Spring Arts Preview: 2023
From live comedy to concerts of any genre
Have a Laugh
Give your funny friend a break
Courtesy Albert Sanchez Pedro Zalba
Trixie and Katya Live!
Tuesday, March 7
8 p.m.
Ovens Auditorium
Drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova, both from season seven of RuPaul’s Drag Race, roll into town with their satire show inspired by ’90s road trip comedies like To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Courtesy Leanne Morgan
Leanne Morgan: Just Getting Started
April 22-23
7 p.m.
Ovens Auditorium
Much of Morgan’s comedy centers around her experiences in motherhood—and she doesn’t hold back.
MORE LAUGHS:
Nimesh Patel
March 3-4
The Comedy Zone
Miranda Sings Featuring Colleen Ballinger
Friday, March 10
7:30 p.m.
Ovens Auditorium
Alingon Mitra: Too Good Tour
Thursday, March 16
7 p.m.
The Comedy Zone
And That’s Why We Drink: On the Rocks Tour
Friday, March 17
Join hosts Em Schulz and Christine Schiefer for a live episode of their award-winning podcast.
7 p.m.
The Fillmore
Jo Koy–World Tour
Friday, March 17
8 p.m.
Bojangles Coliseum
Adele Givens
March 31-April 2
The Comedy Zone
John Crist: The Emotional Support Tour
April 1-2
7 p.m.
Ovens Auditorium
Royal Comedy 2023
Friday, April 7
Comedians Sommore, Bruce Bruce, Lavell Crawford, and Special K take the stage.
8 p.m.
Ovens Auditorium
Druski: Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda Tour
Friday, April 21
8 p.m.
Ovens Auditorium
Joe “Mr. D” Dombrowski
June 8-10
The Comedy Zone
ArtPop Street Gallery
The 2023 artist billboards are up. See if you can catch ’em all
Courtesy ArtPop
Wendy Hickey founded the nonprofit ArtPop Street Gallery in 2014 to showcase local artists’ work on billboards and in other public spaces and help them grow their businesses. In January 2022, Brooke Gibbons joined the staff to lead the organization’s community impact and sustainability efforts. As ArtPop celebrates its 10th artist class, Gibbons reflects on the nonprofit’s past and future. (Answers have been edited for length and clarity.)
Charlotte magazine: How has ArtPop evolved?
Brooke Gibbons: We’ve really grown our footprint. We started out featuring artists on billboards, and we’re still doing that. But now, we’re doing a lot more digital displays, and we’re in movie theaters around the country and at the airport. This year, we’ll also be hosting our first special exhibit, at the Cain Center for the Arts in Cornelius, featuring this year’s artists (exhibit dates: June 12-Aug. 4; opening reception: June 16), and we finally have a partnership with CATS, so we are displaying art at LYNX light rail stops.
CM: What have featured artists gone on to accomplish?
BG: In 2022, one of our artists was able to quit his 9-to-5 job and become a full-time artist. That’s exactly the kind of thing we want to see happen for our artists.
Courtesy ArtPop
CM: What other opportunities does ArtPop offer?
BG: We have a division called Inspiration Project that’s basically a project-management service. When, for example, a corporation like Lowe’s wants a mural on the side of their building, or maybe the Library Foundation has a private event and they want gifts made for special guests, we keep a database of artists and will connect them to the right artist for their project. … We also make sure that the artists are being paid enough for their work.
CM: What are ArtPop’s goals for the next decade?
BG: I’d love to see more artists get national and international exposure. Last year, for example, we had a Filipino artist from Charlotte, and we were able to get her work on a billboard in the Philippines as well. … We’d love to be able to give our artists more exhibits, workshops, and paid projects. And I really want to see how we’re impacting the community. I’d love to get artists from further-out counties so that we can get better connected to their communities.
CM: Will you have a fashion show this year?
