clue,” according to Deadline.
McGee’s Derry Girls became a whopping international hit after first airing on Britain’s Channel 4 in 2018 and later landing on Netflix.
It follows a group of messy, raunchy, and zany teens — including Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan — at an all-girls Catholic school in the 1990s during the Troubles conflict in Northern Ireland.
A still from “Derry Girls.” (Netflix)Netflix / MCT
The show was a semi-autobiographical story for McGee, who grew up in Derry and writes irreverent, cheeky young characters that make audiences cringe, cry, and laugh out loud. Her most recent project was the comical murder mystery How to Get to Heaven From Belfast, which premiered on Netflix in February.
Described as a “spiritual successor” to Derry Girls, Wildwood marks McGee’s first U.S.-based project. It will be developed with 20th Television and FX following a reportedly competitive bidding process. McGee will serve as creator and executive producer.
It’s not yet clear whether Wildwood will film in the eponymous beach town where it’s set, but FX — the longtime home ofIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia — is certainly no stranger to the region.
No texting, no photos, no distractions. With mobile devices locked away in Yondr pouches, Jill Scott’s four-night stand at the Met Philly is a phone-free experience.
In her run of sold-out shows at the Broad Street opera house that kicked off Friday and — with a couple of days off in between — finishes Wednesday night, there’s no intermediary technology to separate Jilly from Philly.
Which really is “The Way” — the title of one of her signature hits, from her 2000 debut Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds, Vol. 1 — it should be.
When it comes to building community, Scott is up there with the best. Her staunchly loyal following has lived through trials and tribulations with the singer-songwriter-poet-rapper-and-actress from just ‘round the way at 23rd and Lehigh in North Philly for a quarter-century.
At Monday night’s 2-hour, 23-song show, that bond was evident from the get-go.
Following an opening set by Camden trumpeter and bandleader Arnetta Johnson, who is also scheduled to perform Wednesday, Scott opened with five straight tracks fromTo Whom This May Concern, her sixth album, which came out in February and is her first in 11 years.
The first, “Dope S—,” featured a prerecorded spoken word piece by poet Maha Adachi Earth that offered a taste of what was to come: “I been manifesting visions, oh chile, I been making them all come true … I make love, I be good, I do dope s—.”
That was followed by “Be Great,” a horn-fired banger cowritten with Adam Blackstone and Trombone Shorty that featured video screen images of HBCU marching bands while sousaphonist Adam Smith II — who otherwise played guitar — prowled the stage.
That song threw down a challenge, to her audience, and to Scott herself: “All my life I want to do good, wanted to be good, to feel free of a history that made me cry,” she sang over a rugged funk groove.
Then, she gave it a second thought: “I’ma go ahead and be great. Why not?”
The new songs were warmly received by an audience that has grown up with Scott, 54, since she emerged from the turn-of-the-century neo-soul scene at the Black Lily nights at Old City club the Five Spot.
The crowd was approximately 70% female, and as almost entirely Black as, for instance, the crowds at Connor Barwin’s Make the World Better concerts this past weekend at the Dell Music Center were almost entirely white.
Jill Scott at One Philly: Unity Concert for America on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on July 4. Scott performed at the Met Philly on Monday, July 27, on her tour for her new album “To Whom This May Concern,” but no photography was permitted. She will return to the Met for one more show on Wednesday, July 29. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
To Whom is a jam-packed, musically diverse return from Scott, of which she is justifiably proud. She wove 14 of the album’s 19 tracks into her set.
“Liftin’ Me Up,” which included a snippet of Jackie Wilson’s “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” was one To Whom highlight.
Another was “Pay U on Tuesday,” in which Scott, who now lives outside of Nashville, Tenn., excoriated deadbeats — “You in jail again this weekend? You ain’t got your child support, for real? — in the style of 1920s blues belters like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey.
Scott keeps up a lively, theatrical but heartfelt rapport with her people, about love, loss, self-care, and finding the way to fulfillment. And the audience is happy to talk back.
At different junctures, the video screen depicted a house with boxes of troubles outside labeled “Self Doubt” and “Ugliness,” packed up to be disposed.
On “The Math,” the screen showed algebraic equations while Scott sang about behavior that does not add up to equal self-esteem. “Do the math, Jill!” a woman standing behind me enthusiastically shouted out. “Do the math!”
