Kick off the new year with Legally Blonde, a fabulously fun award-winning musical based on the adored movie. Legally Blonde The Musical follows the transformation of Elle Woods as she tackles stereotypes and scandal in pursuit of her dreams.

Elle Woods (Maura Taylor) at SALT.

This Musical takes you from the sorority house to the halls of justice in a fabulously fun, pink-blonde-tastic style. On a deeper level, Legally Blonde explores themes of challenging societal stereotypes about femininity, and proving one’s worth despite appearances – highlighting that a woman can be both stylish and intelligent, essentially advocating for the idea that you can be yourself and still achieve success. -Lauren McComas, President and Artistic Director of SALT Performing Arts.

If You Go:

• Friday, January 31, 7, 7 PM | Dressy Attire & Champagne Opening Night

• Saturday, February 1, 2 PM, 7 PM

• Sunday, February 1, 2 PM

• Friday, February 7, 7 PM

• Saturday, February 8, 7 PM

• Sunday, February 9, 2 PM

• Friday, February 14, 7 PM

• Saturday, February 15, 2 PM, 7 PM

• Sunday, February 16, 2 PM

• Friday, February 21, 7 PM

• Saturday, February 22, 2 PM, 7 PM

• Sunday, February 23, 2 PM

• This production takes place at the Chester Springs location: 1645 Art School Road, Chester Springs PA 19425.

• Tickets can be purchased at https://www.saltpa.com/legallyblonde

• All ticket sales are final.
  If you need handicap accessibility, please purchase tickets on a computer (not a mobile device) so that you can select your seats. Choose seats in Row A  and email jelliott@saltpa.com so that they can coordinate letting you in the real accessible entrance (the main entrance is not handicap accessible)

The Media Theatre, 104 E State Street, Media, will present Get Happy! Feb. 15, 2025 at 2 p.m.

It’s been 85 years since the world first heard Judy Garland sing about a place “somewhere over the rainbow,” and her star power is just as potent as it was then.  Jenna Pastuszek and Broadway Music Director Joshua Zecher-Ross present a 100th birthday celebration of the world’s greatest entertainer.    Judy fans will love the playlist of beloved classics.

Performer, Writer, Producer Jenna Pastuszek has performed to sold out crowds across the US. She is an acclaimed singer and actor who has graced stages and delighted audiences from Maine to Florida, from Cape May to Los Angeles. You can hear her on Pandora Radio as she is the voice of Starbucks Café, Amazon Alexa, Crest, and more.

Tickets at Buy: Get Happy! Celebrating 100+ Years of Judy Garland

The Media Theatre, 104 E State Street, Media, will present The Lightning Thief, the Percy Jackson musical Feb. 2-March 1, 2025.

Based on the best-selling book, the stage adaption with an original rock score has a message of self-discovery. Join Percy, the half-blood son of a Greek god, as he faces newly-discovered powers he can’t control, a destiny he doesn’t want, and a mythology textbook’s worth of monsters on his trail. When Zeus’s master lightning bolt is stolen and Percy becomes the prime suspect, he has to find and return the bolt to prove his innocence and prevent a war between the gods.

Tickets at Buy: The Lightning Thief – Youth Ensemble Series

The next show of our 2024/2025 Youth Ensemble Series is here! The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical. This beloved best-selling book is a must see stage adaption with an original rock score and message of self discovery. Join Percy, the half-blood son of a Greek god, as he faces newly-discovered powers he can’t control, a destiny he doesn’t want, and a mythology textbook’s worth of monsters on his trail. When Zeus’s master lightning bolt is stolen and Percy becomes the prime suspect, he has to find and return the bolt to prove his innocence and prevent a war between the gods. TICKETS

Bristol Riverside Theatre opens their newly-renovated theatre with Anna Deavere Smith’s Fires in the Mirror, directed by BRT’s Amy Kaissar, showing from Feb. 4-23. This tour de force one-woman show explores the historic 1991 Crown Heights Riots, presenting a tapestry of perspectives drawn from over 50 verbatim interviews. Join the incomparable Phyllis Johnson as she transforms into two dozen characters, each with a different truth about those three days.  

