ARTS Pick: Don Quixote

The Charlottesville Ballet’s professional company presents Act III from the classic Don Quixote, and brings to life the wedding scene, where lovers unite in a pas de deux for the stage adaptation of the Spanish comedic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. The night also features new commissions by artists Julia Mitchell, Jason Ambrose and Tom […]

Saying it all: Harper Lee’s story in print and on stage

On February 19, Nelle Harper Lee, author of the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, died in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, at the age of 89. The evening before, I’d finished reading Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, by local author and biographer Charles Shields. Shields took on the daunting task of researching and […]

Live Arts’ loss: Show must go on without Pape

Howard Pape spent his next-to-last day alive installing a real tree—upside down, so that its roots would be the branches—for the set he’d helped design for Live Arts’ upcoming production of To Kill a Mockingbird, according to director Fran Smith. Performing such formidable tasks for the community theater was his creative outlet, say his family […]

ARTS Pick: A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline

The life of a country music icon plays out in the nationally acclaimed musical, A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline. In her short, notable career, Cline created the term crossover hit, as she intertwined country, pop and gospel, and proved a female headliner is a force to be reckoned with. This production captures her spirit […]

ARTS Pick: The Triumph of Love

Love conquers all, but not before it navigates a series of mishaps and disguises in UVA Drama’s The Triumph of Love. Award-winning director Chase Kniffen leads the cast through a contemporary approach to the 18th-century French comedy complete with razor-sharp wit, murderous subversion and a cross-dressing princess who stalks her love interest while constructing a […]

The violinist next door: Ray Chen strikes a chord with the younger generation

While many symphonies and orchestras have seen economic challenges in recent years, they’ve also been given a facelift through fresh takes on classical arrangements and some budding new instrumentalists. Ray Chen falls into the latter category, bringing a passionate intensity to his instrument with every blazing stroke of the bow. Hailed as a “young violinist,” […]

ARTS Pick: Women Beware Women

Deception, infidelity and feigned love are central for three ladies of Florence, Italy, in Thomas Middleton’s Women Beware Women. The dramatic plot grows increasingly complicated as lies intertwined with love affairs weave a web that ultimately results in tragedy. Through 3/31. $18-54, times vary. American Shakespeare Center, 10 S. Market St., Staunton. (540) 885-5588.

ARTS Pick: Fernando Rocha

An evening of collaboration features world-renowned percussionist and professor of music Fernando Rocha, who brings together colleagues from Brazil’s Federal University of Minas Gerais and UVA’s McIntire Department of Music to premiere innovative pieces and perform classics in “Works for Percussion, Electronics and Video.” Friday 2/5. Free, 8pm. Old Cabell Hall, UVA Grounds. 924-3052.