As well as Scott’s new music went over, the crowd-pleasers came from the benchmark albums that kicked off her career. All night long, she was in excellent voice, not only singing, but rapping on “Norf Side” and “BPOTY.”
She had plenty of help from fans who rose from their seats and joined in full-throated unison on the neighborhood stroll of “A Long Walk” and tender “The Way” from her debut, and “Cross My Mind” and “Golden” from 2002’s Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds, Vol. 2.
FILE 3/28/00 Photography by Peter Tobia Black Lily, the soul-rap club event that showcases female artist held at the Five Spot in Center City. Jill Scott, pop soul singer, delights the crowd with wonderful vocals.Peter Tobia / Staff Photographer
Scott’s 10-member band is of the highest caliber. The three male backup vocalists known as the Pipes supported her ably throughout. When the star left for a costume change — from one blue gown to another, with an ankle-length poofy white coat added for the second half — the trio kept the vibe alive with a winning version of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.”
“This is live music!” Scott intermittently stated throughout the evening, reminding the room that nothing they were hearing was canned. “This is live music!”
She added, before “He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat),” that “Philadelphia keeps music alive.” The city continues to produce the world’s best musicians, said the singer, who grew up less than three miles away from the Met, on the 2300 block of Oakdale St. Other artists come to her shows to lure players away for their own bands, she added, “but they always come back.”
With that, she introduced pianist Eric Wortham II, who has also toured with Adele and Jazmine Sullivan. He played a delicate intro to “He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat),” which came to a close with Scott’s showstopping operatic vocal flourishes.
Special praise at the end of the show was reserved for bass player Duane “DW” Wright, with whom the singer shares music director duties. Scott was sexually frank throughout the evening, but she got down got and dirty during the finale when DW was spotlighted.
Album cover of Jill Scott’s sixth studio “To Whom This May Concern” is a portrait of Jill Scott by muralist Marcellous LovelaceMarcellous Lovelace
She called him a “whisperer” with a specialty in women’s sexuality. Wright laid down a deliciously provocative groove just to prove her right, and the audience leaned in, paying particularly close attention.
Jill Scott with Arnetta Johnson and Freebird at the Met Philly, 858 N. Broad St., at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday July 29, themetphilly.com.
Set list for Jill Scott at the Met Philadelphia, July 27, 2026
Historic Philadelphia institutions better ramp up security around their copies of the Declaration of Independence because a National Treasure weekend is coming to Philly.
The three-day event, from Aug. 20 to 22, will celebrate one of the best and most absurd films ever partially filmed in Philadelphia with screenings on Independence Mall, an appearance by director Jon Turteltaub, a guided tour, and interactive puzzle adventures.
Alas, a news release about “Philadelphia’s National Treasure Weekend“ made no mention of appearances by any cast members, despite my well-documented and repeated requests to have Nic Cage recreate the scene where he free-solo climbs Independence Hall (undetected!) for the nation’s Semiquincentennial celebrations this year.
Of course, organizers could just be keeping mum on the matter, believing that Silence Dogood.
“National Treasure” follows Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage) on his quest to solve a historic mystery.www.disneypicture.net
The event is hosted by the Philadelphia Visitor Center, Independence Historical Trust, and the National Treasure Hunt podcast. Yes, there is a podcast devoted to the National Treasure franchise and it has 121 episodes.
The creators of the podcast, Aubrey Paris and Emily Black, will kick off the festivities at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, with a “Heist Night” at Carpenters Hall. The adventure will require participants to team up and crack clues, solve ciphers, and figure out escape room-style puzzles “as you race against foes to find the missing piece in a nearly 20-year-old treasure hunt,” according to the event site. The experience is recommended for adventurers 18 and older and tickets are $50 per person.
On Friday, Aug. 21, games will be hosted on Independence Mall by the Historic District Partners, a live episode of the National Treasure Hunt podcast featuring Turteltaub will be recorded at Independence Visitor Center (tickets are $10), and a screening of National Treasure will be held on Independence Mall. Turteltaub will introduce the film and free popcorn will be provided by Liberty Garden.
The final day of events will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, with a National Treasure Hunt tour of Philadelphia, led by Paris and Black. The podcast hosts will take participants to local sites in the movie (you could end up at the Franklin Institute, Reading Terminal Market, or the Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church cemetery), as they share stories behind the film and the landmarks that inspired it. Registration is required and tickets are $60.
