The Weekend and Coming Up

Written by Sally Sanders
Thursday, 17 May 2012 00:00

Rosecrans Baldwin will be at Barrett Bookstore in Darien on Saturday, May 19, at 5:30, discussing his new memoir, Paris I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down. The bookstore is at 314 Heights Road; phone 203-655-2712 or online at barrettbookstore.com for more information.

High school musicals

Greenwich High School Theater Arts will present The Secret Garden opening this evening, May 17, at 7:30 at the Greenwich High School auditorium. Based on the beloved children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the show features music by Lucy Simon. Performances continue Friday and Saturday at 7:30; tickets are $15 and may be reserved by calling 203-863-8808.

Wilton High School’s student production of Oliver! with a cast of more than 70, opens Thursday, May 17, at 7:30 and will continue Friday, May 18, at 8 and Saturday, May 19, at 4 at the Clune Center, 395 Danbury Road (Route 7), Wilton. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students; for reservations, call 203-834-4844 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Fairfield Follies

A multi-town musical extravaganza featuring talented students from 14 area high schools and two middle schools will be staged this weekend at Bunnell High School, 1 Bulldog Boulevard, Stratford. Follies 2012 — Raise Your Voice! will include highlights from the “Best of Broadway,” with singing and dancing, professional staging, audio and lighting effects. Participating schools include Joel Barlow High School in Redding and Weston High School, represented by Mia Jacobson, Thomas Ordway, Nicole Sherwood, Caroline Cannon and Callie Silver.

Tickets are $19 for adults and $17 for students and may be reserved by calling 203-452-9375. For more information, visit fairfieldfollies.org.

Musical Chairs

The Westport Cinema Initiative will screen the new Susan Seidelman movie, Musical Chairs, on Friday, May 18, at 7:30 at the Westport Town Hall auditorium, 110 Myrtle Avenue. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased at westportcinema.org or at the door. A discussion will follow the film.

Favorite sounds

More than 30 performers from across Fairfield County will be on stage for the Connecticut Playmakers’ The Sounds of Rodgers & Hammerstein opening this weekend. The production, directed by Michele Grace, with musical direction by Chris Coogan, will take place in the auditorium at the First Congregational Church, 108 Sound Beach Avenue, Old Greenwich.

Performances will be at 8 on Friday and Saturday, May 18-June 2 and at 2 on Saturdays, May 19, 26 and June 2. Tickets are $20; for reservations call 203-977-8627 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .The Bruce Museum’s Outdoor Crafts Festival takes place Saturday and Sunday, 10 to 5, at One Museum Drive in Greenwich. More than 80 exhibitors, plus activities for children, food, and entertainment, are included; 203-869-0376 or brucemuseum.org.

Birds of spring

Long-time birder and director of education for the Connecticut Audubon society Michelle Eckman will lead a Spring Migration Bird Walk at the society’s Center at Fairfield, 2325 Burr Street, on Saturday, May 19, at 9 a.m. There’s an $8 fee for non-members; to register call 203-259-6305 x109.

Plant sale at Lasdon

The Friends of Lasdon Park & Arboretum will have their annual plant sale on Saturday, May 19, from 9:30 to 3:30 at the park on Route 35 in Somers, N.Y. A “New Leaf for Lasdon” preview party on Friday, May 18, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. will offer first pick on plants, wine and hors d’oeuvres.

Admission to the preview is $25; the sale on Saturday is free. For more information, call 914-683-5108.

May Fair

New Pond Farm’s Founders’ May Fair will take place Saturday, May 19, from 11 to 4 (rain date May 20, 1 to 4). The farm is at the corner of Marchant and Umpawaug Roads in West Redding; admission is $5 per person with a $20/family maximum.

Special events will include Maypole Dancing and Morris Dancing, horse-drawn hayrides, sunspot viewing, sheep shearing, birds of prey, children’s crafts, and heirloom vegetable seedlings for sale. For more information, visit newpondfarm.org or call 203-938-2117.

Bluegrass club

The Westchester Bluegrass Club will present guitarist Jim Hurst, who has toured with Dolly Parton and Trisha Yearwood, on Saturday, May 19, from 7 to 10:30 at the Lake Purdys Clubhouse, 33 Lake Way in Purdys, N.Y. Doors open at 6:30 and admission is $15. For more information, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 914-276-2239.

Gala celebration

The Congregational Church of New Canaan at 23 Park Street will present a Gala Celebration Concert featuring the church’s choirs and professional soloists on Saturday, May 19, at 7. Selections will include Broadway, opera, jazz and light popular selections in celebration of the church’s Mary Bradley Clarke music fund. There is no admission charge, but a freewill offering will be taken. A reception will follow. For more information, call 203-966-2651 x33 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Flagpole Radio Cafe

Newtown’s Flagpole Radio Café, a monthly musical variety show, will have Elisabeth von Trapp as its guest artist on Saturday, May 19, at 7 at Edmond Town Hall, Main Street, Newtown. The granddaughter of Maria von Trapp and Baron von Trapp, she has been singing professionally since she was a child.

