Theatre, Dance & Comedy May 2018

admin Posted OnApril 23, 2018

863 Views

Theatre, Dance & Comedy May 2018: Talking mimes, tap at ChappPac, multiple LOLs, Andy Horowitz, Julius Caesar and magic.

May

Sister Act, Westchester Broadway Theatre – Thurs, 4/5-Sun, 7/1: The big glitzy musical Sister Act fared better than the original movie. It received four Olivier Award nominations for its original stage production at London’s West End Theatre. It moved to Broadway in 2011 where it received five Tony and five Drama Desk Award nominations. The musical features music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. Menken has won eight Academy Awards for his Disney Scores that include The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Pocahontas. His stage hits include Little Shop of Horrors and Sister Act. Glenn Slater is his frequent collaborator. (One Broadway Plaza, Elmsford; www.broadwaytheatre.com)

Local! Switzerland, Hudson Stage Company, Armonk – Fri, 4/20 – Sat, 5/5: Hudson Stage Company presents the NY premiere of Joanna Murray-Smith’s original thriller inspired by Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley murder mysteries (The Talented Mr. Ripley). In Switzerland, Murray-Smith turns Highsmith, herself, into a character in a psychological cat and mouse game of her own making – a dance to the death with a literary agent summoned to entice her to write one more thriller in her self-appointed exile in Switzerland. (Whippoorwill Hall, NCPL, 19 Whippoorwill Rd. E., Armonk, 914.271.2811; www.hudsonstage.com)

The Illusionists – Live From Broadway, Stamford Palace – Thurs, 5/3: 8pm: The Times of London called this Vegas-style touring revue “the Cirque du Soleil of magic.” This variety spectacular assembles seven magicians on stage complete with rock music, dancers and plenty of dry ice for modern and campy variations of stunts from sawing a body in half and escaping a strait jacket after being turned upside down and lit on fire to sleight of hand card tricks. Don’t give them your cellphone or else it will wind up in a blender. (61 Atlantic Street, Stamford, CT; .palacestamford.org)

Upright Citizen’s Brigade with SNL’s Sasheer Zamata, Ridgefield Playhouse – Fri, 5/4: 8pm: UCB is joined by SNL’s Sasheer Zamata for an evening of improve. Zamata recently release her first one-hour comedy special, Pizza Mind, to rave reviews. UCB was founded by Amy Poehler and has been the launching pad for some of comedy’s biggest stars and writers for Inside Amy Schumer, The Daily show and SNL. (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)

Local! Crimes of the Heart, Axial Theatre Pleasantville – Fri-Sun, 5/4-20: Rachel Ross directs Beth Henley’s 1981 Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play about the reunion of three sisters in mid-century Mississippi. This comedy of “southern hospitality, sisterhood and making lemonade when life gives you lemons” was novelized by Claudia Reilly in 1986 and released as a motion picture starring Diane Keaton, Sissy Spacek and Jessica Lange in the same year. (St. John’s Episcopal Church, 8 Sunnyside Ave., Pleasantville; www.axialtheatre.org)

PAC Gala, Jessica Lang Dance, Performing Arts Center, Sat, 5/5: 8pm: Former Twyla Tharp dancer, Jessica Lang’s dance company received a Joyce Theater Artist Residency in 2011. Here they perform the world premiere of a new work set to the music of Tony Bennett. The evening begins with PAC’s annual Gala featuring cocktails and dinner before the show and dessert and drinks after. (735 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase; www.artscenter.org)

My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy, Tarrytown Music Hall – Sat, 5/5: 8pm: One of the longest running one-man shows in Broadway history comes to Tarrytown starring the original Broadway star Steve Solomon. To celebrate its 4,000 performance. When it debuted in 2006 Variety said listening to Solomon “you’ll catch a little Alan King here, pinch of Seinfeld there, with a smidgen of Don Rickles, Billy Crystal and George Carlin…” (13 Main St, Tarrytown; www.tarrytownmusichall.org)