Early that evening, Paris and Black will again host Heist Night at Carpenters Hall and activations from the Historic District Partners will be set up along Independence Mall. An 8 p.m. screening of National Treasure: Book of Secrets, the sequel to the original film, will be held on the mall. Turteltaub will once again introduce the film and free popcorn will be provided.
The film “National Treasure” plays on Independence Mall last year as part of the “Movies on the Mall” series. Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
The weekend of events was inspired by “Movies on the Mall,” an annual summer series of movie screenings on Independence Mall put on by the Visitor Center and Historical Trust. The series has featured National Treasure the last few years.
While Rocky may get top billing when movies set in Philly come to mind, National Treasure has legit Philly street cred, with several iconic scenes shot here. More importantly, it has Philly fans, who are notoriously difficult to please.
Philadelphians love a good history mystery and we respect a man named Benjamin Franklin Gates who says things like “I’m gonna to steal the Declaration of Independence” and then does it.
Josh Douglas of Roxborough walks between bars while wearing a Nicolas Cage mask during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on June 28 in Jenkintown. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
More than two decades after its 2004 release, the film and its star are still inspiring media and society today. A made-for-TV Hallmark movie released for the nation’s 250th anniversary this year called To Philly With Love was almost definitely inspired by National Treasure and just last month, a Nic Cage bar crawl was held in Jenkintown.
Ever been throwing back a white tea shot (or four) at Drinker’s Pub at 19th and Chestnut Streets and found yourself wondering: “You know what would make this better? A slender strawberry-blonde ghost.”
Well, apparently, you wouldn’t be the only one. At an onstage Q&A in a respite from performing, singer-songwriter Audrey Hobert was asked: “If you could haunt any place, just some place, for the rest of your life, what would you choose?”
As she gripped a plastic water bottle sitting in front of a large speaker, Hobert, who grew up in L.A., smiled and contemplated.
“Such a great question,” responded Hobert, in a lime green zip-up and gym shorts. “I would probably haunt this bar in Philly which is where, during my song ‘Silver Jubilee,’ it’s like based on a real weekend in Philly in my life and that’s where we spent most of the weekend so I’d probably haunt that bar. It’s the best bar I’ve ever been to.”
The video capturing the moment was posted Sunday on TikTok and labeled as “audrey q+a in columbus.” It has since amassed more than 130,000 views.
Hobert didn’t go into detail about what made the experience so memorable other than spending time with friends and family and a mysterious man from Spain. But almost two years later, the neighborhood haunt (pun somewhat intended) still clearly holds a special place in her heart.
The “Sue Me” singer is in the midst of her “The Staircase to Stardom Tour,” which stopped in Philadelphia on June 10 at the Met.
An X (formerly Twitter) account that’s been around since 2017 has only ever had one question: Is LeBron James a 76er yet?
After having lost hope and gone dormant years back, the anonymous account has returned for what fans are calling “the greatest re-login” of all time.
It was a moment of redemption when @IsBronA76erYet came back online Friday. The user didn’t use words, but rather posted a popular GIF from the TV show BMF, where one of the main characters, Lamar, opens his eyes while on oxygen after waking from a coma. Millions of viewers knew exactly what they meant.
You see, not much is known about X user @IsBronA76erYet besides their fandom. X stats show the account was created in July 2017, is based in the United States, and follows only two accounts — take a wild guess who.
@IsBronA76erYet followed a format popular across Twitter accounts throughout the aughts. The “is [insert topic] XYZ yet” accounts were devoted to constantly answering a lingering question, usually in the pop culture realm, with a brief status update.
Know Your Meme has documented dozens of so-called “gimmick accounts” on Twitter over the years, with the earliest examples dating back to 2007, according to managing editor Zach Sweat.
Examples include “Is Winds of Winter out yet?” an account devoted to George R.R. Martin’s sixth novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, @knickswintrack, which follows if the Knicks have won, or “Is GTA 6 out yet?” which has been waiting since 2019 for the latest Grand Theft Auto installment.
“When these pop up dedicated to a specific event, most of the time they fizzle out or are forgotten when the thing they’re dedicated to never happens,” Sweat said. “However, when they do come true, people love digging them up and reviving them, and it’s always really funny seeing them come back to life and seeing how users react to them like they were an oracle or something.”
Over the course of @IsBronA76erYet’s lifespan, it would repeatedly just tweet: “No.”
There was a brief moment of hope for this devoted X user in August of 2017 when media outlets suggested James was done with the Cleveland Cavaliers. “No, but soon,” the account mused.
