Thursday 29
UP AND STRUMMERS. Check out a talented lineup of classical guitarists as they perform a program that includes Bach and Handel as well as Spanish selections and other pieces.
The inaugural William Wolfe Guitar Award recital features soloists from among the University of Arizona's guitar majors. Tucson native and senior Rick Hill; Dieter Hennings, a junior from Hermosillo, Mexico; and sophomores Wilson Hur from Portland, Ore., Pablo Armenta from Hermosillo and Cale Hoeflicker from Hollister, Mo. will show off their best stuff.
A panel of judges selected the participants during a preliminary recital. Each participant will receive a $500 award.
William J. Wolfe, a music advisory board associate member, established the Wolfe Guitar Award Recital Fund as an endowment to reveal and recognize outstanding musicianship of UA undergraduates majoring in guitar.
The free event starts at 7 tonight in Holsclaw Recital Hall, in the UA music building, at the south end of the pedestrian underpass on Speedway Boulevard east of Park Avenue. For more information, call 621-2998 or visit www.arts.arizona.edu/music.
Friday 30
PARENTAL DISCRETION ADVISED. This show may not be appropriate for small children.
Zeffirelli 8 Dance Company's latest show contains "brief nudity in one piece" and mature "subject matter in another."
Intrigued?
Listen to this.
Dances and theatrical works will be performed to the music of Bach, Bob Dylan, Madonna, Country Joe and the Fish, Nino Rota, Albinoni, Edith Piaf, Thomas Newman, Maria Callas, Portishead and Phillip Glass.
Zeffirelli 8 has performed three shows in Tucson since 1996. The artistic director, Lucia Zeffirelli, has been recognized nationally for her choreography. This particular show will consist of six dances and four theatrical interludes. The movement is Limon-based and the dance pieces vary from light and sometimes comical to serious and possibly disturbing.
Performances start at 8 tonight and Saturday at Zuzi's Little Theatre, 738 N. Fifth Ave. Tickets cost $10 adults, $8 students and seniors, and will be available at the door only. For more information, call Zeffirelli at 745-8431.
ALL CRACKED UP. Tchaikovsky makes his Christmas entrance today as A Time to Dance Studio presents a holiday tradition.
The Nutcracker will be a "vibrant, warm holiday show É performed by highly skilled dancers of all ages," the show's producers promise.
The production marks the first full Nutcracker for the studio, which is now in its fifth year. More than 100 children and teens and a "sprinkling of adults" make up A Time to Dance.
Performances are at 7 tonight and 2 p.m. Saturday at the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and the Blind's Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway Blvd. Tickets cost $5 for today's show, and $10 for the Saturday performance. For tickets and more information, call 320-1566 or 327-5137.
FOOD BANK BOOSTER. Get off your can and take some canned food to Reid Park this weekend for a great evening of Cuban entertainment.
Los Fakires is in town to help raise donations for the Community Food Bank.
UApresents brings the enchanting Cuban quintet to the DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center for a free concert. In its first-ever American tour, Los Fakires shares the resonant sounds of the Caribbean that speak to the glamour and romanticism of the 1930s and 1940s. The group's music blends the stringed instruments and poetry of Spanish peasants with the intoxicating rhythms of Africa.
"The warmth, talent and genuine spirit of this group is so engaging, no one will be able to resist this musical experience," said UApresents' Ken Foster, who was part of a group of American presenters and artist managers who discovered this group in a cultural tour of Cuba and made possible this inaugural U.S. tour.
"This performance is a chance for families to relax and spend an evening under the stars," Foster said. "It is also an opportunity for all of us to assist the work of the Community Food Bank to feed those in need."
Los Fakires brings together saxophonist Jose Bringuez, 71; Gilberto Abreu, 50, who plays the bongosero; singer Felo Valdez, 71, who also plays the maracas; guitarist Jose Remie, 63, and lead singer Martin Chavez, 67. Through the years, Los Fakires has performed throughout central Cuba. Propelled by the voice of Chavez, the group performs the traditional Cuban songs of the 1930s, '40s and '50s. The group's latest recording, Mi Casa, Su Casa, features son, guaracha, cha cha cha and bolero.
Los Fakires plays at 7 tonight at the DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center at Reid Park. The event is free, but a donation of cash or non-perishable food items is encouraged.
Saturday 1
34th STREET TRADITION. There is a great big guy in a red suit, don't you know?
The Bianco Children's Theatre presents a musical version of the classic Christmas story Miracle on 34th Street. In case you've forgotten, it's about a little girl who learns to believe in a real Santa Claus.
The production highlights a number of seasonal musical favorites for the whole family.
Performances begin at 11 a.m. today and on December 8, 15, 22 and 26-29 at Gaslight Theatre. Tickets cost $8 adults, $7 seniors. For more information, call 886-0860.
A TREASURE IN THE GARDEN. Something big is happening today at Medicine Man Gallery.
Renowned sculptor Veryl Goodnight will be in Tucson as her life-size bronze, Second Thoughts, will be installed in the gallery's sculpture garden.
Well known for her public installations, Goodnight excels in representing equine themes and early pioneer women. Capturing the emotion or "heart" of her subjects is most important in all of her work.
The artist will be on hand to discuss this sculpture and all her work. The gallery will have a wide selection of her pieces, from miniature to monumental, on exhibit and for sale.
The event starts at 1 p.m. today at the gallery, 7000 E. Tanque Verde Road. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. For more information, call 722-7798 or visit www.medicinemangallery.com.