Fires in the Mirror marks the inaugural production in BRT’s beautifully renovated theater, boasting new seating and carpeting, increased accessibility, a new HVAC system, and upgraded electrical systems.  Following months of restoration, BRT proudly offers audiences a fresh and upgraded space to experience Anna Deavere Smith’s groundbreaking verbatim theatre storytelling and Johnson’s riveting portrayals. 

Bristol Riverside Theatre is thrilled to welcome Brooklyn-based actor Phyllis Johnson to the stage to inhabit the entire cast of Fires in the Mirror. Known for her depth and charisma, Johnson is a graduate of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University and brings a wealth of experience to this demanding show. Her theater credits include A Naked Girl on the Appian Way on Broadway in 2005, directed by Doug Hughes. Johnson has been nominated for two New York Innovative Theatre Awards: in 2007 for Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role for I’m Through with White Girls at the 45th Street Theatre, and in 2009 for Outstanding Ensemble for Hug at the 14th Street Y. Recent television appearances include Zero Day alongside Robert De Niro, The Equalizer, Uncoupled, Law & Order Season 22, Blue  Bloods, and Pose. As a voice actor, Johnson has contributed to over 400 film and television episodes, including Black Swan (2010), American Gangster (2007), and The Devil Wears Prada (2006).  

With Johnson embodying multiple roles, the play delves into the events that shaped its powerful story, conceived by Anna Deavere Smith in response to the 1991 Crown Heights riots. Fires in the Mirror presents multiple perspectives through verbatim interviews conducted by Smith with over 50 individuals. Politicians, religious leaders, everyday residents, and a range of voices, from grieving family members to community leaders, each offer a unique lens on the events that unfolded on August 19, 1991, when a car from the motorcade of Rabbi Schneerson, leader of the Chabad-Lubovitch movement, struck and killed 7-year-old Gavin Cato and severely injured Gavin’s cousin, Angela Cato. Longstanding tensions erupted into three days of unrest in the neighborhood.  

Originally performed by Smith, the play’s powerful exploration of identity, community, and the aftermath of tragedy captivated audiences and also earned widespread critical acclaim and recognition, beginning with its debut at The Public Theater in New York City (1992). The production was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1993) and won numerous other awards, including the Obie Award for Best New American Play (1993) and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show. The production was also filmed for PBS.  

This play marks a powerful moment for Bristol Riverside Theatre as we continue our mission to spark conversation and connection. We’re honored to have the immensely talented Phyllis Johnson as the first actor to grace our new stage. – BRT Producing Director Amy Kaissar

Tickets for Fires in the Mirror are available at 215-785-0100, brtstage.org.  Bristol Riverside Theatre is at 120 Radcliffe Street, Bristol, PA

Colonial Playhouse presents Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” Jan. 24-Feb. 9.

Tommy Karolyi directs the play, which begins in the present, with the meeting of Emma and Jerry, whose adulterous affair of seven years ended two years earlier. The play moves backward in time, from the end of the Emma-Jerry affair to its beginning, throwing into relief the little lies and oblique remarks that, in this time-reverse, reveal more than direct statements ever could.

Cast:

Jerry: Adam Corbett

Emma: Paige Benedetto

Robert: Kevin Hamlet

The Waitress and Bartender will be different guest cameos at each performance

Ticket link: Current Show – Colonial Playhouse

Forge Theatre opens 2025 with “The Play that Goes Wrong” by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer.

Directed by Marsha Amato-Greenspan, this the smash hit farce takes audiences to the opening night of the Cornley University Drama Society’s newest production, The Murder at Haversham Manor, where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous.

