11/21/2008

Norma

Vincenzo Bellini's Norma is one of the more demanding soprano leads in bel canto opera around, both dramatically and musically. The titular Norma is required to run through various colors of love (romantic, maternal), jealousy, and--this is a melodrama, after all--harbor murderous thoughts, all while singing a part demanding a virtuosic control of range and dynamics. Fortunately, this production features Hasmik Papian as the Druid priestess who breaks her celibacy vows and falls for the leader of her enemy, a Roman centurion, a man in love with another woman. The Armenian Papian's Norma has already wowed Europe, and now she returns to Baltimore, where she first performed the role in 1998.Sunday 16 (Bret McCabe)

baltimoreopera.com, $543-$136. Lyric Opera House, Baltimore.

11/21/2008

Lo Moda

The Windup Space, Baltimore.

11/22/2008

MARNA Nudist Indoor Swim

If you're one of the many who have been braving the bitter cold in hopes of a long-awaited dip in the pool, why not don that bathing suit a little early? Better yet, why not go clothes-free with the Maryland Area Naturist Association at its monthly swim and social? MARNA is in its third year of hosting these events. A variety of age groups, from student to adult, is represented at the swims, held at a private indoor pool with a location that is undisclosed until after registration. To the shy and skittish: MARNA understands any preliminary anxiety with nudism and naturism and urges you to ease into the lifestyle at your own pace--everyone does! But, please, no glass containers. (Alexandra Douglas-Barrera)

$10 (door), advance $10, children under 18 free. MARNA, Linthicum.

11/22/2008

Baltimore Free Store Donation Collection

Not to be bossy or anything, but we need to see you at this Baltimore Free Store donation collection if you've had the pleasure and sometimes pain of planning to do or have already done any of the following this summer: move, get married, go to a yard sale/flea market, sell stuff at a yard sale/flea market, drive by yard sale/flea market, get a divorce, have a kid, watch some one else's kid, get your heart broken, clean out your garage, go on vacation, cook a pie, or go to Target. BFS will take your nicer crap this afternoon (July 26 too) and give it away free to those who want/need it 11 a.m.-2 p.m. July 19 (not you). Pack your trunk and free up your life and space for more of what's really important: good times. (Wendy Ward)

free. Baltimore Free Store, Baltimore.

11/22/2008

Santi School Project Silent Auction

In 2006, Catonsville's Christopher Heun had one of those Life Moments and founded the nonprofit, all-volunteer Santi School Project to construct and fund a primary school for approximately 100 boys and girls in a Tamang village in Ramche, in the mountains of eastern Nepal. According to the Santi School Project web site, there hadn't been a school in the area for almost a decade. There is no road to the village, and the local residents built the school by hand, from stone cut out of the mountainside. Yeah. Last year this auction raised $3,000 from bids on almost 100 pieces of artwork donated by Baltimore-connected artists (including City Paper freelance photographer Uli Loskot), and starting bids are $50 or less, so even in these Uncertain Economic Times errbody's moaning about, you can score some quality local art for your wall and every time you look at it remember you are connected to people half a world away. (Joe MacLeod)

free. Load Of Fun Studios, Baltimore.

11/22/2008

Glitterama!

Ladies and gentlemen, Baltimore's Creative Alliance proudly presents Glitterama!, a burlesque and variety show hosted by Greggy Glitterati and DJ Wachsentush. No circus-lion tamer or dancing elephants, but stripping GI's, a hula-hooping poodle troop courtesy of Noelle Powers, Mara Neimanis on the trapeze showing people how to really fly, and an Amish-themed burlesque performance by Ms. Shortstaxx, plus many more on and above the stage. Trade those peanuts in for a little Shazam! (Aleka Farha)

$12, members $10. Creative Alliance at the Patterson, Baltimore.

11/22/2008

Paul Metzger

Paul Metzger on modified banjo and guitar with Tim Kaiser on self-built electronics.

$6. Red Room, Baltimore.

11/22/2008

Badlands

Terrence Malick's 1973 feature debut is one of those nearly perfect first movies that moves with a seductive, casual grace. Inspired by the late 1950s killing spree of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, Martin Sheen stars as the no-BS young charmer and Sissy Spacek as his underage girlfriend, and together they leave a string of bodies in their wake as they meander through South Dakota in this gorgeously photographed, refreshingly unsentimental, and lyrical slice-of-life folk tale about a doomed young couple. ()

Charles Theatre, Baltimore.

11/22/2008

Wildnerness, San Serac, Rainbowwreaths, Violet Hour

Floristree, Baltimore.

11/23/2008

Norma

Vincenzo Bellini's Norma is one of the more demanding soprano leads in bel canto opera around, both dramatically and musically. The titular Norma is required to run through various colors of love (romantic, maternal), jealousy, and--this is a melodrama, after all--harbor murderous thoughts, all while singing a part demanding a virtuosic control of range and dynamics. Fortunately, this production features Hasmik Papian as the Druid priestess who breaks her celibacy vows and falls for the leader of her enemy, a Roman centurion, a man in love with another woman. The Armenian Papian's Norma has already wowed Europe, and now she returns to Baltimore, where she first performed the role in 1998.Sunday 16 (Bret McCabe)

baltimoreopera.com, $543-$136. Lyric Opera House, Baltimore.