Dan's Papers - August 31, 2007 - Take Five 2007 with Jan Silver

Labor Day Weekend is packed with theater, comedy, music and a few benefits. Steve Tyrell is at Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Friday and stars of Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre perform in Westhampton Beach on Saturday. This is the final weekend to see the Charles Busch satire The Lady In Question at Bay Street Theatre, Sag Harbor, and comedian Robert Schimmel is Bay Street's Comedy Club star on Monday night. Guild Hall's John Drew Theater concludes its run of the Steve Martin comedy Picasso at the Lapin Agile with a Saturday matinee and then Playwrights' Theatre of East Hampton has Harris Yulin and Lisa Howard in a staged reading of a new comedy on Sunday night. Noted novelist/attorney Louis Begley reads from his new book in Sag Harbor on Friday, and the improv comedy troupe Just Say Yes performs at Southampton's Parrish Art Museum on Saturday.

The Hampton Classic Horse Show finale is this weekend. Grand Prix show jumping qualifying rounds are Friday, and there's an exhibitor party from 5 to 8 p.m. featuring Just World International's "Horseless Horse Show." Saturday is Cablevision's Kids Day with a Monty Python Spamalot theme and circus performers, special children's activities plus equitation and hunter/jumper finals. Sunday starts off with both jumper and hunter championship competitions followed by the Grand Prix. Admission to the show grounds is $10 per person or $20 per car; grandstand seats Sunday only are $15 for benches, $25 for bucket seats www.hamptonclassic.com or 631-537-3177).

Recommended benefits this weekend: this is the final weekend to visit the Hamptons Designer Showhouse, 536 Ocean Rd, Bridgehampton, which benefits Southampton Hospital (open daily 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Sunday, $30); Westhampton Beach's Bide-a-Wee home for dogs and cats has its annual "Love on a Leash" fair and parade from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday on the Westhampton Beach Village Green (great fun for families, bring your pets, meet Dora the Explorer's dog Diego, Suffolk Cty. Sheriff's K9 unit, children's activities and prizes); "Great Places of the East End" is a special exhibit by local artists for The Nature Conservancy (Fri.-Mon. at historic Ashawagh Hall, Springs, East Hampton, 631-329-7689 or www.nature.org/LongIsland); Shinneckock Nation Powwow Friday-Monday, Rte. 27A Southampton (see more than 50 North and South American natives share dances, foods, handicrafts).

Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theatre has the concluding performances of the Charles Busch high-camp satire The Lady In Question through Sunday ($50-65), and there's a screening of the documentary Charles Busch Is The Lady In Question ($25) after the Saturday evening show. On Monday, 8 p.m., American Comedy Award-winner Robert Schimmel will probably expound on the importance of trust, especially in sex and relationships ($50). Bay Street Theatre tickets are sold at the box office (631-725-9500) or online at www.baystreet.org.

Guild Hall's John Drew Theatre ends its run of Steve Martin's zany, absurdist comedy Picasso at the Lapin Agile after the Saturday matinee ($28-30) at East Hampton Studios, 75 Industrial Rd., Wainscott. On Sunday at 8 p.m., the JDT and Playwrights' Theatre of East Hampton present a stage reading of Ruth Wolff's new comedy The Shakespeare Road with Harris Yulin and Lisa Harris at East Hampton Studios. The evening includes dessert and a Q & A with the cast right after the performance. Tickets ($18-20) are sold at Guild Hall's Main St., East Hampton, box office from noon to 5 p.m. (631-324-4050), at East Hampton Studios before the show, or online at www.guildhall.org.

Just Say Yes, the local improvisational comedy troupe, performs at Southampton's Parrish Art Museum on Saturday, 8 p.m. ($15 Museum members, $17 for guests at the door). The Hampton Synagogue, Westhampton Beach, hosted a full schedule of prominent speakers, authors and performers this summer; this Saturday, 8:30 p.m., stars of the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater, including Fyvush Finkel and Zalmen Mlotek, perform (no admission charge).

Texas-born singer Steve Tyrell and his band perform pop standards from the Great American Songbook on Friday, 8:30 p.m., at Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center. Tickets ($55-85) are sold at the box office after noon (631-288-1500) or online at www.whbpac.org.

Recommended entertainers at clubs and restaurants this week:

Montauk - Wed., 9:30 p.m. comedy at Gurney's Inn, Sun. afternoon jazz at 888 Gigshack; Amagansett - at the Stephen Talkhouse (631-267-3117) on Fri. - singer/songwriter/guitarist James McMurtry then Giving Tree Band, Sat.-notable all-girl cover band Lez Zeppelin then Nancy Atlas Project, Sun. - singer/songwriter Martin Sexton then Booga Sugar; Jazz at Estia Cantina, Amagansett (631-267-6320) - salsa Thurs. with Mambo Loco. East Hampton - jazz Fri. at Almondito; Fri. pop and jazz standards with Jane Hastay and Peter Martin Weiss at Coco Restaurant (Maidstone Arms); Turtle Crossing - Annie Morgan Band on Thurs., Mama Lee & Friends on Fri.; Babette's - pianist Paul Gene on Sat., Fiddlers Cove - live music Sat., Sun, Tues.; East Hampton Point - reggae Sun. Sagaponack - Twilight Thursdays (5-7:30 p.m.) at Wolffer Estate Vineyard with live music. Bridgehampton - World Pie jazz brunch Sat. with Sari Kessler Trio, jazz brunch Sun. with Stefanie Cardinali Group, Pierre's Restaurant - light jazz with Jody Carlson next Tues. Sag Harbor - Annie Morgan Band late. Fri. at Mumbo Gumbo. Water Mill - acoustic guitarist Steve Fredericks on Thurs. at Muse. Southampton - Latin rhythms with Ludmilla on Thurs. at Le Chef, reggae Fri. at Wildthyme, open mike Thurs. at Tugboat's North Sea House. Hampton Bays - live music Fri. at Buckley's Inn Between; live music Fri. & Sat. at Oakland's. 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, jazz with Swingset Quartet at Westhampton Steakhouse weekends; Las Vegas Comedy Allstars then Billy Hill Band at Atlantica on Sat.; East Quogue - Paul Mahos Band on Tues., Fri. & Sun., Annie Morgan Band on Wed. at Docker's.

Best-selling novelist Louis Begley reads from his new tome, Matters of Honor, on Friday, 6 p.m., at Canio's Books, Sag Harbor. His story addresses the racial, religious and social divisions in our society. East End Books, East Hampton, has Wall Street Journal correspondent Lucette Lagnardo reading from her critically-acclaimed memoir The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit on Friday, 6:30 p.m.

The Parrish Art Museum's "Classics from Janus" series continues this Friday, 8 p.m., with Luis Bunuel's daring Viridiana (Mexico/Spain, 1961) which won the top prize at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival ($5 Museum members, $7 guests).