Exploring the arc and range of the pioneering French American artist, who died in 1968, the show features 300 of Duchamp’s paintings, sculpture, film, photography, printed matter, design, and his unclassifiable works known as “readymades.”
After showing at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the PMA show will run from Oct. 10 through Jan. 31, 2027. It includes Duchamp’s most celebrated creations, including his 1912 painting, Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2), and his avant-garde masterpiece created between 1915 and 1923, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. On hand will be Duchamp’s last major art piece, Étant donnés, a 1966 experiential assemblage he had been working on in secret and intended for the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
“This is a once-in-a-50-years project,” said Philadelphia Museum of Art curator Matthew Affron.
‘Greatest collections’
The monumental show also marks an opportunity to celebrate the museum’s preeminent relationship with Duchamp — and its lasting legacy and impact on the modern art world. No other art institution in the world has deeper Duchamp roots than the PMA, where the artist first helped install his works in 1954.
Questioning the very definition of what art could be — he believed any ordinary object could be recontextualized as art — Duchamp broke the rules. But the artistic anarchist also maintained a decidedly rigid belief that his work should remain together on permanent display — in a monumental museum.
Duchamp played a critical role in making Philadelphia that home.
Philadelphia Museum of Art curator Matthew Affron in the Duchamp gallery on March 4.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
After leaving Paris and its WWI-era artistic repression and moving to New York in 1915, the artist befriended patrons Louise and Walter Arensberg. With Duchamp’s careful guidance, the couple would amass the most fulsome collection of his works, and those of his contemporaries, anywhere.
By the 1950s, Duchamp and his patrons had negotiated with museums, from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to the National Gallery in Washington, before being wooed by the PMA’s forward-looking director, Sidney Fiske Kimball.
Recognizing Duchamp’s boundary-busting potential, Kimball offered what Duchamp wanted: space and control. Lots of it.
“By the 1950s, Duchamp was becoming a forefather for modern artists,” said Affron. “Fiske was determined to be able to place a major section of modern art within the building.”
Kimball displayed the Arensbergs’ gifted collection in a wing of the still-unfinished museum building on the Parkway, which he helped open in 1928.
Along with other abstract and cubist works, the Arensberg collection helped form the foundation of the Philadelphia Museum of Art for 75 years.
“It’s one of the greatest collections of modern art in an art museum,” Affron said.
Legacy shaping pairing
The unusually intimate relationship between artist and institution — the museum’s permanent display includes 200 Duchamp works and extensive archives — helped shape the artist’s legacy and established the Philadelphia Museum of Art as an essential destination for modern art pilgrims.
Under Duchamp’s direction, the museum initially displayed his works alongside those of contemporaries, like Picasso, Juan Gris, Piet Mondrian, Georges Braque, and Francis Picabia. Many of those works, also amassed by the Arensbergs, were on display at the museum’s temporary show, “Marcel Duchamp, Curator,” which ran through July 12.
Curating the forthcoming retrospective with MoMA collaboration with the Centre Pompidou, Affron said he strove to present a faithful chronology of Duchamp’s work, including replica versions of his own art that he produced later in life.
“One of the game-changing things Duchamp did was put into the question the value of original works of art,” Affron said. “He found a way of working between the originals and copies and when you lay his work out, you start to get a very interesting echo effect.”
It only makes sense for it all to be back at Duchamp’s spiritual home — the Philadelphia Museum of Art, he said.
“We are doing our job of taking care of his legacy,” the curator said.
“Marcel Duchamp” runs Oct. 10 through Jan. 31, 2027, at Main Building, Dorrance Galleries and Galleries 281-283, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, philamuseum.org
Like a lot of great art, the sculptor Donna Dodson’s latest work was born of childhood trauma.
Growing up in the Midwest, Dodson would play chess with her older brother on a beautiful, hand-carved onyx chess set gifted to them by their grandparents — the siblings engaging in long, heated battles, again and again.
And again and again, Dodson would inevitably fall short.
“The humiliation of always losing created kind of a fire in me,” the 58-year-old, Massachusetts-based artist joked recently in a phone interview.“I think me making this chess set is somehow reclaiming my agency and dignity,” she said, referring to her art Match of the Matriarchs, which is a 24-by-24-foot chess set.
The set, which appears in an exhibition of the same name at the Museum for Art in Wood, has the artist turning her attention to one of the world’s oldest games, examining — through the lens of chess — power, matriarchy, and the role of women in society.
The exhibition is centered on a life-size, 32-piece chess set — all the pieces are women and range from roughly four feet to six feet in height. Dodson handcrafted them from salvaged wood.
The pieces sit atop a massive board that will involve some kind of interactive element — the details of which are still being finalized before the show opens in November.
Including what is believed to be the world’s only life-size chess set featuring all women pieces, the show aims to “transform the traditionally hierarchical game into a speculative arena of matriarchal power and ecological symbolism,” according to the museum’s program notes.
“Minotaur,” a 31-inch-tall piece from sculptor Donna Dodson’s upcoming exhibit “Match of the Matriarchs” at Philadelphia’s Museum for Art in Wood.Brian Wilson
“By placing the feminine at the forefront of a game so deeply associated with power, conflict, and hierarchy, Dodson asks us to reconsider its origins — and to wonder what may have been lost as the game evolved over time,” said Jennifer-Navva Milliken, executive director and chief curator at the Museum for Art in Wood.
A second, smaller chess set — on a board roughly 12 feet by 12 feet — will be fully interactive, with visitors encouraged to stage their own matches, moving the pieces as their strategies demand.
“By playing a game, or inviting viewers to come in and rearrange [the] art work, it creates a new art work every time,” Dodson said.
In addition to Dodson’s work, the show will include about nine other artistic chess sets — including one designed by famed Pennsylvania artist Wharton Esherick, as well as a micro-set with pieces that can only be moved using tweezers.
Prior to its debut at the Museum for Art in Wood, Dodson’s piece was on display at the Boston Sculptors Gallery and, most recently, at the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis — though the Philadelphia version will include expanded programming.
From candy striper to artist
Dodson was never the artsy kid in school, she says. She attended Wellesley College in New England with plans of becoming a doctor, even working as a candy striper for a time. Her medical ambitions dwindled as she began to take to art in her mid-20s, along with her childhood love for chess.
It wasn’t until she met Joseph Wheelwright, the noted Boston sculptor who would go on to become her mentor and teach her woodworking, that she returned to the game.
Wheelwright, who died in 2016, would ask her to play during lunch breaks, and though he, too, would “clobber” Dodson — even while handicapping himself by taking several of his pieces off the board — the matches no doubt served as inspiration for Match of the Matriarch, she said.
In Philadelphia, Dodson has found a fitting setting for her exhibit.
The city is home to Jennifer Shahade, an author and three-time national chess champion, whoseartwork will also be featured in the exhibit.
“She has created a number of conceptual works and videos that recontextualize chess and chess sets as art,” Dodson said.
The exhibition also coincides with the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s presentation from Marcel Duchamp — an artist famously infatuated with the game of chess who also occasionally incorporated the game into his work.
The Museum for Art in Wood exhibit comes on the heels, meanwhile, of a worldwide resurgence in the game spurred by both the pandemic and the 2020 release of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, which starred Anya Taylor-Joy and drove a wave of new interest in chess, particularly among girls and women.
“Tomboy,” a 42-inch-tall piece from sculptor Donna Dodson’s upcoming exhibit “Match of the Matriarchs.”Brian Wilson
Dodson partakes in some form of chess daily, playing a weekly game in Maynard, Mass., where she now lives, as well as online.
“I’ve become much more knowledgeable about the current chess community, what’s going on in the chess world, and have met some of the real-life champions in chess, which is all super exciting,” she said.
Dodson, who will be present Nov. 7 for an artist talk at the museum, said she hopes the game’s universal charm will make the exhibit accessible to a wide audience.
“I think a lot of people don’t feel comfortable going into art museums — they don’t feel that they know enough [about art] or whatever,” she said. “So I think the whole chess theme is very accessible — there’s a whole worldwide chess community of people who play for fun, play as a hobby, their kids play, their grandfather plays.”
“Donna Dodson: Match of the Matriarchs” runs Nov. 6 through March 21, 2027, at Museum for Art in Wood, 141 N. 3rd St., Philadelphia. museumforartinwood.org
The invitation to visit sculptor Zenos Frudakis’ studio arrived unexpectedly in my inbox this summer, soon after I included his Freedom sculpture in The Inquirer’s 76 neighborhood gems article.
I’ve always thought the 20-foot bronze piece, on Vine Street near 16th, depicting a human figure breaking free of a wall in four stages, with the final figure on the sidewalk, his arms outstretched and face lifted, makes our city a more interesting place.
