Lionel Richie

Daily : 8 p.m. (June 18th through June 19th)
$50-$90.
Performance Theater at Foxwoods MGM Grand

Half-Price tickets available at www.FoxwoodsTix.com

Cirque Du Soleil's OVO

Daily (June 17th through July 11th)
$31.50-$250

Grand Chapiteau
800-450-1480

Cirque du Soleil returns to Hartford this summer with its latest big top touring production OVO. OVO premieres June 17 for a limited engagement under the trademark blue-and-yellow Grand Chapiteau (Big Top) on Market Street in Hartford, at the intersection of I-84 and I-91 (Northwest corner).  OVO means “egg” in Portuguese. This timeless symbol of the life cycle and birth of numerous insects represents the underlying thread of the show.  OVO features many acrobatic acts including a flying trapeze act: Six flyers soar 40 feet in the air, making this act the biggest of its kind ever presented under a big top by Cirque du Soleil. It combines many circus disciplines: banquine, Russian swing and swinging chair. The finale features 20 artists running, jumping and leaping up a 24-foot vertical wall.  Performances are Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 1 and 5 p.m. No performances on Mondays. Tickets for adults range $45 to $125 as the base price, plus a series of fees. Children, $31.50 to $87.50 as the base price, not including the series of fees.

Buy your tickets for the event at the Cirque Du Soleil Ovo Web site.

National Puppetry Conference
June 18th : 7 p.m.
June 19th : 7 p.m.
Call for tickets.

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
860-443-5378

Conference culminates in public performances, emphasizing the latest techniques, approaches, and ideas in the world of puppetry, and drawing on the work of guest artists as well as puppet theater pieces developed during the Conference itself.

Rose & Garden Weekend

Daily (June 18th through June 20th)
Butler-McCook House & Garden

Tour Elizabeth Park in West Hartford, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, Hill-Stead in Farmington, Wickham Park in Manchester, Wheeler Farms in Portland, Hurst Farm & Country Store in Andover, Bushnell Park and the Bushnell Park Carousel in downtown Hartford. Most events are free.

Open House Tour & Tasting

Every 1st Friday of the month : 5 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Every 3rd Friday of the month : 5 p.m. - 8 p.m.
$10

Thomas Hooker Brewing Company
860-242-3111

Thomas Hooker Brewing Co. and Harry's Bishop's Corner have paired up to raise money to bring a little holiday cheer to children at the Village for Children and Families in Hartford.  During the Bloomfield brewery's open house, pizza from Harry's will be sold for $1, a slice to be paired with all the beer you can drink and a pint glass to keep. Portions of the evening's money will go to the Village.  The Village is a vibrant, community-based organization that provides behavioral health care and social services to over 5,000 children and families in the Greater Hartford Region each year.

Jeffrey Ross

June 18th : 8 p.m.
$35.

Ridgefield Playhouse
203-438-5795

"The Roastmaster General" who specliazes in roasting celebrities.

Branford Festival

June 18th : 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.
June 19th : 7 a.m. - 10 p.m.
June 20th : 7 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Branford Green
http://branfordfestival.com

Annual festival featuring music, crafts, kids' activities, a road race and more. No dogs.

Pilobolus

June 19th : 7 p.m.
Free.

Mortensen Riverfront Plaza
860-713-3131
http://www.riverfront.org/events/

Members of this world-renowned dance company will captivate you with their amazing body contortions, movements and sense of humor. The rain date is June 20.

Art for Aids

June 19th : 7 p.m. - 11:55 p.m.
$50.

ArtSpace Hartford
860-246-7388

Open wine bar, appetizers from local restaurants, music, juried art show/sale, art "grab" where each guest will take home an original 12-by-12-inch canvas by local artist. Presented by the Connecticut AIDS Resource Coalition.

Connecticut Gay Men's Chorus: Always a Bridesmaid Bingomania!

June 19th : 7 p.m.

Annex Club Hall
800-644-2462

Cash prizes per game range from $25 to $200. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the games begin at 7 p.m. Cocktails, wine and beer, as well as food and other beverages, are always available.

Hike in Vernon

June 19th : 9:15 a.m.

Valley Falls Park
860-649-3848

A 4.6-mile hike by Risley Reservior, over Box Hill to the Shenipsit Trail and Valley Falls Park. Bail out or do an additional 2-mile hike in the Belding Wildlife Management Area. Rating B3. Kids and leashed dogs OK, hiking boots only, bring lunch and plenty to drink. Bad weather cancels. Meet at Valley Falls Park for a short car spot.

