Corteo Under The Grand Chapiteau
On January 11, Cirque du Soleil returns to the Del Mar Fairgrounds with Corteo, a festive parade dreamed up by a clown who imagines his own funeral taking place in a carnival, watched over by angels. Like all Cirque productions, Corteo unites the passion of the actor with the awe-inspiring grace and power of the acrobat in a mystical space between heaven and earth. But unlike other productions, the dialog is in English, and costumes and makeup are more subdued, allowing the acrobats to explore the circus arts in a manner that is brand new to Cirque du Soleil, thus redefining the springboard, the human body, and the tightwire. The Corteo cast includes 61 artists from 16 countries. Ticket prices for adults range between $50-$85, and the Tapis Rouge VIP Package at $205 per ticket includes one of the best seats in the house and exclusive access to the VIP suite one hour before the show and during intermission. Corteo runs through February 10. (800/678-5440, www.cirquedusoleil.com) — Mia Stefanko, photo by Marie-Reine Mattera

Globe Honors
Two notable Old Globe-related honors were recently bestowed. Craig Noel received the National Medal of Arts Award from President George Bush and First Lady Laura Bush in an impressive ceremony in the East Room of the White House. This award is the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence. From the time Noel first watched the Globe players at the 1935 Exposition, and then made his acting debut at the Globe in 1937, he has been at the core of the institution. Under his helm, the San Diego National Shakespeare Festival was founded, what was to become the San Diego Junior Theatre took wing, the Hispanic Teatro Meta program began, and, above all, Noel directed hundreds of plays. Veteran actress and long-time staff member Diane Sinor was named a Globe Associate Artist, and now joins the company of other admired artists including Victor Buono, A.R. Gurney, Bob James, Marion Ross, Dakin Matthews, David Ogden Stiers, Conrad Susa, Sada Thompson, and Richard Easton, among others. Sinor’s association with the Globe extends back to 1960, when she began performing in productions including The Misanthrope, The Innocents, The Crucible, and Spoon River Anthology. She won four Atlas Awards for her work and shared the stage with many to-be-famous performers such as Kelsey Grammer, she served the Globe as Education Director and as Dramaturgy Associate, and filled many other important slots at the famous theatre. — Darlene G. Davies

Lights! Camera! Glamour!
Joan Crawford. Jean Harlow. Rita Hayward. These movie legends and many more are immortalized in the glamorous photographs of George Hurrell, who got his start in 1930 as MGM’s studio photographer. This exhibit, on view at California Heritage Museum in Santa Monica from January 9 through June 26, spans six decades of Hurrell’s career, from his early days as a painter to his lasting role behind the camera, capturing the essence of countless screen idols. In the studio, Hurrell was known for his mastery of lighting; in the darkroom, he applied a painterly hand, removing blemishes and adding depth with highlights and shadows. The flawless results made for some of the most unforgettable images in Hollywood history. Lights! Camera! Glamour! includes 50 iconic portraits, as well as a room of nude portraits that have never before been displayed in a museum setting. (www.californiaheritagemuseum.org) — AnnaMaria Stephens

Chinese New Year Spectacular
Premiering in San Diego January 15-17 at California Center for the Arts, Escondido, Chinese New Year Spectacular will take audiences of all ages on a journey back to China’s treasured Golden Age, the Tang Dynasty, when China was free from Communist persecution of the arts. Hundreds of performers and musicians will grace the stage with traditional Chinese dance, music, song, martial arts, and mini-dramas, celebrating China’s rich cultural past with a series of thematic vignettes. Each performance is set against a series of vibrant rotating backdrops depicting the snow-capped mountains of Tibet, China’s pastel green hillsides, and a serene fairyland landscape. (888/9SD-SHOW, www.sdspectacular.com) — Jane Shiomi

