A dose of culture: Our critic's top 20 picks for Phoenix area arts events for every style and taste

A lumberjack circus, an opera set in 1920s Arizona and intimate photographic portraits of Frida Kahlo are just three of the reasons to get excited about the 2015-16 arts season in greater Phoenix.

Here are our top 20 picks for performances in the coming months — and that’s not even counting the Broadway series at ASU Gammage, where a hit-filled season kicking off with “The Book of Mormon” is a highlight in itself.

'Take 10'

Cheech Marin is best-known for his pot-puffing comic persona, but the actor also is an avid collector of Chicano art. This exhibit is a selection of his acquisitions over the past decade. The images are diverse, but expect lots of vibrant colors, humor and politics, plus a portrait or two of Marin himself.

Details: Friday, Sept. 11, through Sunday, Jan. 24. Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, 1 E. Main St. Free. 480-644-6500, mesaartscenter.com.

‘Swing Symphony’

Trumpet master Wynton Marsalis leads the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, amplified by the Phoenix Symphony. The centerpiece of the concert is Marsalis’ Symphony No. 3, a leisurely stroll through jazz history that premiered in Berlin in 2010.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26. Mesa Arts Center, 1 E. Main St. $50-$90. 480-644-6500, mesaartscenter.com.

‘Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Gold’

Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei works in varied media and designed the Beijing National Stadium, dubbed the “Bird’s Nest,” for the 2008 Olympics. This exhibit pairs his 12 gold-plated bronze sculptures representing the signs of the Chinese zodiac with historical pieces from the Phoenix Art Museum’s permanent collection.

Details: Saturday, Oct. 3 through Jan. 31. Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 N. Central Ave. $15 (discounts for seniors, students and children). 602-257-1222, phxart.org.

‘Bruce Munro: Ferryman’s Crossing’

Nature and (obsolete) technology come together in this art installation, which repurposes hundreds of compact discs into an image of shimmering water. The piece was inspired by Hermann Hesse’s spiritual novel “Siddhartha.”

Details: Saturday, Oct. 3, through Monday, April 24. Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, 7374 E. Second St. $7; $5 for students; free for age 15 or younger; free to all on Thursdays. 480-874-4666, smoca.org.

Daron Hagen world premiere

The Phoenix Symphony features contemporary American composers throughout its season, the second to be led by maestro Tito Muñoz. Daron Hagen, best known for such operas as “New York Stories” and “Vera of Las Vegas,” was commissioned by the orchestra to write his Fifth Symphony, which features vocal passages set to poetry by the renowned conductor JoAnn Falletta. This program is headlined by Ottorino Respighi’s tone poems “Pines of Rome” and “Fountains of Rome” and features the overture to the Verdi opera “La Forza del Destino.”

Details: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 9-10. Coffee Classics (shortened program), 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 9. Symphony Hall, 75 N. Second St., Phoenix. $18-$79. 602-495-1999, phoenixsymphony.org.

‘Arizona Lady’

This 1954 comic opera by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán is a love letter to the American Southwest. Set in the ’20s, it’s about Lona Farrell, an immigrant woman and proprietress of the Sunshine Ranch, and her prize racehorse, which lends the operetta its title. The story features a love triangle with the sheriff and a suspected outlaw, which gets resolved during a climactic trip to the Kentucky Derby. Arizona Opera’s production, the first by a major American company, is part of its “Arizona Bold” campaign to produce more contemporary work with local relevance.

Details: Oct. 16-18. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Symphony Hall, 75 N. Second St., Phoenix. 602-262-7272. $25-$135. 602-266-7464, azopera.org.

Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà

Canadian violin virtuoso Dubeau brings her all-female string ensemble to the MIM Music Theatre, one of the Valley’s most intimate, and acoustically superior, concert halls. The chamber orchestra has recorded works by big names, including Vivaldi and Philip Glass, as well as an album devoted to music composed for video games.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21. Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. $47.50-$72.50. 480-478-6000, mim.org.

‘The Toxic Avenger’

Phoenix Theatre is known for such brand-name musicals as “Chicago,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “Evita,” all on the marquee for the 2015-16 season. But the state’s oldest performing-arts company also is exploring the edgy corners of the musical genre. This one is about a mutant superhero on a quest to clean up the New Jersey Turnpike. It’s from the creative team of “Memphis”: playwright Joe DiPietro and songwriter David Bryan, best known as the keyboard player for Bon Jovi.

Details: Wednesday, Oct. 28, through Sunday, Nov. 22. Phoenix Theatre, 100 E. McDowell Road. $30-$70. 602-254-2151, phoenixtheatre.com.

‘Frida Kahlo — Her Photos’

On loan from the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City, this exhibit features more than 200 photos from the painter’s life, including images of the Blue House, where she was born, and her husband, the muralist Diego Rivera. The effect is an intimate montage offering insights into the private life Mexico’s most iconic artist.

Details: Saturday, Oct. 31, through Monday, Feb. 8. Heard Museum, 2301 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. $18 (discounts for seniors, students and children); free for Native Americans. 602-252-8848, heard.org.