But in 2018, when James announced he was headed to the Los Angeles Lakers, the user took it like a dagger to the heart. “He never will be now,” the user tweeted on July 1, 2018. “Time to deactivate.” The account went quiet.
No. He never will be now. Time to deactivate
— Is Lebron A 76er Yet (@IsBronA76erYet) July 2, 2018
For years, fans speculated that James’ retirement from the league was imminent. Even James, the NBA’s oldest active player at 41, said there were moments he thought he was done, too.
“I was pretty sure I played my last game,” James said in a series of social media posts Friday morning. “I still truly love this game, and I have more to give.”
That’s when the figurative oxygen tank started hissing for this X user — or probably more likely, when they started fervently trying to find their old dormant account’s login information.
At 9 p.m. Friday, it was the tweet seen around the world.
Is LeBron A 76er Yet was back.
Their prophecy had been fulfilled. And the internet was there to see it.
— Is Lebron A 76er Yet (@IsBronA76erYet) July 25, 2026
The wordless post with the GIF has been viewed over 50 million times and has 1 million likes — more than the 400,000 or so likes for ESPN insider Shams Charania’s post breaking the news about James in the first place.
Users have been enamored with the account’s determination.
“One million likes from a non verified account who’s finally got Bron in Philly, after not tweeting for 7 years. We’ll never see this organic tweet ever again,” one user wrote. The account “rose from the ashes,” said another. “Remembering the password on an account you haven’t been able to use in eight years is worth the [likes] alone,” another remarked.
On Monday, @IsBronA76erYet posted again. This time, they wrote something they’ve never gotten to say before. One word, three letters. “Yes.”
Philly band Snacktime made its presence felt in a big way at the Newport Folk Festival over the weekend.
The 215 septet, which got its start busking in Rittenhouse Square during the pandemic, was all over the prestigious Rhode Island boutique festival, most notably guesting with Ms. Lauryn Hill.
It’s the band’s second straight year playing the fest that’s, of course, known for being where Bob Dylan went electric in 1965 and also for its smartly curated lineups and surprise mashups of artists.
On Friday, the band members — wearing their trademark black faux Sixers jerseys — joined Hill as the Fugees singer’s horn section, on “Doo Wop (That Thing),” from her 1998 classic album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which was released on Conshohocken’s Ruffhouse Records.
That day, they also played with Quinn of Mt. Joy — which has a date at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden on Sept. 25. On Saturday morning, the band played with Trousdale. Then later in the day, Snacktime joined Gilfillian for part of his “Sea to Shining Sea” music and storytelling initiative which the Morton, Pa., native put together with Newport Festival Foundation executive director Jay Sweet.
“Wow …. Unreal weekend. We don’t know what to say other than WE LOVE YOU ALL!!! Thank you @newportfolkfest for one of the best weekends of our lives,” the band said in an Instagram post showing a stage-eye view of a performance of its song “Together,” while heads nodded in the crowd and boats bobbed on Narragansett Bay.
As part of its busy weekend, the band members also posted an AI-generated photo of LeBron James wearing a Snacktime Sixers jersey.
Next, Snacktime is Chicago bound to play the Lollapalooza Festival (July 30 to Aug. 2), alongside acts like Charli XCX, Olivia Dean, and Lorde. They’ll also be joining Gilfillian on tour for dates around the U.S. in September and October.
A long, long time ago (Friday) in a galaxy far, far away (California), representatives of the Franklin Institute and Lucasfilm released details about the science museum’s upcoming world premiere exhibit, Star Wars: The Experience, during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con.
From getting frozen in carbonite next to Han Solo to walking through Queen Amidala’s throne room, the 18,000-square-foot exhibition will feature a variety of interactive elements and displays across several interconnected galleries, according to a news release.
The immersive fan experience, which debuts in February, is timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first film released in the sci-fi saga, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
During the “Making of Star Wars: The Experience”panel at Comic-Con — which was moderated by Ashley Eckstein, who voices Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars’ animated series — official renderings and details about the exhibit were released for the first time.
An artist’s rendering of what “Queen Amidala’s Throne Room” will look like at the upcoming exhibit, “Star Wars: The Experience,” at the Franklin Institute in 2027.Courtesy of MDSX
According to the news release, displays and interactive features of Star Wars: The Experience will include:
“Queen Amidala’s Throne Room”: In an exhibit dedicated to costume design in the Star Wars galaxy, guests will walk through a room of “suspended fabric and projection” resembling the queen’s throne room while surrounded by Star Wars costumes, costume art, and stories from the franchise’s costume designers.
