Subverting genre conventions is one thing. Channeling them into a wholly unique artistic vision is another thing entirely. This is what sets English filmmaker Peter Strickland apart as an innovator, even as he works with decades-old material. Film after film, he manages to be postmodern yet devotional, ironic yet totally sincere. A giallo slasher with […]
Subverting genre conventions is one thing. Channeling them into a wholly unique artistic vision is another thing entirely. This is what sets English filmmaker Peter Strickland apart as an innovator, even as he works with decades-old material. Film after film, he manages to be postmodern yet devotional, ironic yet totally sincere. A giallo slasher with […]
Leonard Cohen Thanks for the Dance (Sony) Recorded during the same sessions as You Want It Darker, which was released three weeks before Cohen’s death in 2016, Thanks For the Dance continues Cohen’s meditations on decay and mortality, though the first half is also deliciously carnal—the Lorca homage “Night of Santiago” smolders even as Cohen’s […]
Glow up: The longest night of the year is celebrated with beauty and promise at the annual Let There Be Light festival. To honor the approaching solstice, curator and artist James Yates features illuminated outdoor works by Circe Strauss, Patty Swygert, Chris Haske, Andrew Sherogan, Dom Morse, and a group of Murray High School students, […]
Well played: Growing up, Lindsey Stirling could not decide between dancing and playing the violin, so she chose both and developed a unique act mixing hip-hop, pop, and classical music. At 23, she landed a slot on the fifth season of “America’s Got Talent,” competing as a hip-hop violinist. The competition was tough—Jackie Evancho and […]
Colorful spins: Nut cho ordinary take on the classical holiday tradition, Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker is a fantastic visual extravaganza that uses puppetry from around the globe, including Russia, the Czech Republic, and South America. Dubbed the Gift of Christmas tour, the show uses over 200 costumes, and Wes Anderson’s concept designer Carl Sprague […]
Jo Lee Tarbell likes fabric and color, and the evidence is all around this 85-year-old quilter’s Charlottesville home. A traditional quilt she hand-stitched stretches across her bed, at its center a multi-color, many-pointed star bursting forth from an ivory background. Draped over the back of an upholstered armchair is a piece Tarbell calls “Earth, Wind, […]
Favorite things: In September, Brian Clowdus, known for producing outdoor, site-specific theatrical feats, had his most successful musical event to date with a staging of The Sound of Music on the slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains that drew almost 10,000 attendees. Julie Trammel Key (Maria), Jayme Alilaw (Mother Abbess), and Blake Burgess (Captain von […]
Trey Edward Shults’ Waves is an ambitious next step for the writer-director of Krisha and It Comes at Night, balancing his atmospheric skills against a complex narrative of parental pressure, trauma, transgression, and redemption with overtones of race and class. It is very nearly a runaway success in all categories, as the cast brings life […]
Key players: When relaunching the Charlottesville Players Guild at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, Executive Director Andrea Douglas told C-VILLE: “If you’re going to announce yourself as an institution that addresses the 20th-century African American experience in the most interdisciplinary way, there is no other artist that does it as completely and thoroughly […]
Joy to the world: A global musical journey plays out in O Beauty: A Baroque Christmas from Around the World featuring traditional folk music alongside high Baroque composers from Poland, Germany, Spain, Mexico, England, and the United States. Three Notch’d Road is joined by Peter Walker and Katelyn Aungst for a seasonal celebration inspired by […]