Special Events
Feb 8: Teatown Hudson River Eaglefest
Bald eagles pass through the Hudson Valley as part of their winter migration, and as the species has recovered from its near-extinction in the region, the skies have only grown thicker with the magnificent raptor. Eaglefest celebrates America’s bird, with tabling from environmental groups, wildlife demonstrations, food trucks, and, crucially, educators with viewing scopes for glimpsing this particular predator.
Croton Point Park, Croton-on-Hudson, 914.762.2912, www.teatown.org
Black History Month
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Music
Feb 1: Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas Quintet – Sound Prints
Saxophonist Lovano and trumpeter Douglas are some of modern jazz’s most important figures, with multiple Grammy nominations and wins between them. Sound Prints, their experimental quintet, will perform works by composer Wayne Shorter.
Emelin Theatre for the Performing Arts, Mamaroneck, 914.698.0098, www.emelin.org
Feb 6, 13: The Restless Age
This big-time local group plays the final two shows of its four-weekend residency at Uptown Kingston’s best club. Perhaps best known as Amy Helm’s house band, these super-tight players elevate indie rock to something like pure studio craft. They will perform their clutch of 2019 singles as well as covers and previously-unreleased material.
BSP, Kingston, 845.481.5158, www.bspkingston.com
Feb 7: Bonny Light Horseman & Joe Pug
A double bill of astral folk and intimate songwriting. Anaïs Mitchell, writer of the hit Broadway musical Hadestown, teams up with instrumentalist extraordinaire Josh Kaufman and indie rocker Eric D. Johnson for Bonny Light Horseman, a meeting of some very diverse musical minds. Pug, meanwhile, will perform songs from 2019’s The Flood in Color.
Levon Helm Studios, Woodstock, 845.679.2744, www.levonhelm.com
Feb 7: The Bobby Lees
Woodstock garage rockers are joined at this intimate show by The Jennifer Shop, Teen Mortgage, and Soraia.
Tubby’s, Kingston, www.tubbyskingston.com
Feb 7: Cheap Trick
Sure, they may still seem a little weird, but power pop all-stars Cheap Trick are still all right, all those years after rocketing to fame on the back of their triumphant performance at Tokyo’s Budokan. Get ready for sassy guitar lyrics, sugar-sweet harmonies, and a whole lot of nostalgia.
Palace Theatre, Albany, 518.465.4663, www.palacealbany.org
Feb 8-9: Beethoven’s Eroica
The Orchestra Now performs a suite of music by Beethoven to celebrate the composer’s 250th birthday. In addition to the overture to The Consecration of the House and the Piano Concerto No. 4, they will perform the entirety of Beethoven’s Third Symphony.
The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, 845.758.7900, www.fishercenter.bard.edu
Feb 9: Community Music Space Young Performers Showcase
The Community Music Space, based out of the Chocolate Factory in Red Hook, provides artistic education to young people. The school’s young performers get their moment on stage as part of this special showcase concert.
Club Helsinki, Hudson, 518.828.4800, www.helsinkihudson.com
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Feb 14: Porter Carroll Jr. – The Evolution of Cabaret
The acclaimed percussionist and multi-instrumentalist – notably of hit pop group Atlantic Starr, as well as the Hall & Oates backing band – presents a special solo show of R&B, jazz, and funk songs, performed in an innovative cabaret style.
Daryl’s House Club, Pawling, 845.289.0185, www.darylshouseclub.com
Feb 14: The Special Consensus
Banjoist Greg Cahill’s modern bluegrass group received a 2019 Grammy nomination for their updated take on the genre, mixing traditionalist instrumentation – guitar, banjo, bass, mandolin – with hints of jazz and swing.
Emelin Theatre for the Performing Arts, Mamaroneck, 914.698.0098, www.emelin.org
Feb 20: Jesse Malin
Like most punk-rockers, Jesse Malin has mellowed with age. Malin got his start with the hardcore groups Heart Attack and D Generation, before transitioning into a solo career marked by collaborations with such august songwriters as Lucinda Williams, Bruce Springsteen, and Ryan Adams. He is touring behind 2019’s Sunset Kids, on whose songs he collaborated with Williams, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Alejandro Escovedo.
Colony, Woodstock, 845.679.7625, www.colonywoodstock.com
Feb 27: The High Kings
The Dublin folk group plays it straight, preferring their Irish music without any muss or fuss. Expect a good many traditional classics as well as a handful of originals from these lads, who have performed in such notable locales as the White House, Trafalgar Square, and the residence of the President of Ireland.
The Egg, Albany, 518.473.1845, www.theegg.org
The Town Crier Cafe
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Theater, Dance, and Comedy
Feb 7-16: Love/Sick
Cheyenne See directs a performance of John Cariani’s romantic, in a sense, comedy, which documents from beginning to end the trials and travails of a relationship, a series of vignettes that begin with love at first sight and end in heartbreak.
Center for the Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, Rhinebeck, 845.876.3080, www.centerforperformingarts.org
Feb 8: The Ivy League of Comedians
Carmen Lynch, Jon Fisch, and Keith Alberstadt – from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – perform two shows in one night at the Emelin. Each comic will perform their own unique voice, from Fisch’s personal monologues to Alberstadt’s southern charm.