“Wireframe Worlds”: In this gallery, fans will get a look at the blueprint and sketch designs behind some of Star Wars most famous sets and vehicles. The display will be anchored by a wireframe TIE fighter and surrounded by diagrams of Star Wars spaceships.
An artist’s rendering of the “Wireframe Worlds” gallery at “Star Wars: The Experience,” which is coming to the Franklin Institute in February 2027.Courtesy of MDSX
“Carbon Freeze Capture”: Billed as a “dramatic, photo-ready moment,” this display will feature a full-scale Han Solo encased in carbonite flanked by two stations where visitors can undergo their own “carbon freeze sequence.”
“50 Years of Star Wars”: More than 90 rare and vintage Star Wars action figures and prototypes from Kenner, Hasbro, and other manufacturers will be featured in a gallery about premium collectibles.
The Franklin Institute previously announced that a variety of rare artifacts used in the films — like Darth Vader’s costume and Darth Maul’s lightsaber — will be on display, along with various robots and aliens from the universe, like R2-D2 and Grogu.
Guests will also be equipped with RFID technology to interact with some of the displays and strengthen their alliance with the force, “culminating in a personalized finale moment,” the release said.
A promotional image for “Star Wars: The Experience,” which premieres February 2027 at the Franklin Institute.Courtesy of MDSX
Lynwen Brennan, copresident of Lucasfilm, called the exhibit a “testament to five decades of innovative storytelling.”
“As we mark the incredible milestone of the 50th anniversary of Star Wars, we wanted to develop something truly extraordinary — a space that honors both the visionary pioneers who built this galaxy, and the remarkable fan community at its heart,” Brennan said in the release.
Tickets for the experience, which runs from February to September 2027, go on sale in November. Following its run at the Franklin Institute, the exhibit will embark on a five-year tour of North America.
It’s a story about America’s founding that doesn’t begin in a Philadelphia state house — but on a rancid English slave ship sailing for Pennsylvania shores. It’s a story about the bustling slave auctions that once occupied the cobblestones outside the Old London Coffee House, while patriots plotted insurrection inside the Old City shop. A story about countless Black Philadelphians who sacrificed their own lives to a yellow fever epidemic — nursing dying victims and hauling the dead — to prove their worth to white Philadelphia residents.
Becoming American: Philadelphia’s Story, a new documentary now streaming on PBS.org, tells the story of Philadelphia and the creation of America through the lens and experiences of Black Philadelphians.
“At its core, this film is about people,” said executive producer Oliver St. Clair Franklin. “Those whose stories have too often gone untold — and the city that brought them together.”
While telling the story of America’s founding in its 250th year, the film stays firmly rooted in colonial Philadelphia neighborhoods, and the lives of lesser-known activists and artisans who shaped the republic — and the age.
People like Anthony Benezet, a French-born abolitionist who formed the African Free School out of his Chestnut Street home in 1770. Cyrus Bustill, a Revolutionary-era brewer and baker, who helped found the Philadelphia Free African Society. And the soaring lives of Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, pioneering Philadelphia abolitionists and rights leaders, both born into slavery.
“I wanted to tell the story that would connect African Americans to the founding era,” said Franklin, 80, scholar and former chief arts and cultural official for the city of Philadelphia. “In the process of doing this film, I realized that it will connect a lot of people to the founding because it’s a story of resistance and resilience.”
Franklin, who grew up in Baltimore, attended Lincoln University before earning a bachelor’s of philosophy in economics from Balliol College at University of Oxford in 1970. For years, he served as Philly’s chief British delegate.
Produced jointly with Bear House Media, a UK-based television production company, the film explores the nation’s origins through the racially diverse melting pot of colonial Philadelphia — its first makeshift capital and meeting points of cultures, ideas, and identities. And home to a vibrant free Black community fighting on the front lines for America’s freedom — and their own.
“I couldn’t have done this film 50 years ago,” said Franklin, crediting recent decades of research into the experiences of Revolutionary-Era Black Americans. “It makes it possible to tell a really coherent story — a human story — that touches everybody.”