This 1920s whodunit has everything you never wanted in a show—an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines). Nevertheless, the accident-prone thespians battle against all odds to make it through to their final curtain call, with hilarious consequences!

Performances Jan 31, Feb 1, 7-9*, 14-16*, 2025 All Evening shows begin at 7:30 pm; Matinees (marked with an *) begin at 2 pm.

CAST:
Annie/Stage Manager: Kat Carr
Sandra/Florence Colleymore: Andrea Frassoni
Trevor/Lighting Sound: Langdon James
Chris/Inspector: Anthony Marsala
Robert/Thomas Colleymore: Bryan McVeigh
Dennis/Perkins: Tom Pitt
Max/Cecil and Arthur: Ryan McFarland
Jonathon/Charles: Randy Knox
Crew: Finn Lanza
Crew: Miles Noecker
Crew: Nancy Kadwill-Brand
Crew: Rowan Badinger
Crew: Kylie Borden
Crew: Lane Welty
Crew: Paige Mulvaney

Forge Theatre is located in a residential area off the main street of downtown Phoenixville, Pa.

Act II Playhouse announces its latest production, “Grace and Glorie,” a heartwarming comedy/drama by Tom Ziegler. The production stars Penelope Reed, a favorite of audiences at Act II Playhouse. 

Penelope Reed as Eleanor Roosevelt on the Act II stage in 2022.

Grace Stiles is a 90-year-old spitfire who has checked herself out of the hospital to return to her home nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Gloria Whitmore is her volunteer hospice worker and a recent transplant from New York City. On the surface, this mismatched pair have nothing in common. Soon, however, they will find new perspectives on all of life’s challenges in this odd-couple comedy/drama that is sure to inspire laughter, tears, and hope. 

Penelope Reed, a favorite performer of Act II audiences, returns to the Playhouse in the role of Grace Stiles. Reed is best known to Playhouse patrons as Eleanor Roosevelt in “Eleanor” (2022) and she has also appeared in “Steel Magnolias,” “Boca,” and “Gaslight” (all 2023). 

Joining Reed in the production is Genevieve Perrier who returns to Act II after “Any Given Monday” (2010). 

We are thrilled to have these two powerhouse performers together in ‘Grace and Glorie’. This production is perfect for the Playhouse: an intimate story of two people that is sure to come to life in our cozy space. This play is guaranteed to surprise and delight audiences and have them laughing and crying in equal measure. – Act II Artistic Director, Tony Braithwaite.

This is not the first time that “Grace and Glorie” has been produced at Act II – it was one of the very first shows performed at the Playhouse in 2001.

If You Go:

Previews for “Grace and Glorie” begin Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025 and the production opens Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. The production runs through Feb. 23, 2025. 

Ticket prices start at $32 and are available online at act2.org, by calling the Act II Box Office at 215-654-0200, or in-person at the Box Office at 56 E. Butler Ave., Ambler, PA. The Box Office is open Mon-Sat, 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. Student tickets are $15 and group discounts are available.

 Arden Theatre Company is bringing audiences together in 2025 with the highly anticipated world premiere of Holy Grail of Memphis, beginning Jan. 16. The comedy, written by Philadelphia-based, award-winning playwright Michael Hollinger, takes audiences on a profound journey of transformation and restoration.

Newton Stover II unearths long-lost blues recordings and fights to restore his grandfather’s music studio and fractured family legacy in a tale of redemption, resilience, and the power of the blues. Directed by Terrence J. Nolen, producing artistic director for the Arden, Holy Grail of Memphis unfolds on the Arden’s intimate 175-seat Arcadia Stage with previews beginning Jan. 16, opening night on Jan. 22, with performances through Feb. 23. 

Bringing Holy Grail of Memphis to life on the stage are six incredibly talented actors, including Matteo Scammell, Erin Malimban, Newton Buchanan, Kishia Nixon, Mary Martello and Fred Michael Beam. 

