May is the Funniest Month of the Year

Posted OnApril 19, 2019

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May is the Funniest Month of the Year: Funny stand-up, funny skits, funny improv, funny ladies, funny dancing, funny magic and girls night out with the Celebrity Housewives.

Starring American Idol Finalist La Toya London, The Bodyguard: The Musical, White Plains Performing Arts Center, Fri, 4/26-Fri, 5/12: Based not the Oscar-nominated 1992 romantic thriller starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston this production opened on London’s West End in 2012. The musical flips the narrative placing the singer Rachel Marrone in the forefront. It showcases 17 songs Including a host of chart-topping Whitney Houston’s greatest hits such as “I Have Nothing”, “One Moment in Time”, “Run to You”, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and one of the biggest selling songs of all time, “I Will Always Love You”. (11 City Place, White Plains; www.wppac.org)

Newsies, Westchester Broadway Theatre, March 28-May 26: This 1992 Disney musical with 12 original songs from the eight-time Academy Award winning composer Alan Menken (Little Shop Of Horrors, Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin) was a box office bust but a big hit on Broadway, earning 8 Tony-noms and two wins. The story is inspired by the real-life Newsboys Strike of 1899 in New York City. (One Broadway Plaza, Elmsford; www.broadwaytheatre.com)

Jay Leno, Palace Theatre Stamford, Thursday, 5/2: 8pm: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was the No 1 rated late night talk show for two decades. Known as the “hardest working man in show business”, Leno performs standup over 100 times a year and is the host of the CNBC show Jay Leno’s Garage. See him in Stamford (61 Atlantic St., Stamford; www.palacestamfrod.org)

Michelle Wolf, Tarrytown Music Hall, Thurs, 5/2: 8pm: Her amped-up performance as the headline comic on the 2018 White House Correspondents Dinner was a breakout moment for this former on-air contributor and writer for Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Wolf debuted her first hour-long stand-up special, “Michelle Wolf: Nice Lady”, on HBO late last year. The well-reviewed special tackled a wide range of topics from her surprising thoughts on feminism, the environment and Hilary Clinton. (13 Main St., Tarrytown; www.tarrytownmusichall.org)

August: Osage County, Axial Theatre, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Pleasantville: Fri, 5/3-17: 8pm, Sat, 5/4-18: 3 & 8pm & Sun, 5/5-19: 4pm: The Axial Theatre takes on Tracy Letts’ Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner from 2008. August: Osage County takes place over three weeks at the Oklahoma home of Violet Weston and has all the hallmarks of a great American heartland family comic drama. Namely heavy drinking and prescription pill addiction, an estranged marriage, a likely suicide, confrontational mother/daughter relationships and that’s just mom and pop. The kids are smoking pot, popping pills, committing adultery and having sex with their cousins. Yee-ha! (8 Sunnyside Ave., Pleasantville; www.axialtheatre.org)

Dance Off The Grid, Emelin Theatre, Sat, 5/4: 8pm: DOTG presents three dance troupes at this performance. Including the Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, whose contemporary ballet has been hailed by the New York Times as “elegant” and “complex”. Then Keigwin & Company (pictured), takes you on a zany trip backstage in the final moments before the curtain goes in Places Please! Megan Williams Dance Projects concludes the evening. Megan Williams is a former dancer with Mark Morris and her work has been staged at the 92nd Street Y, Joe’s Publ and more. (153 Library Ln., Mamaroneck; www.emelin.org)

Wayne Brady Improv, Ridgefield Playhouse, Sat, 5/4: 8pm: Best known for his work on the improvisational comedy series, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Wayne Brady collaborated with Dave Chappelle in the now classic “Training Day” sketch”, received rave reviews starring as Lola in the Tony® Award winning production of Kinky Boots, portrayed Bill Flynn in Chicago on Broadway and starred as Aaron Burr in the Pulitzer Prize and Tony® Award winning production of Hamiltonon tour. (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)

Local! Baby, The Armonk Players, Whippoorwill Hall, Fri, 5/10-Sun, 5/19: check times: Tom Coppola directs this 1983 musical from Sybille Pearson with music and lyrics from David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr. ( Fosse, Ain’t Misbehaving), about three couples on a university campus in their early twenties, thirties and forties that find themselves unexpectedly pregnant. The play was nominated for six Tony Awards and won two Drama Desk Awards. (North Castle Public Library, 19 Whippoorwill Rd. E., Armonk;www.armonkplayers.org)

Kevin James, Palace Theatre Stamford, Sat, 5/4: 8pm: Emmy-nominated star of the hit CBS tv series The King of Queens, went on to produce, co-write and star in Paul Blart: Mall Cop I & II, Zookeeper and Here Comes the Boom. James began his career as a stand-up on Long Island, landing his CBS development deal after being discovered at the Montreal Comedy Festival. He has two stand-up comedy specials under his belt including Never Don’t Give Up for Netflix in April 2018. (61 Atlantic St., Stamford; www.palacestamford.org)

