Connecticut Travel

Food Network Star Chef Robert Irvine is taking his brand of no nonsense cooking on the road in an all-new multi-media and multi-sensory theatrical experience coming to the Palace Theater in Waterbury, on Friday, Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. Tickets to the event are $48, $38, and $28 and can be purchased online at http://www.palacetheaterct.org, by phone at 203-346-2000, or in person at the Box Office, 100 East Main St.

This all-new, stage show features dynamic off-the-cuff cooking challenges, never-before-seen videos, interactive social media components, a Q & A segment, and a whole heaping of audience participation. Chef Irvine will have no prior knowledge of the culinary challenges he faces throughout the night, each of which will be chosen at random by audience members selected to spin the show’s digital challenge wheel. Once the challenge is issued, Irvine will bring more audience members onto the stage to help him complete the task at hand. In between each challenge, patrons will get a glimpse of rare videos that include interview footage of Robert retelling experiences from his military service, working for the royal family, his shows on Food Network, and his charity work. From start to finish, the production boasts that there are no recipes, no scripts and no holds barred.

Hardcore foodies and fans can upgrade their theater experience by purchasing a $158 VIP ticket package to the show, which includes access to a private cooking seminar, food tasting, and meet and greet opportunity with Chef Irvine before the show, as well as gold circle seating to the main event. Limited quantities are available for purchased online, in person and by phone at the Box Office.

For more information on Robert Irvine and his tour, visit www.chefirvine.com or www.palacetheaterct.org.

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum will host, Setting the Table for the Holidays: Edward’s Table on November 15th at 2 p.m. where tabletop guru Edward Lent will share a wealth of table setting and entertaining ideas, just in time for the holiday season.

Whether you are planning a joyous family gathering or a year-end “need to impress” business party, holiday entertaining will be at your fingertips with Edward’s Table. Throughout his 20-plus year career, Lent has worked with Tabletop industry giants such as Noritake, Mikasa and Simon Pearce. His philosophy, “Stop keeping your dinnerware hostage. Let me show you how to set the mood and set a table with today’s trends and tips using what you probably already own.”

While setting thousands of tables, Lent developed a unique sense of entertaining styles. He is a renowned expert in the visual merchandising industry, whose table setting and merchandising work has taken him around the country and around the globe, including Europe, Japan and South America. Lent holds a degree in Art Education and was associate editor of the industry trade journal Tableware Today

Tickets for the event are $25 for members and $35 for non-members. Proceeds will go to support the Museum and its artistic, cultural and educational programs.

For reservations please contact: info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com or 203-838-9799 ext. 4. The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is a National Historic Landmark. Tours are offered Wednesdays through Sundays, at Noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $6 for children. Children under 8 are admitted free. For more information, visit www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com or call 203-838-9799.

For more area event information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

On Saturday, November 14th, the Klein in Bridgeport will celebrate its 75th Anniversary with an unprecedented concert featuring resident performing arts companies that regularly perform in the historic 1,450-seat theater. This is the first time that all of them have appeared together on the Klein’s stage. The emcee for the event is the popular television personality and musician Paul Shaffer, longtime bandleader of “Late Night with David Letterman”.

Featured companies are: Greater Bridgeport Symphony (which has performed at the Klein for the past 70 years), New England Ballet, Fairfield County Children’s Choir, Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestras, student singers and dancers from the Klein’s innovative after school program ASK as well as from All Stars Project of Bridgeport, and noted jazz musician Joel Martin, creator of “Jazzical” and the Klein’s annual “Footsteps of Peace” concerts. Also included are special appearances by Mayor Bill Finch, George Mintz, president of the Bridgeport chapter of the NAACP, Kathleen Maher, executive director of the Barnum Museum, a segment about Fairfield Theatre Company, which has presented over 100 concerts at the Klein in recent years, representatives from the Barnum Festival, and others yet to be announced.

During the concert each company will perform its own segments. They will all assemble together in a spectacular musical finale. The concert will be held at the Klein on Saturday, November 14th at 8 pm. Tickets can be purchased at the Klein’s box office, on-line at http://www.info@theklein.org, or by calling 800-424-0160. Tickets are priced at $75 / $40 / $25 and $15.

As a thank-you to patrons of the resident companies that are performing that evening, the Klein and its performance partners have also announced a special subscription discount offer in a package of 4 upcoming events at the Klein. By calling the Klein box office, patrons who purchase tickets to all four of the following events will receive a twenty per cent discount on the entire package. The events in the package include:

WYNTON MARSALIS AND THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ENSEMBLE (November 5th), presented by Fairfield Theatre Company

THE KLEIN@75: THE CELEBRATION CONCERT (November 14th)

BEETHOVEN’S NINTH SYMPHONY with the MENDELSSOHN CHOIR (December 12th) performed by the Greater Bridgeport Symphony

24TH ANNUAL NUTCRACKER PERFORMANCES (December 19th and 20th) by New England Ballet Company

RESTAURANT PROMOTION: The Klein is also conducting an exclusive discount offer through 4 restaurants in downtown Bridgeport. Beginning October 15 and running until the day of the concert, patrons of these restaurants can receive a card with a discount code entitling them to 15% off the ticket price of the November 14th concert. Participating restaurants are: Trattoria ‘A vucchella, Two Boots, Joseph’s Steakhouse, and the Holiday Inn. This promotion is in collaboration with the Downtown Special Services District of Bridgeport.