Tap! Tap! Tap! Leonardo Saldoval, ChappPac, Fri, 5/11: 8pm: Brazilian tap dancer Leonardo Sandoval, described by the Chicago Sun-Times as” strong yet fine-boned, capable of authority and nuance”, and praised by the New York Times for his rousing choreography, has established a reputation in the tap world and beyond for his musicality and for adding his own Brazilian flavor to the American art of tap dancing. (480 Bedford Road, Chappaqua; 914.458-5143) TKTS

Postponed! Bill Bowers in All Over the Map, Schoolhouse Theatre – TBA: Bill Bowers is a mime that speaks. His new multi-media show, hailed by The Huffington Post, is 70 minutes of dramatized recollections and quirky observations of 30 years of traveling all over the world. Bowers performed on Broadway in The Lion King and The Scarlet Pimpernel and has performed at Madison Square Garden, The Kennedy Center, The White House and Off-Broadway in his own plays including Under a Montana Moon and It Goes Without Saying. (3 Owens Rd., Croton Falls; www.schoolhousetheatre.org)

Dance Off The Grid, Emelin Theatre – Sat, 5/12: 8pm: Concluding DOTG event curated by New York State DanceForce. DOTG presents Felipe Galganni, a Brazilian tap dance and choreographer who has performed at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, The Cotton club & more; Nelida Tirado, a Dance Magazine 25 To Watch who has performed her Flamenco and Latin dance pieces on Broadway, and Gaspard & Dancers, Gaspard danced with Pilobulus for ten years. (153 Library Ln., Mamaroneck; www.emelin.org)

National Theatre Live: Julius Caesar , Performing Arts Center Purchase College – Sun, 5/13: 2pm: Ben Whishaw (The Danish Girl, Skyfall, Hamlet) and Michelle Fairley (Fortitude, Game of Thrones) play Brutus and Cassius, David Calder (The Lost City of Z, The Hatton Garden Job) plays Caesar and David Morrissey (The Missing, Hangmen, The Walking Dead) is Mark Antony. Broadcast live from The Bridge Theatre, London. Nicholas Hytner’s production thrusts the audience into the street party that greets Caesar’s return, the congress that witnesses his murder, the rally that assembles for his funeral and the chaos that explodes in its wake. (735 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase; www.artscenter.org)

Connecticut Ballet presents Russian Classics, The Palace Stamford – Sat, 5/12: 7:3-pm & Sun, 5/13: 2pm: The Connecticut Ballet presents two works by titans of the 19^th and 20^th century ballet: Marius Petipa’s Raymonda Variations with music by Alesander Glazounov and Michel Fokin’s Petroucha set to the music of Igor Stravinsky. Plus a revival of their commission by a rising star in American dance Darell Grand-Moultrie’s ballet Pulse hailed by The New York Times as a “rousing group work.” (61 Atlantic Street, Stamford, CT; www.palacestamford.org)

James Van Praagh – The Ghost Whisperer, Ridgefield Playhouse– Thurs, 5/17: 7:30pm: A New York Times bestselling author, psychic medium and spiritual teacher, Van Praagh has spent the last 35 years talking to the dead on television, radio and in front of live audiences. If you’d like to chat to deceased loved ones in your life – this show is for you! (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)

Hot Ticket Alert! Andy Borowitz – Make America Not Embarrassing Again, Palace Stamford – Fri, 5/18: 8pm: The New York Timesbest-selling author, comedian and writer for The New Yorker since takes his satirical news column on the road for an intimate conversation hosted by Brian Lehrer and audience Q&A. Borowitz has been called “America’s satire king” (Daily Beast), “the funniest human on Twitter” (NY Times), and “one of the funniest people in America” (CBS News’ Sunday Morning). In 2001, he created the Borowitz Report, a satirical news column that has millions of readers around the world, for which he won the first-ever National Press Club award for humor. (61 Atlantic Street, Stamford, CT; www.palacestamford.org)

LoHud Comedy, Schoolhouse Theater – Fri, 5/18: 8pm: Late Night comedians from Letterman, Conan O’Brien and more perform stand-up. Including Gregory K., stand-up inspiration for the play Comedy and Crumbscakes performed at Lincoln Center; Howard Feller, a regular on Jon Stewart’s MTV show, and Adam Oliensis, who wrote and starred in the film Pompatus of Love and has received a Tony and Drama Desk Award nomination. (3 Owens Rd., North Salem; www.schoolhousetheater.org)

