Greg Abate and the ‘Monsters in the Night’ Band | AS220 Black Box Theatre | Oct. 24
The Providence-based jazz mogul has played saxophone in international performances with sultans of swing like Phil Woods and Ray Charles and has been hailed by the Washington Post as “one of the most exciting saxophone players out there today.” Among his 13 albums is “Monsters in the Night,” whose nine original tracks celebrate pop culture’s most feared and revered characters. The album was recorded with the combined talents of Artie Montanaro on trombone, Paul Nagel on piano, Vinny Pagano on drums and Bill Miele on bass. This Friday’s performance will feature a one-time-only reunion of the quintet as they bust out numbers like the tight, Latin-infused “Igor’s Revenge,” the dreamy harmonics of “Bride of Frankenstein” and the no-holds-barred “Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde.”
Mad Science: Ninth Annual Halloween Iron Pour | Steel Yard | Oct. 25
After 100 years in business, the Providence Iron and Steel Company went defunct in 2001. Fortunately, a Brown alum teamed up with a Rhode Island School of Design alum to renovate the historic facility into the Steel Yard, a site that manufactures, teaches and celebrates industrial art. Local steel artists forge an explosive showcase each year at the annual Halloween Iron Pour, but this year’s event will allegedly make sparks fly like never before thanks to some secret new ingredients, including Tesla coils, which appear to radiate small lightning storms. The event will feature a live performance from local indie-folk band Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores.
Chifferobe Presents Cirque de Ville III | Aurora Providence | Oct. 25
“American Horror Story: Freak Show” meets “Moulin Rouge” in this vaudeville-inspired variety show, which the Providence Phoenix called “the Vintage Super Bowl.” Tap-dancing RISD graduate Kristen Minsky, who has bandy-twisted her way into the New Yorker and New York Times, conceived “Cirque de Ville,” which allows viewers to explore a world guided by the velvety voice of their ringleader, Miss Wensday. Snake charmers and acrobats, contortionists and cancan dancers, whip artist Jaques ze Whippeur and comic ventriloquist Mr. Dead Guy are among the characters that viewers will encounter. Tickets include a complimentary tarot reading, naturally.
The Addams Family: A Musical Comedy | Academy Players Blackbox Theatre | Thursday-Saturday through Nov. 2
They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, and now their spirits have been resurrected onstage in the premiere show for the Academy Players’ new black box theater. Picking up some years after where the television show left off in the characters’ lives, the production opens with Wednesday and her very normal husband-to-be seeking approval from each other’s families before tying the knot. Meanwhile, Uncle Fester is in a complicated relationship with an inflatable doll, and Pugsley waxes nostalgic over the good old days playing on the torture rack with his sister. Motif Magazine praised the show’s witty songwriting and talented cast, noting in particular Lurch’s pantomiming and Grandmama’s character as one who “would hardly be out of place running a meth lab in a trailer if she could remember where she put it.”
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