Album reviews: Looking over our shoulder at the year’s top releases

It’s been an interesting year. Between “Uptown Funk” and “Shake It Off,” the music world has been dancing up a storm, but it’s also seen some head-scratchingly bizarre releases (I’m looking at you, Mutemath) and yawned at familiar material (Muse). So what to make of this year’s so-called best releases? What follows is one man’s […]

ARTS Pick: Jane Eyre

National Theatre Live in HD presents an acclaimed retelling of Charlotte Brontë’s 170-year-old classic, Jane Eyre. The production follows the life of a daring and timeless heroine who perseveres through a parentless childhood, crippling poverty and countless injustices by using strength and resilience to make her own happiness. Sunday 12/27. $10.50-14.50, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 […]

Give back, give art: Make it a philanthropic holiday with local nonprofits

“We know people are looking for creative ways to give. What we hear repeatedly is, ‘I don’t need anything, I don’t want anything,’” says Sally Day. As director of development for Service Dogs of Virginia, Day knows plenty about the importance of end-of-year philanthropy for local nonprofits. In response to this, the organization’s founder and […]

ARTS Pick: A Christmas Carol

Ghostly fun plays out in Dickens’ holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, when the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted with spectral manifestations that force him to choose between greed and generosity. This musical version includes a few new surprises while keeping the traditional insights to the true meaning of Christmas. Thursday 12/24. $29-64, 2pm. American Shakespeare Center, 10 […]

2015 Year in Review

Looking back on the last year, it’s clear why Charlottesville was named the No. 2 most exciting city in Virginia (actually, we’d make the case for No. 1). Our town was propelled into the national spotlight for high-profile events such as Martese Johnson’s altercation with ABC agents and Jesse Matthew receiving three life sentences in […]

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 […]