An interview with the Grinch from Broadway in Richmond’s “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical.” They say he’s a mean one, cuddly as a cactus and as charming as an eel. That he’s got termites in his smile and the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile. You wouldn’t want to touch him with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole. But, perhaps, you might want to see him singing and dancing onstage. That’s what Broadway in Richmond is hoping for next week when they bring “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical” to the Altria Theater for a six-day stay. Adapted from Seuss’ 195 ..read more

Not all Richmond breweries are run by men. Style Weekly talked to four women brewers making local beer we love. Beer lovers know that the history of brewing goes way back — some 7,000 years ago, according to the Smithsonian. And for more than half that time, women were the primary brewers, according to The National Women’s History Museum. Even when the craft of brewing made its way to Colonial America, women were in charge. However, that all changed during the late-18th century, when for whatever reasons, the number of women brewers declined as the industry became male-dominated. Now, as the ..read more

Conflux Dance Theater mounts its second performance while offering a different kind of dance company for working moms. At the upcoming Conflux Dance Theater performance at the Grace Street Theater on Dec. 16, attendees can expect pieces that reflect a wide ranging mix of styles – tap, a pointe piece, a period piece, contemporary dance and jazz. The seven varied works are choreographed by Miguel Perez and Angelica Burgos, Conflux’s founders, co-directors and professional dancers with impressive backgrounds. “We are more like a contemporary company that has a versatile pool of choreography, tha ..read more

Swift Creek Mill Theatre’s “Greetings!” uses a lazy dramatic device to spread Christmas cheer. In the 1991 play “Greetings!” it’s Christmastime in the Gorski household. Andy (Matt Bloch) is bringing home his girlfriend to meet his working-class Catholic family in Pittsburgh. Phil (Richard Travis), his father, is crotchety; Emily (Emily J. Cole), his mother, is a little uptight. His brother Mickey (Joshua Mullins), a young man with an intellectual disability who can verbalize a few lines like “Oh, boy!” and “Wow!”, is pleased to share that he’ll be attending a WWE-style wrestling match the fol ..read more

Standing behind a table overflowing with apple butters, barbecue sauces, and spice mixes, Sydney Davis describes the amount of care she takes to prepare the homemade products she sells under her gastronomic girl brand, Squids Pantry. Long a fixture at the front of Northside’s Nomad Deli, Davis is building out her own line of easy and affordable staples for folks who want to eat well even when her family’s restaurant isn’t open. Since the summer, Davis’ family has set up a tent two Sundays a month at the recently formed RVA Black Farmers Market on a grassy lot in Jackson Ward just off of Secon ..read more

Virginia Theatre Machine pares “A Christmas Carol” down to the Scrooge essentials. The stage has barely enough room for two actors to stand and the performance can include passing traffic. But doing more with less and reacting in real time to unforeseen circumstances is the charm of the Virginia Theatre Machine (VTM). A fully mobile theater delivery facility, VTM is currently touring a production of “A Christmas Carol” around to locations across Richmond, often doing multiple shows a day. I arrived at the parking lot of Westover Hills Library on a hazy Saturday morning and watched the crowd g ..read more

The Tin Pan goes all-in on holiday programming. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, the Tin Pan is offering 13 holiday-themed shows featuring artists performing in a wide variety of genres, from ancient carols with Irish instrumentation to juiced up contemporary standards delivered by an Elvis impersonator. If a different holiday show every other day seems excessive, co-owner and director of operations Patrick Zampetti says the cluster of themed performances is only slightly above average for the West End venue. “We find that there’s a lot of people traveling and looking for things ..read more

One of the world’s finest impersonators of Henry VIII has two upcoming shows at Agecroft Hall. There is no escaping the fact that in looks, physical size, and shape, John White bears a strong resemblance to Henry VIII. Based in the Midlands of England in the County of Worcestershire, White and his family live in a circa 1500 black-and-white thatched Tudor cottage, making history a way of life. The United Kingdom-based performance historian recalls that when his daughter, Elizabeth, was little, the family would often visit historic houses and, if there was a portrait of Henry VIII, she would p ..read more

Friday, Dec. 1 RVA Illuminates at Kanawha Plaza Countdown the tree lighting and illumination of the Downtown Richmond skyline when all the lights come on. There will be live performances, food trucks and you can stay in the Plaza for a free showing of the Grinch Movie (2018), sponsored by Venture Richmond. The lights go on at 6 p.m. Event runs from 4 to 7 p.m. Maymont’s Merry Market This festive, family-friendly shopping event eatures 50 local artisans, food vendors, fire pits, crafts for all ages and holiday carolers. It’s all happening on the Carriage House Lawn, decorated for the holidays w ..read more

"Dream Scenario” finds a potent metaphor for how social media conditions us to crave stardom and fetishize trauma; plus John Woo’s lackluster return with “Silent Night.” People are dreaming about Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage). People who know him and those who don’t – there’s no pattern, he’s everywhere, at first as a passive observer to the dreamers’ fantasies of catastrophe, which suggest, resonantly, that people in this fraught age matter-of-factly nurse intuitions of the apocalypse. It’s amusing at first. A lot of “haven’t I seen you somewhere?” An ex-girlfriend comes out of the woodwork ..read more