Connecticut Concert Ballet Presents 'Nutcracker,' Joe Starr at the Funny Bone

Connecticut Concert Ballet Presents Nutcracker

The magic of the Christmas season comes to life on stage at Windsor High School when the Connecticut Concert Ballet presents The Nutcracker. The holiday classic – based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffman and set to music by Tchaikovsky – features dancing sugarplum fairies, valiant toy soldiers and dueling mice, twirling snowflakes, waltzing flowers, and, of course, a Nutcracker prince. Part of a 36-year tradition, this season's performance features 250 of the Connecticut Concert Ballet's local students alongside professional dancers from the Newport, Rhode Island-based Island Moving Co. 

Performance dates are Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 12 at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tickets range from $22 to $28; $15 students and seniors; and $10 ages 4 and under. For tickets or more information, visit www.connecticutnutcracker.com or call 860-418-7294.

Joe Starr at the Funny Bone

Take a moment off from your shopping this weekend to laugh at the absurdities of life with comic Joe Starr at the Funny Bone in Manchester's Buckland Hill mall, next to Bertucci's. Starr has been featured on Comedy Central.  The club has hosted the likes of Jeff Foxworthy, Bruce Bruce, Jerry Seinfeld and Drew Carey. Joe Starr will appear Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 9-11, at 7:30 p.m., with 10 p.m. performances on Friday and Saturday; and Sunday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. Doors open about 90 minutes beforehand. Admission is limited to those age 21 or over. For information, call 860-432-8600 or visit hartfordfunnybone.com.

HSO, Chorale Present Handel's Messiah

Four young singers from Yale University's opera program join the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and the Hartford Chorale for performances of George Frederic Handel's epic masterwork Messiah. Soprano Jihee Kim, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Feinstein, tenor Eric Barry, and bass-baritone Andrew Craig sing arias and choruses on beloved classics including For Unto Us a Child Is Born, the Amen chorus, The Trumpet Shall Sound, Every Valley Shall Be Exalted, and the Hallelujah Chorus. 

Messiah performances are Dec. 10 and 11 at 8 p.m. at the Belding Theater at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Tickets range in price from $30-$62. Student tickets are $10. To purchase tickets or for more information, contact the Hartford Symphony ticket services at (860) 244-2999, or visit www.hartfordsymphony.org.

Pops! Go the Holiday Favorites

It will be anything but a silent night when the Hartford Symphony Pops, the Hartford Chorale and the Connecticut Children's Chorus come together to perform a Holiday Pops Spectacular. Holiday chestnuts including White Christmas, Let It Snow, Winter Wonderland, Silent Night, A Holly Jolly Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and selections from The Nutcracker are included in the program. Featured soloist is soprano Tessa Romano. Dancers are Akemi Hisa, Emily Zaturski, and Elizabeth Grande. 

Performances are Dec. 18 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Tickets range from $30 to $62. Student tickets are available for $10. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit www.hartfordsymphony.org or call 860-244-2999.

Rufus Wainwright's World Tour Stops in Storrs

When it comes to haunting vocals set to inspiring melodies, singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright has built on his family legacy. His folkie folks are Loudon Wainwright III and the late Kate McGarrigle, and his sisters are Lucy Wainwright Roche and Martha Wainwright. Wainwright's world tour featuring his new recording, "All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu," will stop at Jorgensen's cabaret for two nights, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 10 and 11, at 8 p.m. (With a little cash, you can get eats and drinks at your candlelit table right there in the theater. Doors open at 7 p.m.)

 Wainwright will perform the intensely personal songs from his new album against a backdrop of a video art piece by artist Douglas Gordon, who also designed the album cover. Both artworks play on close-ups of Wainwright's eye and the emotions therein.

Elton John calls the Canadian artist, whose talents have crossed into dance, film and opera, "the greatest songwriter on the planet." Who are we to argue? Wainwright Roche will open for him at the Saturday performance. Co-sponsored by the UConn Rainbow Center. Tickets are $34 to $45. For information, call 860-486-4226 or visit Jorgensen.uconn.edu.

Nutcracker Chestnut

The Albano Ballet Company of America will present its "Nutcracker" with live orchestra and chorale Saturday, Dec. 10, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 11, at 2 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena. In this traditional staging of the holiday classic, Ritsuko Sato of Japan will dance the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Marcello Algeri of Italy will appear as the Cavalier Prince. Kerryanne Saunders, a 13-year veteran with the company, dances the Snow Queen, partnered with Eric Carnes, a 21-year-old Albano-trained talent. This is a must-see for anyone hooked on the magic of the night before Christmas, with its giant tree, mouse combatants, romance and girlish dreams, and, of course, Tchaikovsky's music. Tickets are $23 and $33 with a $5 discount for seniors and children under 12. For more information, visit mohegansun.com/entertainment.

Christmas Ham, With a Heart

OK, this might not qualify as arts but it's probably entertaining. If you own or ride a Harley Davidson, put on your thermal underwear and hop on it to check out the meeting of the official Ellington H.O.G. chapter Thursday night, Dec. 9, at 7. The group will meet at the American Legion, 114 West St., in the Rockville section of Vernon. Don't forget to bring an unwrapped toy for a needy kid or you'll look, well, tough as leather. For information, visit ellingtonhog.com.

