Pick: Christmas at The Paramount

Carols everywhere: The Oratorio Society of Virginia returns to the stage after nearly two years for Christmas at The Paramount. Directed by Michael Slon and composed of some of the community’s finest singers, the choral group will perform an assortment of seasonal favorites, including excerpts from Antonio Vivaldi, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Virginia’s own Adolphus Hailstork. […]

Pick: Brew & Buddy Run

Calling all elves: Don’t be a cotton-headed ninny-muggins—treat yo’ elf to the Brew & Buddy Run followed by a screening of the holiday classic Elf. The three-mile run includes brewery breaks before heading to the theater for a journey through the candy cane forest, sea of swirly-twirly gumdrops, and the Lincoln Tunnel. Sunday 12/19. $5-25, […]

Pick: Corey Harris

New blues: With imaginative compositions and an eye for eclectic experimentation, guitarist and vocalist Corey Harris has his own vision of the blues. Drawing on his origins as a New Orleans street singer and his travels through the South and Cameroon, Harris takes the traditional blues formula to the next level with influences from reggae, […]

Pick: Mark Nizer

Lasers, comedy, action!: Entertaining family the day after Thanksgiving can be hard, so let Mark Nizer do it for you at a live show like no other. The immersive one-man performance is a sensory extravaganza of world-class juggling (anything from bowling balls to a burning propane tank), lasers, movement, and music. Nizer delivers original comedy […]

Pick: Fran Lebowitz

Tales of the city: Social commentator and cultural satirist Fran Lebowitz has an impressive resume of books, essays, and films. Her New Yorker flair won her a spot on Vanity Fair’s Best Dressed Hall of Fame list, and she’s the subject of Martin Scorsese’s recent Emmy-nominated, limited documentary series “Pretend It’s a City.” Lebowitz appears […]

If cats could laugh

Liz Miele, author of the book Why Cats Are Assholes, describes herself as a “cat comedian.” That’s why her favorite Charlottesville place to visit was The Cat House, the Downtown Mall’s most reliable home decor source for a self-professed crazy cat lady. “I just feel like someday, someone will discover my body, because, you know, […]

Dealing with dope

Since 2012, Roanoke-based writer Beth Macy has been at the forefront of reporting on the opioid epidemic, covering the toll that the drugs have taken on people and communities in the Appalachian region. In that time, she’s tracked the story of one drug in particular: the painkiller OxyContin. Macy works in western Virginia, but the […]

Pick: Fire Shut Up in My Bones

On fire: Growing up in rural Louisiana, journalist Charles Blow never imagined his life story would one day be portrayed on the world’s most popular opera stage. His memoir, Fire Shut Up in My Bones, a treacherous story of dysfunction and abuse, opened the 2021-22 Metropolitan Opera season. The adaptation by Grammy Award–winning jazz musician […]

Pick: Masterchef

Joy of cooking: Are you a great cook and a fierce competitor? Can you handle having your culinary creations judged down to the smallest leaf of parsley? The immersive stage show MasterChef Live brings past MasterChef and MasterChef Junior contestants together to take on live cooking challenges and demonstrations—and its family-friendly, interactive format means the […]

PICK: Like Water For Chocolate

Hot chocolate: Food nourishes the magical realism in the 1992 international sensation Like Water For Chocolate. When Tita is forbidden from marrying her true love Pedro due to her place in the family lineage, he marries her older sister. Tita becomes a cook, and channels her undying passion for her brother-in-law into meals with special […]