Editor’s Picks: Diana Ross, Elvis’ Birthday Fightclub, Jersey Boys, and more!
Our picks of the best arts and entertainment in the D.C. area this week
ELVIS’ BIRTHDAY FIGHTCLUB
Elvis Presley hosts an underground fight club in what is billed as a comically lowbrow theater event from Astro Pop Events (Countdown to Yuri’s Night). Now in its 10th year, the production features the King accompanied by sardonic sidekick Kittie Glitter, plus “a little more conversation” in the form of hilarious color commentary during seven comical, choreographed matchups full of cartoon-like violence and below-the-belt comedy, as burlesque dancers keep the audience “all shook up” between fights. Friday, Jan. 3, at 7:30 and 10 p.m., and Saturday, Jan. 5, at 7:30 and 10 p.m.GALA Theatre at Tivoli Square, 3333 14th St. NW. Tickets are $28 to $38 plus fees. Call 202-234-7174 or visit www.astropopevents.com. Also Friday, Jan. 17, at 7:30 and 10 p.m., and Saturday, Jan. 18, at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Creative Alliance at the Patterson, 3134 Eastern Ave. Baltimore. Tickets are $28. Call 410-276-1651 or visit www.creativealliance.org.
THREE KINGS DAY CELEBRATION AT GALA
For more than 42 years, GALA Hispanic Theatre has wrapped up the holiday season and launched a new year with Fiesta de los Reyes Magos. The timeless tale of the Magi is presented in a bilingual presentation of song, dance, and storytelling and featuring Eduardo Perdomo as Balthasar, Héctor Diaz as Caspar, and Quique Avilés as Melchior. Additional performers include Honduran singer Maria Isolina, the Mexican youth dance company Los Quetzalitos, and the Afro-Peruvian youth music group Grupo Rompe Cajón. Pedro Biaggi serves as Master of Ceremonies. Sunday, Jan. 5, at 2 p.m., preceded at 1:30 p.m. by a posada, or procession, with the Three Kings and live animals — donkeys, goats, and sheep — on the corner of Park Road and 14th Street NW. Tivoli Square, 3333 14th St. NW. Free. Call 202-234-7174 or visit www.galatheatre.org.
DIANA ROSS WITH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Maestro Emil de Cou helps give 2020 a Supreme boost in its second week with an NSO Pops program featuring Diana Ross. Ross performs from her hit-packed, decades-spanning career accompanied by the orchestra in concerts also featuring as special guest the Joyce Garrett Singers, the D.C. gospel choir that also performed in tribute to the living legend in 2007 at the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors. Thursday, Jan. 9, through Saturday, Jan. 11, at 8 p.m. Concert Hall. Tickets are $39 to $199. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.
JERSEY BOYS
One of the most successful jukebox musicals in history won four Tonys in 2006, including Best Musical. Far more style than substance, and stronger in song than in story, Jersey Boys nonetheless offers a parade of ’60s-era hits popularized by Franki Valli and the Four Seasons — including “Sherry,” “Walk Like A Man,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” and “December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night).” Closes Jan. 5. 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets are $54 to $114, plus fees. Call 202-628-6161 or visit www.thenationaldc.org.
PEGGY ORENSTEIN: BOYS & SEX
The bestelling author and contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine was a provocative pioneer with the book Girls & Sex, which launched conversations about young women’s right to pleasure and agency in sexual encounters. Now she returns to explore how our culture’s binary gender norms and sterotypes impact those born male in Boys & Sex, with the subtitle Young Men on Hookups, Love Porn, Consent, and Navigating the New Masculinity. Orenstein will be in conversation with Debra Hauser of Advocates for Youth. Thursday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. Solid State Books, 600 H St. NE. Call 897-4201 or visit www.solidstatebooksdc.com.
DEAN FORD AND THE BEAUTIFUL ONES
Virginia’s historic State Theatre presents a concert by a band from Maine that has spent the past decade performing in tribute to Prince in a way that is touted “as close as you will ever get to the real thing.” Dean Ford and company perform from the hit repertoire of the Purple One, including the Purple Rain album in its entirety. Saturday, Jan. 4, at 9 p.m. 220 North Washington St., Falls Church. Tickets are $15 to $18. Call 703-237-0300 or visit www.thestatetheatre.com.
MANIFESTO: ART X AGENCY
More than 100 works of art and ephemera created over the past century are currently on display in this group exhibition at the Hirshhorn. The specific focus is on artist manifestos and their impact, exploring how artists have used these statements of principles or theories to engage with the political and social issues of their time, including the present day. Manifesto: Art X Agency is named after a multichannel film by German artist Julian Rosefeldt that features actress Cate Blanchett performing excerpts from some of the great manifestos of the past century. Rosefeldt’s 2015 film makes its Hirshhorn debut as part of the exhibition, which is mostly comprised of seminal works from the museum’s permanent collection made by Alexander Calder, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Jackson Pollock, Guerrilla Girls, Adrian Piper, Nam June Paik, and Glenn Ligon. To Jan. 5. Independence Avenue and Seventh Street SW. Call 202-633-1000 or visit www.hirshhorn.si.edu.
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