{"id":57241,"date":"2025-12-10T11:48:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T11:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/57241\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T11:48:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T11:48:08","slug":"bearded-ladies-cabaret-returns-to-phillys-wanamaker-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/57241\/","title":{"rendered":"Bearded Ladies Cabaret returns to Philly\u2019s Wanamaker Building"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

While the former Macy\u2019s department store in Philadelphia closed last spring, the Wanamaker Building\u2019s holiday vibe has returned with a light show, a vendor market and the \u201cDickens Village\u201d Christmas tableau.\n<\/p>\n

Off the beaten path is Greek Hall on the third floor, a room formerly inaccessible to the public. There, Rose Jarboe stands dressed as a troll, beckoning people into her Island of Misfits.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease, misfits of the island and people who lost their way out of Dickens Village, join me,\u201d pleads Jarboe as host of \u201cIt\u2019s Giving,\u201d a series of five unique cabaret performances running Wednesday through Sunday.\n <\/p>\n

The queer-centered holiday cabaret series begins with a sing-along as Jarboe guides the audience through familiar songs with altered lyrics. The spiritual \u201cThis Little Light of Mine\u201d has been tweaked for seasonal depression disorder; the popular carol \u201cSilver Bells\u201d becomes \u201cSilver Bears\u201d (\u201cThey Ubered in from the Main Line\u201d); and Jarboe sings \u201cThe Most Wonderful Time of the Year\u201d in a doom-laden tone worthy of the Grinch.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bridge in the holidays between the giving of thanks and the mass of Christ,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re on that bridge being, like, \u2018It\u2019s okay. We\u2019ll get you from that one problematic dinner to that second problematic dinner that\u2019s the same problematic people with different decor.\u201d
\n\"RoseRose Jarboe, founder of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, curated and hosts the \u201dIt\u2019s Giving\u201d cabaret acknowledging that the holidays can feel like a dumpster fire. (Peter Crimmins\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Giving\u201d is the return of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret to the Wanamaker. The performance company\u2019s previous cabaret series in September, \u201cThe Layaway,\u201d was forced to close early when the Wanamaker fell out of compliance with building codes<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

The collapse of \u201cThe Layaway\u201d came several months after the Bearded Ladies\u2019 Beardmobile, a truck that had been converted into a mobile stage, had been stolen.\n<\/p>\n

Jarboe describes 2025 as a \u201cdumpster fire,\u201d a feeling she believes is shared by others.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the key word for these times is the word resilient,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can steal our truck. You can kick us out of the space. But we will come back queerer and more abundant and more joyful.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Giving\u201d gets its name from a popular drag ball culture phrase for describing a vibe or a feeling. The cabaret closes out a fall performance intervention at the Wanamaker Building called \u201cPipe Up!\u201d coordinated by Opera Philadelphia in order to activate the empty building with cultural programming as its new owner, TF Cornerstone, works out its redevelopment plans.
\n\"SamSam Rise leads the Philadelphia Voices of Pride choir through Cher\u2019s \u201dDo You Believe in Love\u201d during a rehearsal of the \u201dIt\u2019s Giving\u201d cabaret series in the Wanamaker Building. (Peter Crimmins\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

A plan recently submitted to the city<\/a> would create individual street-level retail spaces and retain Wanamaker\u2019s original Grand Court and pipe organ.\n<\/p>\n

Opera Philadelphia Director Anthony Roth Costanzo said the series exceeded expectations, with every show selling out or nearly selling out.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud that we were able to pull that off,\u201d he said, \u201cTo really prove to the city and the developer that this space is Philadelphia\u2019s living room.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[31501,69,71,70,23047],"class_list":["post-57241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-bearded-labies-cabaret","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-wanamakers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}