Murder, fame and greed consume the lives of two 1920s jazz club performers in Chicago, the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. From behind bars and in the courtroom, Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart compete with each other for public attention, while singing and dancing through a media frenzy. Directed by Edward Warwick White with […]
Brooklyn noise pop act Sleigh Bells melds punchy distortions into slick pop so smoothly that not only have several tracks been placed in commercials and TV series, but the duo recently filed a lawsuit against pop star Demi Lovato and her producers for sampling tracks from their Treats LP without permission. The duo continued their […]
“Talent is an accident of genes—and a responsibility,” said the late actor Alan Rickman. For the past 20 years, the Piedmont Council for the Arts has identified more than 250 area high school students as bearers of that responsibility through its annual Arthur C. Greene Rising Star Awards. This year, teachers and nonprofit organizations have […]
First Fridays: March 3 In “Drawings, Old and New,” at the downtown Mudhouse through the month of March, Mae Read exhibits a series of nudes, mostly women, drawn either from life, or from photographs. When Read draws, she connects deeply to her subject and herself. “Spending that many hours staring at almost any person will create […]
The Front Porch’s Emily Morrison wants artists of all backgrounds to find peace at the roots music school she founded in 2015. With help from friends, Morrison began the school in a back room in her home and soon moved into a space at Mountaintop Montessori. Last June the nonprofit moved into the old Michie […]
It’s a busy, blustery Tuesday on Grounds. Outside The Fralin Museum of Art, UVA students rush by in droves, pulling overcoats tight against the wind. Inside, I stand in darkness staring at craters on the moon. The air is hot and loud, filled by the whir and clank of unsteady projectors shining on gallery walls. […]
‘‘We all deserve the light” members of River Whyless croon on “Baby Brother,” the captivating opener on their second full-length album. The lyric resurfaces in the record’s final stretch: It’s both the name and crux of the closing track, before it fades into reverie. The Asheville-based quartet even used the line to inform the album […]
As consumers, we’re inundated by success. Hit records, blockbuster movies, the latest app. Creators, on the other hand, are surrounded by failures. They churn out ideas—some brilliant, some bad—and create until something sticks. How do they find the guts to fail their way to success? Three accomplished local artists are opening up in The Art […]
Jordan Peele’s Get Out is a perfect movie in its own right, a masterful effort in raising then subverting audience expectations while delivering a powerful message on a subject that has gone tragically unaddressed in film. It is also a revelation for Peele himself, half of the beloved comedy team Key & Peele, whose feature […]
One night last February, Charlottesville luthier Brian Calhoun and his good friend, musician Dave Matthews, walked into Kardinal Hall with a massive handmade Chickapig board. Calhoun had measured the back of his car and made the board as big as he could while still fitting it into his trunk. They played a few games over […]