Artist Zenos Frudakis’ “Freedom” sculpture on Vine Street near 16th in Center City. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
“I think on my deathbed, if I’m conscious, I’ll think about that piece,” Frudakis, 75, later told me. “That’s something that I’ve done that I feel good about.”
In this 2004 file photo, Mike Schmidt helps unveil the Mike Schmidt statue outside of the third base entrance to Citizens Bank Park on opening day. Sculptor Zenos Frudakis, center, was also on hand for the unveiling. Jerry Lodriguss
It was only after I accepted the invitation and was researching for our interview that I realized Frudakis also created one of the most divisive pieces of public art in Philadelphia history: the statue of highly controversial former mayor and police commissioner Frank Rizzo.
Flooded with art and light
When I arrived at Frudakis’ Glenside studio I was met by his business partner and co-owner of his studio, Rosalie Frudakis. She’s also his best friend and ex-wife (it’s not just Frudakis’ sculptures that are complicated).
Entering the 275-year-old renovated carriage house behind the artist’s home, I was captivated by how the space was flooded with art and light. Frudakis’ 7-foot statues of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine, still in clay, dominated the center of the room, along with similarly sized sculptures of musicians Bobby Rydell and Don McLean. Busts of historical figures by Frudakis lined the shelves and poster-size pictures of his many commissions papered the walls.
Zenos Frudakis in his studio. To the left of Frudakis is a sculpture of Thomas Paine he’s working on and to the right, is his sculpture of Benjamin Franklin. Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Frudakis told me he’s juggling a dozen commissions right now, including two full-size replicas of his Freedom sculpture — destined for where, he won’t say, but he promises it’s exciting. He often works until 2 a.m. in his studio with his cat, Mr. Gray, and hopes that sculpting will lengthen his life. After all, his older half brother — noted sculptor EvAngelos Frudakis, who made The Signer statue at Fifth and Chestnut Streets — lived to be 97 and sculpted right up to the end.
For three hours, Frudakis and I talked about his childhood growing up in a Greek family in Gary, Ind., where his first sculptures were made with his mother’s bread dough; about his move to Philly in 1972 on a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; and about his commitment to reading because, if Leonardo da Vinci spent time studying every day, he figured he should, too.
“I wasn’t going to let anybody outwork me or have more knowledge if I could … because that’s your resource, that’s where your ideas come from,” he said.
A puzzle piece featuring Albert Einstein is part of a project that Zenos Frudakis is working on in his Glenside studio.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
As if to make his point, Frudakis quoted more than a dozen authors and philosophers by name during our chat including: Albert Camus, T.S. Eliot, Aristotle, D.H. Lawrence, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
He spoke of science and reason, of being a humanist and of the balance between the emotional and cerebral. He talked about life as a working artist, of the commissions he took and the pieces he created. And he spoke of how history is not set in stone, even for a sculptor.
“You live long enough and sometimes pieces come down,” he said.
A pachyderm and people
Frudakis’ first public large-scale commission was in 1982 for a bronze sculpture of a boy riding an elephant in the now-shuttered Burlington Center Mall.
Sculptor Zenos Frudakis looks over his first commissioned piece at the now-closed Burlington Center Mall in Burlington, N.J., in 2018.DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
In the following years, commissions came for busts of W. Wilson Goode, the city’s first Black mayor, and Joseph E. Coleman, the first Black president of City Council.
In 1989, Frudakis did a commissioned bust of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, and traveled there to present it while the country was still under apartheid. It’s one of many commissioned busts he’s done of King, including a 4-foot bronze one for MLK Park in Chester.
Sculptor Zenos Frudakis in his Glenside studio with the plasticine bust of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that was cast in bronze for the city of Chester in 2010.
It wasn’t until 1994 that Frudakis received his first commission for a public, full-body sculpture of a person in a suit, from the Frank L. Rizzo Monument Committee.
“That’s most commissions that you get, a person who does my kind of work, is men in suits. And the hardest one to get is the first job,” he said.
‘I survived another day’
Rizzo was a polarizing figure as police commissioner (1967-1971) and mayor (1972-1980), and the controversy has only grown since his death in 1991. While some praised his law-and-order style, many see his tenure as an era of unchecked police brutality that targeted members of the Black and LGBTQ+ communities.
But back in the 1990s, the Philadelphia Art Commission approved a public sculpture of Rizzo, which was paid for by private funds. After some controversy about its placement — backers wanted it in a more prominent place like LOVE Park — it was unveiled in 1999 on the steps of the Municipal Services Building.
Sculptor Zenos Frudakis, left, looks on as Rizzo’s statue is placed on the steps of the Municipal Services Building ahead of its unveiling in 1999.Eric Mencher
In 2016, amid the Black Lives Matter movement, a petition began circulating for the statue’s removal and in the following years, it became a lightning rod for civil rights protests and was repeatedly defaced.
But it wasn’t until the civil rights protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020, when then-Mayor Jim Kenney called the statue “a deplorable monument to racism, bigotry, and police brutality,” that it was removed. It remains in storage.
Protesters attempt to burn and bring down the Frank Rizzo statue outside of the Municipal Services Building in Center City during a protest against the death of George Floyd in 2020.HEATHER KHALIFA / Staff Photographer
While I’ve received plenty of hate mail in my career, I can’t imagine having a piece of my work so publicly reviled.
Throughout our chat, I tried to ask Frudakis indirectly about the statue — were there any sculptures he struggled with? Any lessons he’s learned from his career?
But he didn’t take the bait.
Finally, at the end of our interview, I asked him about the Rizzo statue. He wasn’t taken aback and in no way tried to skirt my questions. I felt he answered honestly, even if, at times, he seemed conflicted.
Frudakis told me that when the work was commissioned, he had second thoughts — he didn’t vote for Rizzo, and has always been concerned with civil rights and social issues. But the statue was going to be built one way or another, he figured, and he needed the work.
“I got to do a lot of sculptures because I did that [commission],” he said, adding that the Phillies chose him for their ballpark sculptures because of the Rizzo statue.
“I survived another day as an artist.”
‘A weird blip’
Frudakis says he agrees with the Rizzo statue being removed, for safety reasons. He didn’t want protesters to get hurt trying to topple it. “I made sure I put it in so it couldn’t be pulled out very easily,” he said.
But if he had his way, he’d have liked the statue to have remained up, placed next to a statue of a prominent Philly civil rights leader, like the late Rev. Leon Sullivan, to promote education and dialogue.
“If you take it down, they’re not gonna learn anything. People who love him will still love him. People who hate him will still hate him,” he said.
The statue of former Philadelphia Mayor Rizzo is removed from the Municipal Services Building in 2020. Courtesy NBC10
I came to Philly in 2007, and I didn’t really learn about what happened under Rizzo’s tenure until the protests ramped up around the statue. I agree with its removal, but I have to wonder if I would’ve ever learned so much about that dark chapter in Philly’s history if the statue was never there at all.
One of the last things Frudakis said to me before I left was: “I’ve tried to make up for the Rizzo statue.”
Should he have to? Should I feel torn now about my love for his other work? I called up Conrad Benner, founder of the Streets Dept, a local media organization focused on public art. I remembered the popular videos he did in 2024 with Frudakis at the Freedom sculpture and wanted to get his thoughts on the Rizzo statue too.
“It’s this really weird blip in his career. It seems like everything he’s done since then and probably before then supported maybe a clearer vision of what he’d like to see in the world,” Benner said. “My impression was he was young, he made a decision, and then his career grew and he got more opportunity to have more control over his work.”
Benner pointed out that it’s very uncommon to create bronze monuments to people who’ve lived recently and that Philadelphia doesn’t have any other statues of its mayors.
“You might think the monuments in your city and country are some representation of true history when really they are the culmination of powerful and cultural interests,” Benner said.
“But we get to choose. Every generation gets to choose. We don’t have to inherit anything, whether that be a political dynasty, tax policy, or a monument. Just because they’re on a podium doesn’t mean we can’t change them.”
‘A one-man show’
A year after the Rizzo statue was unveiled, Frudakis’ Freedom sculpture was installed on the exterior of what was then GlaxoSmithKline and is now the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School.
It was a piece born of his own heart and mind. It was the kind of work that taking commissions for other less passionate projects made possible.
“I had to do something more philosophical and poetic for myself,” Frudakis said.
When I thought about our conversation later, I couldn’t help but wonder if in some ways, for Frudakis, the figure in Freedom symbolized his own desire to break free of the art that pays the bills for the art that fills the soul.
Zenos Frudakis’ “Freedom” sculpture on Vine Street near 16th in Center City. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
“It’s not an accident that my favorite piece, my most popular piece by far, is the one that I got the most freedom to do,” he said.
Frudakis sculpted Freedom on a small scale, but he had to get the 20-foot-long version commissioned by GlaxoSmithKline in order to cast it in bronze. When he scaled it up, Frudakis decided to get weird with it.