Native American PowWow

June 19th : 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
June 20th : 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
$5 adults, $3 seniors, age 16 and under are free.

Creamery Brook Bison Farm
860-870-5879

Gates open at 10 a.m.; grand entry is at noon, when the ceremonial dances will begin. Proceeds benefit the Muscular Distrophy Association. Story telling, native dress dance, and native foods, children activities, and more. Saturday at 5:30, join a wagon ride to see bison and enjoy ice cream pizza.

New Milford Outdoor Art Festival

June 19th : 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
June 20th : 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

New Milford Green

A great day for friends and family. The 15th annual juried art festival is located on New Milford, Connecticut’s historic green. The village of New Milford is nestled between route 7 and route 202, just off the east bank of the beautiful Housatonic River.

Farm Festivals

Every 3rd Sunday of the month : 1 p.m. - 6 p.m. (June 20th through August 15th)October 10th : 1 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Tickets: $40 adults, $5 for youth 12 and under. Tickets include food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Rosedale Farms
860-522-9806, Ext. 15.

Farm Festivals are held on select Sunday afternoons from 1 to 6 p.m. throughout the summer. These events are perfect for the entire family! Enjoy hay rides, live music, farm tours and more.  Festival Schedule: June 20 is the Strawberry Festival; July 18 is Peach & Blueberry Celebration; August 15 is Summer Harvest & Corn Delight; and October 10 is the Fall Harvest.

Outdoor flea market

Sundays : 7 a.m. - 3 p.m. (ends October 31st)
Free admission.

Burlington Inn Antiques
860-404-1780

Sunday Afternoon Garden Walks

Every 3rd Sunday of the month : 2 p.m. (ends September 19th)

Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden
203-266-7596

Stroll parterre garden, designed by Ferridays in 1915. The garden exhibits heirloom roses, lilacs, peonies and other fragrant blooms. The walks are led by the museum’s Master Gardener, horticultural staff and special guests. $5 CT Landmarks members; $7 general public.

Moby Dick

Daily : 8 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. (June 16th through June 19th)
$15 to $40

Long Wharf Theatre, Main Stage
203-787-4282

A stunning stage adaptation of Herman Melville’s great American novel, Moby Dick is a vital one-man performance by Conor Lovett, accompanied by original music by Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh on fiddle, viola and uileann pipes at this year's International
Festival of Arts & Ideas. 

Elaine Stritch Singin’ Sondheim ... One Song At A Time

Daily (June 17th through June 20th)
$60.

Roberts Theater, Kingswood-Oxford School
860-233-9631

Show is the culmination of a personal and professional relationship that has spanned the better part of four decades, beginning with "Company" in 1970.

Oddfellows Playhouse Gala

June 17th
$150 per couple, $100 per person.

St. Clement's Castle
860-347-6143
http://www.oddfellows.org

Oddfellows Playhouse, Connecticut's largest youth theater, is celebrating its 35th anniversary with a silent/live auction at St. Clement's Castle, 1931 Portland-Cobalt Road, Route 17, Portland, at 6 p.m., June 17, 2010. Oddfellows Playhouse will also present its first Distinguished Alumni Award to 2008 Pulitzer prize finalist Christopher Shinn. Shinn began writing plays when he was a teen involved in Oddfellows programs.

Creative Cocktail Hour

Every 3rd Thursday of the month : 6 p.m. - 10 p.m.
$5 for members, $10 for non-members

Real Art Ways
860-232-1006
http://www.realartways.org/

An unforgettable night of drinking, mingling and, of course, art.
Get out into the fresh air at the August installment of Creative Cocktail Hour. The event will feature art by Gelah Penn. Penn's site-specific installation presents jagged, three dimensional lines, shapes and colors set against stark white walls. The unconventional materials used in her work include vinyl lanyard, monofilament, plastic mesh, rubber and vinyl tubing, plastic and Styrofoam balls, and upholstery needles.
Live entertainment will be provided by the Burnt Sugar collective, whose music explores the connective tissue binding jazz, rock, funk, twentieth century composition and African music in a lyrical, seductive, exploratory and improvisational manner.

Noon to night: MacTalla Mor

June 17th : 6:30 p.m.
Free

New Haven Green
Temple & Elm sts., New Haven, CT 06510

MacTalla Mor returns to the International Festival of Arts and Ideas for an evening performance! Gaelic for "great echo", this hard-driving Celtic roots band's bagpipes, bodhran, organ, flute and singing gets the whole family dancing.

X-Treme Scramble Series

June 17th : 6 p.m.
July 15th : 6 p.m.

