What if Dr. Frankenstein’s kid didn’t want to continue the family business? That’s the question posed in Young Frankenstein, the stage adaptation of the campy Mel Brooks classic film of the same name. Join Frederick “Fronk-en-steen” and his trusty assistant “Eye-gore,” who convinces the scientist to go a little mad and create the famed monster. Hilarity ensues, complete with cartoonish violence, risqué humor and a memorable rendition of “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”
ARTS Pick: The Piano Lesson
Key players: When relaunching the Charlottesville Players Guild at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, Executive Director Andrea Douglas told C-VILLE: “If you’re going to announce yourself as an institution that addresses the 20th-century African American experience in the
ARTS Pick: Little White Party
Feeling good: The annual Little White Party, held in honor of World AIDS Day, can trace its origins to the 1980s when an East Village disco launched the New York City White Party with a requirement that partygoers dress in all white to support the idea that having HIV does not make a person
ARTS Pick: Willard Gayheart Family Band
Lifetime record: Born in 1932, Willard Gayheart recalls the early influence of hearing the 1936 recording of Mainer’s Mountaineers’ “Maple on the Hill.” “I listened to that record over and over,” he says. “I just couldn’t get enough of it.” So it may come as a surprise that the accomplished
Literary guidance: Musician Chris Campanelli communes with poetic greats in new song cycle
While rehearsing songs for this Saturday’s show at New Dominion Bookshop, Chris Campanelli’s been thinking about his audience. But he says he hasn’t envisioned playing for the people who might fill the seats, or the passersby who may wander in from the December evening chill. He’s been thinking
First Fridays: December 6
Creature conflicts People often describe Aggie Zed’s sculptures as “whimsical,” or “cute.” “I can see whimsical, but I don’t ever see cute,” says the artist, who uses handmade ceramic and mechanical bits in combination with found materials such as scrap metal, wire, and plastic milk jugs to
Training ground: Maria Varela captures a life of activism in ‘Time to Get Ready: fotografía social’ at The Fralin
By Ramona Martinez In “Time to Get Ready: fotografía social,” a National Museum of Mexican Art exhibit on view at The Fralin Museum of Art, you will find all the classic elements one expects in a “good” photography show. Maria Varela’s photographs are compositionally sophisticated and
Together apart: Marriage Story works through tears and humor
Though Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story openly invites comments on the irony of the title—this is, after all, a movie about divorce—it’s in their separation that Nicole and Charlie Barber (Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver) see one another for who they are, as opposed to who they’d become while
Change agents: Beatrix Ost retrospective warns of a dystopian future
Walking into Beatrix Ost’s “Illuminations & Illustrations,” now on view at Second Street Gallery, I was immediately reminded of Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” It wasn’t one particular painting that suggested this, but rather the cumulative effect of all
ARTS Pick: Hiss Golden Messenger
Hiss honesty. M.C. Taylor has been playing music as Hiss Golden Messenger for more than 10 years. His style, though memorable, is hard to categorize as squarely folk, Americana, or gospel. Sure, there is mandolin and a folky twang, but on the next track you might be surprised by an electronic
ARTS Pick: The Flying Karamazov Brothers
Let it fly. Performing as clever pranksters since 1973, The Flying Karamazov Brothers have happily basked in the career-long praise from audiences and critics who call them zany, goofy, and creative. The Brothers mix juggling, theatrics, and comedy into their precisely calibrated act in which
Siding with vinyl: The pros and cons of Record Store Day
Perhaps you’ve seen them, the vinyl devotees. They live among us, frequently darting in and out of record stores and flea markets, some more conspicuous (and vocal) than others. But twice a year, on the Friday after Thanksgiving and a Saturday in April, many wake early and convene outside
ARTS Pick: Hangover Ball
Thanks, I’m out. Powder-dry turkey leftovers, crusty chunks of stuffing, gelatinous gravy, and pie that’s been hacked at all angles by a variety of utensils and fingers. This is the reality of the day after Thanksgiving. Get outta there before there’s another load of dishes to dry, and shake
ARTS Pick: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Bin buster. In the early days of their career Bela Fleck and the Flecktones posed a challenge to record store clerks. By incorporating classical and jazz, bluegrass and African music, plus electric blues and Eastern European folk into their music, the group defied catgorization while opening
ARTS Pick: Dry Branch Fire Squad
Burnin’ bluegrass: Dry Branch Fire Squad has played at every single Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, a bi-annual gathering that will celebrate its 80th concert in 2020. That’s 40 years of performances, and it speaks to why DBFS describes itself as “aggressively traditional.” Frontman Ron Thomason
ARTS Pick: A Legacy Unbroken: The Story of Black Charlottesville
Truth focused: In promoting the premiere of her documentary A Legacy Unbroken: The Story of Black Charlottesville, filmmaker Tanesha Hudson includes a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “I’m gonna tell the truth,” before she makes her own statement: “Hard work pays off eventually, even if
ARTS Pick: Spamalot
Got wit? What happens when Camelot’s King Arthur and his knights get goofy, ridiculous, and even a bit nutty? You get Spamalot, the musical-comedy that swept the Tonys in 2005. The play is an adaptation of the comedy classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in which King Arthur recruits a band
ARTS Pick: Akhnaten
Ancient outlier: Phillip Glass’ mystical, trance-like opera Akhnaten transcends time to explore the life and psyche of the 13th-century B.C. pharaoh of ancient Egypt. The Met Live in HD’s premiere illuminates the fundamental ways that Akhnaten tried to change the way his people thought about
Album reviews: Miranda Lambert, Andy Aylward, Gene Clark, and Homeboy Sandman
Miranda Lambert Wildcard (Sony) Glowing with sanitized professionalism, performed hot messiness, and branded shout outs from Patron to Tide sticks, Wildcard is textbook pop country. And after “divorce album” The Weight of These Wings, it’s party time, as Jay Joyce’s production insists–Wildcard
Game winner: UVA Drama’s She Kills Monsters uses family, grief, and fantasy to tell a coming-of-age story about acceptance
The year is 1995, “Friends” is all the rage, and Tilly Evans is “the most uncommon form of nerd in the world”—a girl-nerd who loves Dungeons & Dragons. So begins She Kills Monsters, the 2011 comedy-drama by Qui Nguyen. Known for his innovative use of pop culture, stage violence, puppetry,
Inspired recollections: Dean Dass’ stylistic parallels on view at Les Yeux du Monde
A professor of printmaking at UVA, where he has taught since 1985, Dean Dass began painting 20 years ago, with the process-rich, methodical approach of a printmaker. “Dean Dass: Venus and the Moon” at Les Yeux du Monde marks the artist’s 10th solo show at the gallery, and he continues to work