‘Alice’ comes to People’s Light and Arden has its ‘Every Brilliant Thing’

Maybe you are a theatergoer who can’t whip up any enthusiasm for a one-actor show. Every Brilliant Thing, now in its third audience-pleasing reappearance at the Arden, is certainly that.

“But there’s a cast of 60 who do it with me,” says Scott Greer, the longtime Philadelphia actor who has played the lead at the Arden every time.

In the play, written by Duncan Macmillan, the storyteller poignantly recalls how he, as a young grade-schooler, was taken to see his mother in the hospital after her first attempt at suicide. Desperately, he tried to think of every brilliant thing, every beautiful aspect of life, that would keep his mother from killing herself and leaving him. Ice cream. Water fights. Staying up past bedtime.

The 60 people Greer mentions are audience-volunteers who, from their seats, read items written on cards. Five of them are tapped on the spot for larger, impromptu roles — the storyteller’s father, his college sweetheart, a college professor, a high school guidance counselor, and a veterinarian. “No one is forced to participate,” Greer noted, “I don’t want people to feel obligated or not have a good time.”

Greer spares the reluctant and avoids the overeager. The key, he said, is making his fellow 60 cast members, particularly the five who come on stage, feel supported and comfortable. “I have a background in improv,” Greer said. “My first training as an actor was improv, and support is an essential element to that.

“It’s a really beautifully written play,” said Greer. “It’s also unique. It’s spontaneous. They know they are seeing something that has not happened the same way the night before and won’t happen the same way the next day. The audience is literally in the play the whole time. Because of that spontaneity, people keep coming back.”

(Through Dec. 11, “Every Brilliant Thing,” Arden Theatre Co., 40 N. 2nd St., Phila., 215-922-1122 or ardentheatre.org)

The panto is back at People’s Light, having been interrupted by both the pandemic and a reassessment of the nature of the show. Alice in Wonderland: A Musical Panto opens Nov. 16 and runs through Jan. 1.

Nearly 20 years ago, People’s Light, like many theater groups, annually staged various versions of Dickens’ ever-popular A Christmas Carol .

“From a field-wide perspective, it is the gateway drug for the American theatergoer,” Zak Berkman, People’s Light’s producing artistic director, said in an interview with The Inquirer last year. A reliable moneymaker, “it’s the way many Americans experience theater for the first time.”

But 18 years ago, People’s Light wanted to do something different, and that something different was the panto, a sort of British comedy in which everything is turned upside down. It was a hit and became an annual mainstay, drawing positive reviews.

Then, in 2020 and 2021, People’s Light returned to The Christmas Carol, the one last year written by Berkman himself. “We were starting to look at the pantos through the lens of equity, diversity, and inclusion,” noting “some regressive elements regarding gender and sexuality” in the panto lexicon, Berkman said in the 2021 interview.

Now, the panto is back, in the capable hands of comedic playwright and director Jennifer Childs, cofounder of Philadelphia’s 1812 Productions, a theater company that focuses on comedy. (Its annual show, This Is the Week That Is, runs Dec. 1 through Dec. 31 at Plays and Players Theatre in Philadelphia.)

In a panto, there are must-have requirements, no matter what the plot line, Childs explained. There needs to be “the Guide,” an outsized personality who guides the audience through the show. In Alice, that would be Eric Jaffe, who plays Dinah and the Cheshire Cat, “an amazing drag queen who is the hostess with the mostess,” Childs said.

In pantos, booing from the audience is not only encouraged, but required. In this case, the boo-ee is Mary Elizabeth Scallen as the Queen of Hearts-like villain, Miss Hart, the headmistress at Alice’s school.

“Then there’s (another traditional must) the ‘messy bit,’ a scene where the whole stage gets destroyed in a messy way,” Childs said.

When Berkman reached out, Childs admitted that she was a little worried by the format but “having those structures and anchors was very helpful in guiding the story,” she said. “There’s a rambunctiousness that felt very familiar to me. Good comedy is good comedy.”

In the panto, Alice is a middle school student lamenting being stuck in the middle — both too old and too young, and caught between her divorced parents. But through all her adventures, Alice, played by Grace Ellis Solomon, “learns that the middle is where all the good stuff is,” Childs said. Directed by Bill Fennelly, Alice’s book is written by Childs. The music, books, and arrangements are by Alex Bechtel for an audience aged 5 to 105.

(Nov. 16-Jan. 1, “Alice in Wonderland: A Musical Panto,” People’s Light, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, 610-644-3500 or peopleslight.org)

What’s a little killing among Phriends? Reunited after a few years apart, a group of friends — maybe you’ve heard of them — Ross, Chandler, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, and Joey — come to Philadelphia. Their destination is a new coffee shop, Fairmount Perk. When the unexpected happens, it’ll be up to the audience to offer their friendly assistance to solve this whodunit. Phriends: The One with Murder plays weekends at Counter Culture. Look for clues and grab selfies with the characters — the first to get them all wins a prize. Cocktails available. Presented by Without a Cue Productions.

(Through Dec. 18, “Phriends,” Without a Cue Productions, Counter Culture, 514 South St., Phila., 267-994-1056 or redrum.live)

Check with individual venues for COVID-19 protocols.