5 Things: Featuring no holidays whatsoever

Everything is holiday-obsessed right now, in case you hadn’t noticed, so here are some yule-free weekend activities to cleanse your palate!

December 3, 2015; 12:38 PM • by Susan Howson

Photo by: duane.schoon

1. UR Symphony Orchestra presents selections from the Rach 2 and Beethoven’s First

I have it on very good authority that tonight’s performance of the first movements of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 will scorch your brain. Scorching one’s brain is a good thing, right? What I mean is, 2015 Concerto/Aria competition winner Solomon Quinn is, by all accounts, a fantastic pianist. Come experience a free concert, featuring extreme talent playing some of the most beautiful (and challenging) music ever written.

• Thursday, December 3rd • 7:30 PM
• Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Center for the Arts, University of Richmond, 28 Westhampton Way
• Free!

2. Punchlines and Pasties

You may not realize that what the world needs is for the lines between stand-up comedy and burlesque to be blurred. Think about it. Now stop thinking about it, and get some work done. Hosted by Ray Bullock and featuring Blacklist Burlesque (the ones who did that Game of Thrones show that you kind of wish you’d gone to).

• Saturday, December 5th • 9:00 PM
• Firehouse Theatre, 1609 W. Broad Street
• $12 in advance, $15 on day of performance

3. Bolshoi Ballet: Jewels

Modlin is killing it on the “bringing us things to do that don’t involve jingle bells” front. You can only see Balanchine’s Jewels if the Bolshoi Ballet does it–they’re the only company authorized by the Balanchine Trust. And you’re probably not taking a trip to Russia anytime soon, so seeing this live recording of Balanchine’s first abstract ballet (set to the music of Fauré, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky) is the next best thing.

• Sunday, December 6th • 12:55 PM
• Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Center for the Arts, University of Richmond, 28 Westhampton Way
• $14, $11 for subscribers, $13 for seniors, $7 for children 12 and under

4. Dressing Downton

See the British fashions from 1912 to the early 1920s via costumes from Downton Abbey, and learn more about why they were what they were. Surely, they had some sort of life elixir woven into the cloth, which is the only thing to explain why Lady Mary and Lady Edith haven’t aged in the last decade or so of their lives.

• Daily through January 10th, 2016 • 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
• Virginia Historical Society, 428 N. Boulevard
• $20, free for members (and you’ll need to register online)

5. Rodin: Evolution of a Genius

If you’re not convinced that you should spend an hour or so checking out the various stages of Rodin’s work, you should probably read David Shultz’s exploration.

• Through March 13th • select your date and time
• Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 200 N. Boulevard
• $15, $12 for seniors, $10 for students, $10 for youth aged 7 – 17, free for members and children 6 and under

Bonus Thing: RVA Tonight with Beau Cribbs

OK, this one is sort of a holiday one, in that it’s RVA Tonight’s Christmas Spectacular, but I didn’t promise you SIX things that weren’t holiday-related, only five. So I feel like my covenant with you is still unbroken? Richmond’s own live late-night talk show expands to the Byrd Theatre. Beau Cribbs will do is Beau thing (which involves a monologue and a lot of other fun stuff), and he’ll be interviewing Sherry Petersik from Young House Love. Guys, she is a delight.

• Friday, December 4th • 8:00 PM
• The Byrd Theatre, 2908 W. Cary Street
• $15 OR…win two tickets by filling out the below form!

Did you catch that?

Enter to win two tickets to RVA Tonight with Beau Cribbs!

We’ll draw them tomorrow morning, and you’ll need to be able to come by our office in the Fan to get ’em! Best of luck to you!

December 3, 2015 12:38 PM · in Fan of the Fan, Near West End News, and more 0