ABOUT THE KLEIN:

The Klein is a 1,450-seat historic American theater that was built in the 1930s with funds willed to the City of Bridgeport by Jacob Klein. Designed by local architect Leonard Asheim, the auditorium was built in the Art Deco style and features bronze doors, a marble lobby, inlaid wood and geometric motifs.

After opening its doors for performances in 1940, The Klein has played host to programs ranging in scope to symphonies, operas, theater, folk, blues and rock concerts, local dance recitals and political debates. It also operates ASK, a tuition-free after school program where up to 100 Bridgeport students receive instruction in music, dance, drama and acting for the camera. In earlier years, the Klein has hosted such luminaries as Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, Arthur Fiedler, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Paul Robeson, Milton Berle, Victor Borge, and Gloria Swanson. More recently such diverse musical acts as Vienna Boys Choir, Alice Cooper, B.B. King, Boz Scaggs, Ziggy Marley, Taj Mahal, Herbie Hancock, George Carlin, Peter Frampton, Boyz II Men, the B-52s, the Parris Island Marine Band, comic Elizardi Castro, and satiric comedy group Capitol Steps have appeared on the Klein stage.

The Litchfield Historical Society’s upcoming exhibition House of Worth: Dressing Litchfield will highlight the Society’s collection of original 1916 and 1918 house of Worth watercolor on paper fashion sketches.

Sent through postal mail to Litchfield seasonal resident Julia Chester Wells, these sketches allowed Worth’s client to peruse and purchase garments from the fashion house without undertaking travel to Paris during a time of world war.

Join the Litchfield Historical Society in exploring the house of Worth, Litchfield’s trendsetters, and the changing face of fashion during the 1910s. This temporary exhibition will make available to the public a selection of the original sketches, as well as period garments from the Society’s collection.

The Litchfield Historical Society is located on 7 South St. in Litchfield, for more information www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

The World on Stage, part of the Namaskaar Foundation has planned an exciting beginning to their 2015 – 2016 season. In November they are presenting a duo of two culturally exciting events.

On November 17 from 8 p.m. – 10 p.m. a show called Bollywood Masala Orchestra and Dancers takes center stage. This concert invites you to explore the lush and exotic land that is India! The Bollywood Masala Orchestra and Dancers of India present The Spirit of India, a new step toward a bold vision in Indian live music and dance being presented to the world for the first time. Rahis Bharti, one of India’s greatest musical figures, and the Bollywood Masala Orchestra and Dancers will guide you on a lively musical journey from Rajasthan to Mumbai.

The second performance is by PACO PENA & Flamenco Dancers on November 18 from 8 p.m. – 10 p.m. It is intense, passionate and wild with a constant threat of losing control, barely held back by a strict rhythmic structure. It is Flamenco, the signature musical style of Spain. Paco Pena, Flamenco, showcases this mesmerizing musical genre whose history is mysterious and debated, yet undeniably powerful and timeless. With a highly impressive record of playing venues throughout the world and captivating international audiences, Paco Peña and his dancers promises a fiery displays, stunning precision and boundless passion ones more on our stage at Palace Theatre in Stamford.

Buy now online at www.palacestamford.org

The Glass House, once the home of architect Philip Johnson was built between 1949 and 1955 and is a National Trust Historic Site located in New Canaan, Connecticut. The pastoral 49-acre landscape comprises fourteen structures, including the Glass House (1949), and features a permanent collection of 20th-century painting and sculpture, along with temporary exhibitions. Tours of the site are available in May through November and advance reservations are recommended.

A special exhibition running through November 30 called Night (1947-2015) has been guest curated by Jordan Stein. The exhibition is predicated on a statue that was never returned to The Glass House. Sometime in the mid-1960’s, a rail-thin white plaster sculpture called Night (1947), by Alberto Giacometti, walked away from the Glass House and never came back.

One of very few artworks ever displayed in the Glass House, Night’s rawboned figure was granted pride of place atop the Mies van der Rohe glass coffee table. Over time, the sculpture began to shed its outer layer and was eventually sent to the artist’s studio for repairs. But Giacometti died before the work was restored and the sculpture never returned. Neither repaired nor replaced, its absence still lingers; a Modern ghost.

In place of a traditional artist-in-residence program, Night (1947 – 2015) is instead a sculpture-in-residence program; an unfolding sculptural exhibition held in the same spot where Giacometti’s Night once stood. A series of contemporary artists will contribute works that contend with the legacy of Giacometti’s sculpture and Johnson’s architectural opus. On display for three to six months at a time, the sculptures in Night (1947 – 2015) will “disappear” after their run, making room for new work and new absences.

Although world-class painting and sculpture populate Johnson’s property, Night (1947 – 2015) is the first formal art exhibition to be held on-site. The slowly unfolding exhibition places Johnson’s collection in dialogue with contemporary sculptural practice while positioning the architecture itself – long a site of critical discourse – as both backdrop and collaborator.

Night (1947 – 2015) is primarily comprised of never-before-seen works by a number of mid-career and established artists. Special attention will be paid to artists who grapple with themes raised by Giacometti’s vanished Night — themes that largely work in contrast to those of Johnson’s transparent temple. Works will explore unreliability, looping, curving, transparency, reflectivity, and doubt. Additionally, works will have a significant relationship to architecture and design.

For more information http://theglasshouse.org.

For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com
photo by Robin Hill (c)