Details in Zenos Frudakis’ “Freedom” sculpture include part of a face and a cast of the artist’s hand with a sculpting tool. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
“Since I was having trouble getting in a gallery in Philadelphia, [I decided] that I would put about 20 pieces of mine in the background so I’d have a one-man show that was ongoing,” he said.
Among the many Easter eggs Frudakis hid within Freedom are a self-portrait, a cast of his hands with a sculpting tool, and a sculpture of his cat’s head. One of my favorite details is carved into the empty space where the final figure has broken free from the wall. There, the words STAND HERE are written, inviting you to become a part of the piece.
The words “STAND HERE” appear in an empty space in Zenos Frudakis’ “Freedom” sculpture, inviting the viewer to become a part of the piece. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Photos of Freedom have appeared in self-help and scholarly books and it has been cited as one of the most fascinating sculptures in the world by Architectural Digest.
“It’s the most personal sculpture I’ve ever done and it’s the most universal,” Frudakis said.
‘It was creating me’
Of course there are other pieces Frudakis is proud of — his sculpture for the National Air Force Memorial Honor Guard in Washington, D.C.; a statue of Nina Simone in Tyrone, N.C., that includes some of her ashes; and a sculpture of Clarence Darrow at the Tennessee courthouse where the Scopes Monkey Trial was held.
The statues of Franklin and Paine he’s working on now are intended for the U.S. Capitol building and the National Mall, respectively. If pending legislation to approve their placement is ever passed (both were first proposed years ago), the bronze castings will be paid for with private funds, Frudakis said.
Artist Zenos Frudakis in his studio working on his sculpture of Thomas Paine. Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
With an oeuvre of work behind him and his larger-than-life-size bronze figures fetching $400,000 or more today, Frudakis now has the freedom to do statues and commissions he truly believes in.
Frudakis still has sculptures he wants to create for himself too. He dreams of doing one of Hypatia, a female scientist from ancient Greece who was “murdered by religious zealots who tore her whole body apart.” He’s got busts of Amelia Earhart in his studio that he’d love to see in bronze someday. And like he did with Freedom, Frudakis wants to tackle another big human concept through his work — time.
One of the subtle details in Zenos Frudakis’ “Freedom” sculpture. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Just like every story I’ve ever written forged me into the journalist I am today, even those that make me cringe in hindsight (and there are plenty), every sculpture Frudakis created made him the artist he is now, including the Rizzo statue.
But I don’t think any of his pieces has had a more profound effect on the landscape of Philadelphia, or people around the world, than the one that had the most profound effect on him as well.
“I was a different person when I finished my Freedom sculpture. I wasn’t just creating it, it was creating me,” he said.
The final figure breaks free in Zenos’ Frudakis “Freedom” sculpture. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Fall is the best time of year to explore Philadelphia’s theater scene, with local stages upping the ante on their programming. This season is full of family drama; from rival brothers in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog to father-daughter clashes in the world premiere of Horsegirl & Cowdaddy.
We’ll also see big-name Broadway tours (Mamma Mia!, Operation Mincemeat) and a dance-fueled new musical (A Beat of Our Own), along with spooky stories right in time for Halloween (The Addams Family, Misery).
Local theaters are also examining social issues this autumn: Feminism takes center stage with the Philadelphia premiere of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize-winner Liberation and a contemporary twist on a 17th-century play called Witch. Additionally, in #CHARLOTTESVILLE, an immigrant playwright explores the rise of white supremacy through a verbatim play based on interviews with community members in Virginia.
These are 10 shows we want to see this fall, paired with suggestions on drink and dining options near each respective theater.
Suzan-Lori Parks (second from left) and members of the company of “Topdog/Underdog” accept the award for best revival of a play at the 76th annual Tony Awards on June 11, 2023, at the United Palace theater in New York. Charles Sykes
‘Topdog/Underdog’
Sept. 16-Oct. 18, People’s Light
Oct. 29-Dec. 13, Arden Theatre Company
An American classic will be staged at two theaters in separate runs this season in a rare coproduction between Malvern’s People’s Light and Old City’s Arden. This Pulitzer Prize-winning play from the prolific and incisive dramatist Suzan-Lori Parks follows two Black brothers, Lincoln and Booth, with a complicated relationship that is both competitive and interdependent. Booth (played by West Philly-raised actor George McGriff) scams and steals to get money while Lincoln (notable Philly star Akeem Davis) works at an arcade where he dons white face and reenacts the assassination of the president for whom he’s named.
People’s Light, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, 610-644-3500 or peopleslight.org, Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St., Philadelphia, 215-922-1122 or ardentheatre.org
Actor Samora de la Brisa, actor Ni-Ni, director Adil Mansoor, playwright DJ Hills, and actor Lindsay Smiling pose in front of the Wilma Theater following the first rehearsal for the world premiere of ‘Horsegirl & Cowdaddy,’ running Sept. 22 through Oct. 4.Courtesy of Wilma Theater
‘Horsegirl & Cowdaddy’
Sept. 22-Oct. 4, Wilma Theater
Philly poet/playwright DJ Hills — a queer and trans artist from Franklin County, Pa. — penned a new play that will have its world premiere at the Wilma before transferring to New York’s Soho Rep next year. Set in a small and rural Pennsylvania town, the story centers on a 30-something trans woman named Horsegirl who still lives at home with her father, Cowdaddy. A newfound love leads to an unexpected change that threatens to upend her life. Puerto Rican actor and singer/songwriter Samora de la Brisa stars as Horsegirl while veteran actor Lindsay Smiling, who was recently named the Wilma’s sole artistic director, plays Cowdaddy.
Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, 215-546-7824 or wilmatheater.org
Restaurant recs: Order a Southern-tinged feast at Kitchen & Kocktails, whose menu includes fried green tomatoes, shrimp and grits with lobster tail, chicken and a wide array of waffles, and peach cobbler.
‘The Addams Family: The Musical’
Sept. 22-Nov. 1, Walnut Street Theatre
The morbidly moody teen Wednesday Addams is about to do the scariest thing imaginable: introduce her eccentric family to her “normal” boyfriend and his parents. The young couple soon realize they aren’t the only ones with relationship problems as their parents — yes, even the eternally head-over-heels Gomez and Morticia — stumble into their own conflicts following a discomfiting dinner. With music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, the popular musical features everyone’s favorite spooky relatives, including Uncle Fester, Lurch, and Thing. (Plus there’s a special showing on Halloween.)
Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., Philadelphia, 215-574-3550 or walnutstreettheatre.org
Restaurant recs: Hi-Lo Taco Co. is one of the family- (and budget-) friendliest options in Washington Square West, and the tacos and margs couldn’t be tastier. If you’re looking for something funkier, try Dara, featured in the 2025 edition of The 76, for its deft touch with a range of Thai dishes.
Jalynn Steele (Tanya), Carly Sakolove (Rosie), and Jessica Crouch (Donna Sheridan) in “Mamma Mia!” The show runs Sept. 29 -Oct. 4 at the Academy of Music.Joan Marcus
‘Mamma Mia!’
Sept. 29-Oct. 4, Academy of Music
One of the longest-running shows in Broadway history makes its return to Philadelphia with a fresh cast belting beloved ABBA classics. On a luscious Greek island, a young bride has devised a clever plan to determine the identity of her father: inviting three potential dads to her wedding. What could go wrong? Sing along to favorite tunes like “Dancing Queen,” “Money, Money, Money,” and, of course, “Mamma Mia” while watching the heartwarming family bonding. Pretty Woman: The Musical actor Jessica Crouch takes on the role of Donna while The Voice contestant Juliette M. Ojeda stars as her daughter, Sophie.
Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, 215-893-1999 or ensembleartsphilly.org
Restaurant recs: Double down on the spectacle of a night at the theater with drinks and starters at the bar at Mr. Edison, Jeffrey Chodorow’s aesthetically dazzling $10 million restaurant in the Bellevue Hotel. There are a number of Craig LaBan-approved items if you choose carefully.
Suli Holum (center) and Frank Jimenez play Elizabeth Sawyer and the devil in “Witch,” running Sept. 30-Oct. 25 at Quintessence Theatre.Courtesy of Quintessence Theatre
‘Witch’
Sept. 30-Oct. 25, Quintessence Theatre
This fresh, funny, feminist twist on a 17th-century English play from Jen Silverman focuses on Elizabeth Sawyer, an outcast labeled a “witch” for reasons she can’t fathom. When the devil arrives in the small town of Edmonton, he considers Elizabeth easy prey, but she’s not convinced selling her soul for revenge on cruel neighbors will satisfy her. Instead, the devil finds men who readily fall, like two brothers eager to seize their rich noble father’s inheritance (and you can guess how that feud ends). Suli Holum, a Philly theater mainstay who once cameoed in the Emmy-winning show Mare of Easttown, stars as the titular witch while University of the Arts graduate Frank Jimenez plays the devil, aka Scratch.
