Variety Show

NOT TO take anything away from the quality of entertainment offered in Atlantic City, but there's no denying the casinos there mostly deal in the same-old same-old when it comes to show business. From well-worn, albeit popular, musical revues (the "Legends in Concert" mimic-fest) to frequently booked headliners (it only seems like comedian Lewis Black is at Borgata every three weeks), AyCee is the capital of performance déjà vu. Which is why "The Accused: Nightlife on Trial" stands out like a million-dollar winner at a slot machine pit. "The Accused," which runs every Saturday at the Providence disco at The Quarter inside Tropicana Atlantic City, is unlike anything the town has ever seen.

Bianca DiMaio of Avondale stood on the stage at Avon Grove Intermediate School, holding three small orange balls. As she waited for her cue, she took a deep breath and then smiled. Moments later, the 19-year-old brunette was juggling not only balls, but also giant rings and clubs to the music of "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles. When a club hit the floor, she flipped it back into the air with her foot and finished the routine like a pro. "I just love to juggle . . . and I'm a bit of a show-off," said DiMaio, a Temple student who has been juggling since she was 14. Hers was one of more than 20 acts Friday night at the annual community variety show and fund-raiser for A.C.T.

Toothless and wearing men's slippers on the wrong feet, America's bawdy matriarch of comedy, Jackie "Moms" Mabley, was the antithesis of genteel Anna Huxtable, Bill Cosby's "Mom. " But actress Clarice Taylor has played them both. Sunday at 8 p.m., it's "Moms" she'll interpret on the Merriam Theater stage, in a fund-raising performance for North Philly's Freedom Theatre, the city's oldest owned and run by African Americans. Taylor is taking part in one of theater's revered traditions.

A medical-malpractice lawsuit filed nearly four years ago by 6ABC anchor-reporter Lisa Thomas-Laury moves along in Montgomery County Court as jury selection is due to begin Tuesday. Thomas-Laury, 55, and her husband, William , allege that doctors and Lankenau Hospital did not diagnose the nerve disorder known as POEMS syndrome. The Mayo Clinic diagnosed and treated her, the complaint says. She was out of work for 38 months before she returned to Action News , wearing leg braces, in January 2007.

Safia Stevenson of Mount Airy takes the spotlight yesterday at the Uptown Theatre for the Africamericas Festival's Talent Express variety show. Hyman's ballet was one of 18 acts by young, up-and-coming performers from the Philadelphia area.

Friday through Sunday at Lincoln High, the "Stars of Tomorrow" variety show helped raise money for the Sunshine Foundation, which tries to fulfill the dreams of terminally and chronically ill children. At top, Rockettes aged 11 through 22 opened Friday's show. At bottom, stage manager Sam Nicolardi gave Regina Wulko (center), 7, and Courtney Jones, 6, last-second pointers before the curtain opened for their tap dance.

It's not much, as trends go, but the variety show has made a slight effort at a comeback recently. The Smothers Brothers made a typically wry attempt at updating the genre over the summer, and did well enough in the ratings that they will return later this season with new episodes of sibling rivalry and yo-yo tricks. More immediately, however, there's Live! Dick Clark Presents (Channel 10, at 8 p.m. Wednesdays), a new variety show overseen by the well-known producer and teeny-bopper expert.

Forget about dazzle and glitz. Eliminate all thoughts of grandeur. Skip even the most basic of frills. The "Good Times Variety Show," which was recently installed at the Showboat Hotel & Casino, is a variety show, plain and simple. The idea is not new in Atlantic City. Casino-hotel people began kicking the idea around a long time ago when someone first noted that headliner talent - even performers who were flirting with has-been status - had decided that they were entitled to some of the abundant coin being raked in by the gambling establishments.

A variety show - sounds like a terrific idea, doesn't it? Ann Marie DeAngelo, former principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, has been mixing styles and performance genres in her choreography for a while. Her Variety Show Featuring Michael Moschen, with headliner Moschen and others, promised a stage full of talent for its run this weekend at the Annenberg Center. It also suggested an audience-pleasing circus theme in the season presented by Dance Celebration/Next Move, following Elizabeth Streb Ringside in November, and the juggling Flying Karamazov Brothers last week.

The daughter of late entertainer Ed Sullivan and operators of the Trump Casino Hotel are heading toward a really big sheew-down in U.S. District Court in Camden. At issue is a Sullivan-esque variety show that has played at the casino since April. Variously billed as a "memorable tribute" to Sullivan and his long-running network shows, "Toast of the Town" and "The Ed Sullivan Show," it stars actor and Sullivan impersonator Adam Keefe. But Sullivan's daughter, Elizabeth Precht, who lives in California, and Sullivan Productions Inc. were not moved by the memorial.