Mortensen Riverfront Plaza
860-652-8866

Slightly different, a little zany, but lots of fun. After the run, enjoy food, cold Harpoon beer and live music under the stars on the Riverfront.

Ingrid Michaelson

June 18th : 8:30 p.m.
$17.50 advance; $20 door

Pearl Street Nightclub
Northampton, MA
413-586-8686

Folk-pop artist Ingrid Michaelson first achieved national attention when her song "Keep Breathing" was chosen to air during the final six minutes of the 2007 "Grey's Anatomy" season finale. She's toured the world with musicians like Dave Matthews and Jason Mraz.

Fourth annual “Iron Chef Competition and Auction for Action"

June 18th : 6 p.m. - 10 p.m.
$95.

Saltwater Farm Vineyard
860-245-0222

Reigning MASH “Iron Chef” champion Jamie Fowler, Executive Chef of Noah’s Restaurant, will face off in a culinary battle against Chaz Paull, Executive Chef of the Daniel Packer Inne.

Noon to night: Michael Cleary Band

June 18th : noon
Free

New Haven Green

Celebrating 19 years of original grooves and funky rock music, this Hartford-based group's monstrous solos and epic jams have been compared to the Allman Brothers and will be showcased at this year's International Festival of Arts and Ideas.

Varla Jean Merman The Lady Behind the Moustache

June 18th : 8 p.m.
$30; $25 for Mark Twain House & Museum members.
Mark Twain House & Museum
860-280-3130

Varla Jean Merman, the loose chanteuse and one of America's funniest drag performers, returns to Hartford with a new show filled with saucy songs, side-splitting videos and naughty humor sure to make Aunt Polly and Becky Thatcher blush. Twain himself once donned a dress for a backyard theatrical and the lead character in his comic play Is He Dead? (which recently debuted on Broadway) is a cross-dressing con-artist.

Art for The Park Sale & Open House

June 18th : 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
June 19th : 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
June 20th : 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Free.

Stonebridge Estate
860-670-0647

Local artists will showcase their art in the distinctive residences at Stonebridge Estate. Benefits Friends of Elizabeth Park.

Dinner with Friends

Daily (ends June 19th)
$35-$65.

Westport Country Playhouse
203-227-4177

Tuesday, 8 p.m.; Wednesday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 4 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m. Pulitzer Prize-winning comic drama by Donald Margulies, directed by David Kennedy.

"All In the Timing"

Daily (June 10th through June 20th)
$6-$37.

Nafe Katter Theatre
860-486-4226

Tuesday-Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. Matinees: 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

GardenFest

Daily (June 11th through June 27th)

Florence Griswold Museum
860-434-5542

A two-week celebration (through June 27) of the site’s historic gardens, featuring special events, garden tours, demonstrations, and family activities. Enjoy a wide variety of activities for all ages and interest levels. Most events are free with Museum admission.

GardenFest events begin on June 11 with the third annual garden luncheon featuring Pauline Lord of White Gate Farm. Lord speaks about the importance of eating locally grown food for both health reasons and to support local agriculture. There is an additional fee for this event and reservations are required.  GardenFest culminates on June 27 with Connecticut Historic Gardens Day. As part of the statewide, 14-site collaboration, Connecticut’s Historic Gardens, the Florence Griswold Museum, hosts expert tours of the gardens and refreshments.

Rent

Daily (June 11th through June 27th)
$18-$23

Thomaston Opera House
860-283-6250

Jonathan Larson's rock opera based on Puccini's La Boheme.

I Left My Heart: A Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett

Daily (June 12th through June 27th)
$21.50.

Nancy Marine Studio Theatre
84 Main St., Torrington, CT
860-489-7180

Performances arre June 12, 18-19, 25-26 at 8 p.m.; June 13, 20, 27 at 2 p.m.

Annie Get Your Gun

Daily (ends July 3rd)
$27.50-$71
Goodspeed Opera House
860-873-8668

Three revivals of beloved musicals bow within one week of each other in April, making it a sweet spring indeed. Irving Berlin’s “Annie Get Your Gun” begins performances at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam April 16 and plays through June 27, directed by Rob Ruggiero.

On Golden Pond

Daily (May 28th through July 3rd)
$30.

Connecticut Cabaret Theatre
860-829-1248

The love story of Ethel and Norman Thayer, who are returning to their summer home on Golden Pond for the forty-eighth year. He is a retired professor, nearing eighty, with heart palpitations and a failing memory, but still as tart-tongued, observant and eager for life as ever.
Broadway veteran Carolyn Kirsch and Tom Roohr play the couple, Ethel and Norman Thayer. Doors open at 7:15 p.m.