Randy Rainbow, Ridgefield Playhouse – Sat, 5/19: 8pm: Political satirist and internet sensation, Randy Rainbow is best known for his musical tribute to the first presidential debate of 2016, Braggadocious, that received 28 million views on YouTube in its first two days. (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)

June

Next to Normal, The Armonk Players, Whippoorwill Hall, NCPL – Fri-Sun, 6/1-3 & Thurs-Sat, 6/7-9: Next to Normal is an award-winning (see below) rock musical centering on a mother struggling with bipoloar disorder and the effects her illness has on her family. It has been called one of the best musicals of the 21st century. Nominated for 11 Tony Awards in 2009, it won three (Best Original Score, Best Orchestration and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical) as well as the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, becoming only the eighth musical in history to receive the honor. (19 Whippoorwill Rd., E., Armonk; www.armonkplayers.org)

Paula Poundstone, Tarrytown Music Hall – Fri, 6/1: 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 Harvard and a Bravo special Paula Poundstone: Look What The Cat Dragged In. She is currently the host of NPR’s Live from the Poundstone Institute. (13 Main St, Tarrytown; www.tarrytownmusichall.org)

The Clairvoyants, Ridgefield Playhouse – Fri, 6/8: 7:30pm: Fresh from selling-out performances across the globe as part of The Illusionists, the World Champions of Mindreading open up a fabulous new world of mentalism and unique illusions. Thommy Ten & Amélie finished second on NBC’s “Americas Got Talent”. (80 E. Ridge, Ridgefield, CT; www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org)

The Dog in the Dressing Room, Schoolhouse Theatre – Thurs – Sun, 6/14-7/1: For it’s final 2017-18 Main Stage production, The Schoolhouse Theatre presents a new play from the multi-award winning playwright Deborah Savadge. The Dog in the Dressing Room is a comedy about a backstage romance – the best kind! (3 Owens Rd., North Salem; www.schoolhousetheater.org)

David Cross, “Oh Come On”, Capitol Theatre – Fri, 6/15: 8pm: One of Comedy Central’s Top Comedians of All Time, David Cross is well known for his role as Tobias Funke in the sitcom Arrested Development. He also starred in the motion picture Alvin and the Chipmunks and was the voice of Crane in Kung Fu Panda. Following his hit tour, Making America Great Again, he brings his new show to the Capitol. (149 Westchester Ave., Port Chester; www.capitoltheatre.com)

Cocktail Hour, Ballets With a Twist, White Plains Performing Arts Center – Sat, 6/16: 8pm: The NY dance company Ballets with a Twist’s signature show, Cocktail Hour, from choreographer Marilyn Klaus was lauded byThe New York Times(“witty and fantastic”) and The Huffington Post(“blasting thee boundaries between high art and entertainment”). Klaus’s pop-infused homage to Hollywood’s Golden Age through its cocktails serves up a series of vignettes (Mai Tai, Brandy Alexander, Singapore Sling) that are always shaken, not stirred. (11 City Place, 3^rdFloor, White Plains; www.wppac.com)

Tommy Tune Tonight, Paramount Hudson Valley – Sun, 6/17: 2pm: Broadway’s tallest tapper and 10-time Tony Ward-winner, (Nine, Grand Hotel, Seesaw, A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine, The Will Rogers Follies) sings, dances, and tells tall tales in this show featuring songs by Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Carole King and Green Day). “Tune still dances better than anyone else on Broadway…” – The New York Post. (1008 Brown St., Peekskill; www.paramounthudsonvalley.com)

Josh Blue, Paramount Hudson Valley – Sat, 6/30: 8pm: Perhaps best know as the comedian who puts cerebralin Cerebral Palsy, Blue’s self-deprecating humor often centers around his disability. He was a winner on NBC’s Last Comic Standing and was the first comic to debut a stand-up special on the big screen with his 7 Days in the Tank. (1008 Brown St., Peekskill; www.paramounthudsonvalley.com)