LOST, BUT NOT LEAST. How often can you win a prize for feeding your face?
Friends of Tucson Music Theatre is hosting a "promenade." You can do some holiday shopping while enjoying previews of shows by Tucson Music Theatre talent, check out the KTUC Radio remote, listen to mariachis, try the food at Tooley's and get a chance to win one of the eight prizes--worth at least $100 each--donated by the Lost Barrio shops.
The event is to lend support to TMT's 2002 season, which celebrates the Richard Rodgers centennial with two wonderful shows dedicated to his collaborations with Lawrence Hart and Oscar Hammerstein, plus a production of New York's longest-running musical ever, The Fantasticks.
Lost Barrio is home to artists, artisans and traders specializing in fine art, antiques, furniture, home accessories, folk art, crafts and gifts from around the world.
The event is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at Tucson's Lost Barrio, on Park Avenue just south of Broadway Boulevard.
SOLEFUL THINGS. Some 400,000 adults and children in Southern Arizona have arthritis.
Help them out this holiday season by lacing up your running shoes for the eighth annual Jingle Bell Walk-Run for Arthritis. This fun 5K will benefit those with arthritis by providing funding for arthritis programs and services in our region.
The morning will be filled with entertainment, raffle prizes, food, a costume contest and fun for the entire family. In addition, there will be a silent auction for a Diamondbacks package that includes a baseball signed by Jay Bell, a ticket for two to a spring training session with grandstand seating and a Diamondbacks hat.
Registration starts at 8 a.m. today and the run starts at 9 at Reid Park's Ramada No. 5. A registration fee of $35 includes official Jingle Bell T-shirt and shoelaces, and a raffle ticket. For more information, call 917-7070.
Sunday 2
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US. Listen up, then loosen up--your vocal cords--for an afternoon to ring in the season.
More than 200 singers will perform in this year's Christmas Card to Tucson, an annual holiday tradition. A brass choir and a handbell choir join the University of Arizona Choir, Symphonic Choir and University/Community Chorus for the concert.
Among the highlights will be Ottorino Respighi's beautiful cantata for woodwinds, keyboard and mixed choir, Laud to the Nativity. It will be performed by the UA's premiere choral ensemble, the Arizona Choir, and conducted by Bruce Chamberlain, director of choral activities.
A multi-choral surround-sound work by Johann Pachelbel and works by American composer Morten Lauridsen, Estonian composer ·rvo P...rt and English composer John Rutter will also be presented.
A Christmas carol sing-along rounds out the concert, which features Malcolm Sargent 's arrangement of Silent Night.
The free event starts at 2 p.m. today at St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 N. Stone Ave. For more information, call 621-2998.
Monday 3
KISS THIS LADY. Lerner and Loewe's beloved musical My Fair Lady is yours for the taking as Arizona Theatre Company celebrates its 35th season with a stylish new production.
The play is based on George Bernard Shaw's comic masterpiece Pygmalion, which itself was drawn from the Greek myth about a sculptor who fell in love with his ivory statue of a woman.
In My Fair Lady, linguistics professor Henry Higgins plucks Cockney flower peddler Eliza Doolittle off the street on a bet that with six weeks of lessons in speech and manners he can pass her off as a duchess at the Embassy Ball.
When he makes the shocking discovery that his creation has a heart, and that perhaps he does too, the experiment takes on unexpected, more complicated dimensions.
My Fair Lady, directed by ATC artistic director David Ira Goldstein, runs through December 15 at the Temple of Music and Art. Tickets range from $30 to $42 and are available at www.arizonatheatre.org or by calling the ATC box office at 622-2823. Discounts are available for students, seniors and the military and anyone under 25 may purchase tickets for $10.
Tuesday 4
ACROBATICS AND ARTISTRY. An aerial ballet over the audience. A death-defying masquerade atop 24 feet of chairs. A balancing act on heads, hands and sculpted bodies.
These are just a few of the breathtaking feats in Neil Goldberg's Cirque. This exhilarating performance, from the producer of Cirque Ingenieux, brings together an international ensemble of 24 of the world's most talented and unique artists.
With an original score by Keith Richard Heffner, Cirque is filled with brilliant color and dazzling spectacle. The show offers something for the entire family.
Cirque combines actresses, dancers, acrobats, gymnasts and singers from Canada to Mongolia in a kaleidoscope of fantasy and artistry. The performers attempt incredible stunts and physical feats, manipulating balance and strength to a point that stokes the imagination.
French for "circus," the "cirque" concept originates in Europe's entertainment culture. In 1874, Jules Verne built, designed and operated the largest circus in France, Cirque Municipal.
Goldberg has developed productions for two Super Bowls, two Miss Universe pageants, the Walt Disney Co. and more than 2,000 corporate, private and special events throughout the world.
The show starts at 7:30 tonight through Thursday and at other times through December 9 at Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd., just east of Park Avenue. Tickets cost $30 to $48. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Annie Bunker of the ORTS Dance Studio will host a free "Arts Encounter" 45 minutes before tonight's performance in the Social Sciences auditorium, directly east of the hall. For more information, call 621-3341.
Wednesday 5
DINO-MIGHTY. If you're into dinosaurs, or know somebody who is, get over to Tucson Children's Museum.
The Dinosaur Canyon exhibit features a new dino-video, interactive computer station and the opportunity to "make" a fossil or fire off a volcano.
The museum is located at 200 S. Sixth Ave. Admission costs $5.50 adults, $3.50 children, $4.50 seniors. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.