Emelin Theatre for the Performing Arts, Mamaroneck, 914.698.0098, www.emelin.org
Feb 15: Sinbad
This brash comedian, better known by his stage name than as David Adkins, had a number of hit stand-up specials in the 80s and 90s, and co-starred in movies like Jingle All the Way and Good Burger. He will perform classic and new bits at this headlining show, a triumphant return to Peekskill.
Paramount Hudson Valley Theater, Peekskill, 914.739.0039, www.paramounthudsonvalley.com
Feb 20: Romeo & Juliet
The National Ballet Theatre of Odessa presents a special production of the Shakespeare romance (and tragedy), set to the music of Prokofiev and choreographed by M. Lavrovsky. Appropriate for the whole family.
Palace Theatre, Albany, 518.465.4663, www.palacealbany.org
Feb 20-23: Senior Project Festival
Bard’s Theater and Performance Program is among the best in the entire country, and its graduating seniors represent the cream of the theatrical world’s young crop. These five performances showcase the best of their work, from experimental theater to broad comedy, all of it likely to push your boundaries and probably your buttons. Free with reservation.
The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, 845.758.7900, www.fishercenter.bard.edu
Feb 21-23: Braille Garden
Darrah Cloud’s new play takes a magical realist spin on the question of marriage, with a young couple’s coupling resulting in the opening of a portal, through which their vengeful ancestors attempt to destroy their true love. Directed by Christine Crawfis.
Center for the Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, Rhinebeck, 845.876.3080, www.centerforperformingarts.org
Feb 28: FLEX AVE.
This Brooklyn-based group takes the Jamaican street style of Flexn and applies it to a variety of group choreography and solo improv routines, set to a mix of reggae, hip hop, and pop music. Led by pioneer dancer Reggie “Regg Roc” Gray, their work “provides social commentary sparked by both personal experience and current events.”
The Egg, Albany, 518.473.1845, www.theegg.org
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Art
Feb 8-July 12: Collecting Local – Twelve Years of the Hudson Valley Artists Annual Purchase Award This exhibition seeks to showcase the region’s best artists, displaying works obtained through the museum’s Alice and Horace Chandler Art Acquisition Fund. For the first time, works by Libby Paloma, Curt Belshe & Lise Prown, Stephen Niccolis, and more will be shown together, highlighting the diversity and staggering quality of the area’s art scene.
Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, 845.257.3844, www.newpaltz.edu/dorskymuseum
Film
Feb 4: My Blue Heaven
This very-’80s comedy finds Steve Martin portraying a mob hitman who enters witness protection in the California suburbs, but whose more outlandish tendencies aggravate the FBI agent, played by Rick Moranis, in charge of safeguarding the Mafioso before he can testify against his former associates. With a script by Nora Ephron, it’s a blast.
Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, 914.773.7663, www.burnsfilmcenter.org
Feb 24: The Princess Bride You know the quotes, the wit, the sadness, the incredible list of bit actors, and the whip-smart screenplay from Hollywood legend William Goldman, so why not experience it all again in a theater of similar enthusiasts? Tickets are $5.
Palace Theatre, Albany, 518.465.4663, www.palacealbany.org
Feb 29: The Ancient Law
This silent-film classic tells the story of a 1920s Jewish family and attains a new dimension as part of this “cine-concert,” with a live score performed by Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin.
Ashokan Center, Olivebridge, 845.657.8333, www.ashokancenter.org
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Family
Feb 11: Footprints on the Moon
This free daytime show highlights the stories of many Americans involved in the quest to walk on the surface of the moon, with bitesize dramatizations of the lives of John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, and more, all filtered through the eyes of “galaxy enthusiast” Jenny. Ideal for grades 3-5.
Palace Theatre, Albany, 518.465.4663, www.palacealbany.org
Feb 17: Shrek
Donkey! This reference-heavy series of CGI comedies were beloved by children of a certain generation, for whom nothing could have been funnier than Mike Myers doing a spotty Scottish accent. But do they hold up? Find out at this special, kids-focused screening of the original.
Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, 914.773.7663, www.burnsfilmcenter.org
Feb 18: Frozen
Your kids just can’t seem to let go of this cloying Disney movie, based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, so you might as well bring them to this grand-scale screening, where it’s guaranteed you won’t be the only parent who no longer wants to be asked to build a snowman ever, ever again.
Palace Theatre, Albany, 518.465.4663, www.palacealbany.org
Feb 22: Predators of the Wild
Bill and Brian Robinson bring their wild menagerie to the Center for the Performing Arts, with a demonstration, at once wondrous and educational, of hawks, owls, vultures, falcons, and various snakes and lizards.
Center for the Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, Rhinebeck, 845.876.3080, www.centerforperformingarts.org
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Workshops/Classes/Lectures
Feb 9: Valentine Card Workshop
Artist Daly Flanagan leads this one-time-only workshop for “creating one-of-a-kind tokens of affection.” Ages 5 and up, $35 per student.
Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, 845.358.0877, www.rocklandartcenter.org
Feb 22: Mary Calvi Author Talk
Nine-time Emmy-Award-winner and First Lady of Yonkers Mary Calvi has written Dear George, Dear Mary, a novel based on letters written between George Washington and his first love, Mary Eliza Philipse. She will discuss the novel and answer questions from HRM director Masha Turchinsky.
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, 914.963.4550, www.hrm.org
