1. SoundOut 2023
This is the 14th year of the improvisational and experimental music festival will explore the unknown, see within the fabric of sound, unravel the threads of normative musical praxis, and question sonic hegemonies. The artists will combine, mix, cross-fertilise, and move sound mountains. Among this year's artists are: Jon Rose (violin); Hermione Johnson (piano); Peter Knight (trumpet/revox tape player) Chloe Sobek (violin); Mark Cauvin (double bass); Joe Talia (drums); Alexandra Spence (tape manipulations/objects); and Dale Gorfinkel (vibraphone). It's on at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery from January 27 to 29, 2023. See: eventbrite.com.au.
2. Dogfight
Dramatic Productions presents this musical with music and lyrics by award winning writers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen). It's about a group of 1960s US marines who go out for a big night on the town before being shipped off to Vietnam. They have an unsavoury bet - who can bring the ugliest date to a party? - but one of them, Eddie Birdlace, begins to have second thoughts. It's on at Gungahlin Theatre from January 27 to February 4, various dates and times. See: stagecenta.com.
3. Gershwin and More
Concert pianist Simon Tedeschi has a long-harboured love of jazz, and three celebrated albums of Gershwin's music to his name. Here, he teams up with jazz vocalist and violinist, George Washingmachine, for Gershwin favourites and classic jazz standards by Cole Porter, Oscar Peterson, Fats Waller and others. Light refreshments are included in ticket price. Wesley Uniting Church. 22 National Circuit, Forrest, on Friday January 27 at 6pm. See: trybooking.com/events/landing.
4. On the Waterfront
Part of Dendy's Best of the Best Pictures Oscars retrospective, this 1954 drama won eight Academy Awards including best picture, director (Elia Kazan) and actor (Marlon Brando). Dockworker Terry Malloy (Brando) had been an up-and-coming boxer until a local mob boss (Lee J. Cobb) persuaded him to throw a fight. When a longshoreman is murdered before he can testify about Friendly's control of the Hoboken waterfront, Terry teams up with the dead man's sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint) and a priest (Karl Malden) to testify himself, against the advice of his older brother Charley (Rod Steiger). It's on at Dendy Canberra on Sunday at 3.45pm. See: dendy.com.au.
5. Who Are You?
Australian Portraiture: It's your last chance to see this exhibition featuring 130 works with subjects including Cate Blanchett and David Gulpilil. It's on at the National Portrait Gallery and closes on Sunday, January 29. See: portrait.gov.au.
