Philadelphia, PA

The most eagerly awaited world premier of Tony Award winner Bill Irwin’s The Happiness Lecture finally opens this month at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. The Happiness Lecture will run May 16th thru June 15th, 2008. Conceived, directed and starring Bill Irwin, Lecture concerns a group of adventurers who embark on a journey in pursuit of happiness.

The Walnut Street Theatre concludes it’s 199th year with one of the 20th century’s biggest and best loved musicals Les Miserables, May 13th thru August 1st, 2008. Reportedly one of the first self-producing theatre’s chosen by Lez Miz producer Cameron Mackinstosh to create a new concept for the 1985 musical, director Mark Clements’ production stars Broadway vet Hugh Panaro as Jean Valjean and Walnut favorite Paul Schoeffler as Valjean’s dogged pursuer Inspector Javert.

While we’re on the topic of musicals, this May the Cadillace Broadway Series offers two award winning shows bound to satisfy any fan. Taking the stage May 2nd thru 4th, 2008 at the Academy of Music is the irreverent hit Hairspray, a high-energy tale about a full-bodied girl who becomes an overnight celebrity. May 9th thru 11th, the Academy hosts the legendary musical Gypsy. Set during the heyday of vaudeville and burlesque, Gypsy features a wondrous score from Julie Styne (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) including the classics “Everything’s Come up Roses” and “Some People.”

Fans of experimental theatre will applaud the long-awaited Philadelphia premier of New Paradise Laboratories’ 2004 work Prom, May 1st thru 11th, makes it’s local debut at Drexel University’s Mandell Theatre. The first installment in NPL’s “American Ethnographies” trilogy, Prom employs dance and athletics to recall this memorable teenage rite of passage.

The Bristol Riverside Theatre concludes it’s season with a revival of Jerry Herman’s 1969 musical Dear World, Now thru May 18th, 2008. A musical fable about the dangers of greed, World is a rarely-seen gem from the composer of Mame and Hello Dolly.

The Wilma Theater - who scored a hit in 2005 with Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House - now stages the playwright’s highly-acclaimed Eurydice, Now thru June 1st, 2008, directed by Blanka Zizka. An original retelling of the myth of Orpheus. The play is a magical exploration of the divide between life and death. Featuring an original score by composer Toby Twining, the Wilma’s surreal production promises to be one of the month’s most visually-dazzling offerings.

The Arden Theatre Company concludes it’s 20th anniversary season with an unconventional staging of Thornton Wilder’s masterpiece Our Town, May 22nd thru June 22nd, 2008. The first act of director Terrence J. Nolen’s production takes place at the Arden’s Haas Stage. During intermission the show moves next door to the historic Christ Church, which houses the second half of Wilder’s classic look at life in small town America.

Flashpoint Theatre Company takes on the reality TV craze with the company’s production of Eric Coble’s The Dead Guy, May 14th thru May 31st, 2008, which focuses on America’s seemingly boundless interest in the so-called reality of others.