"Oedipus"

Fridays and Saturdays : 8 p.m. (May 28th through June 26th)June 6th : 2 p.m.
June 13th : 2 p.m.
$20 donation.

Hole in the Wall Theater
860-229-3049
http://www.hitw.org

Oedipus, King of Thebes, desperately seeks an answer to the cause of his city's fate, not realizing that due to a prophecy made when he was born, Oedipus himself is the cause of his people's woes. Written and directed by Ted Guhl.

Hartford Organic Farmers Market

Saturdays : 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

The Growing Green Co-op
203 New Britain Ave., Hartford, CT
860-246-5700
http://growinggreenco-op.blogspo...

The Growing Green Co-op hosts a year-round Saturday morning farmers market. Help grow the local economy by supporting Connecticut-grown and manufactured products. The market will feature a large percentage of organic and sustainable items. Plenty of parking is available in the lot next to the Co-op (adjacent to the Trinity College Hockey Rink).  The market is held each Saturday, rain or shine.

Marine Life Study Cruises

Saturdays : 1 p.m. (ends June 26th)
$20.50 general; $18 Aquarium members.

IMAX Maritime Aquarium Norwalk
Norwalk, CT
203-852-0700, Ext. 2206

Saturdays through June 26. Cruise out onto Long Island Sound for exciting hands-on encounters with live fish, crabs and other marine animals brought right up onto the research vessel Oceanic. 21/2 hours. Recommended for ages 8 and older. Advance reservations strongly recommended; walk-up tickets sold, space permitting

Annie Get Your Gun

(April 16th through June 27th)
$27.50-$71
Goodspeed Opera House
East Haddam, CT
860-873-8668

Three revivals of beloved musicals bow within one week of each other in April, making it a sweet spring indeed. Irving Berlin’s “Annie Get Your Gun” begins performances at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam April 16 and plays through June 27, directed by Rob Ruggiero.

Family Saturdays: We Go Together

April 24th : 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
May 29th : 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
June 26th : 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Free admission.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
600 Main St., Hartford, CT 06103
 860-278-2670

Save Last Saturdays for art-filled fun! Spend a morning exploring with your family during hands-on art activities, family tours, stories and more.


Nook Farm Book  Club

Every 1st Thursday of the month (ends July 1st)
Mark Twain House & Museum
351 Farmington Ave., Hartford, CT 06105
860-247-0998

The Nook Farm Book Club, a project of the Mark Twain House and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, its Nook Farm neighbor, will launch a series of six discussions on the first Thursday of the month focusing on selected books by Twain or Stowe or about their era.

The two institutions, at Forest Street and Farmington Avenue, will alternate hosting the free events, which will begin with refreshments served at 5 p.m., followed by a discussion from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. At their museum stores, they will sell copies of the books to be discussed. Parking is free.

On May 6 at the museum: “Tom Sawyer Abroad” and “Tom Sawyer, Detective.” On June 3 at the Stowe center: “Stowe in Her Own Time” by Susan Belasco. On July 1at the Stowe center: “A Summer of Hummingbirds, Love, Art and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Martin Johnson Heade” by Christopher Benfey.

More titles are expected to be announced for the series. Registration is recommended for single sessions or the series by contacting Kate Rounds at 860-522-9258, ext. 317 or krounds@stowecenter.org.

Building America’s Canals exhibit

(ends October 11th)
Admission: $24 adults; $15 youth (ages 6 -17). Children 5 and under and Museum members are admitted for free.
Mystic Seaport
75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic, CT 06355
888-973-2767

Organized by the National Canal Museum of Easton, PA, Building America’s Canals blends history and science through hands-on activities and encourages visitors of all ages to step into the roles of lock tender, canal engineer, crane operator and canalboat captain.  Divided into four sections relating to key canal structures – locks, masonry arches, cranes and aqueducts – each area will feature accompanying interpretive panels with photographs, diagrams and text detailing the historical context for America’s canals.

Additionally, the exhibit features enlarged historic photographs from the Museum’s collections documenting canals, as well as a rare 1845 poster advertising the New Haven and Northampton Daily Canal Boat Line that once connected coastal Connecticut to central Massachusetts.

From Adam and Eve to George and Martha

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
600 Main St., Hartford, CT 061
 860-278-2670

In Hartford, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art continues its string of small exhibitions that extend and compliment its own collection with one that reunites sets of paintings painted as pairs but long since separated in different museums and occasionally different countries. Couples, of course, are emphasized, indicated by the title “From Adam and Eve to George and Martha.” Opening Feb. 14, it continues through May 30. Information: the Wadsworth Web site or 860-278-2670.

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