Fall arts: 25 can't-miss events in Columbus
Fall is prime season for the arts, and this fall is a real gem for Columbus. Whether you like art that hangs on the wall, dances en pointe across a stage, sings at the top of its lungs or flickers across a screen, you're gonna love the upcoming season (Annie Leibovitz, anyone?). Read our picks for 25 gotta-see events coming up in September, October and November.
BalletMet's"TheAmerican Songbook"
BalletMet Performance Space
Sept. 21-Oct. 7
322 Mount Vernon Ave., Discovery District
Under the rubric "The American Songbook," BalletMet presents Amy Seiwert's Patsy Cline tribute "Dear Miss Cline," Darrell Grand Moultrie's Sammy Davis, Jr. celebration "Simply Sammy," and, accompanied by voices of the Columbus Gay Men's Chorus, a Stella Kane world premiere.
La Bohème
Shadowbox Live Backstage Bistro
Sundays, Oct. 14-Nov. 18
503 S. Front St., Brewery District
In the category of odd couples, Shadowbox Live and Opera Columbus collaborate on an English-language abridgement of Giacomo Puccini's "La Bohème." Each of the Sunday-only performances of the tragic opera that inspired Jonathan Larson's award-winning musical "Rent" is free.
"Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson"
Studio One, Riffe Center
Sept. 20-Oct. 13
77 S. High St., Downtown
Available Light Theatre gives Old Hickory the rock star treatment in this mash-up of humor, sex, rock 'n' roll and presidential politics. Written by Alex Timbers, this rock musical promises "American history at its nastiest."
Annie Leibovitz
Wexner Center for the Arts
Sept. 22-Dec. 30
1871 N. High St., Campus
You know Annie Leibovitz. She's the photographer who has taken some of celebrity's most iconic modern photos. That Rolling Stone image of John Lennon naked and clinging to Yoko Ono? Yup, she captured that five hours before Lennon was murdered. Leibovitz is one of the most prominent artists living today, and the Wex will be the first to show her complete "Master Set" of striking portraits. Visitors can also see "Pilgrimage," her series of photos of interiors and objects attached to historical figures like Abraham Lincoln and Emily Dickinson.
São Paulo Underground
Sunday, Sept. 23
Wexner Center for the Arts
1871 N. High St., Campus
Chicago cornet master Rob Mazurek, a staple of Chicago's jazz and post-rock avant garde, went down to Brazil and brought back a slew of likeminded Brazilians. They'll tear through selections from their self-titled 2011 album.
Bebe Miller "A History"
Wexner Center for the Arts
Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 27-29
1871 N. High St., Campus
Bebe Miller Company dancers Angie Hauser and Darrell Jones take the stage in a Miller-choreographed exploration of the OSU faculty member's career. The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation recently named Miller one of 21 of "America's most vital and productive performing artists." See why.
National Theatre of Scotland: "The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart"
Wednesday-Friday, Oct. 31-Nov. 2
CD 102.5 Big Room
1036 S. Front St., Brewery District
The Wexner Center partners with CD 102.5's Big Room to host the hit Scottish production, done entirely in ballad, about an academic's comical, supernatural path to self-discovery. A cozy pub-style atmosphere will feature cocktails, plus the possibility of being called out to assist the roving cast.
Doc Severinsen in "40 Years with Jazz Arts Group"
Friday and Saturday, Sept. 28-29
Southern Theatre
21 E. Main St., Downtown
Heeeeeeere's Doc! To celebrate four decades of Jazz Arts Group, the city's leading jazz organization is putting on a whopper of a show featuring Johnny Carson's former "Tonight Show" bandleader Doc Severinsen. A tribute to pianist Stan Kenton is on tap, too.
"FROM ONE FOOT TO THE OTHER: what was once digital is dead & now lives on as a dance"
Feverhead
Friday-Saturday, Sept. 28-29
1199 Goodale Blvd., Grandview
Named after Feverhead founder Coco Loupe's now-shuttered blog, "From One Foot to the Other" introduces viewers to performers who only recently began dancing. The pick-up dance company is called They Might Be Dancers Too and stars people Columbus regulars will recognize (Zachariah Baird, Eve Hermann and Counterfeit Madison).The score was also locally produced. Coco's choreography is always fresh, and taking on newbie dancers is a provocative artistic choice.
Ballet Hispanico
Capitol Theatre, Riffe Center
77 South High St., Downtown
Saturday, Sept. 29
New York-based Ballet Hispanico, founded in 1970 by Venezuelan-born dancer and choreographer Tina Ramirez and led since 2009 by Cuban-born dancer and choreographer Eduardo Vilaro, returns to Columbus to continue its voyage through the music and movement of Hispanic-American culture.
Film Festival of Columbus
Gateway Film Center
Tuesday-Friday, October 2-5
550 N. High St., South Campus
The Film Festival of Columbus - FFOCOL for short, pronounced "focal" - has a clear focus. It's not only bringing some great movies to town, it's showcasing Columbus as a filmmaking destination. We're down for that.
"Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo"
Studio Two, Riffe Center
Oct.10-28
77 South High St., Downtown
CATCO presents a play written by Rajiv Joseph, which tells the story of a tiger that roams the streets of present-day Baghdad seeking the meaning of life and encountering Americans and Iraqis.
"The Intergalactic NemesisBook One:Target Earth"
Mershon Auditorium
Friday, Oct. 12
1871 North High St., Campus
Part radio drama, part graphic novel, part stage show, the Wexner Center will present this first part of "The Intergalactic Nemesis," the story of three regular people as they face an impending alien invasion.
Locality 2012
Various locations
Friday-Sunday, Oct. 12-14
Take a bus tour to see site-specific dance performances around town at places like the Union Station Arch, Whetstone Park, the Strand Cafe and the block of High Street between the Riffe Center and the Statehouse.
"November"
The Jewish Community Center's Roth-Resler Theater
October 20-28
1125 College Ave., East Side
Kicking off the Gallery Players' 2012-2013 season, David Mamet's "November" follows an incumbent president as he faces a daunting reelection - and the pardoning of turkeys before Thanksgiving that may inspire his comeback.
Neil Cowley Trio
Wexner Center for the Arts
Saturday, Oct. 13
1871 N. High St., Campus
Because we constantly need reminders that jazz is supposed to be fun and freewheeling, British powerhouse Neil Cowley Trio persists. Their brainy, propulsive new album "The Face of Mount Molehill" rocks harder than most rock albums these days.
Tinariwen
Wexner Center for the Arts
Wednesday, Oct. 24
1871 N. High St., Campus
American kids rock so sedately compared with Algerian desert folk. The Touareg rockers return to the Wex with a show so towering in power that it might even be worth skipping Morrissey and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion the same night.
Por Vida
Junctionview Studios
Friday-Sunday, Oct. 26-28
889 Williams Ave., Grandview
Columbus' indie art scene elite are always in attendance at this party for those who have passed. Day of the Dead-inspired paintings, sculptures, installation and music are at once sentimental and spooky.
"The American President: Photographs from the Archives of the Associated Press"
Schumacher Gallery, Capital University
Oct. 26-Dec. 7
2199 E. Main St., Bexley
At the White House and around the globe, Associated Press photographers have been on the heels of the commander-in-chief for well over a century. This well-timed touring show presents several dozen of the most memorable presidential moments and images in AP history.
"Castles in the Sky: Miyazaki, Takahata, and the Masters of Studio Ghibli Film"
Wexner Center for the Arts
Throughout November
1871 N. High St., Campus
This series at the Wex celebrates the animation studio hailed as the "Disney of Japan." Known commodities like "Spirited Away" and "Princess Mononoke" mix with deeper cuts, and the series features of mix of subtitles and English-dubbed version, making some more family-friendly.
"In Love with Tyrone"
Palace Theatre
Friday and Saturday, Nov. 2-3
34 W. Broad St., Downtown
Playwright and director Ericka Nicole Malone presents this gospel play about a salon owner betrayed by her husband. The production starring Robin Givens and Leon embarks on a nine-city tour this fall.
"The Fab Four" Beatles Tribute with Columbus Symphony Orchestra
Ohio Theatre
Saturday, Nov. 10
39 E. State St., Downtown
The Columbus Symphony dons its figurative mop-top with this Pops Series tribute to The Beatles. Expect '60s era costumes and classics like "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude." Michael Berkowitz conducts.
Builders Association: "SONTAG: REBORN"
Wexner Center for the Arts
Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 15-18
1871 N. High St., Campus
In connection with its massive Annie Leibovitz show, the Wexner Center brings back New York's The Builders Association ("HOUSE/DIVIDED") for a multimedia portrait of the photographer's longtime partner, writer Susan Sontag, drawn from her earliest journals and Leibovitz's pictures.
CSO Masterworks "Cheek and Charm" concert
Southern Theatre
Friday-Sunday, Nov. 16-18
21 East Main St., Downtown
Jean-Marie Zeitouni conducts the CSO in Igor Stravinsky's neoclassic "Octet," Darius Milhaud's Brazil-infused ballet "Le Boeuf sur le Toit," Maurice Ravel's "Mother Goose Suite," and is joined by violinist Alicia Hui in Serge Prokofiev's "Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 19."
"The Shakespeare Conspiracy"
Van Fleet Theatre, Columbus Performing Arts Center
549 Franklin Ave., Downtown
Oct. 31-Nov. 10
Serious doubts about the authorship of the plays attributed to William Shakespeare did not arise publicly until more than two centuries after his death. Set in 1593 London, "The Shakespeare Conspiracy" makes the case for Christopher Marlowe: playwright, spy, homosexual.
Story by Chris DeVille, Brad Keefe, Todd LaPlace, Jackie Mantey and Jay Weitz
