His Aim Is True
When Elvis Costello comes to town, you could see him at Manhattan’s United Palace Theater—but that doesn’t accomplish any greater good. Instead, you can see him closer to home at the Performing Arts Center on April 15, and proceeds from your ticket will benefit the Open Door Family Medical Centers, which is dedicated to providing quality medical care at affordable prices. Better, right? Costello is on tour to promote last year’s mostly acoustic, countrified album, Secret, Profane, and Sugarcane.
Oh, Canada!
If you caught the opening ceremonies for this winter’s Olympic Games, you know that a performance by Canadian rocker Bryan Adams was one of the event’s biggest highlights. Now some of that Olympic mojo is coming south of the border for a series of solo performances. Adams’s self-described “Bare Bones” tour finds him playing acoustic interpretations of both songs from his most recent album, 11, and his old hits, which include “Summer of ’69” and “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You.” The intimate show takes place at the Performing Arts Center in Purchase on April 25.
Cinema to Cinémathèque
Like wearing all black and reading Beat poetry, French cinema always has been a signifier of cool. What’s even cooler, though, is getting to check out these French films before they hit mainstream theaters. To up your hip quotient, we suggest heading over to the Alliance Française of Greenwich’s Focus on French Cinema at the Performing Arts Center April 9 to 11. There, you’ll find five international premieres, including acclaimed actress/director Sylvie Testud’s new film Gamines, along with a program of short films, after-hours movies, an opening-night gala (with Testud as the guest of honor), and a “Meet the Actors and Directors” breakfast. Très cool.
Suddenly Susie
Susie Essman is best known for her role as Susie Green—wife of Jeff Garlin’s Jeff Green—on HBO’s hit Curb Your Enthusiasm. But as fans of the show know, the Bronx-born Essman (who grew up in Mount Vernon) is no Donna Reed. She’s just as acerbic, cutting, and hilarious as the men on the show. (And foul-mouthed, too. The Los Angeles Times wrote that she “makes the entire cast of The Sopranos look like rank amateurs.”) Even the title of her advice book cuts to the chase: What Would Susie Say—Bulls**t Wisdom About Love, Life and Comedy. To see some of this, ahem, mature stand-up comedy, head to the Ridgefield Playhouse on April 10.
Isaac & Isaiah
For inspiration for his new play, NPR Selected Shorts host Isaiah Sheffer pieced together stories, sketches, and his own interviews with Nobel Prize-winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer. The result of his efforts, Dreamers & Demons, takes the audience through Singer’s experiences in Eastern Europe, Coney Island, the Bronx, and even Miami Beach. Sound interesting? You can catch a sneak preview of excerpts from Dreamers and Demons when Insights and Revelations brings Sheffer to the Emelin Theater on April 22. Joining him on stage will be Broadway actress and comic Kathryn Markey, and they’ll both stick around afterward for a Q&A.
Home Theater
What to add to your Netflix queue this month
Sherlock Holmes
DVD Release Date: March 30, Warner Home Video
Director Guy Ritchie is known for his gritty, high-energy crime movies, and master sleuth Sherlock Holmes is known for his superior crime-solving abilities. Sounds like a perfect match, no? Ritchie moves from his contemporary London to a Victorian one—but takes the action and fisticuffs with him—for a movie that pleases both those who appreciate powers of deduction and those looking for a little adrenaline rush.
The Lovely Bones
DVD Release Date: April 20, Paramount Home Entertainment
No, Peter Jackson’s film doesn’t fully capture what makes Alice Sebold’s novel so universally acclaimed. But the film is still worth a rental to see our real-life neighbor Stanley Tucci play the creepiest fictional neighbor ever—a performance that earned him an Academy Award nomination. And, for fans of Peter Jackson and his palette of special effects, the Blu-ray contains a 15-part production diary to show how he put it all together.
An Education
DVD Release Date: March 30, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
This story takes place in the ’burbs and follows a smart high-school student working towards a place at a prestigious university—a story many of us can relate to. The difference is that An Education takes place in England in the 1960s, and the main character decides she might want to forgo Oxford for a romance with an older man. (The horror!) Newcomer Carey Mulligan received sparkling praise—and an Academy Award nomination—for her turn as the disaffected youth.