Friday Forever in green clover Andy Cooney will bring his Forever Irish show to Upper Darby Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday for the start of St. Patrick's Day weekend. Cooney's repertoire includes the crowd favorites, "Danny Boy" and "Galway Bay. " He will be accompanied by the Irish Sopranos, plus Irish dancers, and his own "World-Famous Irish Band" for this variety show at the center, 601 N. Lansdowne Ave., Drexel Hill. Tickets: $20 to $25 (Arts Center members receive a $2 discount)

When we were growing up as teens in the 1970's, Saturday mornings filled my sister and me with funky anticipation. We'd race downstairs, flip on the Magnavox, and settle in to experience "the hippest trip in America" - Soul Train . See, Soul Train wasn't just any television dance show. Soul Train belonged to us. Soul Train showcased our R&B music, our artists, our dances, heck, even our black hair-care products. It was our cultural touchstone at a time when we were learning that, yes, black was beautiful - even if we weren't quite sure if we believed it yet. But Don Cornelius, Soul Train's pinstripe-suited, haystack-afro'ed, deep silken-voiced creator and host, affirmed it for us. That's why it's so ironically sad that news yesterday of Cornelius' death at 75, from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home outside of Los Angeles, came on the first day of Black History Month.

Tony Braithwaite is committed to Johnny Carson. Younger talk-show hosts may come and go - and by younger, I mean anyone post-Letterman, including Letterman - but in Laughing All the Way , his family-friendly variety show at Act II Playhouse, Braithwaite once again pays homage to his hero with a variety show that even includes a segment featuring Carnac the Magnificent. If you're too young to remember Carnac (Carson in a turban), a medium who divined jokey answers to a series of questions presented to him in sealed envelopes, you probably also won't recall Art Linkletter or Bill Cosby's Kids Say the Darndest Things . No matter.

NOT TO take anything away from the quality of entertainment offered in Atlantic City, but there's no denying the casinos there mostly deal in the same-old same-old when it comes to show business. From well-worn, albeit popular, musical revues (the "Legends in Concert" mimic-fest) to frequently booked headliners (it only seems like comedian Lewis Black is at Borgata every three weeks), AyCee is the capital of performance déjà vu. Which is why "The Accused: Nightlife on Trial" stands out like a million-dollar winner at a slot machine pit. "The Accused," which runs every Saturday at the Providence disco at The Quarter inside Tropicana Atlantic City, is unlike anything the town has ever seen.

If one aspect of this fall season stands out, it's that Philadelphia's art community not only has survived tough times, it also has become increasingly cosmopolitan. On any day of gallery-going in the region, you're likely to encounter all the major trends in contemporary art, and then some. The scale and internationalism of Philagrafika 2010 made all things seem possible a mere year ago, but younger galleries and collectives in particular have been a force behind the new spirit of openness, turning over their spaces to artists and curators from across the country and abroad.

The World Cafe has hosted a lot of wild and crazy events, but seldom has it hosted anything like Jesus, Bombs, & Ice Cream , which strikes up at 7 p.m. Saturday. Jesus? Bombs? Ice cream? All in one breath? Well, yes, and that's the point. An impressive and surprising coalition of folks will be on hand to perform, present, and play. They're taking aim at the epidemic of violence in U.S. society, drawing a special bead on the Pentagon budget. Ben Cohen, the Ben of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, will be there.

When CBS got rid of Charlie Sheen, it was like a fed-up landlord evicting a bad tenant. There was some chest-puffing on both sides, an exchange of dudely insults, and Sheen got to stomp back in and get his gas grill and his record collection. When NBC got rid of Conan O'Brien, the tone was much different - this was a messy romantic catastrophe, made worse by the fact that the jilted redhead never saw it coming. Miss Peacock didn't cancel Conan, she ditched him. For another guy. An old flame.

Sunday Dying to live In Morris Panych's black comedy Vigil , a middle-aged cipher waits (and tries to hurry up) the demise of his wealthy, bedridden aunt, so he can end his caretaking ways and live it up, if he ever knew how. The Lantern Theater Company's production goes on at 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Stephen's Theatre , 10th and Ludlow Streets, and continues with shows at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m....

THE CURRENT TOUR of top 10 finalists from this season's edition of NBC-TV's "America's Got Talent" may be au courant , but emcee Jerry Springer is old enough to know better. "When I was a kid, it was Major Bowes and Ted Mack," said the 66-year-old daytime TV superstar of the two pioneers of broadcast talent competitions. "And the variety shows that we had, Dinah Shore . . . and Ed Sullivan, of course. " In the spirit of those long-gone programs, the "America's Got Talent Live!"

A medical-malpractice lawsuit filed nearly four years ago by 6ABC anchor-reporter Lisa Thomas-Laury moves along in Montgomery County Court as jury selection is due to begin Tuesday. Thomas-Laury, 55, and her husband, William , allege that doctors and Lankenau Hospital did not diagnose the nerve disorder known as POEMS syndrome. The Mayo Clinic diagnosed and treated her, the complaint says. She was out of work for 38 months before she returned to Action News , wearing leg braces, in January 2007.