Here’s a quick guide to some upcoming arts and cultural events happening around Missoula in the coming week.
Pianissimo! at UM
(Friday, Oct. 21)
Come see piano in varied and surprising virtuosic combinations as the annual Pianissimo! concert returns at the University of Montana School of Music.
Faculty, students and community members will hit the keys in unexpected variations involving multiple pianos and players simultaneously. Professor Christopher Hahn selects material that spans classical, pop and more, often with some surprises, for a crowd-pleasing show.
The concerts are Friday-Saturday, Oct. 21-22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Music Recital Hall. A shortened matinee version for families, Poco Pianissimo! is 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22. For tickets, go to griztix.com.
Montana indie bands at the ZACC
(Sunday, Oct. 23)
The ZACC Show Room has a three-act Montana bill, all in the indie rock vein. Hard Hugs is a synth-based post-punk four-piece out of Helena. Check out a full-length interview and performance on the Myrna Loy’s YouTube. Goosetooth (Billings) is Ty Herman, a songwriter who uses pedals to make a solo act sound full. Less info is available online regarding Soft x Moth. The ZACC’s listings promise “electronic tonal percussion, acoustic strings, and melismatic vocals — all performed simultaneously” by Sawyer Brown, a bassist and pianist.
Doors open at 7 p.m., the show starts at 7:30. Cover is $10 or $15 for a tour supporter ticket.
Original local horror play at ZACC
(Oct. 20-22)
“I Am Acquainted with the Night,” an original work by a Missoula writer with an all-local cast, will close out its run this weekend.
MissCast Productions, a nonprofit theater company, is producing the show at the ZACC Show Room. Laramie Dean, the Hellgate High School drama coach, wrote the script about an elderly woman who’s seen things happening around her apartment, but her relatives don’t believe her.
The closing weekend run is Oct. 20-22 at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online at showroom.zootownarts.org.
‘Cabaret’ at UM
(Oct. 20-23)
Head to the nightclubs of Berlin, as imagined on the Montana Theatre stage for “Cabaret.” The classic musical is starting off the main-stage season for the School of Theatre & Dance at UM, in collaboration with the School of Music.
“Cabaret” closes out on Oct. 20-23 in the Montana Theatre in the PAR/TV Center. Tickets are available at griztix.evenue.net.
Lyrics Born at the ZACC Show Room
(Wednesday, Oct. 26)
Tsutomu “Tom” Shimura came up in the ’90s California hip-hop scene with SoleSides and then Quannum Spectrum, a collective that included Blackalicious and DJ Shadow, along with Shimura’s group, Latyrx. It was cutting-edge in many ways — nerdy and verbose and experimental. While Shimura could speed-rap, he also began working a line between singing and rapping that’s all his own, back when there were stronger divisions between two ways of vocalizing.
Shimura has a new album, “Vision Board,” coming out on Nov. 11. The first single, “Diamond Door” is out now. His producer is frequent collaborator Rob Mercurio, of Galactic, and they cut it in New Orleans, so it seems likely that it’s going to be funky.
Doors at 7, show at 8, $20 at zootownarts.org.
‘The Addams Family’ at MCT
(Oct. 20-30)
For its season-opener, Missoula Community Theatre’s season-opener went for a Halloween-appropriate tale in a musical vein. “The Addams Family — A New Musical” had a long run on Broadway and through touring productions. The story finds Wednesday dating a normal person and nested layers of complications when she brings him over to meet the family.
It runs Oct. 20-30 at the MCT Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets: 406-728-7529, mctinc.org or the box office.