Quintessence Theatre at the Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, 215-987-4450 or quintessencetheatre.org
Restaurant recs: It’s a bit of a walk down Germantown Avenue, but for a fresh pick in Mount Airy, head to Doho, the fusion-minded bistro from the culinary talents behind Catering by Design. The cocktails are always on point and you can easily fill up on the creative small plates and pasta dishes.
Tara Venkataraman and Salena Quershi lead the cast of ‘A Beat of Our Own,’ running Oct. 7-25 at the McCarter Theatre Center.Thomas Robert Clarke Photography
‘A Beat of Our Own’
Oct. 7-25, McCarter Theatre Center
This big, bold musical feels like Bring It On meets competitive bhangra dancing. Married playwrights Rehana Lew Mirza, who grew up in Bridgewater, N.J., and Mike Lew (Teenage Dick) wrote this comedy about two bhangra teams going head to head in a national competition: one that prides itself on maintaining traditional choreography from Punjab, and another that embraces fusion and incorporates other dance styles like Bollywood and hip-hop. Challenge is, the latter team consists of total amateurs. With music and lyrics by Sam Willmott, the coming-of-age tale features movement by Bollywood choreographer Rujuta Vaidya, and Mirza promises some inside jokes meant specifically for Jersey audiences (her family included).
McCarter Theater Center, 91 University Place, Princeton, N.J., 609-258-2787 or mccarter.org
Restaurant recs: For small and local, Princeton restaurants like Mistral, Agricola, and elements are classic choices. For something new and from New York, try Ayat.
Susannah Flood (left) and Irene Sofia Lucio appear in the Broadway production of “Liberation” in New York. The production comes to Philadelphia this fall. Adam Brisbine
‘Liberation’
Oct. 9-25, Philadelphia Theatre Company
The Philadelphia premiere of this much-buzzed-about play from Bess Wohl comes with dazzling credits as the winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for drama and the 2026 Tony Award for best play. Partially based on the life of Wohl’s mother, who worked at the legendary feminist outlet Ms. Magazine, the play swings between present day and the 1970s as the protagonist, Lizzie, reflects on her mom’s activism in the women’s rights movement. Six women meet in an Ohio rec center and bond over workplace discrimination and the challenges of being wives and mothers while debating what it means to be a revolutionary. Philadelphia Theatre Company coartistic director Taibi Magar directs.
Philadelphia Theatre Company at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, 215-985-0420 or philadelphiatheatrecompany.org
Restaurant recs: If you’re heading to PTC, you couldn’t be closer to Oroshi, the recently opened omakase restaurant located directly across Broad Street. Check that out before the show, then head to Sonnys Cocktail Joint afterward for drinks, tavern pies, and hot dogs.
‘Misery’
Oct. 14-Nov. 7, Hedgerow Theatre
Before the internet age of stans, there was Annie Wilkes, a scarily impulsive fan who terrorized her favorite author in Stephen King’s 1987 novel Misery. After a major car crash, novelist Paul Sheldon wakes up in a remote cabin with Annie playing nurse, but soon he realizes her enthusiasm belies a dangerous obsession. This stage adaptation from Oscar-winning writer William Goldman — the pen behind All the President’s Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Princess Bride — premiered at Bucks County Playhouse in 2012 before a star-studded run on Broadway with Bruce Willis and Laurie Metcalf. This production sees Bruce Graham and Emma Gibson facing off in this psychological thriller.
Hedgerow Theatre, 64 Rose Valley Rd., Media, 610-565-4211 or hedgerowtheatre.org
Restaurant recs: Media has lots of options, but why not go to Fond, Lee Styer and Jessie Prawlucki Styer’s brilliantly revived French bistro, located a mere four-minute drive away from Hedgerow.
‘#CHARLOTTESVILLE’
Oct. 14-Nov. 1, Azuka Theatre @ The Drake
Philadelphia-based actor/playwright Priyanka Shetty was a student at the University of Virginia in 2017 when hundreds of white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, resulting in the three people killed and 35 injured. As an immigrant from Bangalore, India, Shetty felt compelled to respond, so she began interviewing dozens of residents, researching court transcripts, and reading extremist right-wing material to create this verbatim play in which she stars as the sole performer. Popular local theatermaker Yury Urnov directs this production, which he also directed during its award-winning run at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Azuka Theatre at The Drake, 302 S. Hicks St., Philadelphia, 215-563-1100 or azukatheatre.org
Restaurant recs: The options are good and plenty in this part of town. I’m partial to Monk’s Cafe for sentimental reasons, but you also have La Jefa & Tequilas, Kissho House, and Superfolie to choose from, all within a few minutes’ walk.
Jak Malone accepts the award for best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical for “Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical” during the 78th Tony Awards on June 8, 2025, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. The musical will have its Philadelphia premiere this fall.Charles Sykes
‘Operation Mincemeat’
Dec. 15-20, Forrest Theatre
Based on a real-life secret mission during World War II, this zany musical brings five versatile actors to play 87 characters with Monty Python-like humor. The British plot involved disguising a corpse as a Royal Marine officer and dumping the body into the sea along with a briefcase full of fake documents intended to deceive German spies (allowing the Allied forces to invade Sicily). The score includes sea shanties, ballads, electro-pop, and rap for an uproarious, unbelievably informative good time.
Restaurant recs: The Walnut Street Theatre suggestions apply here, too, but for a few more, how about Kichi (a “zoomakase”), Oloroso (delicious tapas by chef Tod Wentz), and Darling Jack’s (a something-for-everyone contemporary tavern menu)?
Classical music has long sought a friendlier mien, and this fall the genre seems to have redoubled its efforts. New books and author chats are in abundance, aiming to demystify the art form and make personal connections. Films with live orchestra have become not a special event, but a regular feature. Concert formats continue to get rejiggered in an effort to make the tent bigger.
There’s a danger, of course, that in its quest for relevance, classical will no longer be the main event. Some of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s appearances with pop artists, for instance, are hard to justify artistically. The balance bears watching.
But in a season that offers rare Bach and Mozart, the continuation of a chamber music series second to none, and a generous pipeline of new works, it’s hard to feel anything but fortunate as the curtain raises on a new season in one of the nation’s classical music hot spots.
In the Kimmel Center plaza, Andres Amarilla (right) and Amy He of the Philadelphia Argentine Tango School perform at an Orchestra After 5 event in 2024.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Orchestra After 5
Oct. 8, Marian Anderson Hall
The Philadelphia Orchestra sometimes launches an initiative only to let it quietly fade, but the Orchestra After 5 series has had remarkable staying power. Now in its fourth season, it’s designed to be a friendly on-ramp for newbies, though one suspects that it’s also luring experienced listeners with its earlier start time, conviviality, and brevity.
The first of three such concerts this season features the orchestra and popular guest conductor Dalia Stasevska in Respighi’s Pines of Rome and, with Gil Shaham, Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3. It starts with a 5 p.m. happy hour in the Kimmel plaza, and the hourlong concert is followed by an artist chat. philorch.ensembleartsphilly.org, 215-893-1999.
The Philadelphia Orchestra performing a Halloween concert in 2016.ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer
Philadelphia Orchestra Children’s Halloween Spectacular
Oct. 10, Marian Anderson Hall
With excerpts from Elmer Bernstein’s Ghostbusters Suite, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, and Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” from Peer Gynt, the Saturday morning family concert promises to be a fright. But within bounds. This first of five full-orchestra offerings in the coming season aimed at young listeners is sensory-friendly, with house lights kept at mid-level, a cool-down space for stimulated guests, and other accommodations. The aim for all is an introduction with impact to the world of the symphony orchestra, which this ensemble never fails to deliver. Austin Chanu conducts. philorch.ensembleartsphilly.org, 215-893-1999.
Leah Hawkins (left), soprano, and Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor, performing at the Wanamaker Building’s Grand Court in 2025.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
Anthony Roth Costanzo’s ‘Countertenor’
Oct. 27, Free Library of Philadelphia Parkway Central Library
“When you are nervous about going onstage, they say you’re supposed to picture the audience naked. But what happens when you’re nervous about actually being naked onstage in front of three thousand fully — and mostly very nicely — dressed people?”
Costanzo, who has maintained a busy performing schedule as a countertenor while running Opera Philadelphia, recounts the unusual experience of performing naked at the Metropolitan Opera in his forthcoming book. What is a countertenor? Costanzo explains his unusual voice type in this mix of autobiography and opera history, which he’ll discuss at the Free Library’s author series.
There is, of course, a companion recording, which comes out a few days before his talk. Tracks include not just works of Osvaldo Golijov, Philip Glass, and Mozart, but also, intriguingly, the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tune “Walk Like a Man.” freelibraryfoundation.org/events.
