Photo: Julian Fleisher, Kristen Sieh, Stephanie Hayes and Erik Lochtefeld in a scene from “The Winter’s Tale.” (T. Charles Erickson photo)
Yale Repertory Theatre is mounting William Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” at the University Theatre, 222 York St., New Haven, March 16-April 7. Opening Night is Thursday, March 22.
The production, directed by Liz Diamond, features original music composed by Matthew Suttor, choreography by Randy Duncan, sets by Michael Yeargan, costumes by Jennifer Moeller, lighting by Matt Frey, sound by Elizabeth Atkinson, vocal coaching by Grace Zandarski, dramaturgy by Catherine Sheehy and Ilinca Tamara Todorut, and stage management by Catherine Costanzo.
The cast features Tim Brown, Rob Campbell, Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, Sheria Irving, Felicity Jones, Francis Jue, Brian Keane, Thomas Kopache, Hoon Lee, Lupita Nyong’o, Adam O’Bryne, Luke Robertson, Richard Ruiz, Susannah Schulman, Chris Van Zele, Adina Verson, and Remsen Welsh. The musicians are Paul Brantley, Michael Compitello, Jason May, and Adam Rosenblatt.
Tickets for “The Winter’s Tale” range from $88 to $20 and are available online at www.yalerep.org, by phone at 203-432-1234 and in person at the Yale Rep box office, 1120 Chapel St., at York Street. Student, senior and group rates are also available.
February 22, 2012 at 1:59 pm by Christina Hennessy
If you haven’t started thinking about it already, now is the time to get that costume together for the “Sing-A-Long Sound of Music,” coming to Waterbury’s Palace Theater on Saturday, Feb. 25.
This special viewing of the classic 1965 film (you can get a taste of it in the video above) is just one of the many, many screenings that have occurred worldwide since the event first started in the United Kingdom a little more than 10 years ago.
In addition to the film, the sing-along also will feature a warm-up for all those in the audience ready to follow along with the score, as well as some preshow events, including a costume parade.
Participants are encouraged to not only find inspiration from the movie and the story itself, but to delve deeper into the award-winning lyrics. So, expect to see your baronesses and lonely goatherds. But, there also may be a number of little girls in a pale pink coats, wild geese with the moon on their wings, chimes that fly, and, obviously, hills that are alive with the sound of music.
Plan to spend about four hours at the event, which is open to all ages. You can get all the information on tickets and times, by visiting the Palace’s website.
February 22, 2012 at 10:08 am by Linda Tuccio-Koonz
Taste Zinfandels from California’s best grape-growing regions Saturday at a wine and cheese event in Southbury.
The program will be led by certified sommelier Sally Camm (of the Guild of Master Sommeliers). She’ll talk about the history of Zinfandel and what foods pair with this world class wine.
Camm, seen here at left, has international experience in the food and beverage industry. She was the national wine educator for Diageo Chateau & Estates, an international beverage alcohol company based in London, England.
The Feb. 25 program will be held at The Artisan Food Store at 760 Main Street South, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Participants receive recipe and gift ideas for home and business entertaining.
Those who attend will enjoy wines from Paso Robles, Sonoma, Lodi and the Sierra Foothills. The wines will be paired with local cheeses and four appetizers based on West Coast recipes. Wines will provided by Nutmeg Wine & Spirit Shoppe of Woodbury.
Artisan Food Store’s resident cheesemonger, Thomas Camm, selects farmstead and artisanal cheeses from small batch producers throughout the Northeast U.S. and across the country. He is an advocate for traditionally made, domestic, farmstead cheeses.
The shop supports local farms and small batch producers by featuring locally made cheeses from Cato Corner Farm in Colchester, Conn., and Beltane Farm in Lebanon, Conn. The store also offers award-winning cheeses and specialty foods from places everywhere from Vermont to California.
For online admission visit www.artisanmade-ne.com or call the store at 203 262-9390. The cost is $35 per person.
Artisan Food Store is open Wednesdays through Fridays, 10-7 p.m., Saturdays, 8-6 p.m. and 10-5 p.m on Sundays.
February 21, 2012 at 11:49 am by Christina Hennessy
Have you ever wondered what an Oscars statuette looks like up close?