BG: Yes! This will be its third year. When the vinyl from the billboards comes down at the end of the year, we don’t want it going into the landfill, so we pay local designers to turn it into couture fashion, and we have a fashion show that’s also a fundraiser for us. With the rest of the vinyl, we work with local artists to make tote bags or other items.
Number of artists featured each year: 20, including one high school senior
Number of media impressions in 2022: more than 500 million
Number of artist submissions for 2023: more than 200
The 2023 artists are from: Mecklenburg, Union, Catawba, Lincoln, Gaston, and York counties
Want More Art?
Visit one of these exhibitions
Irvin Law Group and Friends at Cain Center for the Arts
April 10-June 2
Rendezvous With Rothko at Mint Museum Uptown
Through March 31
(Read about the other major exhibitions at the Mint here.)
In Transition at Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art
Through April 15
Dennis Campay & Nellie Ashford at Shain Gallery
May 12-26
Hit the Tracks
Two NASCAR-fueled weekends this spring
COURTESY CMS-HHP
NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
April 28-30
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Buy a weekend package or tickets for individual events. Tickets start at $20 (free for kids 12 and under).
North Carolina Education Lottery 200
Friday, May 26 , 8:30 p.m.
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Tickets start at $20 (free for kids 12 and under).
Alsco Uniforms 300
Saturday, May 27, 1 p.m.
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Tickets start at $25 (free for kids 12 and under).
Coca-Cola 600
Sunday, May 28, 6 p.m.
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Tickets start at $49.
Fit in a Film Festival—or Four
Underexposed Film Festival
A showcase of international indie short films.
March 22-25
Winthrop University, Rock Hill, S.C.
Reel Out Charlotte
Charlotte Pride’s annual LGBTQ film festival.
May 17-21
The Independent Picture House.
ConCarolinas Short Film Festival
Part of the ConCarolinas convention, the festival focuses on sci-fi, fantasy, fandom, horror, animation, and adventure films.
June 2-4
Hilton Charlotte University Place.
Charlotte Black Film Festival
A celebration of Black cinema and independent filmmakers of color.
July 6-9
Location TBD.
Don’t Sleep on the Symphony
Selections from the spring lineup
Picasso + Stravinsky
March 10-11
7:30 p.m. Knight Theater
Mendelssohn Hymn of Praise
March 24-25
7:30 p.m. Belk Theater
Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2
April 28-29
7:30 p.m. Belk Theater
Dvořák Symphony No. 8
May 19-20
7:30 p.m. Knight Theater
New to the orchestra? Start with one of the Charlotte Symphony’s Pops or Movie Series shows:
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in Concert
March 17-18
7:30 p.m. Belk Theater
007: The Best of James Bond
May 12-13
7:30 p.m. Knight Theater
Raiders of the Lost Ark in Concert
June 16-17
7:30 p.m. Belk Theater
A Concert for Every Taste
Choose a genre, any genre!
Celtic Punk
Dropkick Murphys
Wednesday, March 1, 7 p.m.
The Fillmore
Country
Muscadine Bloodline
Friday, March 3, 8 p.m.
The Underground
Trap
Key Glock
Friday, March 10, 8 p.m.
The Fillmore
Pop Punk
Knuckle Puck & Real Friends
Tuesday, March 14, 7:30 p.m.
The Underground
Blues
Buddy Guy
Wednesday, March 22, 7:30 p.m.
Ovens Auditorium
Hard rock
Kix
Saturday, March 25, 8 p.m.
Amos’ Southend
Pop
Jake Wesley Rogers
Tuesday, April 11, 8 p.m.
The Underground
Heavy Metal
Fozzy
Thursday, April 13, 6:45 p.m.
The Underground
Folk
Kevin Kaarl
Sunday, April 23, 8 p.m.
The Fillmore
Metalcore
Bury Tomorrow
Wednesday, May 10, 6:30 p.m.
The Underground
Prog Rock
Plini
Friday, May 19, 7 p.m.
The Underground
Dubstep
Seven Lions
Tuesday, May 2, 8 p.m.
