✔ Pick of the Pack
Exhibit: Animal Grossology
If your child is at an age where nothing is more hilarious than the sound of air escaping the body, do not despair. You can use your little one’s fascination with all things coarse for educational purposes at the “Animal Grossology” exhibit at the National Geographic Museum. Here, your child will learn that the cow — not his friend Jimmy — is the gassiest creature on Earth; that the slimy leech has medicinal value; and that the dung beetle and other excreta-eating insects make all our lives easier. Under the supervision of National Geographic staff, your child can mix and match chemicals to create the firefly effect and learn how maggots mysteriously appear on trash.
Through Jan. 8 at the National Geographic Museum, 1145 17th St. NW
Phone: 202/857-7588
Web: https://events.nationalgeographic.com
Concert: Juancho Herrera
While his native Venezuela crumbles under the rule of Hugo Chavez, Juancho Herrera continues to shine evermore in the U.S. His blend of traditional Venezuelan folk music, jazz and electronica has been featured in commercials for Pepsi and Chrysler, and on Univision. The 1993 Berklee grad brings his quartet to the Kennedy Center’s free Millennium Stage next week for a show that will delight jazzheads and cultural tourists alike.
Jan. 3 at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, 2700 F St. NW
Phone: 202/467-4600
Web: www.kennedy-center.org
Exhibit: ’Manifold Greatness’
The best-selling book of all time is said to be the Bible. The Folger Museum’s exhibit on the King James Bible seeks to put that claim in context with a history of how the King James Bible in particular came to exist and its cultural penetration. The astronauts on Apollo 8, for instance, read King James while orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve 1968, while Gonzo comic R. Crumb copied its verse word-for-word for his illustration of Genesis.
Through Jan. 16 at the Folger Museum, 201 E. Capitol St. SE
Phone: 202/544-4600
Web: www.folger.edu
Theater: ’Dr. Dolittle’
When Hugh Lofting was fighting for the Irish Guard in World War I, he could not bring himself to write to his children about the horrors of war. Instead, he told them about a doctor who treated only animals. These letters became the basis for the Doctor Dolittle series and the inspiration for Janet Stanford’s production of Dr. Dolittle, which tells the classic tale through a Lewis Carroll-like double world in which Lofting’s letters are acted out by soldiers with animallike qualities.
Through Jan. 8 at Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave. Bethesda, Md.
Phone: 301/961-6060
Web: www.imaginationstage.org
Theater: ’Spoiler Alert: Everybody Dies’
A “spoiler alert” generally lets you know when the article or blog post you’re about to read will ruin the movie you’ve yet to see or the book you’re about to read. The spoiler alert for Second City’s annual New Year’s Eve show regards a much larger plot point: “Everybody dies.” Morbid, unless you consider its ubiquity as half of the phrase, “Nothing is certain save for death and taxes” (or however you were brought up to say it). For the Second City, Chicago’s most venerable improv company, it’s a chance to riff on everything but the kitchen sink, from squirrels to romantic failings.
Through Jan. 8 at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D St. NW
Phone: 202/393-3939
Web: www.woollymammoth.net
Please read our comment policy before commenting.