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Arts & Entertainment

Fashion Fun at Noah Webster House; 'Civil War Doctor's Wife' at Stanley-Whitman; Amy Gallatin in Canton

Enrich your life, April 7 – 13, 2011

Noah Webster Hosts Fashion Fun

Fashionistas, on April 9, West Hartford's  hosts Spring Fashion Fun. Emceed by  local celebrity and former Fox61 news anchor Susan Christensen Stoner, the event features clothing by designer Sylvie Dahl, who moved to this area from South Africa. Prom and evening dresses, denims, cotton prints, and original handbags are featured in the show. Also featured are original jewelry pieces by West Hartford native Martha Kokiel.  Prizes, raffles, mini-makeovers and light refreshments add to the fun.

Starting time is 11 a.m. Admission is free. A portion of proceeds from the sale of goods benefits the Noah Webster House, 227 South Main St., West Hartford. For more information, visit www.noahwebsterhouse.org or call 860-521-5362.

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Civil War Doctor's Wife at Stanley-Whitman

The letters exchanged between a Civil War-era housewife and her husband, a medic with the 11th Connecticut Volunteer Regiment, form the basis for Dear Mary: A Visit With a Civil War Doctor's Wife. The hourlong, one-woman show goes on April 10 at Farmington's Stanley-Whitman House. Featured in the production is Mary Lou Palik, whose great, great grandmother, Mary Ann Lewis Bronson, was the Civil War housewife who kept the home fires burning in Connecticut while her husband was away. The couple's correspondence is filled with the tenderness, fear and resolve they felt during this critical period of American history.

Find out what's happening in Cantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Show time is 1 p.m. Admission costs $8; $6 members. The Stanley-Whitman House is at 37 High St., Farmington. For more information, visit www. stanleywhitman.org or call 860-677-9222.

Amy Gallatin & Stillwaters in Canton 

The best ballads, bluegrass swing, instrumentals, country folk and covers of contemporary folk writers including David Mallett and Greg Brown are in the lineup when Amy Gallatin and her band Stillwaters plays Canton's Roaring Brook Nature Center on April 9. The Hartford Courant's Roger Catlin once described Gallatin as a "transplanted westerner who brings a truth and urgency to her voice that translates into real country traditionalism." Gallatin is backed by her band featuring dobroist Roger Williams, mandolin and guitar player J.D. Williams, and bassist Eric Levenson.

Show time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15 in advance; $17 at the door. Roaring Brook Nature Center is at 70 Gracey Road, Canton. Visitwww.roaringbrookconcerts.org.

Folksinger Aubrey Atwater at Windsor Art Center 

Traditional and original folk music performed on guitar, Appalachian mountain dulcimer, Irish tin whistle, mandolin, feet, and old-time banjo are all part of the program when folksinger Aubrey Atwater visits the Windsor Art Center in Windsor on April 7. Between tunes, Atwater explores folk music as a chronicle of human history.

Show time is 6:30 p.m. Suggested donation is $10 at the door. The Windsor Art Center is at the corner of Central and Mechanic streets in Windsor. For more information, visit www.windsorartcenter.org or emailinfo@windsorartcenter.org

Megamind in Suffield

Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt and Tina Fey loaned their voices to the 2010 animated comedy Megamind, which plays April 9 at Suffield's Kent Memorial Library. The story finds Evil Megamind (Ferrell) vanquishing his nemesis, Pitt's Metro Man, only to have second thoughts. The Onion's Tasha Robinson wrote, "Most decent kids’ entertainment blends material for older and younger viewers. But DreamWorks’ latest CGI movie, Megamind, pushes this dynamic weirdly far, squarely targeting viewers who’ll catch jokes based on the original Donkey Kong, or recognize Marlon Brando from Superman, or Pat Morita from Karate Kid. The tone draws heavily on wryly postmodern, self-aware send-ups like The Venture Bros., and it’s so packed with references familiar to longtime superhero aficionados that smaller viewers may not be sure what they’re seeing, apart from bickering and explosions." So what's not to like?

Matinee time is 2 p.m. Admission is free. Kent Memorial Library is at 50 North Main St., Suffield. For more information, visit www.suffield-library.org or call 860-668-3896.