Lara Downes with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Marian Anderson Hall in 2025.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Lara Downes with Rhiannon Giddens
Oct. 30, Rowan University Pfleeger Concert Hall
In a “musical conversation” called Sounds Like America, pianist Downes and singer-cultural historian Giddens explore the “roots and routes” of American music, with stops at “Amazing Grace” and Paul Simon’s “American Tune” along the way. go.rowan.edu/america.
A photo by John W. Mosley of Eleanor Roosevelt (left) and Marian Anderson at the Pyramid Club in Philadelphia in 1943.John W. Mosley Photograph Collection, Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, Temple University Libraries
Anthony Tommasini, author of ‘Voice of a Century: The Life and Artistry of Marian Anderson,’ in conversation with Anthony McGill
Nov. 12, Free Library of Philadelphia Parkway Central Library
The former chief classical music critic of the New York Times chats with Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic, about Tommasini’s new biography of the Philadelphia contralto and civil rights leader. freelibraryfoundation.org/events.
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in “La La Land.”DALE ROBINETTE / Lionsgate
Philly Pops ‘La La Land’ in Concert
Nov. 28, The Met Philadelphia
Can it really be a decade since La La Land was released? I never quite got the film, at least not in the way many others did. But this presentation puts a live orchestra and jazz band behind it, which promises to up the daffy appeal and vibe in the room a few notches. Conducted by Esin Aydingoz. phillypops.org.
Bass Daniel Schwartz singing in a Philadelphia Bach Collective performance at St. Mark’s Church in 2025.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Philadelphia Bach Collective in ‘Nun komm, der heiden Heiland, BWV 62′
Dec. 1, St. Mark’s Church
So seemingly endless is Bach’s genius that even the experienced listener will keep finding gems previously unknown. This is the promise of the Philadelphia Bach Collective, a series of short, pay-as-you-wish afternoon concerts featuring Bach cantatas and other works. To mark the start of Advent, the skilled instrumental and vocal forces take up Nun komm, der heiden Heiland, BWV 62. It’s a concise cantata whose opening chorus based on a Lutheran hymn announcing the coming of the Savior is a beautiful paradox: in a minor key, yet so joyous it can barely contain itself.
“The idea is that Advent is a time of joyful but active anticipation. It’s essentially a call to arms,” says Heather Miller Lardin, one of the collective’s co-artistic directors.
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma at a Kimmel Center appearance in 2024.Charles Fox / Staff Photographer
Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax
Dec. 6, Marian Anderson Hall
Beethoven? Brahms? Rachmaninoff? The program remained unannounced at press time, but it’s a pretty sure bet that the only thing most ticket buyers really need to know are the names of the cellist and pianist who have both entered the increasingly rarified realm of the legendary. ensembleartsphilly.org, 215-893-1999.
Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin in Marian Anderson Hall in April.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Bach’s ‘Christmas Oratorio’ with the Philadelphia Orchestra
Dec. 12 and 13, Marian Anderson Hall
Bach’s packaging of six cantatas into one vast canvas encompassing the Christmas story offers an astonishing variety of orchestral combinations and colors, not to mention emotional realms. The Philadelphia Orchestra, which has never before performed the work in its entirety, is led here by its music and artistic director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
The program, by the way, is in addition to (and not instead of) the orchestra’s traditional Messiah, which will be performed Dec. 4 and 5 with conductor Bernard Labadie. philorch.ensembleartsphilly.org, 215-893-1999.
The Brentano Quartet at the Perelman Theater in 2024.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Brentano Quartet
Dec. 13, Perelman Theater
The fugue in classical music is like the golden mean in nature or classical columns in architecture. Once you know it’s there, you start seeing it everywhere. Put simply, it is where a melodic theme is introduced and then repeated in another key while the first one continues. It’s more complicated than this, but basically it’s an almost mathematical tool for creating a dense overlap of competing (though complementary) voices.
Is there a greater meaning to the fugue — say, a philosophical one? The Brentano Quartet, in residence at Yale University, explores that question in works of Beethoven, Shostakovich, and, of course, the fugue’s unsurpassed innovator, Bach. pcmsconcerts.org, 215-569-8080.
David Hayes, music director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Bach Brandenburg Concerti
Dec. 19 and 20, Bryn Mawr College’s Goodhart Hall and Philadelphia Film Society Center
Philadelphia’s long-running chamber orchestra has adopted a format of concerts running more or less an hourlong in venues around town. That includes this holiday-time one with Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto Nos. 1, 3, and 4. They are joined by Christopher Theofanidis’s Muse, which was inspired by the third Brandenburg concerto. David Hayes conducts. chamberorchestra.org, 215-545-1739.
Simon Rattle conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Kimmel Center in 2024.Heather Khalifa / Staff Photographer
Simon Rattle and the Philadelphia Orchestra
Jan. 28, 29, and 30, Marian Anderson Hall; Feb. 2 at Carnegie Hall
Even if he didn’t end up being music director, Rattle still visits the Philadelphia Orchestra’s podium from time to time. His current absence from the orchestra has been a painfully long one — a decade — and he returns with a program of works that seems bound by nothing other than their potential for virtuosity from the ensemble and interpretive depth from the podium: John Adams’ Harmonielehre, Debussy’s La Mer, and the second suite from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. That works just fine for us. philorch.ensembleartsphilly.org, 215-893-1999.
The Gershwins’ ‘Let ‘Em Eat Cake’
Jan. 29, 30, and 31, the Academy of Music
Who knew this is where we’d end up as a country? George and Ira Gershwin did, in an opera with a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. The piece depicts an election denier who renovates the White House and establishes a dictatorship. “You couldn’t write a better farce about what’s going on in the world than this,” said Costanzo, who is bringing the work from 1933 to Opera Philadelphia for the first time. Conducted by Corrado Rovaris and directed by Zack Winokur. operaphila.org, 215-732-8400.
Wonderland Pier closed almost two years ago. Now, Ocean City has declared part of the former amusement pier unsafe after a wall beneath the decking began caving in. Developer Eustace Mita says the iconic Ferris wheel — which his original hotel proposal called for preserving — is in such bad shape that it will have to be “literally torched” and cut into pieces to come down.
Oof.
For generations of families, that Ferris wheel was part of the Ocean City skyline. You could see it from the beach, the boardwalk, blocks away. Even after Wonderland closed, it was still there.
There’s plenty of debate over what happens to this property next, including Mita’s proposed hotel. But whatever eventually replaces Wonderland, this part is just sad.
A bad-luck sports September: F
Did the Phillies, Eagles, and Flyers collectively break a mirror? Walk under a ladder? Open an umbrella indoors?
First, Phillies All-Star starter Jesús Luzardo landed on the injured list with a sore shoulder, just as the postseason approached. Then the Eagles lost three-time Pro Bowl guard Landon Dickerson to injured reserve with a bone bruise in his already twice-repaired right knee. And Tuesday, Flyers MVP Dan Vladař left a preseason game injured after a collision.
The Phillies were counting on Luzardo as a major part of an October rotation. The Eagles already look like they desperately miss Dickerson in the run game. And Vladař was the heart of the Flyers team that finally made hockey fun around here again last season.
Bad luck comes in threes, right? Well, apparently not.
So much for completing our allotment of sports misery.
Whatever dark cloud is following Philadelphia sports around, please find another city. Four is plenty. We’ve officially met our injury quota for the month.
Fall understood the assignment: A+
Finally, fall in Philly actually feels like fall. The autumnal equinox arrived Tuesday, and somehow the weather timed it perfectly: cool mornings, highs in the 60s, and just enough color starting to show up in the trees.
This is the good stuff. Open windows, sweatshirts, and walks that don’t end in sweating. It’s the beginning of leaves changing along Kelly Drive and the few glorious weeks when sitting outside is actually pleasant.
Of course, Philly weather couldn’t just let us enjoy this. A powerful early-season nor’easter is expected to bring heavy rain and winds that could gust to 45 mph in the city this weekend, with even worse conditions and significant flooding possible at the Shore.
Fall arrived right on time. Apparently, it also brought weather.
The agency unveiled an ambitious 10-year vision this week that includes new trolleys, new El cars, more accessible stations, and a pretty wild idea for Regional Rail: trains every 15 minutes or better on several lines. SEPTA says the change would essentially give the region another 75 miles of subway-level frequent rail service.
And people are riding again. SEPTA says it’s now carrying more than 800,000 daily riders, after reporting a summer spike tied in part to Philly’s huge slate of events.
There is, naturally, a very SEPTA-sized catch: Someone has to pay for all of this. The agency still faces a $192 million operating deficit next fiscal year, and much of this vision depends on additional funding.
But after years of “save SEPTA,” it’s nice to spend a week imagining a SEPTA that gets better instead of merely surviving. Regional Rail that comes every 15 minutes? Keep talking.