Nancy and Beth, Featuring Megan Mulally and Stephanie Hunt, Ridgefield Playhouse, Fri, 5/10: 8pm: Hailed as “the most avant-garde show to play the Cafe Carlyle in recent memory,” (Theater Mania) and “musical misfits” (NPR All Things Considered), Nancy And Beth (aka Will & Grce star Megan Mulally and Stephanie Hunt from Friday Night Lights and Californication) have also wormed their way into the Newport Folk Festival, the Grand Ole Opry, London’s Royal Festival Hall, Solid Sound, and many other sweet venues in the US and abroad. (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)

We Put the Mock in Democracy, The Capitol Steps,Tarrytown Music Hall, Fri, 5/10: 8pm: Remember when politics used to make you laugh instead of wanting to get out of the car and tear that effing sticker off that guy’s 4X4? Over 30 years ago, the Capitol Steps began as a group of Senate staffers who set out to satirize the people that employed them. Since then they have recorded 35 albums including their latest Make America Grin Again. The current troupe has worked in eighteen Congressional offices with 62 years of House and Senate staff experience. (13 Main St., Tarrytown; www.tarrytownmusichall.org)

Old, New, Borrowed & Blue, Palace Theatre Stamford, Sat, 5/11: 8pm: The Connecticut Ballet performs four pieces including “a classic ballet, a contemporary world premiere, a retelling of a beloved tale, and a dramatic ballet.” (61 Atlantic St., Stamford; www.palacestamford.org)

Lea Salonga, Ridgefield Playhouse, Sun, 5/12: 7:30pm: Salonga’s Tony award-winning Broadway roles include Miss Saigon and Les Misérables. She has thrilled audiences worldwide as the singing voice of two Disney princesses – Jasmine (Aladdin) and Mulan (Mulan and Mulan II), and has toured in the title role of Cinderella. Here she sings Broadway, pop and standards with a full band. (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)

The Magic of Adam Trent, Ridgefield Playhouse, Fri, 5/17: 7pm: Brace yourself for a high-tech spectacle of futuristic magic, music and comedy. Trent’s solo show spun out of his performances in The Illusionists on Broadway. He has been a featured guest on on America’s Got Talent, The Today Show and Ellen, and stars in his own 10-episode TV series The Road Trickon NETFLIX. (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)

Girls Night Out with The Celebrity Housewives, Ridgefield Playhouse, Fri., 5/31: 8pm: Join Teresa Giudice (New Jersey), Kelly Dodd (Orange County) and Sonja Morgan (New York) of the Real Housewives series talking about their personal lives, their families, their businesses and how fame has changed their lives forever. Grab a cocktail and get ready to ask your own questions! You don’t want to miss this outrageous, sometimes bawdy evening with these fabulous reality TV stars! (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)

Hot Ticket Alerts June!

Norm Lewis, Emelin Theatre, Sat, 6/1: 8pm: Norm Lewis brings his famous baritone voice to the Emelin again this June. Star of Phantom Of The Opera, Les Miz, Porgy & Bess, The Little Mermaid and more, Lewis is “among the most reliably impressive voices on Broadway” (NYT) and one of its most sought-after leading men. Lewis made history as The Phantom of the Opera’s first African American Phantom on Broadway, and performed in the NBC television special, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!,” alongside John Legend, Sara Bareilles, and Alice Cooper. (153 Library Ln., Mamaroneck; www.emelin.org)

More Cowbell! Dick Cavett Interviews Christopher Walken, Ridgefield Playhouse, Sun, 6/2: 4pm: We love this new series at the Ridgefield Playhouse. After debuting the series with Blythe Danner, Dick Cavett sits down for a chat with Hollywood’s scariest actor to have never starred in a horror movie, Christopher Walken. A seven-time host of Saturday Night Live Walken has starred in Annie Hall, Pulp Fiction, The Dogs of War, Batman Returns, True Romance and The Deer Hunter for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)

Ballet Hispanico, Emelin Theatre, Sat, 6/8: 8pm: Since 1970 Manhattan based Ballet Hispánico has performed for more than two million people in the United States, Europe, and South America, and has created a repertoire of over 75 works and has commissioned nearly 80 more. Much as Alvin Ailey did for the African-American community Ballet Hispánico has given Hispanic culture its place in American dance. (153 Library Ln., Mamaroneck; www.emelin.org)

Paula Poundstone, Paramount Hudson Valley, Sat, 6/15: 8pm: Number 88 on Comedy Central’s list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time, Poundstone was the first female comedienne to win a CableAce Award for her HBO Special Cats, Cops and Stuff. She followed up with another HBO special Paula Poundstone Goes to Harvardand a Bravo special Paula Poundstone: Look What The Cat Dragged In. She is currently the host of NPR’s Live from the Poundstone Institute. (1008 Brown St., Peekskill; www.paramounthudsonvalley.com)