Festival Ballet Providence announced its lineup for its 32nd season, which begins in the fall. This year the company has dropped one usual performance component, a February full-stage production, and created another, programs specifically for children.

The season starts in October with chatterBOXtheater, the company’s new program aimed at youngsters. The program is in two parts, with one performance in October, Valerie Cookson-Botto’s Peter and the Wolf; and one performance in February, Colleen Cavanaugh’s Pippi, based on Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking.

Also in October, the weekend of Halloween, is The Widow’s Broom, guest choreographer Viktor Plotnikov’s presentation of Providence author and illustrator Chris Van Allsburg’s book of the same name about a witch’s broom that comes to life and interacts with the people around it. Festival Ballet commissioned the ballet production of The Widow’s Broom, which premiered in 2004.

In November, Festival presents the first of two programs in its Up Close on Hope series, which features a medley of different dances in different styles by different choreographers. The second program is in February.

In December, as expected, Festival presents the seasonal classic The Nutcracker.

The company wraps up its season in May with Plotnikov’s surreal take on Cinderella, which premiered in 2007, and which we described in our review as “dark and stark, modernist and minimalist, interpretive and imaginative.”

For more, visit festivalballet.com or call (401) 353-1129.

Bryan Rourke

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Hal Holbrook’s Mark Twain Tonight, Defending the Caveman and a Christmas Celtic Sojourn with Brian O’Donovan are among the offerings coming to Veterans Memorial Auditorium this season.

Holbrook brings his long-running show to VMA Oct. 10. Even though he has toured as Twain for more than 50 years, the act is constantly revised, keeping it fresh. Tickets are $45 and $55.

Two shows of Defending the Caveman are slated for Dec. 5, at 5 and 8:30 p.m. The show, the longest-running solo play in Broadway history, takes a humorous look at the battle of the sexes. Tickets are $45 and $25.

On Dec.12 WGBH radio host Brian O’Donovan returns to Rhode Island with his Celtic Christmas show, which celebrates the season in song, dance, poetry and stories. Tickets are $68 and $58.

Then on Jan. 16, 2010, the band Arrival from Sweden will stage a tribute to ABBA, right down to the band’s signature costumes. Tickets are $36 and $30.

Groovaloo, winners of NBC’s International Superstars of Dance, comes to VMA on Feb. 14. The troupe fuses hip-hop and spoken word in order to chronicle its personal struggles and successes. Tickets are $45 and $25.

Channing Gray