Broad Street Line signs, like the one pictured above, quickly sold out in SEPTA’s RETROmania sale.Courtesy of SEPTA
$350 for an old SEPTA sign?: B
Speaking of SEPTA, it may have accidentally discovered its next funding source.
Philadelphians have spent years complaining about SEPTA. Turns out, we like to own pieces of it.
SEPTA dug through its vault and put old transit signs, maps, and TransPass sheets up for sale this month, and people went nuts. More than 100 decommissioned signs sold, some for $350 apiece, and the old Broad Street Line signs were among the first to go. (Duh.)
The sale came about because riders kept asking what SEPTA was doing with the old signs as it switched the Broad Street Line to the “B” — a name change many Philadelphians are still politely declining to participate in.
And apparently nothing says the Broad Street Line will always be the Broad Street Line quite like paying $350 to hang the evidence in your basement.
Lynnewood Hall is getting a second chance under new ownership.Monica Herndon
Lynnewood Hall opens its doors: A
For 84 years, one of the most spectacular buildings in the Philadelphia region has been sitting in Elkins Park with its doors closed to the public, but not anymore.
Lynnewood Hall, the 100,000-square-foot Gilded Age mansion built for industrialist Peter A.B. Widener, is now open to the public for the first time since 1942. And naturally, a house this over-the-top is reopening (through Oct. 4) with thousands of flowers and a show inspired by HBO’s The Gilded Age.
But the really exciting part is what happens after the flowers leave.
The mansion sat abandoned for decades before the Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation bought it for $9.5 million in 2023 and began the enormous job of bringing it back to life. Now, the group is planning more public programming for 2027.
There are plenty of old buildings around Philly that people wish somebody had saved before it was too late, so it’s pretty nice to watch one actually get a second chance.
At Marlton’s Johnny Longhots on Sept. 18, 2026, are (from left): Ralph DiSibio, 85, Bob McDermott, 83, Gary Mazzucco, 78, Paul Ferretti, 79, John DeSilvio, 74, and Mike Mouber, 79.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Retirement, but make it cheesesteaks: A+
Six friends from a 55+ community in Moorestown have embarked on a mission to find the best cheesesteak in South Jersey, trying a new spot every month and debating the important things: bread firmness, hot peppers, meat-to-money ratio and whether Cooper Sharp was actually the right call.
There’s a spreadsheet, but no real scoring system. They mostly decide whether a sandwich is “good” or not while talking about sports, movies, and whatever else comes up.
So far, Chick’s Deli is winning. Donkey’s lost points for the kaiser roll. And they refuse to cross the bridge because there are too many cheesesteaks in Philly and, as they put it, they’re not sure they have enough time to eat them all.
Forget pickleball, these guys have retirement figured out.
Museums and galleries are spaces we enter expecting to find joy and beauty in art. Even when we leave overwhelmed with feelings, we know that we went in looking for that beautiful indescribable emotion. That joy is doubled when art comes at you from unexpected corners.
I was walking across the John F. Kennedy Boulevard Bridge one morning when my eyes fell on a manhole cover. A metal lid on the city’s unseen river of waste? Decidedly not art.
A Philadelphia Water Department metal manhole cover on the John F. Kennedy Boulevard Bridge, on Sept. 17 2026.Bedatri D. Choudhury
But imagine it’s early morning and the sun isn’t too strong yet, you’re walking to work with purpose and a head full of to-dos. You see the metal lid that conceals what you’re not supposed to see. The lid is stamped with a design of what looks like shoots of a plant with little leaves growing on them, and the words “Philadelphia Water” occupy the center in symmetrical typographic harmony.
It’s beautiful; its beauty enhanced by the fact that it didn’t have to be anything but a plain metal lid screwed to concrete. No one is supposed to stop and look at manhole covers in silence like framed art in a gallery but someone somewhere in the long line of civic workers at the Philadelphia Water Department decided to build something beautiful just in case someone on their way to work decided to stop and look. Someone came up with a design, someone forged a stamp, someone stamped the metal with it, and someone put that metal lid on the bridge I walk to work. There’s so much joy in discovering this silent gift. Thank you.
— Bedatri D. Choudhury
Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison in a scene from “A Different World.” (Netflix via AP)Uncredited
Netflix’s ‘A Different World’ is everything I wanted ‘Bel-Air’ to be
For those of you who don’t remember, A Different World was NBC’s 1987 spinoff of North Philly’s own Bill Cosby’s The Cosby Show. It featured Cliff’s second daughter, Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet), as a freshman at her parents’ alma mater, the fictional historically Black university, Hillman College.
After one season, however, Denise was out, Whitley (Jasmine Guy) was the center, and viewers were glued to their seats every Thursday night following Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison) and Whitley’s budding romance. By the end of its six-season run, Dwayne and Whitley were married, and we assumed they lived happily ever after.
After almost 30 years, Netflix has revived A Different World millennial-style, and this week it’s back.
The 10-episode first season gives Philly-inspired Bel-Airvibes; it’s a serious take on a fun-and-games ’90s comedy. At first glance, the male lead, Shaquille Johnson (Cornell Young IV), looks a lot like Jabari Banks, the West Philadelphia-born actor who assumes Will Smith’s character on Peacock’s Bel-Air.
Debbie Allen in a scene from “A Different World.” (Netflix via AP)Uncredited
But that’s where the similarities end.
The updated version of A Different World is what I thought Bel-Air would be. It remains true to the original show’s characters: Whitley is still an entitled snob. Dwayne remains as thoughtful as he is brilliant. And Dwayne and Whitley’s daughter, Deborah (Maleah Joi Moon), is a delightful blend of her mom’s sense of bougieness and her dad’s altruism. It’s a stone-cold gas that her favorite accessory are flip glasses just like Dwayne Wayne. (It made me want to dig mine out)
Yet, the new A Different World is more than a nostalgic walk in the park. The first few episodes deal with 2020s issues like the current presidential administration’s attack on Black history, rampant mismanagement of funding by university administrators, and what it’s like for this generation of college students to engage with professors and each other after almost two years of COVID-19 lockdown.
Just like its 1980s predecessor, A Different World millennium-stylehas the same immediacy.
“A Different World” is now airing on Netflix.
— Elizabeth Wellington
Beethoven meets Joe Hisaishi, thanks to the Philadelphia Orchestra
At opening night of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2026-27 season in Marian Anderson Hall, performers take bows after Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. From left, bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, tenor Issachah Savage, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, soprano Leah Hawkins, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Philadelphia Symphonic Choir artistic director Joe Miller.Peter Dobrin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin opened the Philadelphia Orchestra’s 127th season Thursday night with a message at once broad and universal, and very local.
The piece was Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and the orchestra’s music and artistic director was no doubt referencing the state of the world when he spoke to the Marian Anderson Hall audience of the work’s shared humanity and how it reminds us that “there’s much more that unites us than what divides us.”
But “this is why,” he continued, “I want to finish by saying that it’s important for me and all of us to recognize all the musicians who have devoted their lives to the orchestra.”
No one said it explicitly at this gala fundraiser, but musicians and management of the orchestra recently agreed to remain united another three years. A new labor contract was ratified last week by players — “overwhelmingly,” a union official said — after six months of talks.
Nézet-Séguin not only praised orchestra members who have been “at the service of this incredible … treasured sound that’s unique in the world,” but an unusually large number of them populated tables in the Kimmel Center lobby for the dinner following the concert, where flowered tablescapes featured photographs of the players.
If the orchestra had wanted to extend the theme of unity, it might have programmed Valerie Coleman’s Umoja: Anthem of Unity, which the ensemble premiered in 2019 and has since championed. But Joe Hisaishi is the orchestra’s composer in residence, and his Orbis, a work whose sound straddles film and concert music, fit the moment.
The orchestra, too, now occupies both of these stylistic realms, making Hisaishi’s ethereal-to-brightly-stirring score — whose Latin text sung by the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir speaks of joy — emblematic of the season ahead.
The short work was written in 2007 as a companion piece to Beethoven’s symphony, which on Thursday featured the expert choir and four soloists who ranged from strong to stupendous: soprano Leah Hawkins, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, tenor Issachah Savage, and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green.
Gala concerts of this sort often feature a single big-name soloist. The spotlight here was on the Beethoven, this great undying statement of humanity, and it was a programming decision endorsed by an audience that responded to the conductor’s push of the tempo at the end with a spontaneous roar.
There was another notable singer in attendance — Kathleen Battle, not on stage, but in the audience. At 78, the soprano still has presence, and you couldn’t help but sense her place as a bridge in history, a link from the pioneering Black contralto for whom the hall is named to the four soloists on stage who represent the future of the art form.
