Whether Einstein said it or not, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” We at M&M are in the clear here because we expect the same thing each week — you peruse; you pick; you (hopefully) come back next week for more!
UPDATE re: Museum and Freedom Centers
Cincinnati Museum Center and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center announced late Tuesday that both institutions will remain closed following a recent organization-wide systems failure. Originally, it was hoped that re-opening might be March 23. The outage has impacted museum ticketing and email, as well as exhibit-specific lighting, digital interactives and theatrical programs. Target re-opening dates are now March 30 for the Freedom Center and March 31 for the CMC.
Last chance…
Broadway Across America, “Ain’t Too Proud” | Procter & Gamble Hall, Aronoff Center, 650 Walnut St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-721-3344. DETAILS: Final few days to experience the tale of the Temptations, woven around many of their greatest hits. Closes Sunday.
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, “Hamlet” | 1195 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-381-2273. DETAILS: Think a woman can’t do Hamlet? Think again. Sara Clark‘s protrayal is complex and convincing, and the production is excellent across the board. Through Saturday.
Wednesday, March 23
Northern Kentucky University, Tawanda Chabikwa | 7:30 p.m. Greaves Concert Hall, 100 Nunn Dr., Highland Heights, KY 41099. 859-572-5464. DETAILS: Tawanda Chabikwa, guest artist-in-residence at NKU’s School of the Arts, presents an interactive lecture and demonstration considering the intersectionality of Africana dance and human ecology within the performing arts.
Taft Museum of Art, “Artists Reaching Classrooms” | 6-8 p.m. Annex Gallery, 1310 Pendleton St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-241-0343. DETAILS: Entitled “Revival,” this 30th annual exhibit showcases the works of students across Greater Cincinnati who the Taft continued to support throughout the pandemic. This year’s teaching artists are Anthony Becker, Debbie Brod, Rebeca Calderón Pittman, Michael Coppage, Cedric Cox, Saad Ghosn, Floyd Grace, Michael Hoeting, M. Katherine Hurley, Kate Kern, Deogracias Lerma, Adoria Maxberry, Kevin Muente, Anissa Pulcheon, Marlene Steele, Brenda Tarbell and Mark Wiesner. Runs through April 30.
Thursday, March 24
Northern Kentucky University, “Sistahs Who Swing” | 10:30 a.m.-noon. Otto Budig Theater. DETAILS: Part of a four-day symposium, this panel discussion titled “Staking your Place: African American Women in Business, Education & the Arts,” features (above) Laura Gentry, Kathy Wade, Angela Powell Walker, Taren Plesinger-Kenebrew, Virinda Garland Doddy, Adoria L. Maxberry and Shelia Williams. A luncheon is followed by afternoon presentations by artist Josie Love Roebuck and singer and SCPA Artistic Director Angela Powell Walker.
Friday, March 25
ArtWorks, “Carving Out Your Own Path” | 4-7 p.m. ArtWorks V² Gallery, 929 E. McMillan St., Cincinnati, OH 45206. 513-333-0388. DETAILS: This exhibit showcases the works of local artist and art educator John Lanzador who helped eight young artists find a unique artistic voice and learn what it takes to live an artistic life. Lanzador will present a brief talk at 5:30 p.m. The show is open through April 16.
Cincinnati Art Museum, Art After Dark | 5-9 p.m. 953 Eden Park Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-721-2787. DETAILS: This Friday happening returns, complete with food and live music, to celebrate the opening of a new exhibit organized by the founders of Paloozanoire – Rico Grant and Ray Ball. “Black & Brown Faces: Paying Homage To,” recognizes 15 Cincinnati leaders of color, with portrait interpretations created by 15 Midwestern artists of color. While you’re there, check out two ongoing exhibits showcasing the work of Black artists: “Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop” and David Driskell’s “Icons of Nature and History.” The Paloozanoire show runs through June 19.
Cincinnati Symphony, “Symphonie Fantastique” | Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-381-3300. DETAILS: This concert contains two premieres and a 19th-century piece that was perhaps decades ahead of its time. You have likely heard of Wynton Marsalis, he of the mad trumpet skills. His new fanfare, “Herald, Holler and Hallelujah!,” opens the concert — a CSO co-commission. Eighth Blackbird, a former ensemble-in-residence at CCM (before they became superstars), returns with a world premiere, “Nine Mothers,” by a collective of US-based composers known as Kinds of Kings. The “traditional” work on the program, “Symphonie Fantastique,” was written by an opium-fueled, love-obsessed Hector Berlioz in 1830. And it is, indeed, a fantastic symphony, full of colors and textures not conceived of previously. Can’t wait to hear what conductor Louis Langrée has in store. Repeats Saturday evening and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Jurassic Quest | 1-8 p.m. Duke Energy Convention Center. DETAILS: Dinosaurs are invading the Duke Center this weekend, and there are plenty of hours to experience them, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Billed as “North America’s largest and most realistic dinosaur event,” this life-size show was created in consultation with leading paleontologists and provides a wide variety of interactive learning experiences.
