the Beijinger

America may be a bit late to the game as far as Beijing’s international culture goes, but Beijing Playhouse’s next production, Oklahoma!, will be the next duck lined up in their efforts to make it up to us.   

The epitome of Americana, Oklahoma! is laden with cowboys, farmers, square dances and shotgun weddings. It also launched the one-two punch of musical-penning masters, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II – and paved the way for a golden era of musicals that prioritized story without sacrificing entertainment value.   

We’re still waiting for things to get back into full swing around here, but that means you have some time to: 1) take some photos to try and win a month or two’s rent money, 2) catch up on web news like the accusations of Han Han not being a real writer and China getting snubbed at the Oscars, and 3) sleep. If you don’t like those ideas, you can get your fill of more movie screenings, and aspiring thespians: don’t miss a workshop teaching you how to audition for the stage.

Forgive me, I’ve been less on top of artsy news this week because I’ve been too busy trolling the internet at odd hours to keep up with this Jeremy Lin business. Yes, I am the world’s most intermittent basketball fan. But that’s beside the point. There are actually quite a few exciting things going on this week, like Capital M Literary Festival tickets going on sale, great indie films, a blind movie-watching experience and your last chance at several art exhibits! Click through for more.

It’s a little early, but in America, halls were being decked before Thanksgiving, so I think we’re OK getting a peek at the gifts tucked away in the closet. Just yesterday The Bookworm had their Christmas Carol reading, and this week we’ve got more to look forward to: a solar Christmas tree installation at the Opposite House, a screening of It’s a Wonderful Life complete with mulled wine, and the unwrapping of tons of new exhibits.

You can dress it up however you want, but burlesque, at its core, is about sex. That's the thrust with which female performers subverted Victorian paternalism in the mid-19th century. That's how it found a bedfellow with American jazz and the haut monde of the 1920s and 30s. That's the reason we recognize Dita Von Teese. And as the fine people of Moonglow Burlesque prepare to put on Beijing's first-ever burlesque show, "Moonglow Cabaret 1935" -- June 12, starting a minute before midnight -- burlesque will remain what burlesque is: a dance in the pin-up tradition of sex, swing and seduction.

If you haven’t caught the Great Dane at LAN Club yet, this weekend’s your last chance. On a (just slightly) more wholesome note, the Cinderella Panto starts up downtown this weekend, produced by Beijing Playhouse. Then, it’s a time for books galore, with great author events and a book bazaar.

Even more exciting, the battle for the hearts of Beijing’s bookish continues as The Bookworm International Literary Festival (BLF) gets ready to recruit volunteers, and Capital M starts rolling out book talks/discussions that are no doubt meant as stepping stones toward their own more nascent literary festival. Dear readers, come next March, how will you choose?

It's a great week to head to the theater as the The Sixth Beijing International Theater & Dance Festival hits its stride and the capital's stages are inundated with a swag of great shows. Picks of the bunch include the musical Aida, Flamenco Passion and, towards the end of the week, the Martha Graham Dance Company. The Best of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival also continues this week with The End of Everything Ever. There's also plenty of quality DJ and live music events to tempt you out on a chilly winter night, Friday has Wax Tailor take to the decks at YGYS and Long Shen Dao do their Chinese reggae thing over at New Get Lucky. Saturday is rich with pickings, Black Cat Bone are inviting some special guests around to help them celebrate the release of their debut CD, Stone Throw Records' James Pants enters the White Rabbit warren, while some lesser-known new comers take to the stage at Star Live as part of Beijing Calling Vol. 3. For more details on these and other events take a look at the 7 Days e-mail newsletter which normally goes out late Thursday evening, but is running a little late this week (apologies). You can take a look at the online version here.

We’ve mentioned the steady stream of independent theater projects coming through Beijing, and now they’re culminating in the big one: a fall production of Love, Sex and the IRS. Sit back and laugh as friends Jon and Leslie fake a marriage for the tax break (as if you’ve never considered it) and then go to great lengths to follow through with their ruse when an IRS agent shows up.

Staged by Beijing Playhouse, this version is also packed with the cross-dressing and Three’s Company-type antics that no doubt brought the original its success. Read on for more about the community-based cast, and win yourself some tickets!

We know 2011 was the year of Weibo, the year of more debt crisis all over the world, the year of campus scandals, more natural disasters and Occupying everything possible. So how frivolous does it seem to talk about the biggest news in Beijing’s arts landscape? Not as frivolous as you might think.