Holy Grail of Memphis takes place in present-day Memphis, Tennessee, and the stage design immerses audiences in the atmosphere of a mid-century recording studio, complete with vintage equipment, microphones, mixers, and amplifiers. Amongst the meticulously crafted stage setting, theatergoers are introduced to Newton “Newt” Stover II (Matteo Scammell), a man striving to rebuild his life and preserve his family’s legacy after uncovering the long-lost recordings of legendary blues guitarist and singer Alfred “Deaf Duck” Mason (Fred Michael Beam). Mason, who was Deaf, performed throughout the Mississippi Delta for decades, inspiring countless other great Black bluesmen and women, including Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Memphis Minnie. The play highlights the rich history behind the origins of the Blues and pays homage to legendary Black blues musicians who paved the way for other future artists of color. With the help of his tech-savvy intern, Lee Hara (Erin Malimban), and Derek Benoit (Newton Buchanan), a scholar, musician, and Newt’s former bandmate, Newton plans to release Mason’s recordings to the public and restore his grandfather’s studio to its former glory. However, the arrival of an unexpected visitor could throw his plans into disarray.

At its heart, the play is about listening: how we listen, and what we choose to hear. This relates to music, of course, but also to all human interactions, within and across cultural divides. As the characters begin to come into focus, they wind up embodying many cultural divides: between generations, genders, ethnicities, abilities, and geographies. Every combination of these characters produces both friction and the opportunity to listen better and more empathetically. This, I hope, will be part of the takeaway for audiences as they leave the theatre and return to their lives. – Michael Hollinger

A longtime collaborator with the Arden for more than 30 years, Holy Grail of Memphis will be Hollinger’s tenth world premiere at the Arden. His partnership with the Arden began in 1994 with his first world premiere, An Empty Plate in the Café Du Grand Boeuf, and has since added an impressive roster of additional world premieres, including Incorruptible, Tiny Island, Red Herring, Tooth and Claw, Opus, Ghost-Writer, Under the Skin, and the musical TouchTones. Of the nine world premieres, Hollinger has earned three Barrymore Awards for Outstanding New Play and the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theatre Artist. Hollinger’s work as a playwright, lyricist, composer, and adaptor has been widely produced across the United States and internationally, with many of his productions translated into multiple languages. 

If You Go:

Holy Grail of Memphis  runs through March 2.

 Single ticket prices vary by performance and start at $37. Tickets are available online at ardentheatre.org, by phone at 215.922.1122, or at the box office at Arden Theatre Company (40 N. 2nd Street). 

Special events and performances 

Post-Show Talkbacks| Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2024 at 7 p.m. & Sunday, Feb.16 at 2 p.m. Join a member of Arden’s artist team for post-show talkbacks. 

Young Friends Night! | Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025 at 7 p.m. 

Use code: YFARDEN for $30 tickets ( Young Friends Night is designed for audience members 40 and under and includes a pre-show talkback and networking event). Click here to purchase tickets. 

Teen Night | Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025 at 7 p.m. 

$15 tickets and a post-show talkback for Teens 13 – 18 years old. Click here to purchase tickets. 

Student Matinees |Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. 

Want to bring a school group? Submit a group inquiry here. 

Smart Caption Glasses | Starting Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025 

Wearable, customizable Closed Captioning Glasses are available to reserve for performances. 

Audio Description Available | Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 at 7 p.m. & Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025 at 2 p.m.

Live verbal descriptions of actions and visual effects are available for blind and low-vision patrons.  

Open Captioning Available | Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 at 7 p.m. & Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025 at 2 p.m. 

Live, on-stage text display of all words and sounds for Deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons.   

American Sign Language (ASL) Interpretation Available | Friday, Feb. 21, 2025 at 7 p.m. & Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025 at 2 p.m. 

Live, on-stage ASL interpretation of the dialogue, provided by Hands UP Productions