Critic’s pick
“Granny Dances” gets a Maori update
THROUGH DEC. 18. As comfortingly familiar as the raft of “Nutcracker” ballets that blanket the Front Range each holiday season, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance’s annual production of “Granny Dances to Holiday Drum” is always a colorful and family-friendly event. This year, the show takes on added meaning as Robinson’s company celebrates two decades of performing “Granny.” It tells a story that touches on global holiday traditions through Robinson’s virile choreography, music and costuming, this year updated with Maori cultural traditions (in honor of the ensemble’s recent trip to New Zealand) and a new Celtic section. It debuts at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and continues each Friday-Sunday through Dec. 18. 7:30 p.m. Fridays; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Byron Theatre at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave. $25-$38. 303-871-7720 or . John Wenzel
Film
Colorado Film School students strut their stuff
THURSDAY. First, The Hollywood Reporter named the Colorado Film School among the world’s top 25 film schools. Then Gov. John Hickenlooper trusted the school’s students with his close-up — with a nudge from film commish Donald Zuckerman — when he agreed to star in a couple of public-service announcements for online driver’s license registration. (They began airing last week.) Thursday night, see for yourself what the Lowry-based school’s aspiring filmmakers are up to at the Fall 2011 Student Show. Free. 7 p.m. Harkins Theatre Northfield, 8300 E. 49th Ave. Lisa Kennedy
Theater
LIDA play series looks at health care, mortality
through Dec. 17. LIDA Project’s original epic, “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep,” is a series of six plays examining health care, mortality and dying in the United States. It is created and devised through a unique collaboration between the LIDA Project, community leaders and six guest directors. The result is a broad and diverse theatrical examination of one of today’s most-debated social issues. The work will be performed for public audiences, but in private residences, each part on a separate evening. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. 720-221-3821 for locations; . John Moore
“It’s a Wonderful Life” as a radio broadcast
through Dec. 24. The Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” re-creates Frank Capra’s classic film as a live radio broadcast. The story is, of course, about an ordinary man named George Bailey, who is at the end of his rope one lonely Christmas Eve. But the arrival of an unexpected visitor teaches George why his life truly matters. This staging is replete with commercial breaks, sound effects and applause signs. 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays; 7 p.m. Thursdays Dec. 1, 15 and 22; 7 p.m. Dec. 20-21. Note: The only Christmas Eve performance is at 2 p.m. At the University Mainstage, CU-Boulder campus, 303-492-0554 or . John Moore
Country music
Kinky Freidman’s “Hanukkah Tour”
thURSDAY. Kinky Friedman is the type of showman who regularly rolled through these parts in decades past — part artist, part huckster, all entertainer. The proud Texan is a country musician, prolific author, failed politician (he garnered about 13 percent of the popular vote for governor in 2006) and self-styled satirist in the tradition of Mark Twain. He’ll bring the fruits of his longest and best-known profession — as a musician — to the Oriental Theater on Thursday as part of his “Hanukkah Tour,” which includes such titles as “Ride ‘Em Jewboy” and “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore.” You have been warned. 8 p.m. $35. 4335 W. 44th Ave. 720-420-0030 or . John Wenzel
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Parade of Lights illuminates downtown
through saturday. The 36th annual 9News Parade of Lights twinkles its way through downtown starting tonight and brings a couple of new treats to the lineup: A huge, 42-foot-long tiger balloon and an updated float for Santa and his sleigh. There’ll also be a small army of high-school marching bands. Watch for the Westernaires mounted drill team, Colorado Disc Dogs, Rocky Mountain Rollergirls and traditional dancers. 8 p.m. today, 6 p.m. Saturday. Downtown Denver, 15th and 17th streets between Tremont Place and Arapahoe Street; grandstand at the City and County Building, West Colfax Avenue and Bannock Street. Admission is free. Advance grandstand tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for children ages 2 to 12.
“Olde Golden Christmas” celebration
Today and Saturday. Golden officially gets in the holiday spirit with an “Olde Golden Christmas.” The celebration starts tonight with a candlelight and caroling walk. Bring a candle — or buy one for 50 cents — and join the parade through downtown Golden, with warm drinks, snacks and entertainment along the way. A reindeer petting zoo greets kids at the end of the walk. Saturday, the town begins a series of “Olde Fashioned Hometown Parades,” complete with Santa, elves, Christmas music and floats. Afterward, hitch a free ride in a horse-drawn carriage — or kids can hop into a wagon pulled by a Newfoundland dog. The parades continue Dec. 10 and 17. Candlelight Walk: 6:30 p.m. today. Gather at Foothills Art Center, 809 15th St., Golden, beginning at 6 p.m. Parade: 11 a.m. Saturdays. Washington Avenue, downtown Golden. Free.
A whole lot of lights at Botanic Gardens
through jan. 1. The Denver Botanic Gardens will be in full, sparkling bloom — in two locations — during “Blossoms of Light” and “Trail of Light.” “Blossoms” invites guests to wander through the gardens’ main York Street site, decorated with hundreds of thousands of colorful lights. New this year: four ice sculptures and a synchronized light display in the amphitheater. The “Trail of Light,” at the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield, guides holiday revelers along a glimmering path. Both events will have warm drinks available. 5:30-9:30 p.m. daily. Denver Botanic Gardens, 1007 York St.; 720-865-3500. Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield, 8500 W. Deer Creek Canyon Road, Littleton; 303-973-3705. $9.50 adults, $7.50 seniors and students, $6.50 for children 3 to 12.
“Snack With Santa” at Children’s Museum
Saturday. Get a photo with Santa — and plenty of midday playtime — at “Snack With Santa” at the Children’s Museum of Denver. Instead of waiting in a line, kids pick up a “Santa Pass” with an appointed visit time. They can play in the museum, stop in at the hot- cocoa bar and take a final look at their list before meeting the big man. Grown-ups, bring a camera, as there won’t be a pro photographer on-site. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Children’s Museum of Denver, 2121 Children’s Museum Drive; 303-433-7444. Activities included with museum admission: $8 for guests ages 2 to 59, $6 for 1-year-olds and seniors age 60 and older.
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Rule shows new Reichert paintings
The Denver art scene is enjoying something of a Clark Richert moment.
The longtime local standout is prominently featured in the latest exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, “West of Center: Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America, 1965-1977.”
And five of his latest paintings — 70-inch-square acrylics on canvas — and a related digital print are showcased in “Five-Zone System,” a striking solo show at the Rule Gallery, 3340 Walnut St.
Like nearly everything Richert does, these new works marry his love of abstraction and his fascination with mathematics, exploring a complex geometric and spatial structure he calls the five-zone system.
Especially noteworthy, because it forcefully breaks from the angled or curvy patterns seen in many of Richert’s recent paintings and harks back to his tightly geometric works of the late 1970s and early ’80s, is “One Over One.”
In this clean, elegant composition, an almost visually overwhelming mass of dozens of black and white vertical lines are interrupted with a tiny, barely perceptible multicolored line that cuts horizontally across the midde of the work.
“Five-Zone System” remains on view through Jan. 7. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Free. 303-777-9473 or . Kyle MacMillan