'Alan Cumming Uncut’

A singing-and-storytelling night featuring the actor dubbed “Scotland’s beloved man-child.” Cumming probably is best known as the Machiavellian political adviser on TV’s “The Good Wife,” but his stage career is seriously epic, with recent triumphs in a one-man “Macbeth” and the Broadway revival of “Cabaret,” playing the sexy, subversive Emcee.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, 7380 E. Second St. Sold out. 480-499-8587, scottsdaleperformingarts.org.

‘Disgraced’

A swanky New York dinner party turns into a searing debate about identity, religion and terrorism in this drama by Pakistani-American playwright Ayad Akhtar, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013. This regional premiere is presented by Arizona Theatre Company.

Details: Thursday, Nov. 12, through Sunday, Nov. 29. Herberger Theater Center, 222 E. Monroe St., Phoenix. $28-$73. 602-256-6995, arizonatheatre.org.

‘Heathers: The Musical’

Stray Cat Theatre promises to rock you gently with a chain saw in the first local production of this off-Broadway hit, based on the cult film starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. It’s a dark comedy about a pair of disaffected high-school students who sort-of-accidentally start offing the popular kids. The show’s creators, Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy, also worked on the “Legally Blonde” musical, and the former wrote the songs for “Bat Boy: The Musical.”

Details: Friday, Dec. 4, through Sunday, Dec. 20. Tempe Performing Arts Center, 132 E. Sixth St. $20-$35. 480-227-1766, straycattheatre.org.

Black Violin

Bach and Beyoncé are equally divine to classically trained string players Wil B and Kev Marcus, who perform to beats by turntablist DJ TK.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15. Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Ave. $24-$38. 480-782-2680, chandlercenter.org.

Cirque Alfonse: ‘Timber!’

Anyone who loves jaw-dropping acrobatics but hates the artsy pretensions of Cirque du Soleil might want to check out this family troupe from Quebec that performs in lumberjack outfits complete with axes and saws. The Guardian of London raves, “There’s plenty to make audiences of all ages cheerful, not least a truly epic display of male facial hair.”

Details: 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 17. Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Ave. $28-$44. 480-782-2680, chandlercenter.org.

Quint Quintet

Virtuoso violinist Philippe Quint leads this outfit devoted to the “nuevo tango” music of Astor Piazzolla. The 20th-century composer took the instruments and fiery rhythms of Argentina’s dance music and married it to the complexity of classical, with ecstatic results.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11. Mesa Arts Center, 1 E. Main St. $30-$45. 480-644-6500, mesaartscenter.com.

‘Goodnight Moon’

The beloved bedtime story promises to wake up the wee ones in this stage musical featuring Clarabelle the Daredevil Cow and other cutesy critters, which the Washington Post called “sweetly impish.” Performed by Childsplay, Tempe’s acclaimed professional theater for young audiences.

Details: Feb. 14-April 10. Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway. $12-$25. 480-350-2822, childsplayaz.org.

BalletBoyz

England’s young guns of dance perform a pair of recent commissions: “Mesmerics,” choreographed by acclaimed ballet innovator Christopher Wheeldon; and “The Murmuring,” by rising star Alexander Whitley and set to music by electronic duo Raime. The Guardian of London called the latter an ambitious work that contrasts “slow, organic change and the rupture of radical revolution, with choreography of surging masses of movement.”

Details: 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, 7380 E. Second St. $39-$69. 480-499-8587, scottsdaleperformingarts.org.

Joshua Bell

Classical, jazz, Broadway and rock and roll are all part of Arizona Musicfest, which runs Jan. 29 through March 11 at various venues in the Northeast Valley. Featured artists this season include Al Jarreau and Faith Prince. Joshua Bell, best known as the soloist on “The Red Violin” soundtrack, makes his Musicfest debut playing Max Bruch’s pyrotechnical Violin Concerto. Music director Bob Moody also will conduct Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25. La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church, 6300 E. Bell Road, Scottsdale. $45-$100. 480-488-0806, azmusicfest.org.

‘Wittenberg’

Fans of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” won’t want to miss this this comedy from Southwest Shakespeare Company. David Davalos’s play features the Bard’s melancholy Dane, Hamlet, alongside Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and Protestant revolutionary Martin Luther in 16th-century Germany. The New York Times said it “bursts with a Stoppardian eagerness to tickle as it tangles with weightier issues.”

Details: Friday, Feb. 26, through Saturday, March 12. Mesa Arts Center, 1 E. Main St. $12.50-$44. 480-644-6500, mesaartscenter.com, swshakespeare.org.

‘An Evening at the Garden’

Ballet Arizona wowed audiences with “Topia,” choreographer Ib Andersen’s sexy pastoral dance inspired by nature and performed under the stars at the Desert Botanical Garden. Now the acclaimed Phoenix company returns with an all-new piece devised for an oversize outdoor stage.

Details: 8 p.m. Tuesdays- Saturdays, May 17-June 4. Desert Botanical Garden, 1201 N. Galvin Parkway, Phoenix. $36-$75. 602-381-1096, balletaz.org.