Dan's Papers - June 15, 2007 - Take Five 2007 with Jan Silver

Happy Father's Day weekend to all dads and granddads - dispensers of love, fortitude and cash. We have a week of good entertainment here. Bay Street Theatre has the U.S. premiere of the British hit comedy The Night Season. Opera of the Hamptons presents Tosca at the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall on Saturday. The Playhouse Project in East Hampton presents young Russian pianist Gleb Ivanov and Arab music classicist Bassam Saba on Saturday. The playful pop-classical-rock band Pink Martini is a sellout tonight at Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, but veteran jazz pianist Helen Sung (plays with Marsalis, Monk, Clark Terry, the Heaths) is at Amagansett's Estia Cantina tonight and tomorrow night.

Southampton's Parrish Art Museum starts its artists film series tonight and has a talk about artist Fairfield Porter tomorrow. There are other interesting speakers this weekend and the benefit scene is in full bloom: Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons garden tour (Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m., $60, www.arfhamptons.org); Old Whalers Church, Sag Harbor (Sat., "Hidden Gardens" tour, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., $30, 631-725-0894); Group for the East End gala dinner dance and auction (Sat., 6:30 p.m. at Wolffer Estate Vineyard, $450, 212-245-6570 ext. 16); Alaria Chamber Ensemble's dinner and concert (Sat., 7 p.m. at a Bridgehampton estate, $150, 212-749-4035).

Bay Street Theatre's new production is The Night Season, a comedy by British playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz. A hit originating at London's National Theater, this American premiere features Katherine Helmond, Michael O'Keefe and Kellie Overbey. Performances are Tues. through Sun. with a Wed. matinee. Tickets start at $50; call the box office (631-725-9500) or go online to www.baystreet.org.

This is the last weekend to see the Hampton Theatre Company production of Jean Anouilh's romantic comedy Leocadia, which opened 50 years ago on Broadway as Time Remembered with Richard Burton and Helen Hayes. Showtimes are Thursday to Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m. Tickets are $20 adults, $18 seniors and $10 for students up to age 21; call the Quogue Community Theater at (631) 653-8955 or order online at www.hamptontheatre.org.

Gateway Playhouse in Bellport closes its unusual ice skating musical starring former Olympic champion Oksana Baiul this Sunday. The Frank D'Agostino show is called Cold As Ice. Tickets ($39-43) are sold at the box office or online at www.gatewayplayhouse.com.

The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center reports tonight's artists, the fun-loving Pink Martini band, is a sellout (check at the box office before 8 p.m. for no-show seats) but PAC has singer Lizz Wright next Friday and comedienne Lily Tomlin next Saturday.

Opera of the Hamptons, which features well-trained professional singers, presents a full production of Puccini's Tosca at the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall, Riverhead, this Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $45 and $55 in advance (631-728-8804) or $55 at the door. Parto's Restaurant, around the corner, offers a 10% dinner discount to ticketholders.

The Playhouse Project, which gives grants to gifted young local musicians, has a concert and reception at the historic Woodhouse Playhouse at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in East Hampton. Young Concert Artists' winner, pianist Gleb Ivanov, will perform as will Arabic music composer/conductor Bassam Saba. Tickets are $75 online at jmgoleas@optonline.net or at Guild Hall (631) 324-0806.

Recommended performers at local clubs and restaurants: Amagansett - at the Stephen Talkhouse (631-267-3117) on Fri. (rock/jazz/blues with The Wood Brothers, then Nancy Atlas Project), Sat. (Jamaican ska band Skalatites then disco rock with Booga Sugar), next Wed. southern boogie with Marcia Ball. Jazz club Estia Cantina, Amagansett (631-267-6320) - jazz pianist Helen Sung (plays with W. Marsalis, Clark Terry, Heath Bros. etc.) on Fri. (7 & 9) and Sat. (8 & 10), salsa with Bill Smith and Mambo Loco next Thurs. East Hampton -jazz Fri. at Almondito, Coco Restaurant (Maidstone Arms pop and jazz standards with Jane Hastay and Peter Martin Weiss (Fri.) and country/pop/blues with Jim Turner (Sat.); Prime 103 has Annie Morgan Band on Fri.; Turtle Crossing has Mama Lee & Friends on Fri.; Fiddler's Cove has Jim Turner on Sun., East Hampton Point has reggae Sun. Sagaponack -Twilight Thursdays (5-7:30 p.m.) at Wolffer Estate Vineyard with live music. Bridgehampton - World Pie has jazz & pop standards Sun. afternoon with Stefanie Cardinali Group, Pierre's Restaurant has Dennis Raffelock on Sun. and Jody Carlson next Tues. Southampton - Latin rhythms with Ludmilla on Thurs. at Le Chef, reggae Thurs. at Wildthyme, open mike Thurs. at Tugboat's North Sea House. Hampton Bays - live music Fri. at Buckley's Inn Between. Westhampton Beach - acoustic musicians Fri. & Sat, in Annona's lounge, acoustic guitarist Steve Fredericks (Fri.) and Mambo Loco Cuban jazz band (Sun.) at The Patio; East Quogue - Paul Mahos Band on Fri. & Sun., Annie Morgan Band on Wed.

Rivers and Tides, an award-winning documentary about sculptor Andy Goldsworthy creating work from ice, driftwood, leaves, stones, etc. outdoors, opens the "Six Artists" summer film series at Southampton's Parrish Art Museum tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5 for Museum members, $7 for guests at the door. Sag Harbor's John Jermain Library screens the Idi Amin biopic The Last King of Scotland starring Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker at 6:30 p.m. tonight; there is no admission charge but come a few minutes early for good seats. Southampton's Rogers Memorial Library will show Pedro Almodovar's comedy Volver with Penelope Cruz on Monday at 3 p.m. (call 631-283-0774 ext. 523 to reserve a free seat).

At Canio's Books, Upper Main St., Sag Harbor, poets Kathy Engel, Kathryn Levy and Naomi Lazard will read from We Begin Here: Poems for Palestine and Lebanon on Friday, 6 p.m. On Saturday at 6 p.m., biographer Ruth Crocker will talk about Mrs. Russell Sage: Activism and Philanthropy in the Gilded Age at Canio's. Prof. Lynn Cohen will discuss poet T.S. Eliot at the North Sea Community House on Sat at 2 p.m. ($3 per person or $5 for two; call 631-204-1240).

At BookHampton, Southampton, on Saturday, 5:30 p.m., artist/photographer/golfer Christopher Obetz will discuss his new book 100 Classic Golf Tips. Novelist Susanna Moore will read from her new tome Big Girls at BookHampton, East Hampton, on Saturday at 8 p.m. Voting technology authority Lawrence Norden will speak about The Machinery of Democracy: Protecting Elections in an Electronic World at BookHampton, Sag Harbor, on Saturday at 8 p.m. Artists Robert Dash, Jane Freilicher, John MacWhinnie and poet David Shapiro will recount remembrances of famous Southampton painter Fairfield Porter on Sat., 6 p.m., at the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton ($5 Museum members, $7 guests).&