Youngsters dance to Secret Agent 23 Skiddo tonight in the weekly Melissa & Doug children’s series at the Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

By Susan Granger

“Florence Foster Jenkins” is set in the 1940s, a kinder, gentler era when a good-hearted, generous, if delusional diva packed Manhattan’s famed Carnegie Hall, and people cheered as she enthusiastically sang off-key.

Socialite heiress Florence Foster Jenkins believed she was a gifted opera singer. The coloratura soprano she heard in her head was magnificent; that her voice quavered never deterred her in the slightest.

Employing Metropolitan Opera conductor Carlo Edwards (David Haig) as her vocal coach, she endowed New York’s Verdi Club, where adoring audiences encouraged her screeching.

If she could not achieve acclaim, she could buy it - with the help of her dedicated husband/manager St. Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) and loyal, long-suffering accompanist Cosme McMoon (Simon Helberg).

The Westport Country Playhouse today announced it has hired Michael Barker, a California theater professional with roots at Yale University, as its new managing director.

Michael Barker: Yale alumnus. Contributed photo

Barker, 36, comes to Westport from Mill Valley, Calif., where he was the managing director of Marin Theatre Company.  He will assume the Playhouse post in early September, an announcement from the board of trustees said.

He succeeds Michael Ross who left in June after seven years to return to Baltimore and Center Stage, the State Theater of Maryland. The six-month search reviewed more than a dozen candidates, the Playhouse said.

Barker will partner with Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director, to lead the not-for-profit, professional theater, currently in its 86th season. 

There will be a Westport reunion on Thursday, Aug. 25 with internationally acclaimed Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell and renowned Westport pianist Frederic Chiu.

Joshua Bell (l) and longtime friend, Frederic Chiu of Westport, rehearse together. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

The occasion is a fundraiser marking the fifth anniversary of Chiu’s Beechwood Arts & Innovation, a Westport-based nonprofit that fosters innovation and collaboration across all of the arts and across generations.

The two, who are longtime friends, will perform in an 8 p.m. concert at the Saugatuck Congregational Church, 245 Post Road East. Tickets must be reserved in advance. Click here for information.

Bell helped kick off Beechwood’s first year and is returning to give a “high 5” for Beechwood’s fifth year, according to an announcement.

The art project honoring Westport’s past and present in the railroad tunnel at the Metro-North Westport station is seeking sponsors to complete the initiative. The project features lightbox lenticular views combining past and present images of Westport landmarks by Westport artist Miggs Burrough (r). He viewed one of the images today with Police Chief Foti Koskinas and Deputy Chief Sam Arciola. Anyone interested should contact any of the three. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com

The Hot Sardines enterained tonight at Westport;s Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts. Fusing musical influences from New York, Paris, and New Orleans, the group transformed songs from another era into pop music for this century. There was hot, foot-stomping jazz, salty stride piano, and the kind of music Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, and Fats Waller used to make. Bandleader and pianist Evan “Bibs” Palazzo and lead singer Elizabeth Bougerol were joined by a blustery brass lineup, a powerhouse rhythm section led by a stride-piano virtuoso, and their very own tap dancer. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) J.C. Marin for WestportNow.com

Tonight’s Levitt Pavilion performance by The Hot Sardines included some tap dancing. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) J.C. Martin for WestportNow.com

Downtown Merchants Association (DMA) worker Todd Tracy hangs a banner at the intersection of Post Road East and Riverside Avenue today, reminding passersby of the ninth annual Blues, Views and BBQ Festival on Sept. 3 and 4 at the Levitt Pavilion and the Westport Library parking lot. Tracy said additional banners will be displayed on all 21 lampposts on Main Street and 20 utility poles in the downtown Westport area. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

The Mighty Soul Drivers entertained tonight at the Westport Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts. They brought the classic soul sounds of Memphis, Muscle Shoals, and points South, taking their inspiration from the giants of Southern Soul—O.V. Wright, Percy Sledge, Otis Redding and more. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo