Where to go (and what to fear) this Halloween weekend

Thursday 10/30 Bent Theatre’s Ghost Walk. A night of terrible tales on a candlelit walking ghost tour. $15, 8pm. Albemarle CiderWorks, 2545 Rural Ridge Ln., North Garden. albemarleciderworks.com Friday 10/31 Area 51: Halloween Invasion. C’ville’s own Whistlepig Band touches down to rock the roof at an out-of-this-world party featuring a cosmic costume contest and interstellar […]

Local songwriter offers deeply personal debut

Turn on Erynn McLeod’s debut EP, Man of the House, and the first thing you’re likely to hear is a clear musical theater influence—the cabaret crooning, the overt metaphor, the complex characters, the ebb and flow of emotion. That’s all by design, the Charlottesville resident and Front Porch music teacher says. Growing up in New […]

‘Significant Other’ at Four County Players through 10/26

Four County Players presents Significant Other, a deeply funny and unapologetic unromantic comedy that explores single living and settling down. Jordan Berman would love to be in love, but that’s easier said than done. While searching for Mr. Right, he wards off lonely nights with his trio of close girlfriends—until their singles’ nights turn into […]

‘Gullah Meditations’ at University Baptist Church 9/27

In a performance that combines elements of opera, gospel, jazz, dance, and theater, Victory Hall Opera presents Gullah Meditations—the first significant new arrangements of “unknown” Gullah Geechee spirituals in 100 years. Tenor Victor Ryan Robertson and his collaborator, pianist Adrianne Duncan, produced the new arrangements based on 19th-century spirituals born out of the distinct culture […]

‘Oh, What a Beautiful, Enchanted, Impossible Evening’ at PVCC 9/18

Charlottesville Opera celebrates the timeless works of Rodgers and Hammerstein with Oh, What a Beautiful, Enchanted, Impossible Evening. Featuring performers James Robinson, Nicola Santoro, Kristen Marie Gillis, Andrew Payne, and piano by Jeremy Thompson, the show weaves selections from the golden age of musical theater with the opera company’s history of performing favorites such as […]

‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ at Blackfriars Playhouse through 11/15

Spotlighting Shakespeare at his most playful, The Two Gentlemen of Verona follows Proteus and Valentine, two young men who swear nothing can come between them—until amorous affections enter the scene. Loyalties are tested, disguises donned, and hearts broken as friendship tangles with romance and characters stumble through the beautiful, messy chaos of growing up. And […]

‘Queen Lear’ at Thistlerock Mead Company 9/6

A condensed all-female production of Shakespeare’s King Lear reimagines the Bard’s darkest masterpiece as a compelling exploration of maternal authority and sisterhood in Queen Lear. Mounted by Cottage Industry, a women-only performance and production troupe based in Charlottesville, the one-hour play places veteran actress Kate Bennis in the titular role under the direction of local […]

Musician and actor Jim Waive poured his heart into the joy of music

Long before he stepped onto a stage, Jim Waive was putting on a show.  “Our household was filled with music,” recalls Patti Rightmier, one of Jim’s three older sisters. “My mom loved music. My mom listened to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass…” “Tom Jones, the 5th Dimension—a variety,” adds Judy Crist, another sister. “And Jim—as […]