Ray At Night
On the second Saturday of every month, Ray Street becomes a happening hub in the North Park neighborhood. The street’s Ray at Night art walk celebrated its sixth anniversary in September, making it one of the longer-running ongoing arts events in San Diego. About 1,500 people show up each month to socialize, swill cocktails, listen to live music, watch street performers, and, of course, look at art. "Ray at Night is really intended to showcase art," says Larry Stein, the event’s chairman and proprietor of Ray Street’s Warp 9 Imaging, a framing/art shop. "Local artists, well known artists, a variety of styles, from oil and sculpture to glasswork and ceramics." If nothing else, the event is a good excuse to drink and be merry. (www.rayatnightartwalk.com) — AnnaMaria Stephens

Culture Calendar

January

Thru 1/6: Public Privacy: Wendy Richmond’s Surreptitious Cellphone
Like the thousands of surveillance cameras that hide in public, Richmond records people engaged in simple, personal actions, such as sipping coffee or riding the subway. Museum of Photographic Arts. (619/238-7559, www.mopa.org)

Thru 1/13: Picturing Eden
Organized by the George Eastman House, Picturing Eden examines the many facets of paradise, from a place of contemplation and restoration to a site of loneliness and despair. The exhibition includes work by more than 30 artists. Museum of Photographic Arts. (619/238-7559, www.mopa.org)

Thru 1/13: The Antarctic Peninsula
The Ordover Gallery presents Abe Ordover’s intriguing photographic studies of the undulating blue ice found in icebergs in Paulette, Booth, Deception, and Elephant Islands. (858/720-1121, www.ordoverproject.com)

Thru 1/13: Drawn To Rome: French Neoclassical Sketchbooks And Prints
Timken Museum of Art presents an exhibition of sketchbooks, albums, and prints that played a key role in the education of young French artists and architects in the second half of the 18th century.
(619/239-5548, ext. 105, www.timkenmuseum.org)

Thru 1/16: Tomas Rivas
Works by artist-in-residence Tomas Rivas will be on view at Lux Art Institute in Encinitas. (760/436-6611, www.luxartinstitute.org)

Thru 1/27: Everett Gee Jackson/San Diego Modern, 1920-1955
The San Diego Museum of Art presents a major retrospective of the work of Everett Gee Jackson, one of the region’s most important Modernist artists, featuring more than 50 works that span the most significant and productive decades of the artist’s career. (619/232-7931, www.sdmart.org)

Thru 2/22: Jewish/Polish Posters: Communist Era To Present
A Collection of posters produced during the post-war Communist era at The Gotthelf Art Gallery, part of the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, Jacobs Family Campus. (http://sdcjc.lfjcc.org/)

Thru 2/29: Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure
The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center’s newest IMAX offering brings viewers into the up close and personal world of marine reptiles that ruled the seas during the dinosaur age. (619/238-1233, www.rhfleet.org)

Thru 4/13: Robert Irwin: Primaries And Secondaries
MCASD presents an exhibition featuring five new installation pieces by Robert Irwin, four of which premiere in San Diego. Primaries and Secondaries runs through February 22 at the Jacobs Building, and then moves to 1001 Kettner through April 13. (858/454-3541, www.mcasd.org)

Thru 5/31: The Beauty Of Use - Mingei International Museum At 30
In commemoration of the museum’s 30th anniversary year, this exhibition features significant objects from many cultures shown in relationships that highlight similarities and differences among them. Mingei International Museum has formed a collection of art that now comprises 17,000 objects from 141 countries. (619/239-0003, www.mingei.org)

Thru 5/31: Dressing A City: Selected Styles From Marston’s
Department Store, 1878-1961San Diego Historical Society’s Museum of San Diego History will honor Marston’s by showcasing numerous costume pieces from its costume and textile collection. (619/232-6203, www.sandiegohistory.org)

1/2-6: Jesus Christ Superstar
The groundbreaking theatrical masterpiece by legendary writing team Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, and their first collaboration to be performed on the professional stage, is one of the most popular and enduring works ever created for the musical theatre. San Diego Civic Theatre. (619/220-TIXS, www.ticketmaster.com)