The Fillmore
Alt
Goth Babe
Wednesday, May 3, 8 p.m.
The Fillmore
Reggaeton
Anuel AA
Sunday, May 21, 8 p.m.
Spectrum Center
Indie rock
The Backseat Lovers
Friday, May 26, 8 p.m.
The Fillmore
See a Play or Ballet
You can claim a lot of things. Lack of options isn’t one of them
Shen Yun
March 2-4
Belk Theater
Misery
March 3-19
Theatre Charlotte
The Night Diary
March 10-26
Wells Fargo Playhouse
POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
March 16-19
Booth Playhouse
The Simon & Garfunkel Story
March 21-22
Knight Theater
Courtesy Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
March 23-April 2
Armour Street Theatre, Davidson
HITS! The Musical
Friday, March 24
Knight Theater
Legally Blonde—The Musical
March 24-26
Ovens Auditorium
Taj Express: The Bollywood Jukebox
Saturday, March 25
Knight Theater
Head Over Heels
March 25-26
Free Will Craft + Vine
Beetlejuice
March 28-April 2
Belk Theater
Stuff Inside My Head
Friday, March 31
CPCC’s New Theater
Disney’s Aladdin
April 5-9
Belk Theater
Into the Woods
April 11-16
Belk Theater
Menopause The Musical
Wednesday, April 12
Knight Theater
Pippin
April 14-30
Theatre Charlotte
Charlotte Ballet’s Peter Pan
April 21-30
Knight Theater
Lost Girl
April 21-30
CPCC’s New Theater
The Gathering
April 22-23
Wells Fargo Playhouse
The Glorious World of Crowns, Kinks and Curls
May 5-20
The Arts Factory at West End Studios
Picasso at the Lapin Agile
May 5-21
Mint Museum Uptown’s James B. Duke Auditorium & Divine Barrel, NoDa
Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Part 1)
May 18 & 20
CPCC’s Georgia Tucker Fine Arts Hall
Angels in America: Perestroika (Part 2)
May 19 & 21
CPCC’s Georgia Tucker Fine Arts Hall
Detroit ’67
May 26-June 11
Theatre Charlotte
Annie
May 30-June 4
Belk Theater
1776
June 6-11
Belk Theater
I and You
June 16-25
Theatre Charlotte
Mary Poppins
June 22-July 2
David College’s Duke Family Performance Hall
SIX: The Musical
July 4-16
Belk Theater
A ‘Don’t Miss’ for Theatre Buffs:
An Evening with Leslie Odom Jr.
Monday, March 13
7:30 p.m. Knight Theater. Tickets start at $39.50,
BOOM Is Back, Baby
The artist-run arts festival will take place from
April 21-23.
Locations TBD.
Entertain the Kids
It’s been a long winter …
Sunjata Kamalenya: The Story of the True Lion King of Africa
March 3-4
McColl Family Theatre
Tickets start at $13
Blippi: The Wonderful World Tour
Tuesday, March 28, 6 p.m.
Ovens Auditorium.
Tickets start at $29.
Courtesy Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority
Dragons and Mythical Beasts
Friday, March 31, 7 p.m.
Ovens Auditorium.
Tickets start at $25
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
April 8-May 7
McColl Family Theatre
Tickets start at $20
Harlem Globetrotters
Sunday, April 23, 3 p.m.
Bojangles Coliseum.
Tickets start at $24
Blue’s Clues & You! Live on Stage
Tuesday, May 9, 6 p.m.
Ovens Auditorium.
Tickets start at $27
Madagascar the Musical
Thursday, May 25, 7 p.m.
Ovens Auditorium.
Tickets start at $27
Classical Kids Live! Tchaikovsky Discovers America
Saturday, May 13, 11 a.m.
Knight Theater.
Tickets start at $16
Bluey’s Big Play
May 13-14
Belk Theater.
Tickets start at $24.50
The Lion and the Little Red Bird
June 1-10
Wells Fargo Playhouse
Tickets start at $11
