Roll over, Beethoven
Jan. 12, 14 & 15
Even if you’ve worn out your recordings of A Hard Day’s Night, Revolver and the White Album, you can hear the Beatles in a whole new way when their songs get the symphonic treatment at BSO Pops’ Revolution: The Music of the Beatles. Led by conductor Jack Everly, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra highlights the songwriting brilliance of the Fab Four. The concert also includes projections of rare and intimate photos of the band.
8 p.m., $35-$90, The Music Center at Strathmore, North Bethesda, strathmore.org
Art All Around
Jan. 11-March 12
Four art shows are on exhibit at VisArts this winter. The Concourse Gallery features a juried exhibition of artwork by emerging adult artists with disabilities who participate in VisAbility Art Lab, VisArts’ studio for neurodiverse artists working toward careers in the visual arts. The Gibbs Street Gallery will show work by 2022 VisArts Studio Fellow Jessica Valoris, a Washington, D.C., artist whose multimedia efforts include painting, sound collage and ritual performance based on traditions of her Black American and Jewish ancestry. The Kaplan Gallery shows work by VisArts Bresler Resident Artist Cecilia Kim, whose art explores the interplay between documentary and constructed image; Alison Kysia, a multimedia artist whose work focuses on Muslims and Islamophobia; and VisArts Bresler Resident Curator Gabrielle Tillenburg. See the VisArts website for the opening and closing dates of the various exhibitions.
Gallery hours noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and Saturday-Sunday, noon to 8 p.m. Friday, free, VisArts, Rockville, visartscenter.org
Graphic Content
Jan. 14
Celebrate comics, graphic novels and fandoms at MoComCon, and don’t be surprised if superheroes, stormtroopers or other costumed sci-fi characters show up. The free event features a costume contest with categories for kids, teens and adults. Other programs include an introduction to manga, a life-size Candy Land, Beat Saber virtual reality video games, and a scavenger hunt. There are also hands-on crafts like button making and Take & Make Kits (while supplies last). Come early for an all-ages superhero-themed story time at 10:30 a.m., before the official event kicks off.
11 a.m. to 4 p.m., free, Germantown Library, montgomerycountymd.gov/library/programs/mocomcon.html#section0
Guitar Hero
Feb. 2
When it comes to Kaki King, you can take your idea of an instrumental guitar concert and shred it. King, who has been called a guitar virtuoso and was the first woman named a “guitar god” by Rolling Stone magazine, plays in a unique percussive style. She’s known for jazz-tinged melodies and using multiple tunings. Her energetic live performances often include visual elements, like a light show projected onto the face of her guitar.
8 p.m., $25-$45, AMP by Strathmore, North Bethesda, strathmore.org
Fancy Feet
Feb. 10-March 19
Inspired by true events and based on the 2005 British film of the same title, the musical Kinky Boots tells the story of the unlikely partnership between a drag queen and a northern England shoe factory owner. Charlie Price inherits his father’s failing footwear business, but after he meets Lola, a flashy performer with a broken boot, the two join forces to produce a new line of high-heeled boots and save the business, despite the disapproval of many in their closed-minded community. The show features music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper. If the stage production were a movie, it would be rated PG-13, according to the theater’s website.
$42-$85, Olney Theatre Center, olneytheatre.org
Hoop Dreams
Feb. 15-April 8
Based on the picture book by Thelma Lynne Godin and adapted for the stage by Gloria Bond Clunie, The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen is about Kameeka, who is confident that she finally will beat her rival and become the Hula-Hoopin’ Queen of 139th Street in Harlem, New York. But on the day of the competition, she also has to prepare for Miz Adeline’s birthday party. She’s so distracted that she ruins the cake. Luckily, “the hula-hoopin’ itch” saves the day and the party spills onto the street.
A joyful block party of a show, The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen celebrates the idea that it takes a village to raise a child. Best for ages 5-11.
$12-$39, Imagination Stage, Bethesda, imaginationstage.org
This story appears in the January/February 2023 issue of Bethesda Magazine.