The Gaslight Melodrama knows the winning formula — a rollicking show in which you cheer the hero(es) and boo the villain — but it's doing something a little different for its 100th show opening Friday.

With a story like "The Outsiders" audiences have certain expectations.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. And that truth can make even stranger fiction. That’s certainly the case with “Grey Gardens,” opening Friday at Ovation Theatre. Based on the life of Big Edie and Little Edie Bouvier Beale, the eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,…

Comedian W.C. Fields advised never to work with animals or children but those concerns of chaos or excessive cuteness are no problem for the directors of "Annie," opening this weekend at Stars Theatre Restaurant.

Having already staged a number of intimate dramas and comedies, Stars Playhouse makes the case for another great season into 2020 with "Nuts," which opens Friday.

Kelly Wonderly has never known a time when she wasn't passionate about art. The local artist will share some of her work Thursday as part of a show at the Arts Council of Kern's Access Center Gallery.

Most creative people can recall what ignited their passion for the arts. For Deva Wiloth, one of those shows was "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," which she is directing at Bakersfield Community Theatre.

If you'd prefer your celebration of the new year to be during the weekend rather than midweek, then you're in luck. Stars Theatre Restaurant will have audiences "Swingin' in the New Year" with an evening (or afternoon) of live music and dancing.

The new year can mark a series of firsts and, for artist Laura Lee Best, that starts Friday with her first solo show. Best's work will be on display in "Expressions" at Dagny's Coffee Co. as part of First Friday.

For more than 50 years, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" has filled homes with joy each holiday season. Now the experience comes to life in "A Charlie Brown Christmas: Live on Stage."

Christmas came early for the Civic Dance Center. On Monday, the local group met its fundraising goal, announcing on Facebook that this weekend's production of "The Nutcracker" will feature live accompaniment from the Shafter Symphony Orchestra.

For this year’s winter production, the Liberty High School Theatre Department presents Doris Baizley’s highly inventive adaptation of the classic Dickens story "A Christmas Carol," running through Saturday.

For December's First Friday, the Bakersfield Art Association is featuring two watercolor artists in shows downtown.

A tale of a man trying to rally for his family while not falling prey to despair is relatable to audiences today as it was in 1946 when the film "It's a Wonderful Life" was released. Relive the classic holiday tale in the theatrical version opening Friday at The Empty Space. 

Although "A Christmas Story" airs in a 24-hour marathon on TBS for Christmas Day, the story will really come to life starting Friday when the stage production opens at Stars Theatre Restaurant.

For a story about keeping hope alive, it could have no better ambassador than Norman Colwell. The longtime local actor is starring as Kris Kringle in Bakersfield Community Theatre's "Miracle on 34th Street," which opens this weekend. 

Love opera but don't have the time or money to travel to a big-city opera house? The Cal State Bakersfield Opera Theatre has just the show for you with Friday's “An Evening of Opera Scenes."

More so that any other community theater, Ovation embraces the idea of going beyond theatrical productions. With concerts and comedy, the 19th Street venue hosts various forms of entertainment. This holiday season is no exception with “Rock’n Holiday,” opening Friday.

When it comes to Christmas, Michael Prince is like a kid at the North Pole. So it's no tough assignment for the artistic director to write the Gaslight Holiday Extravaganza each year for the northwest theater.

Independence High School's production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," an exciting rendition of a classic Christmas play gone wrong, will leave you laughing in your seats.

In honor of Veterans Day this week, Highland High School’s drama department presents the play “A Piece of My Heart." This story of six women in the Vietnam War — three nurses, a Red Cross girl, an enlisted specialist and a singer — follows them as they join the war effort, then serve and fin…

When it comes to The Hub of Bakersfield, sí se puede. The local nonprofit acted quickly this week to make a mural of United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez a reality in downtown Bakersfield.

For most bakers, a lot of love goes into their work. Now imagine how much emotion would go into preparing someone's final meal and that gives you a hint of what to expect from "Apples in Winter," playing at Bakersfield Community Theatre.

Much like "Escanaba in da Moonlight" has been a unique experience for the cast and crew, so should it be for audiences when it opens Friday at Stars Playhouse.

Matt Borton is a busy man this weekend. Along with wrapping up a role as Thing in "The Addams Family" at Ovation Theatre, he's also performing at Empire Improv for its grand opening and launching the second part of his "Serial Stories" at The Empty Space.

