Visit the “Haunted Theater” at Tacoma City Ballet

Dancers from TCB present haunted backstage tours and eight “eerie ballets” at the Merlino Building for Halloween. Treat bags given; suitable for all ages. 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30, 2:30 p.m., 4 p.m. and 5:40 p.m. Oct. 31. $5 at door. 253-272-4219, www.tacomacityballet.com

 Kids’ concerts kick off with Tacoma Philharmonic

Finally, a classical music series for kids in Tacoma! Lisa and Linda of “Let Your Music Shine” will clap and sing symphonic classics with the under-eight set, with a costume contest also.10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., Oct. 31. $5. Theatre …

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Baritone Charles Robert Stephens is one of my favorite local singers: His rich yet clear voice is regularly heard around Puget Sound, and his Mahler “Songs of a Wayfarer” with Second City Chamber Series a few years ago was a thing of beauty. This Friday he performs love songs of Brahms and Schumann, as well as selections from Viennese operetta, for “Lieberabend,” a benefit concert for  Agnus Dei Lutheran Church in Gig Harbor.

Stephens, about whom I wrote two years ago, gave up a flourishing 20-year opera career in New York when the events of 9/11 caused him …

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If you were down at Pioneer Park in downtown Puyallup a couple of weekends ago, you’d have seen hundreds of brightly colored pumpkins sitting around on the grass. But these are the kind of pumpkins that won’t go mushy after Halloween – they’re handblown glass, and they’ll be there again this Saturday at the First Annual Great Northwest Glass Pumpkin Patch.

A partnership between Tacoma Glassblowing Studio, Puyallup Main Street Association and the Puyallup Farmers’ Market, the Patch was hugely successful on October 10. “It was awesome,” says TGS co-owner Jeannine …

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Ever wished you could see both of Tacoma’s art museums for just one admission price? For five days in November you can.

The Museum of Glass and Tacoma Art Museum are offering joint admission tickets November 11–15. The museums say it’s to encourage patrons to visit both sites while they have solo exhibitions by Native American artists.

The ticket price is $15 for regular adult admission to both museums. TAM’s normal admission price is $9 and MOG’s is $12.
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It’s good, solid, all-American fare: Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein and Dvorak all on the same program for the season kick-off by the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra this Saturday night.

The program includes favorite evergreens like Dvorak’s romantic “New World” symphony, the brassy “Fanfare for the Common Man” by Copland and Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances” from “West Side Story” (you’ll recognize the show themes instantly.)

But the highlight is probably American piano soloist Andrew Armstrong, who made a hit at the Van Cliburn competition in 1993 and hasn’t looked back since, performing around the country. He’ll be playing Gershwin’s jazz-inspired …

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Earlier this week I spoke with former Gig Harbor resident and now Hollywood star Penn Badgley.

He plays the sensitive outsider on “Gossip Girl” and has a new movie opening today, “The Stepfather.”

Read my interview here.

With searchlights piercing the sky, the Gig Harbor Film Festival opened last night with a reception at the Galaxy Theatres in Uptown Gig Harbor.

David DePatie, the man behind the animated “The Pink Panther” series, was given a lifetime achievement award.

The opening night film, “Dive” – a documentary about dumpster diving for food interspersed with startling facts about food waste in the U.S. – was a great effort from a first time filmmaker with a $200 budget.

That is not a typo: Two hundred dollars.
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Birthday chamber music from Second City

The Second City Chamber Series opens the season with “Happy Birthday,” a musical tribute to composers like Chopin and Mendelssohn whose 100- or 200-year anniversaries happen this year. Played by the Icicle Creek Trio. 7:30 p.m. tonight. $35/$30/$15. Annie Wright Great Hall, 827 N. Tacoma Ave., Tacoma. 253-572-TUNE, ww.scchamberseries.org

“Ma Rainey” at Theatre on the Square

The Broadway Center, Washington State History Museum and the Northwest Playwrights Alliance collaborate in the third of a series of readings of August Wilson’s “Pittsburg Cycle.” This month it’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” set in 1920s Chicago. …

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