Arts

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PHOTOS: Animalia Reception Draws a Crowd to Flinn Gallery

By Leslie Yager
The “Animalia” exhibit opened at the Flinn Gallery at Greenwich Library Thursday night with a well-attended public reception. The exhibit will be on view through April 30. The exhibit features eight artists’ interpretation of our complicated relationship with the animal kingdom and questions how we interact with animals from differing artistic viewpoints.  Featured artists include Jaclyn Conley, April DeMarco, Anne Lemanski, Kathryn Lynch, Jane O’Hara, Alexandra Sax, Jain Tarnower and Brad Woodfin. All artwork is for sale with a portion of the proceeds going to the Friends of Greenwich Library. Continue Reading →

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Your Wish is My Command, With Exceptions of Course. CMS Stages Aladdin.

Central Middle School’s Theater Arts Program celebrates its 35th year by presenting “Disney’s Aladdin Jr.”

Directed by Erin Schilling and produced by Bonnie Hann and Kira Seabolt, the 70-strong 8th grade cast and crew puts on a fast-paced, entertaining show.  Choreographed by Maria Kelley Stevens, of “Greenwich Has Got Talent,” the 90 minute production is filled with Broadway-style dance numbers and is a great show for the whole family. The show features cherished songs made famous when Walt Disney Pictures released the animated musical film “Aladdin,” the most successful film of 1992.  It’s a fun, timeless story – instead of falling in love with a Prince, young Princess Jasmine falls in love with…Aladdin, a mischievous, fun-loving rogue who finds a magic lamp. With music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, the whole audience ends up humming along with the actors on stage. “This is the one production we’ve done where everyone in the cast already knew the music before rehearsals even started,” said Schilling, a music teacher at both Central Middle School and Greenwich High School. The Production started rehearsals in January and despite mother nature’s many snow days, the school’s 35th annual production is ready to make its debut. Continue Reading →

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PHOTOS: Guffaws Abound at GHS Improv Troupe’s Comedy Tonight

By Leslie Yager
You never know where the jokes will go during a performance of the GHS theater department’s improv troupe at Comedy Tonight. Performed in the school’s black box theater, the students are as brave as they are funny. If a joke flops, the audience is staring you right in the face. But, on Friday night the performers were on a tear. With games including “My movie. Continue Reading →

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Planning Your Spring Staycation? Aquarium Has Kids’ Programs.

Children ages 6 to 12 can count shark teeth, go on a treasure hunt, discover how whales keep warm, stock a real salt-water aquarium and lots more in a series of fun camp programs during the upcoming school vacation April 14-18 at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. The Maritime Aquarium’s “Spring Vacation Adventures” invite young students to explore a different topic involving our watery world each day of the school break.  Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily. Taking into account parents’ busy schedules, the Aquarium is offering pre-care from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. and post-care from 3:30-5:30 p.m. each day as well. For Ages 6 to 9:
Younger kids can sign up for one, some or all five days. Continue Reading →

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Welcome to Your Flinn Gallery. It’s Free and Open to the Public.

Anyone who has ever wondered about the Flinn Gallery at Greenwich Library need know one fact: The gallery is free and open to the public. Part-time gallery manager Cynthia Whalen remarked that some visitors presume the gallery is private, or open by invitation, when in fact she and the Gallery volunteers who take turns staffing the gallery desk very much enjoy meeting artists, greeting visitors and answering questions. “People come to the door and are sort of tentative, or think it is private,” Whalen said. “And everything is usually for sale here.” A gallery member and volunteer since 1993,  Whalen was hired  two years ago so that the gallery might have a more consistent presence in the library. Continue Reading →

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Greenwich Art Society 97th Juried Exhibition Awards Announced

On Friday night, the Bendheim Gallery was again abuzz  over a new set of artwork and a mostly new set of artists eager for news. Whereas last Friday’s “match-up” event was suspenseful for artists hoping to have been selected by Greenwich Avenue businesses for the upcoming May Art to the Ave event, the Feb. 28 the reception kicked off the 97th annual juried exhibition that runs through March 28, 2014. The annual juried show is prestigious in the art community, but if there were any frayed nerves in the gallery, a string trio playing in the paneled gathering space along the main corridor soothed any stomach butterflies. An abundance of sushi, salmon, sandwiches and bite-sized dessert assortments, as well as wine was on offer, and local artists had a chance to mingle and meet others from nearby towns and New York City. Continue Reading →

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Fundraiser at C Parker Gallery Benefits Non-Profit that Nurtures Veterans

Veterans make great entrepreneurs. That is the premise of BDV, which is short for Business Development for Veterans. The BDV Connecticut chapter, spearheaded by State Rep. Fred Camillo who serves as its executive director, held a lively fundraiser Thursday night at Tiffany Benincasa’s C Parker Gallery at 17 East Putnam Ave. BDV does not lend money. Rather the organization gives money in the form of grants to veterans turned entrepreneurs. Continue Reading →

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Music Tickles Oldest Memories, Brings Joy to Alzheimer’s Patients

Greenwich’s Audrey Appleby screened her short documentary entitled “Tiny Miracles: Awakening Memory And Emotion In An Alzheimer’s World,” at Bowtie Criterion Cinema at in Greenwich Tuesday night. The moving 15-minute film, culled from 60 hours of footage taped by Appleby’s daughter Eliza McNitt and her fellow students at NYU’s Tisch School, chronicles the documentary’s subject, “Alice” (a pseudonym to protect the patient’s privacy), on her journey through Alzheimer’s. Yet Appleby, who works with toddlers in her MagicDance program, shows that the music and dance class framework can trigger muscle memory in elderly Alzheimer’s patients. The documentary’s most uplifting moments are those in which music awakens memories deeply embedded in the brain, bringing moments of joy to victims of Alzheimer’s Disease. In one scene in which the documentary’s subject comes to life, smiling as she sings and dances to music from her youth, Appleby, in her narration, says, “The bars were lifting as the music and dance allowed the rhythm in ‘Alice’s’ soul and those around her to be free, expressing the present moment with humor, generosity and love.” Continue Reading →

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C. Parker Gallery: An Art Answer for Greenwich

By Leslie Yager
Forget preconceived notions of stuffy art galleries. According to Tiffany Benincasa, principal at C Parker Gallery in Greenwich, whether a customer seeks to start a collection, match the drapes, or find a painting to fit a particular space in their home, she eschews a sales pitch as much as anybody. “I’ve been cultivating a collection for over twenty years. I am passionate about art,” said Benincasa whose goal is to establish herself as Greenwich’s go-to resource for art, a place to start a conversation. Indeed, Benincasa’s Gallery, located at 17 East Putnam Ave is as welcoming as it spacious. Continue Reading →

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