Social & Cultural Hamptons
South Fork theaters, museums, and cultural venues have great plans for The Season. Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre presents two dynamic Broadway stars, Christine Ebersol and Edward Hibbert, May 28 in Love, Noel: The Letter and Songs of Noel Coward. On May 31, award-winning show Tru, in which flamboyant author Truman Capote explains his life, previews and opens June 4. It stars SNL alum Darrell Hammond and runs through June 25. On June 13, original Rent stars Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp debut their show Adam & Anthony Live!
Bay Street opens its Comedy Club July 2 with Richard Belzer (his straight-man gig is Law & Order: SVU) followed by performances by Patton Oswalt (July 11) and Fred Armisen (July 18). Next mainstage show is Christopher Durang’s comedy Betty’s Summer Vacation (July 5 to 31). Joe Stein and Stan Daniels’ Enter Laughing: The Musical, based on comedian Carl Reiner’s novel, runs August 9 through September 4. The Rock the Dock benefit bash is Saturday, July 16, with celeb cohosts Chris Bauer, Richard Kind, and Mercedes Ruehl. Tickets for all Bay Street programs are online at Baystreet.org or at the box office Wednesdays through Saturdays (631-725-9500).
East Hampton’s Guild Hall begins its summer season with Latino rock band Mr. No Shame on May 28, followed by a showing of new biopic Paul Bowles: The Complete Outsider on May 29. Award-winning Roundabout Theatre’s Oscar Wilde comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Brian Bedford, screens June 2, and acclaimed Broadway comedy Long Story Short, starring Colin Quinn and directed by Jerry Seinfeld, is live onstage (June 8-26). Steve Martin and his banjo play bluegrass with Steep Canyon Rangers as a benefit July 2. Broadway stars Judy Blazer and Eric Michael Gillett sing the patriotic songs of the Gershwins, Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, Porter, and others in Strike Up the Pit Band July 3. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s John McCuen and friends perform July 6, and Tony Walton directs Alec Baldwin, Melissa Errico, and Jerry Stiller in Peter Shaffer’s The Gift of the Gorgon July 8.
New York Times food columnist Florence Fabrikant talks to “Barefoot Contessa” Ina Garten at 11 a.m. July 10. Soprano Daryan Zimmer and guitar virtuoso Eliot Feld perform Savage Nightingale at 8 p.m. On July 14, the Red Carpet Film Series opens with Bill Cunningham New York, about the Times’ celebrated street-fashion photographer. July 15 to 17 is the Hamptons Institute weekend symposium with high-profile experts discussing current events. Invitees include Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Robert Caro, journalist Jonathan Alter, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Newark Mayor Cory Booker. All Guild Hall programs are online at Guildhall.org, or call the box office at 631-324-4050.
Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center presents musical humorist Garrison Keillor on May 29. Other top talent performing every weekend includes Rita Rudner (June 25), Patti LuPone (June 26), Kenny Loggins (July 1), Brian Stokes Mitchell (July 2), Paula Poundstone (July 9), Grand Funk Railroad (July 10), Fab Faux (July 16), and Steven Tyrell (July 17). The entire PAC schedule is online at WHBPAC.org; box office is 631-288-1500.
Southampton’s Parrish Art Museum starts its Friday global cinema screenings June 10. Landscape Pleasures weekend is June 11-12 (interior designers Mario Buatta, Alexandra Hampton, Charlotte Moss, and William Sofield speak Saturday a.m.; a benefit cocktail party is at Redcraft, and self-guided garden tours are Sunday). The elegant Midsummer Party is July 9 (all programs online at ParrishArt.org, or call 631-283- 2118). Bookhampton (East Hampton, Southampton, Sag Harbor) and Canio’s Books (Sag Harbor) present current authors on weekends, and Stony Brook Southampton’s writers conferences run July 6 through 24 with evening programs featuring instructors Alan Alda, Jules Feiffer, Marsha Norman, and Roger Rosenblatt (Stronybrook.edu/writers). Opera of the Hamptons presents rising stars in From Opera to Broadway at Duck Walk Vineyards, Southhold, June 18, and ArtHamptons, the museum-quality international art show, runs July 7 to 10 in Sayre Park, Bridgehampton.
Big changes at some South Fork dining rooms. Nobu is opening at the Capri Hotel on Montauk Highway, Southampton. Della Femina’s in East Hampton sold, and is now East Hampton Grill. Bamboo became the all-Japanese Shiki, and Bamboo’s former owner bought JL East, reopened as Beach House. Ziggy of Bridgehampton moved to run East Hampton’s Nichols, which is now a tapas place called M&E. Popular Almond has moved to the corner by Bridgehampton’s monument, and the owners of Red Bar/Fresno have turned Southampton’s Featherstone (Buckley’s) into an English pub. Thank goodness Nello Summertimes hasn’t changed its offerings of great food and dancing to your heart’s content! (Inquire about Joan Jedell’s Hampton Sheet special Friday night dinner club at 212-861-7861.) [HS]
