Wanamaker organ getting tuned up for September shows

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A piece of Philadelphia history is tuning up for a brand new chapter.

The historic Wanamaker organ will once again fill the legendary Wanamaker building with sound and joy.

And you don't have to wait until Christmas to hear the city's famous woodwind at work.

With the closure of Macy's in Center City, many Philadelphians said a tearful goodbye to one of our city's most legendary spaces and sounds.

But the historic Wanamaker Building, and its iconic organ, are back and going back to their roots.

"We all know it as a retail space, but actually, they think it was one of the first sites of public caroling in 1918," says Nell Bang-Jensen, the CEO & Producing Director of FringeArts. "So it actually has a history of welcoming people in for the arts."

We already know the Wanamaker Light Show will return this holiday season.

But in just a few weeks, Opera Philadelphia is launching a new performance series called 'Pipe Up!' It kicks off with a concert on September 7 called "Meet Me at the Eagle."

"I think there is a recognition of how central the arts are to Philly's identity, and that actually we need to do the work of protecting it," says Bang-Jensen.

And that is precisely why Bang-Jensen is bringing the 2025 Philadelphia Fringe Festival to the Wanamaker for the very first time, with a series of performances by The Bearded Ladies Cabaret.

"The Bearded Ladies' show, The Layaway, is a speakeasy Cabaret," she says. "It's happening in the Greek Hall, so the audience will enter sort of near where Dickens Village was, and it's a room that not many people have seen yet."

Inside that room is another hidden treasure.

"There's actually another organ in the Greek Hall," says Bang-Jensen. "It has its own organ. We didn't even know at first that there were multiple organs in the building, but there are. It's been beautifully maintained by the Friends of the Wanamaker Building. This show is also a speakeasy. So there's going to be live cabaret and there's going to be a bar.

Catch The Bearded Ladies Cabaret at the Iconic Wanamaker Building September 13 through the 28.

Click here for details.