Steady now.
There’s so much happening on the arts scene between now and January that it can leave you spinning.
Dance, both homegrown and internationally known, leaps onto the scene. Theatre — from classic musicals to an all-female “Julius Caesar” — seduces us to stages. Comedy that asks our help in creating the skit, or wants us to just sit back and relax, will keep us in a jolly mood.
Music, all kinds of music, from classical to jazz and pop and blues, will entice us to concert halls and outdoor spaces.
Finally, the performing arts season snaps into full gear. We’re ready.
These are among the events on our “must go” list:
Dance
The University of Arizona School of Dance is considered one of the best in the country. So it isn’t surprising that two graduates of that school, Claire Hancock and Ashley Bowman, are behind the innovative — and exciting — Artifact Dance Project. Next up for the company is its version of George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “Animal Farm.” It’s conceived by Bowman, and Hancock is one of the choreographers. As is the norm for Artifact, other performing arts will be incorporated, including live music and vocals. It’s Oct. 6-9 at the Museum of Contemporary Art. But don’t hesitate to snag tickets — they go fast.
And if you want to catch some of the budding dance pros from the UA, check out the annual “Premium Blend” performance Nov. 2-6 at the Stevie Eller Dance Theatre.
Twyla Tharp has been on the edge of new and thrilling dance for 50 years now. She’s brought her company here before, but there will be new works and a dozen new dancers at her Oct. 9 UA Presents concert at Centennial Hall.
This one will tango right into our lives: Estampas Porteñas, a troupe of 25 dancers, musicians and singers from Argentina Nov. 18 at Centennial Hall, courtesy of UA Presents.
Pima Community College dance students can impress, too. Catch them in the “Signature Selections” performance Dec. 9-10 at the PCC Center for the Arts.
Opera
Arizona Rose Theatre is 30 years old this year; seems like a fine age to launch an opera company. The Arizona Rose Opera Company performances will be in English and the company is designing the works with an eye toward making opera appealing to younger audiences. It debuts with its production of two one-acts by Menotti: his comic opera, “The Telephone,” and the darker piece, “The Medium.” They will be Oct. 28-29 at Zuzi Theater.
Arizona Opera‘s season opener is Antonín Dvořák’s “Rusalka,” which is Nov. 19-20 at the Tucson Music Hall. Based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, it is sung in Czech with English supertitles. Arizona Opera does a few nifty things surrounding performances, but this is a favorite: UA vocal students will sing key arias from the shows before each production.
Comedy
If you have not yet been to a Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed improv performance, do yourself a favor and go. The performers take casual suggestions, often outlandish ones, from the audience and create tasty comedy skits. Even when the skits don’t work — they are created on the fly, after all — they are funny. Shows are every Fridays and Saturdays at Unscrewed Theater.
This could be exactly what this election year needs: Two political cartoonists, a more-left leaning David Fitzsimmons from the Star, and the more conservative Scott Stantis with the Chicago Tribune, will analyze the election as only political cartoonists can, in the “Drawing Political Lines: The Great Cartoon Debate of 2016” at The Loft Cinema. The event is courtesy of the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Loft. It’s happening Oct. 10.
Local comedians take the stage Oct. 23 at The Flycatcher for the Laughing Liberally Comedy Showcase. It’ll be a few weeks before the election; we’re gonna need some laughs.
And right after the election, we’ll need still more. So check out the Comedy Arts Festival at the Tucson Improv Movement Comedy Theater, Nov 9-12. Comedians from Tucson and around the country will help us yuck it up.
Classical music
It’s kind of stunning that the offerings are so rich in this field. The big guys usually get much of the attention — and they are good, they should get attention. Tucson Symphony Orchestra programs we don’t want to miss include Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 on Oct. 7 at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian, and Oct. 8 and 9 at Catalina Foothills High School; The Planets at Tucson Music Hall Oct. 21-23; Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Music Hall Nov. 11-13, and the All Beethoven concert at the Music Hall on Dec. 2-4. There’s much more to see, so check out the TSO’s website.
UA Presents continues to have our classical music interests in mind: Cavatina Duo — Eugenia Moliner on flute and Denis Azabagic on guitar — will perform a program of Bach and Toru Takemitsu on Oct. 21 at Crowder Hall, and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra comes to Centennial Hall Nov. 2.
And Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra is performing Gershwin’s piano concerto in F along with Dawson’s Negro folk symphony on Oct. 15 at Desert View Performing Arts Center and Oct. 16 at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, and Beethoven’s Fifth and Nielsen’s Flute Concerto on Nov. 19 at DesertView and Nov. 20 at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.
