A Century of Music Under the Stars: A History of the Mann Center of the Performing Arts and Robin Hood Dell, by Jack McCarthy

It’s one of the best music venues in the city, a beautiful structure that, every summer, offers an eclectic lineup of acts, which makes for—assuming the weather cooperates—one of the best ways to spend a summer evening in Philadelphia.

A handsome new book

For the occasion, Temple University Press has released A Century of Music Under the Stars, a handsome new book by local music historian Jack McCarthy that offers an exhaustive history of the institution. And I do mean exhaustive: drawing from newspaper archives and the vast public record, McCarthy has details to share about just about every season in the venue’s history, something he also articulated in an Author Event at the Free Library’s Falls of Schuylkill Library back in April.

The volume, which could serve as a coffee table book, features more than 200 images, from aerial shots of the venues to concert advertisements in newspapers. There’s also quite a bit about the related political machinations, with Frederic Mann, the philanthropist, impresario, and power broker, emerging as the behind-the-scenes giant of the venue that would eventually carry his name. (In addition to Mann, the book includes a lot of names, like Bok and Ormandy, that have current Philadelphia buildings named for them.)

The attention to detail is somewhat immaculate in telling the story of this institution, which has hosted a veritable who’s who of major musical figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. Marian Anderson performed there, as did Frank Sinatra and Van Cliburn. Leonard Bernstein conducted there, as did the since-disgraced James Levine, and just about every major conductor since, up to the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who contributed the book’s forward.

(Almost) a century of evolving music

It hasn’t actually been a century. The venue, originally known as the Robin Hood Dell, opened its (outdoor) doors in 1930; 46 years later, after encroaching noise from the Schuylkill Expressway became too much, a new facility was constructed across the river and about three miles away, first called Robin Hood Dell West. While the old spot remains a music venue, now called the Dell Music Center, the Mann’s lineage as an institution goes back to the original Robin Hood Dell.

That venue was known, for much of its history, as the summer home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. It’s been a long relationship, but an occasionally contentious one.

Throughout the venue’s history, there were various conflicts and culture wars, even though racial integration came to its stages relatively early. There were fights with the orchestra over pay and the number of dates they would do each summer. There were numerous ticket-pricing schemes throughout the venue’s history. And by the late 1960s, rock and pop acts began crashing the venue’s lineup.

There’s nowhere like the Mann

I’ve been at the Mann for a lot of different concerts over the years, including Phish more than once, and a Ben Folds/Cake double bill that was one of my son’s first-ever rock concerts. I’ve seen the Philadelphia Orchestra there as well, although usually in accompaniment with something else: movies like The Godfather and Batman, as well as the memorable event last year in which the orchestra played over NFL Films highlights of the Eagles’ championship season.

This summer’s season, at what’s now called the Highmark Mann Center for the Performing Arts, will feature the orchestra playing six times, including a newly commissioned work, along with performances of the scores of Star Wars and The Lion King. The pop lineup includes Philly’s own Boyz II Men and Japanese Breakfast, plus Sarah McLachlan, Paul Simon, Jon Batiste, and Bob Dylan. This summer will also see the debut of a new welcome center, entry plaza, and on-site music hall of fame.

Would that lineup have matched the vision of those who first built the Mann Center a century ago? Probably not. But it does show that there’s nowhere in Philly quite like the Mann, and Jack McCarthy’s book has given the place its due.

Thanks for engaging with our 2026 BSR Book Week! If you’re looking for a good read, be sure to check out our other book reviews, taking over the BSR site from May 17-23, 2026. On May 25, we return to our regular mix of covering theater, opera, music, visual art, dance, books, films, public events, and more. Subscribe to our weekly newsletters (never a paywall!), and you can support our independent nonprofit arts journalism with a gift of any size.