— Peter Dobrin
The mural “Puerto Rican Statue of Liberty” in Fairmount, captured in March 2025.Bedatri D. Choudhury
Ladies of liberty and Boricua pride
Thousands of Philly Ricans will celebrate the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade on the Parkway this weekend in one of the loudest and proudest parties of the year spotlighting our city’s incredibly strong Boricua community. All year round, though, there are other places in Philly with quieter but no less exuberant representations of Puerto Rican history and culture that recently made me smile.
In Fairhill — where I was thrilled to see the indie band Chuwi from Isabela perform at Feria del Barrio a couple weeks ago — there’s a towering, brightly colored mural by Philadelphia artist Parris Stancell that’s a joy to see. There are two vejigante figures in striking red, green, and yellow masks, one with arms wide open like it’s about to embrace the viewer. (These characters typically appear in festivals with frightening, monstrous masks to scare away bad spirits.) Beautiful birds and symbols from Indigenous Taino tribes adorn the vibrant scene.
Also, picture the Statue of Liberty with a Puerto Rican flag hanging from her crown. If that sounds familiar, you may have seen a mural in Fairmount depicting Lady Liberty with the same flag. That painting offers a close-up look at the statue’s mournful, softly defiant face.
Both murals show a powerful symbol in the history of Puerto Rico’s independence movements: These ladies of liberty were not some artistic imagination but recreations of a protest from 1977, when a group of Puerto Rican nationalists occupied the Statue of Liberty and draped their flag across her forehead to demand independence for Puerto Rico.
According to Mural Arts, the Fairmount mural was first made by an anonymous graffiti artist in the early 1980s who wanted to honor that significant historical event, but the mural was later covered up, only to be recreated after Philly Ricans petitioned the mayor to replace it.
These murals have me reflecting on the power of the diaspora in Philadelphia and beyond as Puerto Ricans on the archipelago are struggling through a devastating water crisis. That Statue of Liberty takeover happened nearly 50 years ago to criticize the government for treating Puerto Ricans as second-class citizens. Today, during Latino Heritage Month, when many Latin American nations ring in anniversaries of their independence days, Puerto Rico remains in colonial limbo. And Philly Ricans won’t let anyone forget it.
— Rosa Cartagena
Writer and performer Chris Davis in “The 40-Year-Old Ballerino” as part of the 2026 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Ashley Smith / Wide Eye Studios
Finding balance at Fringe
Chris Davis is still learning to let go of the barre. A literal ballet barre, from his years of late-in-life dance training. But the barre also represents the vices of his past — drugs; alcohol; unrealistic romantic expectations, thanks to too much exposure to ‘90s media; a codependent relationship.
And, he might admit, maybe they’re not all left in the past.
Dressed in a white tank top, tights, and slippers, Davis stretches and speaks to the Fringe Festival audience with nothing beside him onstage, except the barre and a boom box, which he occasionally holds above his head à la Say Anything.
The sparse set and sub-hour runtime are effective in centering Davis’ emotional journey from the guy who takes up ballet because of a ballerina ex, to the guy who keeps up with ballet (five to six days a week!) because it is what’s filling the existential void. There are more toxic ways to start over.
Leonard Bernstein’s big, audacious, belief-shaking Mass has never slotted easily into the choral/symphonic repertoire, requiring Broadway and rock music resources as well as orchestral ones, with a confrontational message that echoes beyond its 1971 premiere.
Bernstein himself once wondered if the populist, many-faceted Mass should be performed in a gymnasium.
But the newly created suite heard Friday, played (and commissioned by) the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Kimmel Center, is a much more viable version. And it’s not a secondhand encapsulation but an entity unto itself.
And not a day too soon.
No single work has been more closely identified with the now-closed Kennedy Center: Its 1971 opening was the Bernstein Mass premiere. In preperformance comments, music and artistic director Yannick Nézet-Séguin made that connection, calling Mass a statement about “why arts and culture are worth fighting for.”
Pianist Alexandre Kantorow performs with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Marian Anderson Hall on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in Philadelphia, Pa.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
I agree in spirit. But among listeners, you either got the Bernstein Mass gene or not. I did not (and was most excited to hear Alexandre Kantorow play the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 that began the program).
Though Mass’ individual songs are indeed lovable, the scrupulously unconventional whole (where the original Mass text is a distant point of reference) is puzzling to me. Why the counterfeit rock music? (Bernstein followed The Rolling Stones and knew better.) Why such glib philosophical conclusions? (Such as “I believe in God but does God believe in me?”)
Nézet-Séguin has not been one to tone down any such element, fearlessly embracing the abrasive modernism lurking around the sides. Garth Edwin Sunderland, vice president for artistic projects at the Leonard Bernstein Office, refashions the piece into Four Symphonic Rituals from MASS, richly scored for orchestra (no singers) that’s a close cousin to Symphonic Dances fromWest Side Story, but with a harder-edge sound palette.
“My solution was to focus each movement on one of the musical concepts, punctuated by interjections from the others,” wrote Sunderland in the program notes.
Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and pianist Alexandre Kantorow perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Marian Anderson Hall on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in Philadelphia, Pa.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
With a bit of editing, these Rituals may well have longevity. The opening moments establish the lyrical but nervous character of the piece, bringing out the jazz that wasn’t so obvious in the original — and is very welcome since Bernstein spoke jazz as a first language.
One could write a dissertation on Sunderland’s choices, but the total effect is that of a concerto for orchestra that touches as many bases as possible. Too many, in fact. The last 10 minutes are so splintered that the through line is intermittently lost.
But one unexpected conclusion is that the sung words aren’t missed (except “I Go On” and “Simple Song”). In fact, much of the music seems liberated without words. Electric guitars are still there but blended in as part of the larger sound texture.
What would Bernstein think? It’s worth asking.
(Later tonight, I’ll be near his grave site in Brooklyn where Green-Wood Cemetery is hosting an event for the Missy Mazzoli opera Lincoln in the Bardo.)
Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and pianist Alexandre Kantorow take a bow after their performance at Marian Anderson Hall on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in Philadelphia, Pa.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Brahms piano concerto soloist Kantorow has been called a fire-breathing virtuoso, and he has that quality, but the Gilmore Artist Award he received goes to pianists who have much more than that.
Whether playing solo, chamber music or with orchestra, the 29-year-old French pianist (making his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in these concerts) is thoughtful, highly personal, but never eccentric. He brings an extra depth to Brahms’ early-period concerto from having spent much time with the composer’s three early piano sonatas, finding in them surprising maturity but also youthful rage that carried over into the more stentorian parts of the concerto.
Pianist Alexandre Kantorow performs with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Marian Anderson Hall on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in Philadelphia, Pa.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Throughout the first movement, one felt part of a searingly direct conversation with Brahms. The second movement lost me for a bit; Kantorow was too inward to be outwardly communicative. The final movement had reckless chemistry.
When a Philadelphia Orchestra performance lacks complete coordination, you know musicians are deep in the moment and not falling back on remembered emotion.
The program will be repeated at 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Kimmel Center. Tickets: $29-$232, philorch.ensembleartsphilly.org or 215-893-1999.
Drexel University has received an offer from the William Penn Foundation that would underwrite operating costs at the museum at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University while its survival could be studied.
The money would float the continued operation of the museum for at least a year while questions about the Academy’s viability could be examined — matters such as how much money would be required to cover deferred maintenance on the building, how much it would cost to adequately fund and run the museum, and what the potential fundraising capacity would be.
On Sept. 1, Drexel and the Academy announced the closure of the museum as of Sept. 30, with Sunday being the last day open to the public.
Shawn McCaney, executive director of the William Penn Foundation, one of the largest and most influential funders of arts and culture groups in the region, said in a statement that the foundation values the “importance of the Academy of Natural Sciences and its deep history, its presence on the Parkway, what it contributes to critical scientific research, and its public facing museum which has engaged generations in science learning for hundreds of years.
“We have offered to cover the cost of the operating subsidy Drexel has been providing to keep the museum open for at least another year so that the full range of options for the future of the museum could be properly explored, and to provide time to test the interest of other funders and supporters who have not been engaged so far.”
A Drexel spokesperson did not specify whether the university had declined the offer, but said: “No proposal has been presented that would provide a permanent, sustainable path forward for the Academy’s museum. We sincerely appreciate the many ideas and expressions of support.
“At this time our efforts remain focused on securing a permanent, financially sustainable future for the Academy, one that protects its collections and research enterprise and provides meaningful opportunities for public engagement over the long term.”
Academy of Natural Sciences board chairperson Suzanne Biemiller said the Academy was supportive of the idea of staying open beyond Sunday.
“The Academy has learned of an offer to keep the museum open for an interim period of time and give us some breathing room to reimagine a path forward working with the philanthropic community and the larger community. Certainly as a board we are open to the idea and are truly grateful.”
That said, as of Friday afternoon, Biemiller said she was operating under the assumption that the museum would be closing for good to the public at 5 p.m. Sunday.