But don’t ignore the events that may not be as flashy, but certainly are worthy of special attention, such as “If Music Be The Food,” which will bring together musicians from the TSO, the UA School of Music, and True Concord Voices and Orchestra performing works by Bach, Glière, and Haydn Oct. 1 at Rincon Congregational Church. Admission is a can of food for the Interfaith Community Services Food Band.
Sonora Winds Concert of American Music on Oct. 5 will include a program of music by Bernstein, Scott Joplin and even a Sousa march. It’s at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
The Tucson Guitar Society’s international Guitar Fest is in its eighth year of bringing stunning music to the Old Pueblo. Ivan Rijos opens it Nov. 5, and it continues through Nov. 12. All the events are at Holsclaw Hall in the UA Fine Arts Center.
The popular Messiah Sing-in, courtesy of Tucson Sing-In, is slated for Nov. 28 at Christ Community Church. Hallelujah!
The Arizona Friends of Chamber Music brings in the Juilliard Quartet for a Dec. 14 concert that will include works by Mendelssohn and Beethoven. That’s at the Leo Rich Theatre in the TCC.
And if you ignore faculty concerts at both the UA and Pima, you are doing yourself a disservice. Check the websites for details on their packed offerings.
Jazz/blues
Tucson is a jazz-loving town: You can get it every Friday and Sunday at Pastiche restaurant, where Pete Swan performs and often has some equally amazing artists sitting in. And jazz is a regular at the Tohono Chul Park’s Sundays in the Garden concerts.
Jazz and blues lovers often go hand in hand. And there’s much to celebrate over the next few months.
Soulful sax player Boney James hits the Fox Tucson Theatre Nov. 10, and pianist Bruce Hornsby is there Nov. 19.
Nam Jam is generally packed with live blues; that’s at DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center in Reid Park on Oct. 8. And a little more than a week later, Oct. 16, the Blues and Heritage Festival takes over the bandshell.
The award-winning Tucson Jazz Institute’s Ellington Band gives us all confidence that jazz will survive — the institute takes students as young as 9. The Ellington Band is made up of the more experienced musicians, most in high school. Jazz lovers seek out concerts by the band, and there will be one Nov. 12 at DesertView Performing Arts Center. Check the website in case more pop up.
This isn’t quite jazz or blues, but the music is definitely soulful: Tucson musicians relive The Band’s final concert, the Last Waltz concert, at the Fox on Nov. 26. That’s 40 years almost to the day (Nov. 25, 1976) that The Band was joined by the likes of Bob Dylan, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Muddy Waters — the list goes on — for that farewell concert at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom. We’re willing to bet none of those folks will show up at the Fox for this event. But we are also willing to be bet the music will be sublime.
World music
UA’s Special Collections does a very cool thing: the annual Una Noche de Corridos, with local musicians performing corridos. There will be a short introduction to the corrido before the music begins. It’s happening Oct. 6 at Special Collections.
You’ve a couple chances to catch El Mariachi Sol Azteca: Oct. 26 at Community Performing Arts Center in Green Valley, and Nov. 19 at Rincon Congregational Church.
When Grammy-nominated R. Carlos Nakai plays the Native American flute the world stops; his music is that glorious. He and his quartet will perform Nov. 30 at Green Valley’s Community Performance & Art Center. Do yourself a favor and go hear him.
If you have a drop of Irish blood in you (and who doesn’t?), Celtic music speaks to you. Especially when it’s performed by John Doyle, who sings traditional tunes as well as his own with all the verve the music requires. He performs with fiddler Duncan Wickel on Dec. 3 at the PCC Center for the Arts, courtesy of InConcert.
And no doubt that’ll put you in the mood, so you can catch more Irish delight with the traditional music group Danú. It will get us in the holiday spirit with “Feile na Nollag: A Christmas Gathering.” UA Presents brings them to Centennial Hall Dec. 7.
You’ll have a hard choice that evening because the Gabriel Ayala Quintet performs at the Community Performing Arts Center Dec. 7. Ayala is a stunning classical guitarist.
Choral
Choral groups sing out in great numbers during the last quarter of the year.
True Concord Voices & Orchestra performs Music of the Four Elements, which will include pieces by Aaron Copland, Stephen Paulus and Eric Whitacre, on Oct. 13 at the Scottish Rite Temple, Oct. 14 at Desert Hills Lutheran Church in Green Valley, Oct. 15 at Tohono Chul, and Oct. 16 at Grace St. Paul’s Church. It also is performing a glorious piece: Bach’s Magnificat on Nov. 17 at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Nov. 18 at Lutheran Church of the Risen Savior in Green Valley, Nov. 19 at Catalina Foothills High School, and Nov. 20 at Grace St. Paul’s.