Well, you will have to make your way to Grand Central Terminal sometime between Wednesday, Feb. 22, and Sunday, Feb. 26, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Meet the Oscars, Grand Central” arrives at Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall (see photo, Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, right).
Among the items on display will be the awards that will be presented to the best actor and best actress winners at Sunday’s ceremony. However, you only have until Friday to catch these beauties, as they will be sent back to Hollywood on Saturday in time for the 84th annual Academy Awards (see trailer above), according to the academy. Also on display will be the award Michael Douglas won for his role in 1987’s “Wall Street,” as well as a series of awards in various stages of completion. They are made each year by R.S. Owens & Company in Chicago.
And, even if you have never taken to the stage or uttered a single dramatic line, you can have your photo taken with an actual Oscar statuette.
The exhibition is expected to open at 10 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 22, when Melissa Leo, who won a 2010 Oscar for her role in “The Fighter,” officially cuts the ribbon. Viewing hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Feb. 22, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Feb. 23-Feb. 26. Admission is free.
The Academy Awards will be televised live on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 26, from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The show will be seen in more than 225 countries, according to the academy.
Area residents will have the opportunity to immerse themselves into Irish literature, plays and film Feb. 29 through April 11 at Fairfield University – thanks to the free 5th annual Irish Film Series.
All the films were made of live stage productions in Dublin during 2007, directed by Gary Hynes of the Druid Theatre Co. of Galway, Ireland. Each is based on a play by the great Anglo-Irish playwright John Millington Synge.
The series will be screened in the DiMenna-Nyselius Library’s multimedia room on Wednesdays at 7 p.m., except where noted, as part of the university’s Arts & Minds season of cultural programming.
Here is the schedule, with descriptions provided by the university:
Feb. 29, at 7:30 p.m., “The Playboy of the Western World”(1907), “considered the definitive work of the Irish Literary Renaissance. A timid young farmer who appears one night at a remote pub, confesses that he’s wanted for killing his father. Instead of being appalled, the locals are impressed by Christy’s ‘hanging crime,’ and he is given shelter at the pub, where he transforms himself into a poet-hero.” Dr. Nels Pearson, director of Irish Studies and film series’ host, will introduce the film.
March 7, Two one-act plays will be offered: “Riders to the Sea,” introduced by Prof. Marion White, who teaches in the Irish studies program; and “The Tinker’s Wedding,”introduced by Dr. William Abbott, associate professor of history.
March 21, Dr. Robert Epstein, associate professor of English, will introduce “Deirdre of the Sorrows”(1910) . “Published posthumously, the play deals with the ill-fated Deirdre (Gemma Reeves), who runs off to Scotland with her love only to have to return to fulfill her epic prophesy. It is the stuff of Celtic and Irish myth.”
March 28, Synge scholar Dr. Rob Doggett, assistant professor of English at SUNY Geneseo, will present Synge’s first play, “In the Shadow of the Glen”(1903), “a comedy about a May-December marriage with a resurrection theme, starring Mick Lally, Louise Lewis and Eamon Morrissey. Synge got the material for the play from a story he heard on a visit to the Aran Islands.”
April 11, Pearson will introduce the final film, “The Well of the Saints” (1905).“The three-act play concerns two blind old beggars, Martin Doul (Eamon Morrissey) and his ugly wife Mary (Marie Mullen), who sit by the roadside in all kinds of weather, and are cruelly mocked by the locals. When the couple’s sight is miraculously restored, the theme of the play – the conflict between illusion and reality, the dream world and the visible world – is crystal clear.”
For additional information, contact Marion White, Irish studies program, at 203-254-4000, ext. 3021, or mwhite@fairfield.edu.
Photo:Joe Carbone, left., and Scott Pelley discuss the long-term unemployed and the special program in Southern Connecticut that Carbone runs to put them back into jobs similar to the ones they lost.
People unemployed for a long period tell “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley they have another hurdle to clear besides the dearth of jobs: the fact they haven’t worked in a long time is being used against them by potential employers.
Pelley talks to a group of so-called 99ers – the unemployed whose government benefits ceased at 99 weeks – and follows them for five weeks in an innovative program in Connecticut that is putting some 99ers back to work, according to a statement from ”60 Minutes.”
