Kyle Dunnigan brings cast of characters to the Southern

Craig Pullin, Deputy Trudy Wiegel’s bespectacled, slack-jawed boyfriend in the cult comedy “Reno 911!,” isn’t who fans thought he was. Pullin, played by comedian Kyle Dunnigan, is a serial-killing mastermind hiding behind a clueless veneer in both the Comedy Central half-hour sitcom and the feature film Reno 911!: Miami. But Dunnigan, who’ll perform at The […]

ARTS Pick: Pops at The Paramount

Experience the splendor of well-loved hits from film, theater and television with Pops at The Paramount, performed by the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia. The program, directed by Kate Tamarkin, includes John Lunn’s “Suite for Downton Abbey,” selections from John Williams’ score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Arnold Schoenberg’s “I Dreamed […]

Fire in the Belly masters the art of dance

Belly dancer Joy Rayman loves to improvise during a performance. During a recent gig at McGuffey Art Center, she was completely absorbed in the music, snaking her arms and undulating her hips, when she felt her coin belt loosen. Not wanting to pause and interrupt the flow of the dance, she kept moving. The belt […]

Live Arts closes its anniversary season with Dreamgirls

Right now, there’s a debate raging about the American dream. What does it look like? Who is it for? And what will we sacrifice in order to achieve it? The debate itself isn’t new. Art has always asked these questions. And Live Arts offers a poignant example with Dreamgirls, which caps off the theater’s 25th […]

La Traviata pairs opera, chorus and emotional drama

Originally adapted by Giuseppe Verdi in 1853 from a play, La Dame aux Camélias, which itself had been adapted from Alexandre Dumas’ novel of the same name, La Traviata is beyond canonical. In fact, it is one of the most beloved and frequently performed operas of all time. Familiar as the material may be, Michelle […]

ARTS Pick: The Great American Trailer Park Musical

The New York Post describes The Great American Trailer Park Musical as “‘The Honeymooners’ meets The Best Little Whorehouse in Urinetown.” And if that doesn’t lure you into Armadillo Acres, then the oddball story of an agoraphobic stripper-in-hiding and her tollbooth collector husband, directed locally by Linda C. Zuby and Gary Warwick White, surely will. […]

ARTS Pick: Sick of Stupid

Are you tired of incest jokes and fried food references? So are comedians Tom Simmons, Stewart Huff and Cliff Cash, who bill themselves as “an intelligent voice with a Southern accent” on the Sick of Stupid tour. Poking fun at low-hanging fruit such as Kim Davis’ arrest, “Duck Dynasty” and the Ted Cruz campaign allows […]

ARTS Pick: Wings

Taking a musical approach to Earth Day, Peter Ryan’s Wings is a quirky, offbeat lesson on interdependence and survival. Loosely based on Aristophanes’ The Birds, the play follows two men who find refuge in a mythical bird paradise, but soon learn they cannot shake their earthbound problems. Ryan says there’s something for everyone in the […]

ARTS Pick: The Life of King Henry the Fifth

Witness the high drama, savagery and heroism surrounding the Battle of Agincourt in The Life of King Henry the Fifth, skillfully staged by the American Shakespeare Center. Explore the multiple sides of King Henry V’s passionate personality in the last of the Bard’s historic plays. Through 6/10. $29-54, 7:30pm. Blackfriars Playhouse, 10 S. Market St., Staunton. […]

ARTS Pick: Snow White

Taking a lighter approach to the Brothers Grimm’s telling of Snow White, Charlottesville Ballet tiptoes around the tale of a girl stalked by a murderous psychopath to present a forest fantasy made up of friendly animals and merrymaking dwarfs. The massive cast includes 60 local dance students in addition to 20 professional company members, and […]