All upcoming Music & Theater programs

During the last century, the world’s moviegoers were filled with delight as Charlie Chaplin ate his shoe, roller-skated blindfolded, was swallowed by an assembly line, and twirled his cane as the beloved Little Tramp. His remarkable 52-year career, however, was not without its share of personal and political traumas. Film historian Max Alvarez examines the laughter and heartbreak behind one of the geniuses of screen comedy.

The music of Maurice Ravel brings a unique form of magnetism, delicacy, passion, and a frisson of disquiet to the concert experience. Concert pianist and speaker Rachel Franklin celebrates Ravel's 150th birthday by exploring a wide range of works from such masterpieces as Daphnis et Chloé and La Valse to solo display works like Tzigane that dazzle with their beauty and technical brilliance.

Despite being one of the most documented artists of the 20th century, Frida Kahlo remains an elusive figure, clouded by a mythology that was partly of her own making. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts exhibition “Frida: Behind the Myth” explores the defining moments of Kahlo’s life as depicted through self-portraits plus prints and photographs of her. The day also includes a visit with the Latin Ballet of Virginia. Arts journalist Richard Selden leads the tour.

When Georges Bizet died suddenly at the age of 36 in 1875, the debut of his new opera, Carmen, had just been dubbed a humiliating failure. He would never know that only a few months later its subsequent productions were triumphs, and this vibrant and revolutionary work has never been absent from the world’s opera stages. In this 150th anniversary year of both Bizet’s death and Carmen’s birth, speaker and concert pianist Rachel Franklin explores how, despite enjoying only modest success during his lifetime, Bizet’s innovative, emotionally compelling style has influenced countless composers and profoundly shaped opera history.

In the early 20th century, Manhattan’s Times Square was a gritty neighborhood full of horse stables. Today, it’s the vibrant center of Broadway’s Theater District. The transformation has its roots in the vision of three scrappy Lithuanian-born brothers: Lee, J.J., and Sam Shubert. Tim Dolan of Broadway Up Close tours spotlights the remarkable ascent of Broadway’s most powerful theatrical dynasty—founded 125 years ago—and uses a trove of rare photographs and archival videos to bring to life the heart of the Shubert empire: the Theater District between 44th and 46th Streets.

From its start as a DVD-by-mail rental service, Netflix has systematically changed the rules of the entertainment media business. It introduced streaming in 2007 and began offering its own programming in 2013. Now its original movies are upending the operations of the Hollywood studios. Media historian Brian Rose explores how Netflix is primed to become the dominant source of online entertainment throughout the world.

Jazz has consistently defied efforts to capture its essence, milieu, dynamics, and quicksilver magic effectively in the mainstream medium of movies. Although cinema and jazz were born at roughly the same time, they have often appeared to be two art forms at odds with one another. In his exploration of jazz on screen, Tim A. Ryan, a professor at Northern Illinois University, surveys the genre’s film history and examines the inherent challenges filmmakers face when trying to dramatize the world of jazz.

Walt Disney built a cultural empire rooted in imagination, optimism, and storytelling. Guided by this outlook, he and his Imagineers conceived something special: an architecture of reassurance in Disney theme parks. Former urban planner Sam Gennawey, author of Walt Disney and the Promise of Progress City, decodes Disney’s design DNA and reveals the techniques his team employed at Disneyland: eight design principles that usher guests on a journey through places that delight. Take a peek behind the curtain.

All aboard! To celebrate the centennial of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters­­—a history-making union of African American workers­—SJMO highlights railroads across America in works including "Last Train from Overbrook,” Blues in the Night," "9:20 Special”, and more.

When the 369th infantry regiment eventually known as the “Harlem Hellfighters” arrived in France in December 1917, none of them could have imagined that they would initiate a trend of African Americans moving to Paris, says Michele L. Simms-Burton, a former professor of African American studies. The unit’s band helped Parisians chase away their wartime blues by introducing them to jazz. Simms-Burton explores how jazz took Paris by storm and why Paris continues to be a place where African American musicians work, create, and live.