In his film, bursting with Philly voices like historians Kelli Racine Barnes, a Mellon humanities postdoctoral fellow, and Emma Lapsansky-Werner, a visiting professor of history at Haverford College, those human stories are often about ordinary Philadelphians. Free, enslaved, Native, and immigrant people all doing extraordinary things for freedom.
“We focus on the lesser-known stories of individuals, whose dreams and challenges we explore at the ground level,” he said.
The final night of Shakira’s “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour: World Cup Edition” played out like a quasi-religious experience for 15,000 or so ecstatic date-night — and girls-night-out — fans at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City Saturday.
And the two-hour, 25-song performance by the irrepressibly dynamic Colombian entertainer on the short list of the biggest pop stars in the world came with its own 10 Commandments.
The 10 Commandments of the She-Wolf, that is.
That list of lupine words to live by was counted down as the singer hustled off for what was maybe her 10th costume change of the night — I lost count — after she had completed her pre-encore set.
It followed not one but two official World Cup anthems in “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” from 2010 and this year’s “Dai Dai,” a collaboration with Nigerian singer Burna Boy, which they performed together during the halftime show World Cup Final in East Rutherford, N.J., last weekend.
Shakira performs at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., in June. The Colombian pop star played the final show on her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour: World Cup Edition at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday night.Chris Polk
(For those seeking a deeper experience of “Dai Dai” — which is an Italian slang expression meaning “Come on” — a cocktail by that name made of tequila, Sprite, and pineapple was available on the concourse for $19 or in a supersized mason jar for $29.)
But back to the She-Wolf. “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” translates from Spanish to English — both of which Shakira sang in and used to address the crowd on Saturday — as “women no longer cry.”
The 2024 album that the tour is named for was largely inspired by the end of Shakira’s relationship with Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué.
And during the South Jersey La Lloran tour date, she repeated themes of female solidarity. Early in the evening she wore a metallic She-Wolf breastplate designed by Gaurav Gupta while singing an acoustic “Acróstica,” speaking of emerging post-breakup “a little bit wiser, a little bit stronger.”
Shakira performs at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., in June. The Colombian pop star played the final show on her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour: World Cup Edition at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday night.Chris Polk
But that turned out to be only a teaser of the She-Wolf to come.
For the encore, first the commandments were revealed, including “Do not suppress your wild nature,” “Howl, for no one can silence you,” and “Protect and care for your pack above all else.”
Then, a giant inflatable and impressively lifelike wolf named Isabel emerged on stage, as a physical manifestation of the spirit animal of the headlining dynamo, who is 5 feet 2.
Isabel stood approximately 10 times that height, fitting comfortably beneath the 137-foot barrel-vaulted ceiling at the nearly 100-year-old Boardwalk Hall — a great place to see a show, and an intimate one by the standards of Shakira, who usually plays ginormous outdoor stadiums — shooting blue laser lights from her eyes into the crowd.
Shakira performs at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., in June. The Colombian pop star played the final show on her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour: World Cup Edition at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday night.Chris Polk
Meanwhile, Shakira moved about the room in a shimmery bodysuit with her six-woman dance team. (She also had four male dancers who, among other things, dressed as furry tigers and wore pink shorts to accompany her on “Zoo,” from the 2016 Disney animated movie Zootopia, in which she played the pop star Gazelle. She introduced that song, asking: “Are you ready for some surrealism?“)
When Shakira works a room, it’s with more intensity than most. The encore included both her 2009 disco hit “She Wolf” and “BZRP Music Session #53,” her 2023 single with Argentine producer Bizarrap.
The singer and dancer moved up and down the aisles of Boardwalk Hall, fearlessly pressing the flesh with fans, taking selfies, and in one case kissing a baby who, thankfully, was outfitted with giant noise-canceling headphones. When it was all said and done, customized confetti fell from the sky: faux $100 bills, with Shakira’s face on them.
Phew! It’s tiring just to write about how much energy Shakira puts into her show. Over the course of the evening, fronting a five-piece band that seemed to rely on triggering prerecorded parts at many junctures in recreating reggaeton or Afro-pop beats, she played acoustic and electric guitar. She also briefly got behind the drum kit on “Can’t Remember to Forget You.”
And of course, the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer shimmies, shakes, twerks, and gyrates on a level that is unparalleled among aerobic pop performers. A friend of mine commented online: “As my wife said, she moved parts of her body I didn’t even know existed!”
