ARTS Pick: The Twelve Dates of Christmas

One-woman show The Twelve Dates of Christmas follows Mary, who discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her when she sees him kissing a coworker on national television during the broadcast of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. She spends the next year navigating one luckless romance and dating disaster after another while working as an actress in […]

Film review: Ron Howard’s whale tale stays afloat

Ron Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea is a very special kind of good. Sometimes it’s slow, it often decides to invest more screen time in places you’d rather weren’t in the movie at all, and many of the characters are too thin for a story as profound as it hopes to be. But […]

ARTS Picks: Eddie from Ohio

In 2016, the genre-defying Eddie from Ohio will celebrate 25 years of winning fans through a tight, balanced blend of four-part harmonies and instrumentation that includes guitar, bass and harmonica as well as hand and stick percussion. Internationally renowned, local folk singer-songwriter Ellis Paul opens. Friday 12/18. $27-30, 8pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E Main St., […]

ARTS Pick: A Very Woolen Holiday

Grammy-nominated former “American Idol” contestant Chris Daughtry headlines A Very Woolen Holiday, a benefit event for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, a nonprofit that funds research for less toxic treatment options. Presented for the first time by Woolen Writers’ Revival and hosted by local musicians Will Thomas Reed and Brian Craddock, the lineup also includes Keith […]

Anais Mitchell moves forward while looking behind

To say that Anais Mitchell shares commonalities with Orpheus, a character from ancient Greek mythology isn’t as far fetched as it sounds. Both possess the musical talents vital for swooning listeners and charming their way into remote realms. But while Orpheus’ journey to rescue his wife Eurydice ended in despair when he carelessly turned his […]

ARTS Pick: The Santaland Diaries

An unlikely holiday tradition took hold when David Sedaris told the sour, witty story of his experience as an unemployed writer who takes a job as an elf at Macy’s in The Santaland Diaries, which gained public recognition on NPR in 1992. Staged by the American Shakespeare Center, Sedaris’ sardonic tale offers an unvarnished glimpse […]

ARTS Pick: KnucklesCracker

Ballet meets burlesque in KnucklesCracker, a reimagining of the classic Nutcracker story, set in the bygone era of speakeasies and vaudeville entertainment. This whirlwind of ragtime rambunctiousness features an array of performers and live music by The Judy Chops. Vintage or cocktail wear encouraged. 18-plus. Sunday 12/13. $12-60, 8pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., […]

Album reviews: Foo Fighters, Shovels & Rope, Dead Professional

Rock steady Foo Fighters Saint Cecilia EP/RCA Records If the Saint Cecilia EP is indeed the Foos’ last recording—and Dave Grohl has hinted it could be—then it’s one final shotgun blast that will leave your ears ringing long after it ends. There is a rawness to these five tracks that’s been missing on the past […]

Night vision: Ash Lawn Opera’s annual holiday gift

When Georgia Castleman takes her third and final curtain call for the lead in Amahl and the Night Visitors on Saturday, she will be giving up a role that was a gift to the opera world. In 2012, Ash Lawn Opera expanded into a winter season and introduced local audiences to Amahl, a one-act opera […]