Tickets for Saturday’s show are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and students. For more information visit flagpoleproductions.org.

Voices Café

The folk/gospel foursome, Exit 43, will be featured at Voices Café at the Westport Unitarian Church, 10 Lyons Plains Road, on Saturday, May 19. Doors open at 7:30 and the show will start at 8. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door, and may be reserved by calling 203-227-7205 x14 or online at voicescafe.org/buy-tickets/.

Exit 43 performers are A.J. “Andy” Gundell, Suzanne Sheridan, Edward thompson and Scarlett Lee Moore. For more information, visit exit43.net.

Big band sounds

The Danbury Music Centre Big Band will play the hits of the 1940s, from the big bands of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James and others, on Saturday, May 19, at 8 at the Danbury Senior Center in Elmwood Hall, 10 Elmwood Place, Danbury. Admission is $15 at the door; for more information, call 203-748-1716 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Musical tribute

The Connecticut Master Chorale’s concert, I Hear America Singing, will be a tribute to America and American composers on Saturday, May 19, at 8 at St. Rose of Lima Church, 46 Church Hill Road, Newtown. Accompanist Joseph Jacovino Jr. will be featured, performing George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

The program will conclude with a a salute to the Armed Forces. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. For reservations, call 203-743-0473 or visit cmchorale.org.

Night of Celebration

Rob Mathes of Greenwich will present A Night of Celebration * A Night of Spirituals featuring Mavis Staples and a powerhouse Gospel band on Saturday, May 19, at 8 at Christ Church Greenwich, 254 East Putnam Avenue. Mr. Mathes, a Grammy- and Emmy-nominated musician and composer, music director, arranger and producer, will perform with Ms. Staples, who’s a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Winner.

Tickets are $40, available at courageandfaith.org or at the Christ Church Greenwich bookstore; for information, call 203-869-6600.

Westchester Phil

Saxophonist Branford Marsalis will perform with the Westchester Philharmonic in the closing concerts of its 2011-2012 season on Saturday, May 19, at 8 and Sunday, May 20, at 3 at the Purchase College Performing Arts Center.

The program will include works by Mozart and Mussorgsky, with Mr. Marsalis featured in Glazunov’s Concerto for Saxophone. Tickets are $97 to $30; for reservations, call 914-682-3707 x10 or visit westchesterphil.org. The Performing Arts Center is at 735 Anderson Hill Road in Purchase, N.Y.

Touch a truck

Some 20 trucks and other interesting vehicles will be open for children to climb into on Sunday, May 20, from 10 to 3, when Touch A Truck comes to the Danbury High School parking lot at 43 Clapboard Ridge Road. The event is sponsored by Congregation B’nai Israel of Danbury. Admission is $6 per child, $10 for two and $15 for families with three or more children. There will be refreshments on site and the first hour will be horn-free for children who are sensitive to loud noises.

Green homes tour

Wilton Go Green’s first Spring Green Homes Tour, featuring three Wilton homes and one in New Canaan, will take place Sunday, May 20, from 1 to 5:30. The three Wilton homes include a house that showcases natural materials and sustainable landscaping, an antique house retrofitted for energy conservation, and a Craftsman-style ranch house that received green energy upgrades including geothermal heating and cooling. The New Canaan house will have a limited number of visitors (tickets by appointment available on Sunday); it is an LEED Platinum Certified House with solar panels that usually generate more energy than the house needs.

Tour tickets are $20 and will be available at the Old Town Hall in Wilton Center on Sunday; green home exhibitors will be there as well. For more information, visit wiltongogreen.org.

Modern House Tour

May Is For Moderns, the third annual modern house tour celebrating New Canaan’s heritage of Mid-Century Modern homes, will take place Sunday, May 20, from 1 to 5, featuring eight homes designed by members of New Canaan’s “Harvard Five,” their associates and disciples as well as Frank Lloyd Wright’s top apprentice/draftsman, John Howe.

Six of the houses are in New Canaan, with one each in Darien and Wilton. The tour is free, but reservations are advised as space is limited. William Pitt Sotheby’s in New Canaan is sponsoring the tour and accepting reservations at 203-966-2633; tour maps will be available at the office at 26 Cherry Street on Sunday.

First Night fun

The (Very) Best of First Night: A Vaudeville Benefit will play the Palace Danbury on Sunday, May 20, at 2, for an afternoon of family fun. From airborne jugglers to barbershop harmony to magic and more, the show is appropriate for all ages. Tickets are $17.50 for adults, $10 for children under 12 and $50 for families. To reserve, call 203-792-1711; payment in cash or check will be a the door.

