The Arts Beat: New year, more art
What’s coming in 2026? Museums, band reunions, new concert venues, landmark anniversaries, a handful of funny guys and portals to parallel universes.
What’s coming in 2026? Museums, band reunions, new concert venues, landmark anniversaries, a handful of funny guys and portals to parallel universes.
This week, paint and sip at the Rumba Room, laugh at Flyway Comedy Club and listen to Alex Chilton’s hits at Memphis Listening Lab.
From arts shows, concerts, to theater productions and beyond, the Memphis art scene blossomed in 2025. Here’s a recap of some of our top arts and culture moments. And some staff favorites.
The TV show stars three women and an Orange Mound skating rink, with appearances from local musicians and shots of Memphis streets and neighborhoods. But the story, like the city it’s based on, is much more complex.
Rudolph, Annie, Scrooge and the Grinch star in shows across Memphis.
Among the cast of “Never Alone for Christmas: Memphis” are Memphis singer K. Michelle and actor Tom Arnold.
See a campy Christmas comedy, hit Broadway musical “& Juliet” and a heartfelt take on “A Christmas Carol” in Memphis theaters.
A descendant of the von Trapp family will perform Saturday night at the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center, including songs from “The Sound of Music.”
Filmmaker Craig Brewer directed Crosstown High School’s “12 Angry Jurors,” and, as the student who played Juror Number Nine put it, “Not a lot of people can say they’ve gotten this opportunity.”
Are you ready to get a little bit wacky? Then this weekend’s events are for you.
Before Ira Sachs studied film and literature at Yale, he grew up in Memphis. And before he found a filmmaking groove in New York, he cut his teeth back home.
The revitalization project is the latest in the Orpheum Theatre Group’s work to modernize the Downtown campus.
Thursday is once again movie night in Memphis, this week with a particular Halloween flavor.
Throughout the years, plenty of people have claimed to see a ghostly little girl roaming the historic theater. She even has a reserved seat. But is there a story behind the hauntings?
Also, opening this month: “The Notebook” at the Orpheum, a children’s musical at Circuit and a farce about how we view Thanksgiving.
Princeton Echols says his touring Soulful Murder Mystery Experience is like: “an escape room and dinner theater had a baby.” He’s also traveling to Italy next month for a screening of a film he directed.
This week, local theaters perform murder shows, Crosstown showcases Vietnamese culture and you can make pottery at Chucalissa.
Collage’s $25,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant was canceled earlier this year, but the Memphis dance company is forging ahead with a new season of shows that open this weekend.
“We have an embarrassment of riches of quality, excellent dance in Memphis,” Steven McMahon, of Ballet Memphis, said.
For the fourth year, the Tennessee Shakespeare Company will perform outside of the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center, this time presenting “Much Ado About Nothing.”
Other plays feature “Frankenstein,” murdered Edwardian women telling their stories and a murder mystery.
Each September, Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with family-friendly music, dance, food and cultural activities.
While the U of M’s production is “part Shakespeare, part block party, 100% heart,” Germantown Community Theatre is doing Shakespeare with an all-female cast.
Hattiloo has created the Black Chef’s Table, pairing three-course meals with select performances.
Memphis-area theaters are opening four shows on the same night.
Memphis is going bard-core on Shakespeare-inspired productions.
The Halloran Centre’s mostly free arts programs have produced a Broadway performer, a singer and songwriter and a nationally touring star. Now, they’re back on the main stage.
During the season, the Shout-Out Shakespeare Series will bring Tennessee Shakespeare Co. performances to locations around the Memphis area.
“Not everything that we have is a household name. And a lot of things we have are things that will be a household name one day,” the Buckman Arts Center director said about the new season.