Out and About in January and February 2024
Madonna's "Celebration Tour," Sacramento Ballet's Cinderella and more—here are 10 events to help start the year off on the right (glass slippered) foot.
Madonna (Photo by Patrick Demarchelier, Courtesy of Golden 1 Center. )
Jagged Little Pill
Jan. 2–7 You oughta know that The New York Times praised this Tony Award-winning 2019 musical—inspired by the eponymous smash album by Alanis Morissette—as “rousing and real.” Expect plenty of angst as a struggling family’s story emerges from alt-rock classics like “Ironic,” “Uninvited” and “You Learn” during this Broadway Sacramento production. broadwaysacramento.com
Jagged Little Pill (Photo by Matthew Murphy of Murphymade, courtesy of Broadway Sacramento)
Patti Labelle & Gladys Knight
Jan. 13 Lincoln welcomes a vocal double bill for the ages: See the Godmother of Soul (Patti LaBelle) and the Empress of Soul (Gladys Knight) take the Thunder Valley stage to sing signature hits like “Lady Marmalade” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.” thundervalleyresort.com
Boulevard Dreams
Through Jan. 21 Cruise through Sacramento History Museum’s 200-plus artifacts, photos and art pieces about lowrider car culture, including visual biographies of local lowrider enthusiasts by documentary photographer Andri Tambunan. Then visit the California Museum’s companion exhibit, which runs through April 14 and explores the rich tradition of lowriders statewide. sachistorymuseum.org and californiamuseum.org
Black Artists In America
Feb. 4–May 19 Black History Month coincides with the start of this Crocker exhibition, which spotlights over 50 works embedded in the Civil Rights Movement and activism of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. See powerful abstracts, evocative portraits and more from artists like San Jose’s first Black schoolteacher, Marie Johnson Calloway, whose work Mother and Daughter is shown below. crockerart.org
Mother and Daughter by Marie Calloway (Courtesy of the Crocker Art Museum)
Fran Lebowitz
Feb. 9 Called “acerbic, unfiltered, nearly always right” by The Guardian, writer-raconteur Fran Lebowitz returns to the Mondavi Center after cracking up the house in 2022. Count on the quintessential New Yorker—who is the subject of Martin Scorsese’s Netflix docuseries Pretend It’s a City—to bring her patented brand of scathing intellectual satire to Davis. mondaviarts.org
Cinderella
Feb. 16–18 Glass slippers give way to pointe shoes as Cinderella dances into the SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center. The Sacramento Ballet production will showcase modern choreography and fun twists (the stepsisters are performed by men in full drag) from Nashville Ballet’s artistic director emeritus Paul Vasterling, accompanied by Sergei Prokofiev’s timeless score. sacballet.org
Die Fledermaus
Feb. 24 Johann Strauss’ 1874 operetta tells the farcical tale of disguises and pranks gone too far at an opulent New Year’s Eve ball in Vienna. The Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera will stage a full-cast production of the classic, featuring 46 musicians and 40 chorus members. sacphilopera.org
Madonna
Feb. 24 After a life-threatening illness this past summer postponed her 15-country “Celebration Tour,” the Material Girl’s return to the road arrives in Sacramento this February. Expect to hear “Like a Prayer,” “Vogue,” “Crazy for You” and a full slate of other chart-toppers that have helped make Madonna the biggest-selling female recording artist of all time, according to Guinness World Records. golden1center.com
Thomas Friedman
Feb. 28 A three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Thomas Friedman has influenced ideas about politics, globalization and the Middle East through his New York Times columns and best-selling books like The World Is Flat. He will share his thoughts about current events when he comes to town as part of the Sacramento Speakers Series. sacramentospeakers.com
Thomas Friedman (Courtesy of Sacramento Speakers Series)
Mystic Pizza
Feb. 28–March 3 Following the love lives of three pizza parlor waitresses in sleepy Mystic, Connecticut, this musical adaptation of the 1988 rom-com that starred Julia Roberts pops with retro hits like “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Hold On.” The show stops by the Harris Center in Folsom on its West Coast premiere tour. harriscenter.net
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