More ‘Found’

Continuing its current exhibition theme, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield will present FOUND Outside, six projects by artists working with salvaged materials and reclaimed objects, from May 20 to Oct. 21. The exhibit will open with a Garden Party in the museum’s two-acre sculpture garden on Sunday, May 20, from 2 to 5.

The party is free with admission: $7 for adults, $4 for seniors, free for children 18 and younger. Visitors are invited to bring picnics. For more information, call 203-438-4519.

Young musicians

Members of the Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra will perform a concert of chamber music on Sunday, May 20, at 3 at the Keeler Tavern Museum on Main Street in Ridgefield as part of the museum’s chamber music series. Ensemble selections will include works by Brahms, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Bach, Haydn and others.

For ticket information, call 203-438-5485.

Spring choral concert

The Noroton Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir will perform John Rutter’s Requiem and Franz Schubert’s Trout Quintet in its spring concert on Sunday, May 20, at 3 at the church, 2011 Boston Post Road, Darien. Admission is free.

Camerata d’Amici

My Spirit Sang All Day is the theme for the choral group, Camerata d’Amici, which will perform Sunday, May 20, at 4 at South Salem Presbyterian Church, 111 Spring Street, South Salem, N.Y. Selections focus on music of hope and inspiration, from Renaissance madrigals to modern compositions.

Tickets at the door will be $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for children 12 and younger. For more information, visit cameratadamici.org.

Charis Chamber Voices

Les Animaux et L’Amour (And Other Delights), a concert by Charis Chamber Voices directed by Arthur Sjogren, will take place Sunday, May 20, at 4 at Bedford Presbyterian Church on the Village Green in Bedford, N.Y. Tickets are $25, $20 for seniors and students; for reservations, call 914-931-6575 or visit charisvocals.com.

Aulos Ensemble

The final concert of the Waveny Chamber Music Society season will feature the Aulos Ensemble on Sunday, May 20, at 4 at the Waveny Carriage Barn in Waveny Park, New Canaan. The program includes works by Vivaldi, Handel and Bach.

General admission is $30 and includes a post-concert reception with the artists. For more information, visit wavenychambermusicsociety.blogspot.com.

Wine-tasting event

The Exchange Club of New Canaan will have its 2012 wine-tasting fund-raiser at Silvermine Arts Center on Sunday, May 20, form 4 to 6:30. Wines will be supplied by New Canaan Wine Merchants and a portion of proceeds will benefit children’s programs of the Exchange Club and Silvermine Arts Center. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door; for information, call 917-331-6685 or visit silvermineart.org.

Red Tails

In honor of National Foster Care Awareness Month, Dr. Jacqueline Harris, DCF Regional Medical Director, and the Danbury Department of Children and Families will present a free showing of the feature film, Red Tails, on Sunday, May 20, at 4 at Edmond Town Hall, Main Street, Newtown.

The PG-13 film tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, with which Dr. Harris has a personal connection.

For more visit ctfosteradopt.com.

From New Orleans

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band will perform at the Ridgefield Playhouse on Sunday, May 20, at 8, in support of its latest album, Preservation: An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall & the Preservation Hall Music Outreach. There will be a complimentary wine tasting in the lobby at 7, courtesy of 109 Cheese & Wine.

For tickets, $50, $45, call 203-438-5795.

And coming up...

Actor and author Joe Pantoliano will talk about his new book, a memoir, Asylum, on Monday, May 21, at 7 at the Wilton Library, 137 Old Ridgefield Road. Registration is recommended; visit wiltonlibrary.org or call 203-762-3950.

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One of the country’s top sportswriters for many years, Frank Deford will appear in WSHU Public Radio’s Join the Conversation series on Wednesday, May 23, at Sacred Heart University, 5151 Park Avenue, Fairfield. His talk will begin at 7 in the University Commons Room. Reservations are required (wshu.org) and a $5 charge will be collected at the door.

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Ridgefield women will model for the Spring Into Fashion Show & Event to benefit the women’s Center of Greater Danbury and the Playhouse Arts for Everyone program on Wednesday, May 23. There will be refreshments in the lobby at 6:30, with the fashion show starting at 7:30 and featuring dresses by Nicole Miller and Muse, colored bottoms by Christopher Blue and Second Denim and accessories from Lyn Evans Potpourri Designs. Tickets are $30; for information, call 203-438-5795.

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The annual juried art exhibition, Spectrum 2012, sponsored by the New Canaan Society for the Arts, will open with a reception on Wednesday, May 23, from 5 to 7 in the Carriage Barn Arts Center in Waveny Park, 681 South Avenue, New Canaan. Featuring paintings, drawings, prints, mixed media and sculpture, the show has been juried by Christopher W. White, an art consultant and former assistant direct of the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. The exhibit may be seen Tuesday-Sunday, 12-4, through June 17. For more information, call 203-972-1895 or visit carriagebarn.org.