Battleship Potemkin at Cinestudio

Serious film aficionados, you cannot miss this one. From April 10 through 12, Cinestudio in Hartford presents the brand new fully restored version of Sergei Eisenstein's classic Battleship Potemkin. The new print is a faithful restoration of Eisenstein's revolutionary masterpiece. It contains all of the director's original shots, meaning contemporary audiences will see the same picture that premiered in Moscow in 1925. Also intact is Edmund Meisel's score, which has been re-recorded by the Deutsches Filmorchestra. Potemkin is a political and an artistic landmark. The film, made in tribute to the sailors who mutinied while onboard a Czarist ship, stirred up anti-authoritarian sentiment worldwide. (The film was banned in Britain until 1954.) But artistically, Potemkin offers a textbook course in the then-nascent art – and power – of film editing. The Odessa Steps massacre was a first for its time, and its brilliance and power are timeless.

Cinestudio is on the campus of Trinity College, 300 Summit St., Hartford. For more information, visit www.cinestudio.org or call 860-297-2463

Goodspeed's One and Only

S'wonderful, s'marvelous, and it's all happening at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam where from April 15 to June 25, the George and Ira Gershwin musical classic My One and Only takes the stage. The time is the roaring '20s. The romance is between a barnstorming aviator and a bathing beauty whose zany escapades eventually lead to a happy ending. Did we mention the tap shoes are on? George Gershwin's score includes the favorites 'S'Wonderful, Funny Face,and Kickin' the Clouds Away. Featured in the cast are Tony Yazbeck as the high-flying Captain Billy Buck Chandler, and Gabrielle Ruiz as the beauteous Edythe Herbert. Ray Roderick, whose Goodspeed credits include 42nd Street and Singin' in the Rain, directs.

For tickets, visit www.goodspeed.org or phone 860.873.8668. For show highlights, exclusive photos, special events and more visit www.goodspeed.org.The Goodspeed Opera House is at 6 Main St., East Haddam

William Wegman and the Wadsworth

William Wegman may be best known for the photos he creates with his weimaraner dogs, but his career spans work as a pioneering video artist, conceptualist, photographer, painter, and writer. His creations have been seen everywhere from major museums to bookstores, and television's Sesame Streetand Saturday Night Live. On April 14, Wegman comes to Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum for a lecture and book signing followed by a screening of two Wegman films, Alphabet Soup, and The Hardly Boys in Hardly Gold featuring the artist and his dogs Ray Ray, Batty, Chundo, and Crooky.

The free event begins at 6 p.m. The Wadsworth Atheneum is at 600 Main St., Hartford. For more information, visit wadsworthatheneum.org or call 860-278-2670.

HSO Tangos in Atheneum's Avery Court

Inspired by the Monet exhibit currently on the walls at Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra presents Paris to Buenos Aires, a program of music featuring works by Piazzolla, Previn, and Ginastera. The intimate chamber concert takes place April 10 in the Atheneum's Avery Court. Hartford Symphony's concertmaster and principal violinst Leonid Sigal is joined by guest bandoneon (small accordion) player Tito Castro and guitarist Norman Johnson, as well as HSO pianist Margreet Francis and HSO double bassist March Zechel.

Concert time is 2 p.m. Tickets cost $30; $25 for Atheneum members or HSO subscribers. (Ticket price includes admission to the Atheneum on the day of the concert.) For more ticketing information, please contact HSO ticket services at (860)244-2999 or visit www.hartfordsymphony.orgThe Wadsworth Atheneum is at 600 Main St., Hartford. For more information, visitwww.wadsworthatheneum.org or call 860-278-2670.

HSO Players Use Talents To Raise Money for Japan

There is a long tradition of musicians donating their services for a good cause. Here in our area, a group of Hartford Symphony musicians gather together April 9 to play a concert benefiting earthquake relief in Japan. The Japan Earthquake Relief Charity Concert was organized by Ruriko Kagiyama and her husband, HSO principal violinist Michael Wheeler. All proceeds go to the American Red Cross's relief effort in Japan.

Concert time is 6 p.m. at the Unitarian Meeting House, 50 Bloomfield Ave., Hartford. Admission is by donation. Please make all checks payable to "American Red Cross."

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