April Theatre Highlights

Sa/Su 4/10 & 11- Performing Arts of Woodstock presents TWO GUYS & A STAR and HARRY BELAFONTE: HEAR THE MUSIC! at Woodstock Town Hall, Woodstock—Performing Arts of Woodstock has a nice double bill early this month (right when this magazine comes out, so better hurry!). Local funny folks—and talented actors, musicians, and luthiers—Jerry Mitnick, Joe Veillette (the “Two Guys”), and Kimberly Kay (the “Star”) have co-written this original musical comedy fantasy which, if previous offerings by this trio are any indication, should be good for laughs and tunes.

Then it’s Harry Belafonte: Hear the Music, written and directed by Michael Monasterial, who also plays the title role. Monasterial is best known to most as the man behind Passing the Torch Through the Arts, the Kingston-based educational theatre company dedicated to positive social change through the performing arts, and no better representative of that idea be found than the story of Belafonte, the legendary calypso singer/ equal rights activist. Performing Arts of Woodstock, Woodstock Town Hall, 76 Tinker St., www.pcmaven/clients/paw, 845.679.7900. Sa 4/10 8 PM, Su 4/11 4 PM

Sa 4/17- Burning Bayreuth presents THE HUNGER ART and THE GONZALES CANTATA (opera) at the Richard B. Fisher Center, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson—Burning Bayreuth is a new music series founded by Noah S. Weber, with the aim of producing “socially relevant works in an approachable format that invites audience response.” Sounds like fun. For the debut performance, two contemporary operas are presented:

The Hunger Art—based on a Kafka story—which questions art’s potential to engage society at large; and The Gonzales Cantata—an opera that addresses the ambiguity of political crime in the post-Watergate era. Both explore the loss of innocence in American culture between the end of WWII and Watergate, through the perspective of a giant television that unifies the two works. Directed by Timothy Nelson. Sosnoff Theater, Richard B. Fisher Center, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, fishercenter.bard.edu, 845.758.7900. 7 PM

Th/Su 4/22 & 25- THE HABIT OF ART, by Alan Bennett, live simulcast from the NATIONAL THEATRE OF LONDON, at Time and Space Limited, Hudson—How many times have you heard it? That if you love the THEA-TAH, well the only truly great place to properly enjoy the THEA-TAH is, of course, London, dahling. Really? Me neither, but I’m sure I’ve heard it somewhere. Anyway, if you’re wondering what the fuss is about and can’t swing the trans-Atlantic airfare, this would be a great weekend to pop up to Time and Space Limited in Hudson and enjoy the National Theatre of London, broadcast via satellite in high-definition, performing Alan Bennett’s new play, The Habit of Art. Presently a hot ticket in London, the play imagines a dialogue between famous poet W.H. Auden (1907-1973) and composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), both of whom resided in Brooklyn Heights at the same time in the ‘40s, discussing the power of the creative spirit. Time and Space Limited, 434 Columbia St., Hudson, www.timeandspace.org, 518.822.8100. Th 4/22 (live) 7 PM, Su 4/25 (encore) 1 PM

Fr 5/7- Harold Lloyd’s SPEEDY (silent film), with live accompaniment by ALLOY ORCHESTRA, at Paramount Center for the Arts, Peekskill—If you have never seen a Harold Lloyd silent film, I feel sorry for you.

As physical as Buster Keaton, but with a more Everyman persona (the ever-resourceful “Glasses Guy”), Lloyd also did his own stuntwork—you may have seen him hanging from the broken clock-face in Safety Last! (1923)—and during his run of movies from 1914 to 1947 he was more prolific and profitable than even Charlie Chaplin, though Chaplin was overall the more commercially successful. The fast-paced dramatic comedy Speedy (1928) was shot in the streets of New York City, and this screening features a live performance by what Roger Ebert calls “the best in the world at accompanying silent films.” The Alloy Orchestra is a three-man ensemble that uses unusual objects and sources for their original score. This should make you wonder why movies started talking in the first place. Paramount Center for the Arts, 1008 Brown St., www.paramountcenter.org, 914.739.2333. 8 PM

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