The report will be broadcast on Sunday, Feb. 19, on the CBS show, which airs at 7 p.m.
Joe Carbone is president of the Workplace, which has replaced what used to be the state unemployment office for southwest Connecticut, started “Platform to Employment,” a boot camp for the long-term jobless, “60 Minutes” said.
The program teaches job applicants how to look for a job and to respond to inquiries about gaps in their resumes, “but even more importantly, it reinstills the dignity and confidence long-term joblessness can rob from people,” the network said.
Another key aspect of Carbone’s program, the network said, is the paid internships that lead to permanent jobs. There are about a hundred people in the program, mostly middle-aged and college educated, mostly seeking similar jobs to the ones they lost.
February 17, 2012 at 1:10 pm by Christina Hennessy
Above: Foreigner will be performing many of its greatest hits Saturday night, Feb. 18, at the Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport. Contributed photo
It certainly won’t be the first time that Foreigner ascends to a stage when the band comes to the Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport on Saturday, Feb. 18. With hits such as “Feels Like the First Time,” Double Vision,” “Cold as Ice,” “Hot Blooded” and “I Want to Know What Love Is,” the band has made a lot of fans over its more than three decades in rock. If you go, look for the Bridgeport Central High School Choir, who will be singing with the band during the concert.
There are plenty of chances to see some quality cinema this weekend, too. At the Avon in Stamford the Oscar-nominated foreign language film, “A Separation,” will be screened followed by a question-and-answer session led by Ardeshir and Eleanor Ommani, co-founders of the American Iranian Friendship Committee.
There is plenty for children to do too, which is fortunate, since many of them are on their winter breaks. My colleague Scott Gargan has compiled many events and programs that should keep all ages occupied. Chili fans, too, which undoubtedly include many in the younger set, can take a trip to Danbury to not only sample some spicy fare, but see who earns top prizes.
Perhaps you are a fan of Ben Vereen and have always wanted to know more about his career as a successful actor, dancer and singer. You are in luck, since the Brooklyn, N.Y., native will be at the Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, Feb. 19, to talk about his career as part of the center’s American Legends series. Or maybe you are looking for performing magic of a different sort. Just know then that the Amazing Kreskin will be working hard for his money when he performs over the weekend at Bridgeport’s Downtown Cabaret Theatre.
Over at Mohegan Sun, more than 40 comics will be gathering in the hopes that they will soon be named the funniest comic in New England. There a number of contestants from Connecticut, particularly the Fairfield County area, so if you want to cheer on the local talent, make sure to save some time on Friday, Feb. 17, or Saturday, Feb.18.
Clearly, there is not enough hours in the weekend to catch all the many programs and activities scheduled this weekend, but here are a few more you may want to save time to check out. The New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks will be hosting an Open Cockpit Day on Sunday, Feb. 19, including an appearance by Tuskegee Airman Connie Nappier. Canines will be put through their paces in Hartford. “Winter’s Aweigh” finds its way to Mystic Seaport.
Above: Greenwich Tavern bartender Vince Moore mixes a drink at the bar inside the tavern Wednesday, Feb. 15. Moore said he will be cast as an extra in the Showtime series “The Big C,” which is shooting a scene at the tavern located at 1392 E. Putnam Ave. in Greenwich. (Photo/Bob Luckey)
Employees at Greenwich Tavern will have their 15 minutes of fame Thursday, and all they’ll have to do is show up for work.
Bartenders, waiters and waitresses are set to appear as extras on “The Big C.” The Showtime comedy-drama series is scheduled to film a scene at the East Putnam Avenue establishment Thursday, bringing along 150 cast and crew members, according to a story today in Greenwich Time.
Scenes for “The Big C,” which stars Emmy Award-winning actress Laura Linney as a Minnesota woman battling melanoma, have been shot at various locations around Greenwich and Stamford since the show began shooting its first season in 2010.
Last Thursday, “The Big C” shut down a section of Route 1 in Cos Cob, diverting drivers. Shooting has also taken place at the Citgo gas station on East Putnam Avenue, Thataway Cafe on Greenwich Avenue and the First Lutheran Church on Field Point Road.