Shakira performs at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., in June. The Colombian pop star played the final show on her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour: World Cup Edition at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday night.Chris Polk
And indeed, with a runway extending halfway out onto the Boardwalk Hall floor, Shakira had ample opportunity to strut her stuff. At one point, there was pole dancing onstage, and also an odd pas de deux with a robot lover.
But while Shakira is certainly sexy, the crowd-pleasing presentation comes across as more wholesome than erotic. Even during the extended belly dancing on her 1998 hit “Ojos Asi” in which the singer — whose father is of Lebanese heritage — celebrated her Arabic roots, she nodded and winked to the audience, keeping the mood more lighthearted and playful than sultry.
That vibe carried through the evening, from when she first appeared in a shiny silver spacesuit that was soon discarded to an interlude when a mermaid iteration of the singer on a giant video screen appeared to pound on the glass of a fish tank in an effort to break through and free herself. Of course, she succeeded, because nothing can stop Shakira.
Shakira performs at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., in June. The Colombian pop star played the final show on her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour: World Cup Edition at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday night.Chris Polk
When art world veteran Daniel H. Weiss took over the Philadelphia Museum of Art in December, he quickly recruited a new team, including a chief financial officer and chief fundraiser. That team has begun to assess the museum’s financial condition and what can be done about it.
The picture that is emerging is not a pretty one.
Preliminary figures seen by The Inquirer show that the museum ran a deficit of about $10 million on a budget of $76.5 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
That is on top of a deficit of $5.4 million for the year before, and leaders say the outlook does not promise to improve soon. For the fiscal year that has just begun, the museum anticipates the deficit will be comparable to last year’s $10 million, but in planning the budget the museum has outlined the possibility that it could be as high as $15.9 million.
The shortfalls are the museum’s largest in recent history, leaders say.
Weiss said the museum’s financial situation is “substantial, but solvable.”
“I have no doubt that we will have a balanced budget in about three years,” he said, “but we have real work to do to get there.”
Financial pressures are not threatening the museum’s ability to remain open, but the run of red ink cannot continue. The museum is covering the deficits by drawing on a pool of money that includes cash and reserves — sometimes referred to as quasi-endowment — whose use was not restricted by donors for any specific purpose.
“The way I would describe it is, we have a savings account for rainy days. We’re spending it,” Weiss said. “We need to stop doing that.”
Daniel H. Weiss, director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, at the museum in January.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The museum’s struggle to right its finances comes as it faces some urgent needs and considers the fate of key projects. Among the unsettled questions is how to pay for deferred maintenance to both the main building and the Perelman building, the annex to the north that was closed to the public during the pandemic and never reopened.
The combined cost of work on the two buildings has a preliminary price tag of around $300 million.
As for a much sexier project, the museum’s much-trumpeted expansion envisioned by architect Frank Gehry: That will have to wait. Given the current challenges, the ambitious idea of carving out new spaces beneath the east terrace continues to be on hold; the timeline is uncertain.
“It is not, at this time, appropriate for us to be evaluating the feasibility of a very substantial new capital project which would be required to implement the Gehry plan,” Weiss said. “We need to determine the priorities and sequencing of capital work that needs to be done. And over the long term, we need to figure out what this institution can afford in a sustainable way.”
The famed architect died late last year.
The priority now is ringing the alarm that all is not well at one of the city’s two largest arts groups (the other being the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts) and rallying support around a rescue plan.
Weiss said:
“We want to be transparent and we want to be accessible to people, and they have a right to know — it’s their institution. But we don’t want to do it in a way that turns people away. It’s just an institution that needs repair. So how to tell that story is part of what we have to work on.”
The polychrome high-relief sculpture on the north pediment of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The high-relief sculpture depicts 13 figures from classical mythology.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Ambitions despite deficit
The pool of money is finite, and the museum would like to stop tapping its reserves as quickly as possible. Instead of funding the deficit, it could be helping grow the nest egg.
Referring to what is being spent this year alone to cover the deficit, Weiss said:
“That’s $10 million of assets earning at least 5% a year till the end of time we’re foregoing. We’ll never get that back.”
And yet the museum does not expect to balance its budget this year or next.
“We anticipate getting within shouting distance of a balanced budget within three years. We don’t have the luxury of taking longer,” Weiss said.
Even as it struggles, the museum has not shelved ambitious projects. The idea of creating a new learning and engagement center on the north side of the museum is still very much in play, Weiss said. Design development for the facility could begin within a year.
