Family comedy
The Western Connecticut State University theater arts department is staging You Can’t Take It With You weekends through March 8 at the Visual and Performing Arts Center theater on the Westside campus, 43 Lake Avenue Extension, Danbury. Shows are at 7 p.m. this evening, Thursday, Feb. 26; at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27-28 and March 6-7; at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 1, Saturday and Sunday, March 7 and 8.
Tickets are $20; $15 for seniors and $15 for students, available online at wcsu.edu/tickets.
She Love Me
The Wilton Playshop will present the musical She Loves Me, opening Friday, Feb. 27, at 8 at the playshop, 15 Lovers Lane, off Ridgefield Road (Route 33) just north of the Congregational Church. Shows will take place Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 through March 14, with 4 p.m. matinees on Sundays, March 1 and 8.
The show is directed by Marcia Maslo, with musical direction by Dan Ringuette, choreography by Todd Santa Maria, with stage management by Laura Ploss. Tickets are $25 and $30, available at wiltonplayshop.org or call 203-762-7629.
Horns and antlers
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will sponsor a walk focused on animals with horns and antlers at the Kellogg Environmental Center in Derby on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 10:30 a.m. Participants should dress for the weather and a walk through fields and woods; the program is suitable for all ages.
The program will end at the environmental center for hot chocolate and a snack. It’s free; donations are welcome and registration is required (email donna.kingston@ct.gov or call 203-734-2513). The center is at 500 Hawthorne Avenue in Derby.
Environmental film
The Earth Ministry Committee at the Wilton Congregational Church and Wilton Go Green will screen the Emmy Award-winning documentary, Years of Living Dangerously Episode One, “Dry Season,” on Saturday, Feb. 28, at the church. There will be a family dinner at 6 ($8/person, $15/family), with the film to be shown at 6:45.
Dessert and discussion will follow at 7:50 p.m. Reservations are requested to years@wiltoncongregational.org and all are invited to attend the Saturday Soul Celebration service at 5 p.m., led by Terri Eickel, director of the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network and the Rev. Tom Carr of Second Baptist Church of Suffield and an eco-justice advocate.
Latin ballroom stars
The new world champion 21-and-under International Latin ballroom team, winners in Paris in December, Austin Joson and Nino Dzneladze, will perform at the Premier Ballroom Dance on Saturday in Bridgeport.
There will be general dancing from 7 to midnight, a dance lesson at 8, and the performers will take the floor at 9:30. The dance takes place at the Holy Trinity Greek Church Community Center at 4070 Park Avenue; admission is $17, with singles and couples welcome. Reservations are suggested; call 203-374-7308.
Next Generation
An evening of music, dance, theater and fine arts will take place Saturday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. at the Palace Theatre, 61 Atlantic Street, Stamford. The evening is the joint project of The Ballet School of Stamford, Curtain Call Inc., INTAKE Organization, Project Music, The Palace Theatre, the Loft Artists Association and Future 5.
Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults, general admission; reserved seats are $25 or $50 with a pre-show reception. To buy tickets, visit palacestamford.org or call 203-325-4466.
‘Travel with Taste’
The YWCA Darien/Norwalk will host a benefit, Travel with Taste, on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 7 at Dolce Hotels and Resorts Norwalk, 32 Weed Avenue. Guests will taste specialties from area restaurants and be invited to participate in an auction featuring resort stays and more. Music will be by Tangled Vine. For ticket information, visit ywcadariennorwalk.org or call 203-655-2535.
Dances with Winds
The Western Connecticut State University Symphonic Band will perform Dances with Winds on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 7 at the new Visual and Performing Arts Center on the Westside campus, 43 Lake Avenue Extension, Danbury. The concert will include the music of Villa-Lobos and Frank Ticheli, with special guest WCSU President Dr. James Schmotter as the narrator for Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf.
Tickets are available at 203-837-TIXX.
Vagina Monologues
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Bridgeport will sponsor a staged reading of Vagina Monologues on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. at the church, 275 Huntington Road, Stratford. Tickets are $10 and will benefit the Center for Family Justice in Bridgeport.
Tickets may be purchased at the door or reserved by calling 203-378-1020.
A Little Night Music
An evening of chamber works by romantic and neo-romantic composers will be performed at St. Catherine of Siena Church, 4 Riverside Avenue, Riverside, on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 8. Led by Mark Kaczmarczyk, director of music and arts, there will be music by Franz Schubert (lieder), Brahms (Paganini Variations for piano with soloist Pablo Eizayaga), Samuel Barber (Dover Beach with baritone Hernan Berisso), and to conclude, Mendelssohn (Octet for Strings).
Tickets are $25 general admission, $10 for students and may be purchased online at stcath.org or call 203-637-3661.
