Is it really such a stretch to imagine Mozart decked out in hip-hop gear, penning odes to "the chronic" and engaging in an East Coast/West Coast-style feud with Beethoven? Hell yes it is, but it doesn't mean that the disparate worlds of classical music and hip-hop can't find common ground. All it takes is a mind sick with innovation -- the kind that composer/performer Daniel Bernard Roumain and his show Rockestra have in abundance. Challenging purists in both worlds to bring an open mind and a willing ear, Roumain proves the best music can't be limited by genres. The ASU artist-in-residence brings his blend of classical music and hip-hop to Gammage Auditorium, 1200 South Forest in Tempe, on Saturday, February 21, for a 7 p.m. show. Tickets are $20 and $30, half-price for students, children and ASU alumni. Call 480-965-3434 or visit www.asugammage.com for more information. - Craig Wallach
Hissing Cousins
Queens rule the stage at Ethington Theatre
2/20-2/29
These drama queens waged a catfight of royal proportion. Queen Elizabeth I kept Mary, Queen of Scots, in lockdown for 19 years. Mary, tried for conspiring to kill Elizabeth, was beheaded in 1587. ("Virgin Queen" Liz? Obviously, a little uptight.) In Mary Stuart, German playwright Friedrich Schiller imagines a scene in which the cousins come face-to-face. The production runs Friday, February 20, through February 29 at Grand Canyon University's Ethington Theatre, 3300 West Camelback. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays. Call 602-589-2871 for tickets -- $10 for adults, $8.50 for seniors, students and groups. - Jill Koch
In da 'Club
A whole lotta dancin' going on in Scottsdale
2/19-2/20
Before Ricky shook his bon bon, before J.Lo exploited her assets, even before Menudo rocked Sesame Street, Latin rhythms were setting booties in motion. Paying hip service to the history of Hispanic pop culture, Ballet Hispanico brings NightClub -- a fiery fusion of ballet, Latin and modern moves -- to the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, 7380 East Second Street. Setting scenes in a 1920s Buenos Aires brothel, 1950s Spanish Harlem and a present-day dance club, the Hispanic-American company spins "three stories of inevitable passions" to a soundtrack of tango music, classic Latin songs and modern DJ mixes. Join the 'Club at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, February 19, and 8 p.m. Friday, February 20. Tickets are $34; call 480-994-2787 or visit www.scottsdaleperformingarts.org to purchase. See www.ballethispanico.org for more on the performance. -Jill Koch
Close Encounter
Dance performance promises to be Intimate
2/19-2/21
In real estate lingo, "intimate" means a house is small; in the performing arts, a small house is delightfully intimate. Cozy up to Lisa Starry and the Scorpius Dance Theatre artists Thursday, February 19, through Saturday, February 21, at Phoenix Center for Performing Arts, 1202 North Third Street. Where else in the Valley can you get this close to ridges of sinew, wads of tulle and the shape of dance to come? Intimate takes the stage at 8 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for students. For more information or reservations, call 602-266-9698. - Kim Toms
Mute Point
ASU professor makes much of mime
Sun 2/22
Since talk is cheap -- and silence golden -- mime must be the world's richest source of entertainment. Find out if mime is money this Sunday, February 22, when Arizona State University theater professor and nationally known mime David Barker presents Out of My Mime. Performed to contemporary and classical music, Barker's solo show fuses clowning, movement and masks into a family-friendly show that's both humorous and dramatic. Part of the "Sunday at Kerr" series of performances by ASU professors and grad students, Barker's silent treatment starts at 3 p.m. at Scottsdale's Kerr Cultural Center, 6110 North Scottsdale Road (off Rose Lane, just south of the Borgata). Call 480-596-2660 for tickets -- $12.50 for adults, $9.50 for seniors, and $7.50 for students. - Jill Koch
Curtain Call
ASU directors take final bow
2/19-2/29
Who would have fingered Tempe as a hotbed of theatrical directorial talent? Anyone who's spent even a moment of time hanging around the ASU theater department since the mid-'90s, when directors Marshall W. Mason and Daniel Irvine began their professorial reigns. Mason, considered one of the 21 most influential directors of the 20th century, and Irvine have left an indelible mark on ASU theater. Fittingly, the two retiring professors take their final curtain calls in tandem as the Herberger Mainstage Theatre presents Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July. The plays run in repertory beginning Thursday, February 19, in the Galvin Playhouse at the Nelson Fine Arts Center on the ASU campus in Tempe. Call 480-965-6447 or visit herbergercollege.asu.edu.- Craig Wallach
