Five Arts Events for Wannabe Time Travelers
Journey into the past (and to one nightmarish future) with these dazzlers
By Wayne Alan Brenner, Fri., July 29, 2022
The past isn't dead; it's reanimated on stage or swinging at a dance hall or gracing a gallery of time-drenched artifacts for your chronosynclastic entertainment. Shift the years easier than Gallifrey's finest with any of these five recos – the last of which transports you to a Simpsons-inspired, postapocalyptic future like a Broadway show staged by Mad Max's crew.
Zilker Summer Musical: Disney’s Newsies
Inspired by the real-life newsboys' strike of 1899 – when Kid Blink led a band of orphan and runaway "newsies" on a two-week action against Pulitzer, Hearst, and other powerful newspaper publishers – this adaptation (score by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, book by Harvey Fierstein) is high-energy and replete with eight new songs in addition to many of the beloved songs from the film version. Read our review here.Through Aug. 13. Thu.-Sun., 8:15pm. Zilker Hillside Theatre, 2206 William Barton Dr., 512/397-1463. Donations accepted. zilker.org/summer-2022
Austin Swing Syndicate: 23rd Anniversary Dance
You! Yes, you, you happy-footed citizen! Put your glad rags on and join the Austin Swing Syndicate for their silver plate anniversary, why don'tcha? Get a delighted eyeful of the tops in Lindy Hops and strut your own stuff as those Waller Creek Vipers bring the old-school swing to every little hoofin' thing.
Thu., July 28, 8pm. 2312 San Gabriel. $20. austinswingsyndicate.org
Carver Museum: “Peace to the Queen”
The photographer, humanitarian, and educator Jamel Shabazz presents a career retrospective spanning four decades of work, featuring candid portraits of women of color – as curated by Ja'nell Ajani.
Through Aug. 15. 1165 Angelina, 512/974-4926. Free. carver-museum.orgMichelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition
"This special collection of the artist's renowned ceiling frescoes from the Vatican's Sistine Chapel is reproduced in a format that allows viewers to get face-to-face with the [copies of the] masterpieces." What, we're compelled to wonder, would Jean Baudrillard say?
Through Aug. 28. Thu.-Sun., 10am-6pm. Circuit of the Americas, 9201 Circuit of the Americas Blvd., 512/301-6600. $22.20 ($15.90 for kids). chapelsistineaustin.comVortex Summer Youth Theatre: Mr. Burns, a post-electric play
Anne Washburn's phantasmagorical story first reveals the survivors of a global catastrophe recalling and retelling the "Cape Feare" episode of The Simpsons around a fire, then moves seven years into the future, and then 70 years further – where cultural mythology has evolved into cultlike engagement and the performance of a grand, tribal musical, like a Broadway show staged by Mad Max's crew.
July 29-Aug. 6. Fri.-Sat., 8pm; Sun., 6pm. 2307 Manor Rd., 512/478-5282. $15-37. vortexrep.org
