ARTS Pick: Aida

The Metropolitan Opera’s Egyptian love story Aida is elevated with chorale support, ballet numbers and complex ensembles in a tale centered around three characters with difficult decisions to make. The daughter of the pharaoh and her slave Aida, in her own right a princess but of an enemy kingdom, both love Radamés, an Egyptian warrior. […]

ARTS Pick: A Prairie Home Companion

For 41 years A Prairie Home Companion has delivered folksy humor, top musical talent and irreverent commentary led by Garrison Keillor. The radio show comes to life on stage with the America the Beautiful tour, and while Keillor has announced he will retire by 2017 you can still see him, along with Fred Newman, Sue […]

ARTS Pick: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies with its memorable tale of befuddled romance, thrilling adventure and mischievous magic. The playful tribute to the imagination holds the audience spellbound with a powerful story that proves true love is not as simple as a fairy tale for children. Through 11/29. $18-46, times […]

ARTS Pick: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Six tweens compete for the title of champion speller in the beloved musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This eclectic group of kids spells through the show while disclosing a variety of humorous, honest and heartfelt stories from their home lives. Audience members can also get in on the academic action in […]

ARTS Pick: Stewart Huff

Since dropping out of college 15 years ago to become a writer and comedian, Tennessee native Stewart Huff’s star has been rising on the national and international horizons. Get to know his original and refreshing humor at the latest installment of the Laugh Your Ass Off Comedy Showcase, where he embraces his own life experiences […]

ARTS Pick: I Love a Piano

A celebration of the music and lyrics of Irving Berlin, The Heritage Theatre Festival’s production of I Love a Piano follows a piano as it moves in and out of American lives from the turn of the century to modern day. The story’s brought to life by Berlin classics such as “There’s No Business Like […]

Film lampoon: Live Arts aims to ‘a muse’ with Xanadu

Most of us are born with a seedling of art in our hearts—the desire to create our dreams on paper, in space or on the stage. But we’re taught early on that the path of an artist is hard, one that requires dogged determination and gumption, the kind of commitment to take-no-prisoners passion that stalls […]

ARTS Pick: UnDependence

The Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers are at it again, taking a seat at the table for UnDependence, and proving anything man can do, CLAW can do better. Teachers, moms, CEOs and clerks transform into the tough, gritty characters that the audience knows and loves. With wrestling aliases like General Discontent, Carrie-Oke and Sailor Doom, the […]

ARTS Pick: Spamalot

Camelot may be a silly place, but the trademark tongue-in-cheek humor of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gillam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin has kept audiences coming back for over 40 years. Lovingly ripped off from the cult classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python’s Spamalot puts the British troupe’s iconic […]