The Westport Historical Society (WHS) later this month will host an exhibit celebrating the life and work of world renowned Westport illustrator Ed Vebell, 96, called “The Curious Case of Ed Vebell.” 

Ed Vebell : legendary artist-illustrator. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

An opening reception will be held on Sunday, Jan. 28, from 2 to 4 p.m. with the exhibit continuing through April 28.

During World War II, longtime Westporter Vebell served as a field illustrator, choreographing battles for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes. He was also the official courtroom artist for the Nuremberg trials.

Vebell spent years overseas in exotic places such as Morocco and the cabarets of Paris. A renaissance man, who later worked decades as an illustrator for myriad publications including Sports Illustrated and Readers Digest, he also competed at the 1952 Olympics in fencing.

It’s called “creative placemaking,” and its stated goal is to make part of Westport’s downtown or a particular neighborhood rejuvenated and accessible.

And it is the thrust of the Westport Arts Advisory Committee (WAAC) and the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County’s (CAFC) scheduled brainstorming session Monday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the main floor Reading Room at the Westport Library.

“Imagine engaging and working with a team of citizens, local artists, architects, transportation, school, or health officials to make Westport an even more attractive place to live, to improve a building, a troublesome intersection or to spark the rejuvenation of a part of town,” the WAAC announcement said.

According to WAAC officials, ideas developed from the session, along with a team put together from other Fairfield County towns, will guide the direction of CAFC’s Creative Placemaking conference set for Tuesday, Jan. 23 and Wednesday, Jan. 24 at the Stepping Stones Museum in Norwalk.

By Susan Granger

With “The Shape of Water,” filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has created a poignant, fantastical fable, set in Baltimore, Maryland, at the height of the Cold War era in 1962.

A lonely, mute janitor, Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), discovers an exotic, aquatic creature from the black lagoon, hidden in a cylindrical tank in a high-security government laboratory, run by sadistic Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) who tortures his amphibian captive with an electric cattle prod.

In South America’s Amazon River, he (Doug Jones) is a considered a god. He can breathe underwater, utilizing shimmering gills, but also on-land with humanoid lungs. Modeled after Michelangelo’s ‘David,’ his body is perfectly proportioned and his touch has remarkable curative powers.

Captured by the military, this mysterious, yet innocent hybrid is being brutalized by scientists who consider him an oceanographic “asset” that can give America a supernatural advantage over the perceived Communist threat.

The Fairfield School of Rock House Band played tonight at Toquet Hall to a small but enthusiatic audience as part of the First Night festivities. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

Westporter Mark Naftalin, a 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, was back at the Westport Historical Society tonight as part of the First Night Westport Weston festivities. The crowd was small due to the cold, but very appreciative. The blues keyboardist, recording artist, composer, and record producer, was inducted into the Hall after appearing on the historic first four albums by Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the mid 1960s as a band member. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

By Susan Granger

At the end of the year, it’s time for evaluations. Here’s my list – in alphabetical order:

PICTURE

“Dunkirk”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Mudbound”
“The Post”
“The Shape Of Water”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
“Wind River”
“Wonderstruck”
“Wonder Woman”

LEADING ACTOR:

Timothee Chalamet for “Call Me By Your Name”
Steve Carell for “Battle Of The Sexes”
Daniel Day-Lewis for “Phantom Thread”
Sam Elliott for “The Hero”
Jake Gyllenhaal for “Stronger”
Tom Hanks for “The Post”
Kumail Nanjiani for “The Big Sick”
Daniel Kaluuya for “Get Out”
Gary Oldman in “Darkest Hour”
Jeremy Renner in “Wind River”

The Westport Country Playhouse will stage a limited engagement of the recent off-Broadway musical, “Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie,” from Tuesday, Jan. 9 through Saturday, Jan. 20.

Helen Russell, Andy Teirstein, David M. Lutken, and Darcie Deauville in the Lyric production of “Woody Sez.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Wendy Mutz photo

Featured in the title role is David M. Lutken, the show’s deviser, who won Helen Hayes and Joseph Jefferson awards for his performance.

“The idea for the show came out of a desire for people in America and around the world to know more about the life of a fellow from my part of the world whom I’ve greatly admired for a long time,” said Lutken, who is a native of Dallas, Texas.

“Not only his songs, but his life, lifestyle, and the persona he created for himself have all been examined and referenced and imitated for two or three generations now, but ‘Woody Sez’ is an attempt to channel something more through theater. It’s the spirit of the man through his ‘Life & Music’ that I want the audience to feel and see and hear—- and ‘get’.”

Many children were in attendance today at the Westport Country Playhouse (WCP) for two daytime one-hour performances of a musical version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” produced by TheatreWorks USA, as part of the WCP Family Festivities Series. The Playhouse’s six-show Family Festivities Series is presented on selected Sundays from December through May, featuring musical productions based on classic and contemporary children’s stories. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com