Mary Poppins takes to the air today in a dress rehearsal of the Coleytown Company production of “Mary Poppins.” The play, under the direction of Benjamin Frimmer, will be presented Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7 p.m. with a 1 p.m. Saturday matinee. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

Cast members of “Mary Poppins” perform in a dress rehearsal today of the Coleytown Company production which will be seen Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Coleytown Middle School. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

Scenes from today’s final dress rehearsal of the Coleytown Company’s “Mary Poppins.” It will be presented Thursday Frday, and Saturday at Coleytown Middle School. Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

By Phyllis Groner

Famed pop artist Andy Warhol could have been a case study on the television show “Hoarders,” to hear science journalist Claudia Kalb tell it.

Author Claudia Kalb (l) chats with audience members today at the Westport Library. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

His home was so jammed with stuff, his rooms so unnavigable, that he never invited people over, Kalb said.

Kalb, author of “Andy Warhol Was a Hoarder: Inside the Minds of History’s Great Personalities,” held a rapt, overflow audience spellbound at the Westport Library’s McManus Room today as she recounted the idiosyncrasies and psychological quirks of 12 of the world’s great minds and personalities.

Kalb’s book suggests Albert Einstein was high on the autism scale, Charles Darwin was riddled with anxiety disorder, Frank Lloyd Wright was a narcissist and George Gershwin had an attention deficit disorder (ADD).

A guest gets a closeup view of “Cedar Roost” by Ray Schreiber at Saturday night’s Project Return birdhouse auction in Fairfield. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Mggs Burroughs for WestportNow.com

A guest makes a bid Saturday night on a birdhouse at Project Return’s 21st annual birdhouse auction in Fairfield. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Miggs Burroughs for WestportNow.com

Scenes from Saturday night’s 21st annual Project Return birdhouse auction at FTC Warehouse in Fairfield. Miggs Burroughs for WestportNow.com and contributed photos

The Westport Arts Center today presented another in its jazz series at the Pequot Library in Southport. The audience warmly welcomed New Duke, an eight-piece jazz ensemble that combines the past music of Duke Ellington’s Cotton Club period through the 1960s with the modern grooves of hip-hop, rock and reggae. Brian Torff, bassist, guitarist, harmonicist, vocalist, composer, lyricist, a professor of music at Fairfield University and who oversees the WAC jazz series, originally formed the esemble for a teachers’ workshop about Ellington. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

Birdhouses were in place and ready today for tonight’s 21st annual Project Return birdhouse acution in Fairfield. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com