Dr. John!
Fairfield Theatre Company will present Dr. John & The Nite Trippers performing their signature New Orleans music on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 8 at the Norwalk Concert Hall, 125 East Avenue. They are touring in support of their 2014 release, Ske-Dat-De-Dat… The Spirit of Satch, a tribute to Louis Armstrong.
Tickets are $35, $55, and $75 in advance, at fairfieldtheatre.org or 203-259-1036.
Kuba Textiles
The Neuberger Museum at Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, N.Y., has organized a new exhibition, Kuba Textiles: Geometry in Form, Space, and Time. Kuba skirts and overskirts are worn by men and women on special occasions such as festivals and funerals. They are woven by men and embellished by women in the Kuba region of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. Some of the garments are nearly 30 feet long, meant to be wrapped several times around the body.
The textiles comes from the Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgium, and from Hampton University in Virginia. The exhibit includes some 40 objects and 40 skirts and is aimed at showing the place of textiles in African art.
Kuba Textiles will be on view March 1 through June 14; museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5. For more information, visit neuberger.org or call 914-251-6100.
Making sound
The Garden Education Center will host the next Curiosity Kids concert, featuring the New England Percussion Group, on Sunday, March 1, at 12:30. Space is limited and reservations are required, online at curiosityconcerts.org.
Student art
The Katonah Museum of Art annual Young Artists show (its 32nd) opens Sunday, March 1, with a reception from 3 to 5 p.m., showcasing the art of more than 400 local high school seniors from high schools in Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess and Fairfield counties. The show not only features student work but is organized, publicized, curated and mounted by students under the guidance of museum and art professionals.
The show will be on view through Sunday, March 8; museum hours are noon to 5 on Sunday and 10 to 5 Tuesday through Saturday (closed Monday). The museum is at 134 Jay Street/Route 22, Katonah, N.Y.; katonahmuseum.org or call 914-232-9555.
Music at the museum
Members of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, along with tenor Michael Marcotte, will visit the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield on Sunday, March 1, from 3 to 4 p.m. Led by Gerald Steichen, the musicians will play works by Bacharach, Bernstein, Copland and Cage in a gallery that houses David Scanavino’s colorful installation. The program explores how classical and popular music informed and influenced one another in the second half of the 20th Century.
The program is free with admission to the museum, which is at 258 Main Street. For more information, visit aldrichart.org or call 203-438-4519.
Civil War songs
The female a cappella quartet, Anonymous 4, will perform 1865: Songs of Hope and Home from the American Civil War on Sunday, March 1, at 4 at Christ & Holy Trinity Church, at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Church Lane, Westport. A reception with the singers will follow the concert.
Tickets are $40 for preferred seating, $30 for general seatings, $16 for children under 18 and may be purchased by calling 203-227-0827 or visit chtwestport.org/tickets.
Turkish vocalist
The Fountain Music Series at Ridgefield’s First Congregational Church will present Turkish vocalist Merve Nur Sari on Sunday, March 1, at 4 p.m. She will be accompanied by Hasan Isakkut on the kanun, a middle eastern zither. The church is at the intersection of Main Street and West Lane, at the Cass Gilbert fountain. For more information, visit firstcongregational.com or call 203-438-8077.
Heavy metal
The British heavy metal rockers Uriah Heep will perform at the Ridgefield Playhouse on Sunday, March 1, at 8. Tickets are $50 and available at ridgefieldplayhouse.org or by calling 203-438-5795. Opening for Uriah Heep will be Awaken.
And coming up…
Katie Blake, bird-friendly communities coordinator for Audubon Connecticut, will talk about how to enhance backyards for songbirds on Tuesday, March 3, at 7 p.m. at the Rowayton Community Center, 33 Highland Avenue, Rowayton. Sponsors include Audubon Connecticut, Rowayton Gardeners, Norwalk Tree Alliance, Norwalk Land Trust and the Sixth Taxing District. For information, call 203-853-8470.
* * * *
Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Berry will talk about his new book, Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer Is Much Faster), on Wednesday, March 4, at 7 p.m. in New Haven as part of the WSHU Public Radio “Join the Conversation” series. The talk will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing and will take place in the John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts at Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent Street. Tickets are $25, which includes one copy of the hardcover book; reservations may be made at wshu.org.
* * * *
The Lifetime Learners Institute at Norwalk Community College is accepting new members who’d like to sign up for its spring semester of daytime courses for Fairfield/Westchester residents over age 50. Classes range from four to eight weeks and most start on March 15; classes are filled in order of sign-ups. For membership information and a free course catalog, visit lifetimelearners.org or call 203-857-3330.
The post Dr. John & The Nite Trippers, much more! appeared first on Arts & Leisure.