Pima’s Chorale and College Singers, an a cappella choir, performs at PCC Oct. 23 and Dec. 2; Arizona Repertory Singers annual holiday concerts are slated for Dec. 9 at Christ the King Episcopal Church, and Dec. 11 and 16 at the Benedictine Monastery; the Southern Arizona Women’s Chorus performs Vivaldi’s “Gloria” on Dec. 11 at Ascension Lutheran Church, the SaddleBrooke Singers Christmas Concert is Dec. 2-4 at DesertView, and the Canada del Oro Barbershop Chorus performs Dec. 9, also at DesertView.
One of the most in-demand vocal concerts is the Sons of Orpheus’ “Christmas at San Xavier,” where the group is joined by the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus at Mission San Xavier del Bac. Patronato San Xavier sponsors the concert, a fundraiser for the mission. It happens Dec. 13-15. If you act fast, you may be able to snag a ticket to a performance.
Theater
Tucson has more than 20 locally-grown theater companies. That’s impressive.
Plus we have Broadway in Tucson bringing in road shows of Broadway musicals.
It all makes for difficult choices. So we’ll do a bit of a breakdown for you.
If you are a sucker for a musical, Arizona Theatre Company stages the classic “Fiddler on the Roof” at the Temple of Music and Art, Dec. 3-31; Broadway in Tucson brings the much-loved “The Sound of Music” to Centennial Hall Nov. 29-Dec. 4, and Arizona Repertory Theatre looks to the newer with it’s production of “Hands on a Hardbody,” a 2011 musical inspired by the documentary of the same name. That’s Oct. 16-Nov. 6 at the Tornabene Theatre on the UA campus.
Looking for something a bit more serious and theatrical? Winding Road Theater Ensemble offers Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” with a twist: an all-female cast. It’s Oct. 20-Nov. 5 at the Cabaret Theatre at the Temple of Music and Art. And The Rogue Theatre is staging Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” Nov. 3-20.
If it’s sweet and old fashioned you prefer, Arizona Rose Theatre has “Harvey,” about a man whose best friend is a rabbit, Oct. 15-23 at Zuzi Theater, and Arizona Rep has “Born Yesterday” Nov. 6-Dec. 4 at the Marroney Theatre on campus.
If your tastes run more toward post-2010 plays, ATC has “An Act of God,” a 2015 piece that was a series of tweets before it was fashioned into a comedy. That runs Oct. 22-Nov. 12 at the Temple of Music and Art. And Roadrunner Theatre Company stages the 2006 play “God of Carnage” Nov. 4-20 at Alliance Performance Center of Tucson (APCOT) Theater.
Laughter is always welcomed, and there’s plenty of that, too, including: “Alive and Well,” a romantic comedy, at Invisible Theatre Nov. 1-13, and The Gaslight Theatre and the Comedy Playhouse designs its productions so that you leave laughing.
If you like your theater holiday themed, you don’t want to miss Borderlands Theater’s “A Tucson Pastorela” Dec. 1-11 at the Temple of Music and Art Cabaret Theatre.
And if you just like checking out theater, consider Something Something Theatre’s production of the satire of Edwardian era Boston, “Boston Marriage,” at the Community Playhouse Dec. 1-18, and Speak the Speech’s production of David Mamet’s “American Buffalo,” also at the Community Playhouse, Oct. 20-Nov. 6.
Young at art
Classical music isn’t just for folks over 60 and with extra dough, and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra proves that with its Just for Kids concerts. Check out the next one, Oct. 1 — costumes are encouraged for this Mozart-inspired session — or the Dec. 3 event, where pirate-themed music is on the bill. Concerts are at the Tucson Symphony Center.
Every year, Valley of the Moon embraces October with a spook-themed (but never too spooky) show. This year, it’s “The Case of Sleepy Hollow.” The historic site is full of magic Oct. 7-30.
Borderlands Theatre takes it outside with the world premiere of “Sonoran Shadows,” a shadow play based on Patricia Preciado Martin’s “El Milagro and Other Stories.” It promises to be quite a production: Milta Ortiz adapted it, Marc David Pinate directs, and artist Cristina Cárdenas is the art director. It’s Oct. 14 at Armory Park Bandshell and Oct. 15 at Oury Recreation Center.
It’s hard for children to resist jumping on stage when they see a show. The Tucson Alliance of Dramatic Artists (TADA) encourages it with “A Weenie Halloweenie,” where children and actors make the play together. It’s Oct. 15-30 at APCOT.
Christian Youth Theater stages the rock ‘n’ roll musical “Bye Bye Birdie” Oct. 28-30. It’s a throwback to when rock ‘n’ roll really was innocent. And there are some catchy songs, was well. It’s at PCC.
