Cirque Dreams Holidaze Opens Two Day Run at Benedum; ‘Joy’ and ‘The Danish Girl’ Screening (Tues., 12/29/15)

Ornaments on a Tree. Photo Credit: Cirque Dreams Holidaze, Courtesy of Cirque Productions.

1) Oh my goodness! It’s “snowmen, penguins, angels, reindeer, toy soldiers … and of course Santa, with soaring acrobatics, gravity-defying feats, elaborate production numbers, illusions, and more.” Yep, it’s Cirque Dreams Holidaze, the touring holiday spectacle that is part three-ring circus, part Broadway-style musical, and 100 percent OK for small children as well as adults. Now in its seventh year, the show comes from Florida-based Cirque Productions, which sends out multiple casts to perform across the U.S. The word on the street (and in the press) is that it’s a real crowd-pleaser. 7:30 p.m. tonight, and two shows tomorrow. Benedum Center, 237 7th St., Cultural District. (MV)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQnaAgBL8S0

2) Joy – It’s reunion time for Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, and writer/director David O. Russell. The four worked together on Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. (De Niro only had a bit part in that.) This latest film finds Lawrence as Joy Mangano, a single mother of three living on Long Island. She invents something called “The Miracle Mop,” which becomes a consumer sensation, and the film charts the four-generation dynasty of the Mangano empire. De Niro plays her father and Cooper a TV pitchman. Édgar Ramirez, Virginia Madsen, Diane Ladd, and Isabella Rossellini also appear. Check Fandango for screens and times. (TH)

3) The Danish Girl – Will Eddie Redmayne win back-to-back Oscars, having won last year for The Theory of Everything and now for playing Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe in this Tom Hooper directed adaptation of David Ebershoff’s novel? This is the kind of role that Academy Awards were invented for. The movie concerns one of the first people known to have sex reassignment surgery in the world. In 1904, Danish artist Wegener married fellow artist Gerda Gottlieb and the two settled down as painters. Soon Gerda was painting Einar dressed up as a woman named Lili and the popularity of those paintings made Lili famous. Einar would eventually undergo experimental surgery and transition to Lili. In the film, Matthias Schoenaerts shows up as a guy who’s fallen in love with Lili … and you can guess it gets pretty messy from there. The film also features Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard and Ben Whishaw.  Check Fandango for screens and times. (TH)

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