A second rally by the Save the Academy coalition is planned for Saturday afternoon and a candlelight vigil and march to City Hall on Sunday, beginning at 5 p.m. A rally was held earlier this month shortly after the Sept. 1 announcement.
The plans for the museum come after weeks of public shock and dismay from a broad swath of government officials, civic leaders, science advocates, and families.
City Council members have called for public hearings. Petitions calling on Drexel and the Academy to reverse the decision have drawn tens of thousands of signatures. And families, children, and others have taken to their feet. Attendance at the museum last weekend was about 14,000 over three days — a sum that, if it could be repeated every weekend of the year, would bring more visitors to the Academy annually than almost any other cultural attraction in the city.
Michael Ashleigh, of Phoenixville, Pa., with his son Otto, 5, looking at the Tyrannosaurus Rex Skull in the Dinosaur Hall at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University on Sept. 4, 2026. Michael wanted to give his son the experience he had 20 years ago when he first visited the Academy.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Former Comcast executive and U.S. Ambassador to Canada David L. Cohen, who has been involved in the talks between Drexel and the Academy at the behest of Gov. Josh Shapiro, said on Friday that the museum cannot survive in its current location, which has far too many deferred maintenance needs. The better approach, he said, is to find an alternative museum or exhibition space and then seek funders to support the plan.
“When we have a plan, it likely will require some funding,” he said. “And then we’ll go to the philanthropic community, which seems so eager to write a check with a real plan where money can actually accomplish something and accomplish something that would be valuable.”
Cohen said the agreement between Drexel and the Academy preserves the research and education components of the Academy and the third leg — coming up with a plan for a new museum space — is still being worked on.
“We need to have a real plan which is likely to be a community-based plan, that is, with multiple institutions coming to the table,” he said. “We just need the time to put that together and no one is helping things by offering Band-Aids.”
While Cohen said he was aware, and appreciative, of various offers from the philanthropic community, they are “premature,” he said, and “not founded in the true facts of what’s going on here.”
He did not specifically address the William Penn Foundation offer.
Dinosaur Hall at the Academy of Natural Sciences Aug. 5, 2026.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
At-large City Council member Nina Ahmad said on Thursday she is continuing to explore what can be done to help the academy both with its capital and operational needs and to be sure its endowment is protected.
“We are taking some steps to do our due diligence to understand where we are,” she said. “We are getting hundreds and hundreds of emails with concrete suggestions. We are going through those suggestions.”
She said one thing to explore is whether the PIDC, Philadelphia’s public-private economic development corporation, could provide a bridge loan that would help secure other financing. The Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia also is applying to get the Academy building on the National Historic Register, which might open up other funding streams, she said.
A hearing on the Academy also will be held before City Council, but the date hasn’t been set. Ahmad said the resolution authorizing the hearing included subpoenapowers so that Drexel officials will be required to testify.
“It should not have come to this,” Ahmad said. “Somebody has just been moving along without addressing problems in a timely way,” she said.
A spokesperson from the mayor’s office declined to comment on the offer put forward by the William Penn Foundation.
Drexel and the Academy earlier this month reached a tentative agreement that will continue their affiliation and maintain Drexel’s financial support of the Academy. Negotiations continue on final terms.
Niki Gianakaris, the Drexel spokesperson, said the Academy and Drexel are continuing discussions and “nearing an agreement that will establish a new framework for the relationship between the two institutions and support the Academy’s path forward.”
Ned Gilmore, collection manager for vertebrate paleontology, pulls out a drawer filled with bones from a Hadrosaurus at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Aug. 5, 2026. The Hadrosaurus fossils were found in Haddonfield.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
The Academy’s collections, research activities and exhibit materials will remain in the building “while Drexel and Academy leadership consider potential pathways forward,” she said.
William Penn’sMcCaney said that a creative solution was possible given the challenges that the arts and culture sector has faced down before.
“This is a city that can do great things — we saved Eakins’ The Gross Clinic and Parrish’s Dream Garden when they were in jeopardy of leaving Philadelphia. We built an incredible new museum on the Parkway — Calder Gardens. The partnership between the Free Library and the Rosenbach kept a cultural treasure accessible to the public. Those efforts took strong leadership and bringing together partners with the political, intellectual, and financial capital to keep our city at the forefront of arts, culture, and science. We are ready to contribute to an effort with similar thought, ambition, and collaboration.”
After being closed for more than eight decades, the Lynnewood Hall mansion in Elkins Park is open, briefly, to the public. And if Friday morning was any indicator, people want in.
Spectators poured into the mansion for the first day of a 10-day flower show that offers a rare chance to view the second-largest surviving Gilded Age mansion in the U.S.
“I just love big, old, fancy houses,” said Karen Lacki, 47, who drove from Reading.
Lacki showed up early to snap photos of flower-adorned mannequins staged at the mansion, part of an exhibit by the floral display company Fleurs de Villes as a tie-in with the HBO series The Gilded Age.
Marcy Abhau, 76, of Mount Airy, looks up to view the old ceiling in the west hallway of the Lynnewood Hall mansion in Elkins Park on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. The mansion is in dire need of restorations.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Though the TV show is fictional, the 100,000-square-foot Lynnewood Hall could very well have been part of the story. Peter A.B. Widener, a West Philadelphia bricklayer’s son-turned-transit tycoon, built the neoclassical revival mansion around 1899. The architect was Horace Trumbauer, whose firm designed the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The history behind Lynnewood Hall Mansion
Widener family history is what drew author Kelly Skwarcan to the flower show. Skwarcan wrote a book about the sinking of the RMS Titanic. She explained that Widener had sent his son George, daughter-in-law Eleanor, and grandson Henry on the Titanic’s doomed 1912 voyage. George and Henry died in the disaster.
“It was heartbreaking for Peter,” Skwarcan said, adding that Widener died three years later.
After his death, the estate, which housed an extensive art collection, was open to the public until 1940. But the art collection was moved, and in 1944, the family sold Lynnewood Hall.
The Lynnewood Hall mansion in Elkins Park on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
By the time Karen Brown and Cameo John were children in Elkins Park, the 110-room mansion had fallen into disrepair. On Friday, the best friends, both in their mid-40s, showed up so that they could finally go inside.
“I always hoped that they’d try to do something with it,” John said. She hopes it could be a wedding venue and something educational foryounger people.
As they and others walked onto the mansion lobby’s checkerboard floor, they were encouraged to vote on favorite flower installations.
Visitors walk around the floral mannequin exhibition inside the Lynnewood Hall mansion in Elkins Park on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
“The flowers are gorgeous,” said Ellin Jones of Chestnut Hill.
But for Jones, and others on a guided tour Friday, the building itself was the main draw — and in every room, the long-neglected mansion’s problems were evident. A placard described how a failing downspout had caused rainwater damage.
Elsewhere, plaster had peeled from walls and ceilings, revealing rusted mesh lath and holes. In the high-ceilinged Van Dyck Gallery, ornamental molding had shorn off, revealing brick. In a dark alcove nearby, a ragged pipe organ jutted out from the wall.
“It’s absolutely amazing, but it’s also so terribly sad,” Jones said. She said it will take a lot of “money, and love,” to restore the building.
It’s going to be an expensive restoration project
Angie Van Scyoc, chief operating officer of the Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation, said sheis dedicated to making that happen.
The first step, Van Scyoc said, is to stabilize the structure by fixing the roof, downspouts, and other urgent issues that cause water damage. That will cost about $10 million.
From there, she said, the foundation will seek a full restoration of the mansion.
“When you take on a project of this magnitude, you have to shoot for the stars, or it’s not going to take off,” Van Scyoc said.
The foundation has received $9 million from an angel investor, she said, and is working to secure grants and donations.
The site has already been used as a movie set, and Van Scyoc said she sees opportunities to raise considerable funds through film agreements and other leasing opportunities.
She noted that Highclere Castle in England was restored usingrevenue from the hit TV series Downton Abbey, which was filmed there. Another example is Wentworth Woodhouse, a 250,000-square-foot country house in England, where filming was a primary revenue source, she said.
To be sure, the restoration bill will be massive. Edward Thome, executive director of the foundation, said repairs will cost $300 million over 25 years.
In the near future, he expects to see increased work on the roof, as well as improvements to the grounds. The foundation also recently got $1 million to stabilize Lynnewood Lodge, an 18,000-square-foot building on the grounds.
But for Thome, it is worth it — for history, and for the community. Thome said he has been drawn to the mansion ever since he discovered it online at age 11. Now 28 — the same age, he noted, that Horace Trumbauer was when the mansion was completed — he feels a thrill at seeing people walking in.
“It’s fabulous. This house was built to entertain. It’s built to host.”
The floral exhibition runs Sept. 25-Oct. 4, open daily from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Adult tickets are $30.50. lynnewoodhallpreservation.org.
Correction: This article has been updated to correctly characterize the musical instrument in an alcove.