1/4: Charmaine Clamor
Anthology supper club in Little Italy. (619/595-0300, www.anthologysd.com)

1/4: Elijah Emanuel & The Revelations With The Hi-Lites And Black Warriors Hi-Fi
The Belly Up. (858/481-8140, www.bellyup.com)

1/5: Michael Ward
Anthology supper club in Little Italy. (619/595-0300, www.anthologysd.com)

1/5-2/10: In This Corner
In 1938, there was no bigger sporting event than the bout between German boxer Max Schmeling and American "Brown Bomber" Joe Louis. The Old Globe’s Cassius Carter Centre Stage becomes the ultimate arena and every seat is ringside as the decisive battle begins. (619/23-GLOBE, www.theoldglobe.org)

1/12: Lavay Smith And Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers
California Center for the Arts, Escondido. (800/988-4253, www.artcenter.org)

1/12-2/10: Sea of Tranquility
Award-winning Old Globe playwright-in-residence Howard Korder’s play was named one of Time Magazine’s best plays of 2004. The Old Globe Theatre. (619/23-GLOBE, www.theoldglobe.org)

1/12-3/5: Lenore Simon: Mechanical Bride
Four Walls on Ray Street presents a solo exhibition of local printmaker and mixed-media artist Lenore Simon. Works in the exhibition range from the artist’s earlier visual explorations, such as scratchboard from the 1940s and monoprints from the 1970s, to recent assemblage and painted three-dimensional forms. A reception takes place on January 12 from 6-9pm. (619/501-0879, www.4wallsgallery.com)

1/12-6/29: Picturing The Process: Portraiture Through The Lens
On view at MoPA, this exhibition includes photographic works ranging in date from the mid 19th to the early 21st centuries, seen through works from innovators of the medium, both famous and unknown, including William Henry Fox Talbot, Arnold Newman, and Loretta Lux. (619/238-7559, www.mopa.org)

1/17-2/24: The Art Of Motion And Images Of Nature
The Ordover Gallery presents a show of fine art photography by Blake Shaw and Lew Abulafia at the gallery’s Solana Beach location. An opening reception takes place on Thursday, January 17, from 5:30-8pm during the Cedros Design District’s Third Thursday Gallery Night. (858/720-1121, www.ordoverproject.com)

1/17-5/4: Matrix II
Austrian-born artist Erwin Redl’s room-size installation, Matrix II, is on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s La Jolla location. Redl will host a talk about his work on Saturday, January 19, at 7pm. The talk is free to MCASD members, $7 for non-members. (858/454-3541, www.mcasd.org)

1/19-4/20: The Photographer’s Eye: A Way Of Seeing
Drawn from MoPA’s permanent collection, this exhibition interprets the groundbreaking book, The Photographer’s Eye (1966) by John Szarkowski, now in reprint and available at MoPA’s bookstore. (619/238-7559, www.mopa.org)

1/19-4/20: Measured Time: MoPA At 25
This exhibition will include photographs from MoPA’s permanent collection that illustrate important original exhibitions and significant artists whose first museum solo exhibitions were held at MoPA. (619/238-7559, www.mopa.org)

1/20: Hollywood Hits
San Diego Chamber Orchestra performs at California Center for the Arts, Escondido. (800/988-4253, www.artcenter.org)

1/25-26: Ozomatli
The Belly Up. (858/481-8140, www.bellyup.com)

1/26-2/29: Continuum
Madison Gallery in La Jolla presents new work by James Verbicky about the spontaneity and process inherent in creativity and in daily life. (858/459-0836, www.madisongalleries.com)

1/27: Symphony Sleuths
Classics for Kids presents a family concert at the Ray & Joan Kroc Performing Arts Center in which the audience helps solve a mystery. (619/291-3111, www.classicsforkids.com)