Mutual Dance Theatre, Sidra Bell Dance NY | 8 p.m. Jarson-Kaplan Theater, Aronoff Center. 513-494-6526. DETAILS: Sidra Bell is the first African American woman to be commissioned by the New York City Ballet. She is considered one of the most important rising stars within the global dance realm. Here, thanks to Mutual Dance’s Contemporary Dance Theater Series, is a chance to experience her creativity via an evening of her shorter works. Repeats Saturday.
Saturday, March 26
College-Conservatory of Music, “Essentially Ellington Festival” | 7:30 p.m. Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati. 513-556-4183. DETAILS: Sponsored by Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center, this daylong event features the region’s top high school jazz ensembles, and the gala concert will feature the CCM Jazz Orchestra with saxophonist Camille Thurman, who appears regularly with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
KAREfarm, Hoops, Hops and Hope | 4-11 p.m. Legends Bar & Grill / Bock’s Billiards, Covington. DETAILS: KAREfarm is a nonprofit committed to supporting those experiencing grief by offering free retreat respite weekends. You can watch the Elite 8 and support KAREfarm at the same time, through a raffle, silent auctions and a drawing for a $1,000 grand prize.
Mercantile Library, “Saturday in the Library with Stephen” | 7 p.m. 414 Walnut St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-621-0717. DETAILS: Known equally for his lyrics and his music, what better place to honor the long and prolific creative life of Stephen Sondheim than in a library … with great acoustics? And who better to share his songs than musical theater students from CCM?
New Downbeat, Women’s History Month Concert | 7:30 p.m. ARCO, 3301 Price Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45205. DETAILS: New Downbeat is a new-ish, local music collective, founded in 2019, featuring primarily women musicians who work exclusively with living composers. This concert, their first live performance in two years, will feature works by living women composers from around the world: Lila Meretzky, Joan Tower, Nathalie Joachim, Gilda Lyons, Valerie Coleman, Karena Ingram, Adina, Izzara and Caroline Shaw.
Northminster Fine Arts Fair | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Northminster Church, 703 Compton Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45231. DETAILS: Like the sign (above) says… This event is intended to appeal to the whole family with a wide variety of artful gifts, a fair trade market and activities to keep the kids occupied. One day only.
Tiger Lily Press, Big Ink | 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Dunham Recreation Center, 4356 Dunham Lane., Cincinnati OH 45238. 859-760-6070. DETAILS: Tiger Lily hosts this traveling event in which a giant portable printing press, called Big Tuna, is used to print 20 regional artists’ large-scale woodblocks. Repeats Sunday.
Sunday, March 27
Chamber Music Cincinnati, Diaz Trio | 4 p.m. New Jerusalem Baptist Church, 26 W. North Bend Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45216. 513-342-6870. DETAILS: A groundbreaking season continues with the Diaz Trio (violin, viola, cello) performing in Elmwood Place this afternoon and reprising their program in OTR’s Memorial Hall Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m. The string trio repertoire is not as expansive as that for string quartet, but the DIaz Trio is sharing three gems by Beethoven, Schubert and Ernst von Dohnanyi, plus music by Black composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, who passed away in 2004, soon after writing this work.
Matinée Musicale, Ryan Speedo Green | 3 p.m. First Unitarian Church, 536 Linton St, Cincinnati, OH 45219. DETAILS: As fascinating as his life story is — from troubled teen to top roles at the Met — you should go hear Ryan Speedo Green because he is really, really good. Just last week, he was among a few singers featured in the Met’s Ukrainian benefit performance, and now he’ll loom large (literally) in the warm acoustic of First Unitarian Church, which hosts the Linton Chamber Music Series.
Monday, March 28
Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Kathy Merchant | 7 p.m. 2692 Madison Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45208. 513-396-8960. DETAILS: In “Answering the Call of the Wild: The Remarkable Life of Cathryn Hosea Hilker,” the multi-talented author, Kathy Merchant — who also writes about food, wine and travel, and was formerly CEO of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation — chronicles the life of the Mason-born Hilker aand her quest to save the cheetah from extinction.
Tuesday, March 29
Cincinnati Pops, Cynthia Erivo | 7:30 p.m. Music Hall, 1241 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-381-3300. DETAILS: The multi-awarding-winning actress and singer, Cynthia Erivo, returns to Cincinnati for one night only. Having burst onto the scene in “The Color Purple,” you may have seen her most recently portraying Aretha Franklin in the series “Genuis: Aretha” on National Geographic. And it’s Tuesday; re-arranging your spices can wait, right?
College-Conservatory of Music, Ariel Quartet | 7:30 p.m. Werner Recital Hall, University of Cincinnati. 513-556-4183. DETAILS: Last chance to hear the Ariels this season at CCM. The program’s centerpiece is the Beethoven String Quartet No. 10, balanced by a new work – Four Ladino Songs – by Israeli composer Matan Porat, commissioned with the support of CCM and Ann and Harry Santen. We are so lucky to have this group in Cincinnati.
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Her Legacy of Healing and Hope: A Women’s History Month Discussion | 6 p.m. 50 East Freedom Way, Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-333-7500. DETAILS: Presented in partnership with Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, this evening of storytelling and conversation shares personal stories of trauma and triumph. Presenters include civil rights champion Betty Daniels Rosemond and acclaimed writer Kathy Y. Wilson, with special guests, actor Torie Wiggins and Michelle Rosemond.