Blockbuster exhibitions like the 1982 show of Nigerian art seen by 197,000 visitors or the Cézanne retrospective in 1996 that drew 548,741 are hard to come by, but the museum is working on a number of shows that it believes would draw 100,000-plus visitors each.
“We will have exhibitions that will be of very significant public interest that will draw large numbers that will be exciting and powerful,” said Weiss, who declined to give specifics on the exhibits.
The Perelman building, an annex to the Philadelphia Museum of Art containing exhibition galleries, offices, conservation labs, and the museum library.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
About the future of the nearby Perelman building, Weiss said the museum is searching for ideas.
On the one hand, the highly decorated art deco structure contains the library, art conservation studios, and administrative offices for which there is no space in the main building. On the other, the costs of operating and maintaining it are high. It is more building than is needed, and the location across two busy streets limits the number of visitors who will make the trip to reach it.
A revenue stream that’s been flat
The museum’s new leadership has analyzed finances from the last 10 to 12 years — a period that includes the pandemic, plus the periods before and after — and determined that the deficit is the result of a revenue stream that has not grown much, while expenses have.
“Functional revenue — contributions, admissions, membership, and earned revenue — has grown by only 0.3%, effectively flat,” said Mitchell Wein, the museum’s executive vice president and chief financial and operating officer.
The museum has not fully yet developed a plan for reversing the trend, but is “modeling lots of scenarios and coming up with the best approach on how to do that,” Wein said.
“Part of this process is evaluating everything. Everything is on the table,” Weiss said.
Reducing expenses in some areas will be considered, but that cannot be the only answer.
“We also know we need to focus on revenue generation and supporting the museum for the long term,” Wein said.
But revenue from where?
‘Miners’ Wives’ (right) by Ben Shahn and ‘The End of the War, Starting Home’ by Horace Pippin in the ‘A Nation of Artists’ show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Six keys to securing solvency
Ticket sales is one obvious place to look, but a big boost from admission is probably not in the cards. The museum once aspired to attract a million visitors a year, but that goal was floated before the pandemic, and the museum has not yet recovered its pre-COVID numbers.
This past fiscal year, the forecast called for 731,000 visitors; 672,753 showed up.
So the goal for next year has been adjusted down to 705,000, which the museum feels is more realistic. Attendance was 773,511 in the last full year before the pandemic.
The museum’s difficulty in coming back from the pandemic is not unusual. Over half (55%) of U.S. museums of all kinds were reporting lower attendance in 2025 than in 2019, according to a report from the American Alliance of Museums.
Daniel H. Weiss, director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, looking out onto the museum’s east terrace.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Weiss says the museum needs to focus on six key areas to achieve solvency:
Optimizing endowment income.
Boosting earned revenue, including income from retail, restaurants, special events and membership, and admissions. “Each of those needs to be examined to determine what’s possible,” he said.
Evaluating how much can be brought in through philanthropy.
Working toward more city and state government support. “We want to try to make the case to them that a larger investment in these facilities is in everybody’s best interests, and that’s a work in progress.”
Reviewing the operating budget. “The operating budget can be improved, but there’s not a ton of opportunity for us, for example, to lay people off. Our staffing levels are already down. We don’t think that’s the answer. But there are certain things we can cut and manage better or maybe outsource or streamline to improve the operating budget.”
Assessing programs, such as making better and more economical use of the Perelman building.
“If you add all of those things up and we do all of those things — even if we don’t also find a private equity guy who falls in love with us who’s going to give us $100 million — we’re going to balance our budget,” Weiss said.
Hundred million-dollar gifts may or may not be in the future, but the suggestion raises a salient question being pondered by leaders: What is the fundraising capacity of the museum?
“How much can that be, how much can we raise? I don’t know,” Weiss said. “What is this city set up to do? Most of the people who give money to an institution like this are local. So what is the philanthropic opportunity for one of the leading cultural institutions in this city?”
What Weiss is sure of is that fundraising depends on resetting the profile of an institution known more recently for organizational turmoil than for success.
“People who invest in an organization at lower levels as members, at higher levels as donors or major philanthropists, they always invest in winning organizations, and they rarely invest money to remediate problems. And one legacy I would like to leave is that we become an organization that’s known for being really good at what we do.
“The positive is a world-class institution with a great collection. If we can’t figure this out, then we’re the wrong people. It’s just not that hard.”