The talented actors at Bakersfield Christian High School prove their hands at comedy in the new rousing production of "The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood," by Mary Lynn Dobson. playing this weekend.

A daringly hopeful tale of love and redemption in the South set to a soundtrack by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell? There's lots to adore about “Bright Star,” opening this weekend at Stars Theatre Restaurant.

The artistic bounty continues at Panorama Park, which will unveil the latest murals from a collaborative project on Monday. 

Just in time for Halloween, one more costumed fete. But leave your sense of reality at the gate and step into the surreal at the Bakersfield Museum of Art on Thursday. The annual Surrealist Masquerade, in its fourth year, brings an air of mystery, mysticism and mixology to the museum’s Sculp…

When it comes to rock opera, it's not going to be your average night at the theater. And Green Day's "American Idiot," opening this weekend at The Empty Space, is no exception.

Fall blew into town dramatically this week but the downtown art scene is battening down the hatches for this month's First Friday.

Bakersfield College art faculty will be in the spotlight Thursday when an exhibition of their work opens at the Wylie and May Louise Jones Gallery.

When does a tragedy of ancient Greece feel as relevant as the struggles we still face today? When it's "Antigone," on stage this week at Cal State Bakersfield.

It's expected that you party hard when you turn 21, and Via Arte is no exception. The annual Italian street painting festival put on by the Bakersfield Museum of Art at The Marketplace is going big this year with more artists, more squares and an after-party.

It's never easy when families meet for the first time but it's even worse when yours is creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky and all together ooky. Guests have a front-row seat to the hilarious meeting when "The Addams Family" takes the stage this weekend at Ovation Theatre. 

Along with putting on successful shows, a portion of the work at Stars Theatre Restaurant is fundraising. Since that effort is less of a soft-shoe and more of a kickball change, it requires some hoofing. That's where Startacular, taking place Saturday, comes in.

While the Guild House has been the scene of many a business lunch, bridge game, fashion show and shower, it's never been host to a tale of psychological terror. That is until this weekend, with the presentation of "The Turn of the Screw."

The passion and power of Mexican women through time is the focus of a new exhibit on display at the Arts Council of Kern's Access Center Gallery.

A feast satisfies the appetite, but a taste makes you hungry for more. That’s the idea behind Cal State Bakersfield’s sampler platter of theater scenes, visual art, music and more at the annual Taste of the Arts event on Sunday.

It is once more unto the breach, dear friends, as the Bakersfield College Performing Arts Department returns with the Kern Shakespeare Festival.

It's all treats and no tricks for this October First Friday. There is art to see and games to play downtown.

They’re coming to get you, Barbra — possibly from your seat in the audience. Bakersfield Community Theatre is ready to terrify with its new “Night of the Living Dead Live.”

What do you do when the show you're putting on relies on the audience coming in with no spoilers? With "Veronica's Room," opening Friday at The Empty Space, you work twice as hard on wording the promotional material. 

For one brief, shining moment, there was a spot called “Camelot,” but thankfully local theatergoers have got a bit longer to visit this land of chivalry at Stars.

Photography, poetry and potent potables? It must be a night at the museum. For its latest Art After Dark gathering on Thursday, the Bakersfield Museum of Art delves deeper into its latest photo exhibition along with a few additions.

When being "practically perfect" doesn't cut it, what's a magical nanny to do? If you're Mary Poppins, you call in some formidable reinforcements. And that's just what she does in "Scary Poppins," coming Friday to Gaslight Melodrama.

This fall, the Bakersfield Museum of Art explores the beauty of California. Whether plunging the depths of the Pacific, traveling to a valley not unlike our own or just driving around town, the new exhibitions highlight what's compelling about our state.

Nothing against big musical productions, but sometimes you just want a more pared-down show. For one weekend only, Stars has got just the ticket with "Songs for a New World," a song cycle presented as a concert.

There may be nothing stronger — or at times, frustrating — than family ties. Stars Playhouse is delving into those familial dynamics with "Lost in Yonkers."

While it’s not unusual for a performer to connect with the material, it’s not every show when they sit down and share their own story. Opening at The Empty Space, “The Subject Is ...” features songs from beloved musicals along with the real-life stories of the performers who chose them.