YOUR AD HERE »

This week’s events: Mary Poppins flys into Aspen; artist talk with Shawna Miller

Staff report
Actors rehearse on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2022, ahead of the Aspen Community Theater's version of Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins at the District Theatre in Aspen.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

THEATER

‘Mary Poppins,’ 7 p.m. Nov. 5, 11 and 12; 2 p.m. Nov. 6 and 13

Aspen Community Theatre presents Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins. Based on the books by P.L. Travers and the classic Walt Disney film, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins delighted Broadway audiences for over 2,500 performances and received nominations for nine Olivier and seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Aspen District Theatre. $15-$30. aspencommunitytheatre.org



‘The Drowsy Chaperon: A Musical Within a Comedy,’ 7 p.m. Nov. 10-12; 2 p.m. Nov. 13

Theatre Aspen Education presents the high school production of The Drowsy Chaperone. Winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Book and Best Original Score, The Drowsy Chaperone is a loving send-up of the Jazz Age musical. With the houselights down, a man in a chair appears on stage and puts on his favorite record: the cast recording of a fictitious 1928 musical. The recording comes to life, and The Drowsy Chaperone begins as the man in the chair looks on. Mix in two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theater producer, a not-so-bright hostess, two gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a misguided Don Juan, and an intoxicated chaperone, and you have the ingredients for an evening of madcap delight. Black Box Theatre in Aspen High School. $20 adults; $15 youth. theatreaspen.org




ART

Visiting Artist Calida Rawles, Nov. 5-19, lecture at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 10

The paintings of Calida Rawles merge hyper-realism with poetic abstraction. Situating her subjects in dynamic spaces, her recent work employs water as a vital, organic, and historically-charged space. For Rawles, water signifies both physical and spiritual healing, as well as historical trauma and racial exclusion. She uses this complicated duality as a means to envision a new space for Black healing and to reimagine her subjects beyond racialized tropes. Stay after the free talk for a buffet dinner ($25, registration required) at Anderson Ranch Arts Center. andersonranch.org

Shawna Miller artist talk, 5:30 p.m. Nov. 15 (exhibition: Nov. 4 to Dec. 3)

On Nov. 4, Shawna Miller’s exhibition, “Love Letters to my Mother,” opened. Miller’s artist talk is at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 15. Miller is a figurative oil painter living and working in El Jebel. She began oil painting seven years ago and has studied in the studio of Michelle Doll in Hoboken, New Jersey. She moved to the Roaring Fork Valley five years ago from Manhattan, New York, with her husband and two young sons, and she is a 2022 Aspen Art Museum Fellows participant. A realistic painter who paints from photographs, much of her subject matter focuses on mothers and mothers feeding their children, as well as portraiture of mother and child. She incorporates a warm underpainting technique, leaving canvas edges raw. In conjunction with her exhibition, Miller is also teaching a figure drawing class, Basics of Figure Drawing, from 6:30-8 p.m. Nov. 9 ($20). The Art Base. theartbase.org

“Self Portrait: Yesterday’s Makeup,” by Shawna Miller.
Courtesy Shawna Miller

‘The Game Show,’ opening Nov. 11

The Art Base’s North Gallery presents guest curator of 2022 Teresa Booth Brown’s brainchild, “The Game Show,” featuring an eclectic mix of works, some of which are interactive, from 12 local artists. “The Game Show was created to highlight fun and games as an important form of human interaction,” Booth Brown said. “Taking inspiration from the enjoyment and humor, which traditional game entertainment provides, artists were asked to create games and/or ‘play’ with new ideas in their work. What a game is and what can be considered to belong to the world of games was left up to individual artists to decide. Board games without rules, peace-forward chess, tiny robotics, and crazy crafts are amongst the interpretations in the gallery. I hope that visitors to the show will be delighted in their interaction with the creations of artists in the show.” theartbase.org

Teresa Booth Brown
Courtesy photo

MUSIC

Steely Dead, 9:30 p.m. Nov. 11

Belly Up ushers in a sonic fusion of the Grateful Dead and Steely Dan. The structure, arrangement and precise studio recordings of rock legends Steely Dan are cross-pollinated with the Grateful Dead’s free-flowing, melodic improvisation, and song segues. Steely Dead merges these major concepts together while infusing the influence unto each band. For example, it might take the Grateful Dead’s rocking set ender Deal and Steely Dan’s Reelin’ In the Years, creating the mashup Dealin’ in the Years. Steely Dead is committed to the nuances of both bands while remaining playful with jam segues between songs and delivering a unique musical blend. $10-$40, bellyupaspen.com

BOOKS & KIDS

Message in a Bottle: Author Visit with Jill Sheeley, 1-2:30 p.m. Nov. 5

Local author Jill Sheeley will discuss her Young Adult novel The Blue Bottle. Fifth to 12th graders can decorate their own bottle and write a secret message to put inside, at the Basalt Library. basaltlibrary.org

For more events, visit aspentimes.com, and click on the calendar under Entertainment.

Activities & Events


See more