The Fairfield Carolers, a subset of the Fairfield County Choral, entertain tonight at the Kawai Ni restaurant in Saugatuck. They toured 14 restaurants in the annual holiday crawl sponsored by the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

By Susan Granger

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” writer/director Rian Johnson’s expansion of George Lucas’ galactic adventure franchise, is everything you want it to be — and more — particularly viewed on the huge IMAX screen at Norwalk’s Maritime Aquarium.

Beginning where J.J. Abrams’ “The Force Awakens” left off with the scrolling-text “crawl,“ the totalitarian First Order under Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) is still trying to obliterate Resistance forces, led by wry General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) and steely Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo (Laura Dern).

Desperate for help, courageous Rey (Daisy Ridley), Jakku’s scavenger-turned-warrior, is dispatched on the Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca to try to convince reclusive Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) not only to come back but also to train her as a Jedi.

Despite detecting Daisy’s extraordinary aptitude, melancholy Luke is adamant about not leaving Ahch-To, his craggy island sanctuary, particularly when he senses dangerous mind-melding similarities between Rey and his last pupil, despicable Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who has descended to the Dark Side.

As is the tradition, former Staples High School students were invited today to join the finale of the 77th annual Candlelight Concert afternoon performance by the combined choirs and orchestra of “Hallelujah Chorus.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

There was a bit of reindeer love in the Staples High School 77th annual Candlelight Concert as seen at today’s afternoon performance. The production number, “The Holiday Present,” was written and accompanied by Don Rickenback.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

Scenes from tonight’s opening night of the 77th annual Staples High School Candlelight Concert. Lynn U. Miller for WestportNow.com

One of the Staples choirs led by Luke Rosenberg perform tonight at the opening night of the 77th annual Candlelight Concert at Staples High School. Despite snow and chilly temperatures outside, the event was a sell out. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Lynn U. Miller for WestportNow.com

The 77th annual Staples Candlelight Concert tonight concluded with a holiday-themed fun musical extravaganza. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Lynn U. Miller for WestportNow.com