ARTS Pick: A Christmas Carol

Four County Players’ production of A Christmas Carol has been a local favorite since 2008, but in this go-around director Joncey Boggs and local playwright Miller Murray Susen are keeping it fresh by taking a step back and using Dickens’ age-old text while adding some musical numbers for originality. Through 12/15. $12-16, times vary. Four County Players, 5256 Governor Barbour St., […]

ARTS Pick: The Santaland Diaries

“I am a 33-year-old man applying for a job as an elf,” wrote David Sedaris at the outset of his career. Like most great writers, Sedaris has worked a variety of menial, often humiliating, jobs to support his literary career, and the humorist’s turn as an elf at Macy’s in New York City may be […]

Film review: The Hunger Games Catching Fire

A quick rack of the brain and I come to this conclusion: I cannot remember a major, big budget action film that is at once so emotionally draining, deeply dramatic, and incredibly bleak. Thought the death of Rue was difficult in The Hunger Games? Just wait to see what happens when Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta […]

Album reviews: Maria Taylor, Stone Temple Pilots w Chester Bennington, Alex Caton

Maria Taylor Something About Knowing/Saddle Creek Inspired by a new phase in her life—that of being a first-time mother—Something About Knowing breaks slightly from singer-songwriter Maria Taylor’s traditional folk pop leanings and adds some new aesthetics to the mix. On “Up All Night,” her ode to motherhood and a baby not sleeping, she juxtaposes thoughtful, […]

White Star Sound offers musicians a full service lift-off

White Star Sound recording studio, located on a bucolic farm in Louisa County, is a friendly, professional spot that attracts national acts like O.A.R. and The Infamous Stringdusters, along with local musicians like Sarah White, The Hill & Wood, and Invisible Hand, as well as several bands that have crossed that divide, like Sons of […]

ARTS Pick: Cindy Blackman Santana

Bridging the gap between jazz and rock, virtuoso drummer Cindy Blackman Santana is gigging on her new release, Another Lifetime. The album is a showcase for the critically acclaimed style that pays homage to her mentor Tony Williams, and the classical training that focuses her sonic explorations. Rising from humble beginnings as a busker in […]

ARTS Pick: Create: Justice

International Justice Mission’s chapter at UVA is connecting the community with local artists for original performances and visual art under the theme Create: Justice. The event is meant to raise awareness of injustice and bring attention to IJM’s work in rescuing victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, and violent oppression around the globe. Saturday 11/23. $7, 6pm. […]

Film review: The Best Man Holiday is a smart, funny seasonal comedy

Fourteen years is a long time between chapters in a movie. Think about all the sequels, prequels, and bologna that take their time getting to the big screen, and you’ll find beaucoup bad movies: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace; Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; and 2010, for all its […]

ARTS Pick: Tosca

Puccini’s Tosca—an arresting thriller about lust, political corruption, and murder—is brought to life by Patricia Racette in the lead role of the jealous diva who gets duped by the villainous Scarpia, and is denied her true love. Once famously referred to as a “shabby little shocker,” the HD opera viewing is proceeded by a free […]

ASC’s She Stoops To Conquer stands on comic timing

With a tilt of her head and a cascade of red curls, Kate Hardcastle considered her suitor across stage. “You’re so great a favorite there, you say?” “Yes, my dear,” Young Charles Marlow grinned, determined to prove to this beautiful barmaid his popularity at the Ladies Club. Swaggering toward the stage right audience, he looked […]