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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s biting, sexy, satirical Hunter Gatherers offers up a dark look at contradiction and pretense in contemporary culture. Masquerading as a glimpse into a typical social evening, the drama ultimately reflects fragility in the manufactured sophistication of modern society, peeking behind the facade of civility and revealing animalistic impulses that have withstood the […]
As Tom Tom Founders Festival Director Paul Beyer sits in the audience during Founders Summit talks and hears fellow entrepreneurs and creative visionaries speak about the early days of their startups, the successes they celebrated and obstacles they faced, he can’t help but draw a parallel to the festival itself. The ideas for the festival […]
No opera season is complete without a production of Madama Butterfly. Composed by Giacomo Puccini in three acts, the opera tells the tale of a young geisha who devotes herself to a U.S. naval officer, resulting in heartbreak and tragedy. The Met Live in HD broadcast is every bit as dramatic, colorful and exotic as […]