A big week of arts looms in Canberra as HELEN MUSA’s latest Artsweek column will attest. 

An “enlarged” version of Drag Cabaret, curated by Guy Alias and starring Ravi Oli, Venus Mantrap, Zapp Backagain, Xenon Revolution, Little Miss Mini, Faux nee Phish, Floozy, Honey Boom, and Le Ron Hubblend, is coming to Belco Arts on November 2.

Blamey Street Big Band turns to the music of the late Sarah Vaughan to celebrate her 100th year anniversary. Leisa Keen will front the band to bring to life the bebop style and exact scat solos for which she was so renowned. Harmonie-German Club in Narrabundah, November 2.

The book Charles & Barbara Blackman will be launched with a conversation between Jeremy Thomas and Christabel Blackman, National Library, November 5.

The Great Moscow Circus is back, this time featuring extreme acts. The Big Top will be pitched in Gungahlin November 1-17.

Dianna Nixon’s cabaret show The Gentleman’s Companion, based on Charles H Baker Jnr’s recipes and travels and featuring songs from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, will be at the Yazzbar, Yass, on November 3 and 10.

Geoff’s Poetry at Smiths presents poets Robyn Rowland and Adrian Caesar, Smith’s Alternative, Civic, November 4.

Stage

• The Come Alive Festival sees students from 10 schools and colleges pick items from our museums and create their own piece of theatre to tell the story of the piece. Mill Theatre, Fyshwick, October 31-November 5. Inquiries to director Peter Wilkins at 0408 034373.
• Ali Clinch is directing Trick or Treat, billed as a one-of-a-kind Halloween comedy journey into the unknown, where the Lightbulb troupe performs an unscripted show with the audience’s chosen ending. The Courtyard Studio, October 31-November 2.
• Queanbeyan Players’ production, Nice Work If You Can Get It, is a semi-modern take on George and Ira Gershwin’s music by Joe DiPietro on the Prohibition Era. The Q, Queanbeyan, November 1-10.
• Ex-patriate Aussie comedian, Monty Franklin, who has just played his newest show, Yeah Nah, to more than a million Americans across 40 states, will play the same show at the Canberra Theatre, November 5.
• Celebrating its 40th anniversary with a theme of What Do You Dream?, Ausdance ACT presents Youth Dance Festival, live dance performances made by secondary schools from over Canberra and regions, Canberra Theatre, November 6-8.

Galleries

• Canberra Potters 2024 Members’ Exhibition will run at Canberra Potters Gallery, Watson, October 31-December 1.
• The annual NatureArt Lab community exhibition is at the Old Barn Gallery in Pialligo, with awards for excellence announced at the opening night event. October 31-November 3.
• 2024 Craft + Design Canberra Festival, the festival will feature exhibitions, symposiums, workshops, open studios featuring 27 artists and six galleries. November 1-10,
• Poetry of Place, an exhibition of works by photographer Julia Charles is at ANCA Gallery 1 Rosevear Place Dickson, until November 17.
• The Friends of the Classics Museum are opening an exhibition curated by Georgia Pike-Rowney and visual artist Julian Laffan of works created by six ANU Art and Design post-graduate students in response to objects in the museum. AD Hope building, ANU, from November 2..

Concerts

• In an evening of Halloween Classics, a string quartet from Phoenix Collective will serenade visitors by candlelight at the NGA’s James Fairfax Theatre on October 31.
• In CSO Down South, Canberra Symphony Orchestra will perform Homage To Heritage, Tuggeranong Arts Centre theatre, October 31.
• Marcela Fiorillo wil play Astor Piazzolla’s music in TANGATA, Australian Centre for Christianity & Culture, October 31.
• The Godfather of French piano playing, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, will perform at Snow Concert Hall, November 1.
• Italian pianist Andrea Molteni, in his first Australian tour, will perform works by JS Bach, Luigi Dallapiccola, Beethoven and Liszt, Wesley Music Centre, November 1.
• Luminescence Chamber Singers will sing Old Airs, a tapestry of songs and stories spanning 2000 years, ANU Drill Hall Gallery, November 1.
• An evening of new First Nations compositions alongside recent classics will be performed by the 2024 Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers cohort and Ensemble Offspring. The Street Theatre, November 2.
• Ausmusic Month will be celebrated at the NFSA with a special edition of Vinyl Lounge on November 1, and a special performance by Sydney’s Rejoice Gospel Choir will take place alongside a Sister Act double feature on November 2.
• Musica da Camera, under the direction of violinist Lauren Davis, presents an afternoon of oboe & strings, Holy Covenant Church, Cook, November 2 and again at in the Soldiers Memorial Hall in Gundaroo, November 3.
• Piano Recital for Peace is a recital by Dr Robert Schmidli, performed as a fundraiser for the Medical Association for Prevention of War, Wesley Music Centre, November 2.
• The 50th Anniversary Concert of the Canberra Recorder and Early Music Society will be held at Ainslie Arts Centre, November 3.
• Elsie Chen, clarinettist, is joined by her friends, Le Chen: pianist/composer, Samuel Giddy, organist, and Cameron McPherson, clarinettist for a concert at Wesley Music Centre, November 3.

Film

• Canberra Short Film Festival has chosen almost 300 short films, animations and music videos in 22 separate screenings. Dendy Cinemas, November 6-20.
• The 2024 British Film Festival, Palace Electric Cinemas, November 6-December 8.
• Yorkshire folk singer Jack Rutter will be at Albert Hall, November 6.
• Pianist Aaron Chew performs The Mystical Soundscape of Larry Sitsky: Sonata No. 3 and Late Pieces in the Wesley Lunchtime concert series, Wesley Music Centre, November 6.