Put a Bee in Your Bonnet for 'A Flea in Her Ear'

This is the last weekend to catch Connecticut Rep's production "A Flea in her Ear" by Georges Fevdeau. This bedroom farce and comedy of manners is set in a sleazy hotel during the Belle Epoque. Oo-la-la. Performances are Thursday, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Dec. 10 and 11, at 8 p.m., with a Saturday matinee at 2. For tickets and information, call 860-486-4226 or visit crt.uconn.edu.

Scarlet: Art for the Heart

If you were given an unembellished poured plastic torso, what would you do to transform it into a work of art? Over 40 artists answered the call, producing one-of-a-kind pieces to be sold at Art for the Heart, a benefit for Women Heart, the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. An opening reception for the exhibit is Dec. 11 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at ArtSpace in Hartford. Join the artists for food, drinks, and entertainment including belly dancing by Sugati and Chris Phillips, percussion with Atticus Kelly and Adrian "Ace" Mojica, OPM Jazz, the Kelvins, and more. Suggested donation is $10. 

ArtSpace is at 555 Asylum Ave., Hartford. For more information on Women Heart, visit www.womenheart.org.

Old-Fashioned Christmas at Stowe & Twain Houses

Hartford's Nook Farm turns back the clock on Dec. 12 for an evening of family fun during Stowe & Twain's Old-Fashioned Christmas. Take a horse-drawn carriage ride around the historic grounds where the Stowe and Twain families lived and celebrated holidays. Madrigals, carols, brass, harp, period instruments and piano music fill the air. The halls are decked with family decorations, Christmas trees, and garlands. Look for Stowe's daughter, Hattie, who is greeting guests to her family's home. Samuel Clemens' daughters, Susy, Clara, and Jean – all portrayed by actors from the Hartford Children's Theatre – are stirring up holiday mischief. Also on the premises is Jolly Old St. Nick who is there to listen to children's wishes. Holiday craft items are on display in the Stowe Visitor Center, and both museum stores are open for shoppers.

Tickets cost $20 adults, $12 children; $15 museum members. Tickets are available at the door or by reservation at 860-280-3130 during office hours Tuesday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.twainhouse.org or www.harrietbeecherstowe.org. Snow date is Dec. 19. The Mark Twain House & Museum is at 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford.

Folk Music's Bert Jansch at Atheneum

Bert Jansch, the Scottish folk musician and founding member of Pentangle, plays a Dec. 11 gig at Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum. The event is a co-production with the Hartford Party Starters Union. Jansch, whose career got launched in the early 1960s, is the recipient of two lifetime achievement awards at the BBC Folk Awards. He has recorded at least 25 albums and influenced artists ranging from Paul Simon and Nick Drake to Jimmy Page and Neil Young. Special guests at the Atheneum concert are Pegi Young and Heirlooms.

Concert time is 7 p.m. in the Atheneum's Aetna Theater. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Seating is limited. The Wadsworth Atheneum is at 600 Main St., Hartford. For more information, visit www.wadsworthatheneum.org or call 860-278-2670.

Restored Psycho, and Baraka at Cinestudio

Two classics roll into Hartford's Cinestudio this week. The first is the 50th anniversary restoration of Alfred Hitchcock's seminal 1960 screamer Psycho. Hitchcock's low-budget masterpiece remains a textbook example of how to create and hold suspense in celluloid. Perkins is the repressed motel manager with Mommy troubles. Leigh is a "sinful" secretary on the run from the law. Bernard Herrman's score is a masterpiece unto itself. Village Voice critic J. Hoberman calls Psycho "the most innovative and influential Hollywood movie in the near 20 years since Citizen Kane." Screenings are Dec. 10 and 11.

Also at Cinestudio this week is Baraka. Part of an annual tradition at the Hartford movie palace, Ron Fricke's sweeping, original, mesmerizing picture is billed as an "alternative holiday tradition back by popular demand." Fricke traveled through six continents and 24 countries to capture scenes of life on Earth – from chanting Buddhist monks, Jews praying at the Wailing Wall, and Sufi whirling dervishes to a Nazi death camp and smoking oil fields in Kuwait. Fricke calls his film "a jounrey of rediscovery that plunges into nature, into history, into the human spirit, and finally into the realm of the infinite." Screenings are Dec. 15 through 18.

For times and more information, visit www.cinestudio.org or call 860-297-2463. Cinestudio is on the campus of Trinity College, 300 Summit St., Hartford. 

Jazzman 'Abu' Celebrated at Real Art Ways

Celebrate jazz and community leadership when percussionist Alvin Carter Sr., aka "Abu," is celebrated in a concert at Real Art Ways on Dec. 10. The event, presented with Pork Pie Hat Jazz Series and the Hartford Office of Cultural Affairs, features Abu's work and brings together many of his longtime friends and family members. "Abu is the beating heart of Hartford's music scene," says Real Art Ways director Will Wilkins. "He is generous with his talents and enthusiasm. This will be a wonderful way to thank him for all he does."

Concert time is 8 p.m. Tickets cost $15, $10 RAW members. Real Art Ways is at 56 Arbor St., Hartford. For more information, visit www.realartways.org or call 860-232-1006.