Westport artists Miggs Burroughs and Ann Chernow get together at tonight’s opening of their joint exhibit “Amazing Grace” at the new Gallery at the Westport Country Playhouse. They said their striped outfits were purely coincidental. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com

There was a packed crowd tonight at the opening reception for the new Gallery at the Westport Country Playhouse. Ann Chernow and fellow Westport artist Miggs Burroughs joined to produce the exhibit, “Amazing Grace,” which focuses on real and invented people from life’s shadows. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

Works by renowned Westport artists Miggs Burroughs and Ann Chernow are on display at the new Gallery at the Westport Country Playhouse. Their exhibit, “Amazing Grace,” opens Saturday in the Sheffer Rehearsal space thanks to Ann Sheffer, art patron, philanthropist, and Playhouse honorary trustee. The reception is from 5 to 8 p.m. and is open to the public. The exhibit focuses on real and invented people from life’s shadows. This is the inaugural exhibit made possible from a partnership the Playhouse has formed with the Westport Permanent Art Collection and the Artists Collective of Westport. Now equipped with wall treatments, track lighting and a modern hanging system, this promises to be one of the outstanding gallery spaces in the area. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

By Susan Granger

In “Widows,” Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”) and co-writer Gillian Flynn (“Gone Girl”) have come up with a compelling crime caper that has more twists and turns than a corkscrew.

Living in a luxurious penthouse high above Lake Michigan on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive, elegant, educated, union organizer Victoria Rawlings (Viola Davis) never paid much attention to her felonious husband Harry’s (Liam Neeson) shady business — until one of his robberies goes awry and she’s left a widow, along with the wives of his crew.

In her grief, Victoria’s accosted by ambitious politician Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) and his psychotic/enforcer brother (Daniel Kaluuya). Jamal’s in a heated political campaign for local alderman against corrupt Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell), who hopes to ‘inherit’ the seat recently vacated by his ailing father, Tom (Robert Duvall). Apparently, Harry owes Jamal a couple million dollars.

Left with little choice but settle her husband’s debt, Victoria assembles the other despairing, penniless wives (Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki) in a posh sauna, where they begin to plot a $5 million theft, following an intricate strategy that Harry left in a meticulously detailed notebook. Later, they’re joined by an intrepid getaway ‘driver’ (Cynthia Erivo).

There was a standing ovation tonight for the final Staples Players performance of “Legally Blonde The Musical.”. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jaime Bairaktaris for WestportNow.com

The Westport Community Theatre presents “The Price,” by Arthur Miller on Friday, Nov. 23 through Sunday, Dec. 9 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and at 2 p.m. on Sundays, with a Thursday performance on Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 ($23 for seniors and $15 for students) and can be purchased at http://www.westportcommunitytheatre.com or by calling (203) 226-1983. The Westport Community Theatre is located at the Westport Town Hall, 110 Myrtle Ave. Pictured: Kitty Robertson, Rich Masotti, Patrick Duffy and Frederic Tisch.. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Tickets for the 78th Annual Candlelight Concert at Staples High School are available beginning 9 a.m. Monday at http://www.staplesmusic.org. There is a four ticket maximum. Performances will be held Friday, Dec. 14 at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 15 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. There is no charge. Picture is from last year’s Candlelight Concert. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

About 200 persons tonight attended the Connecticut premiere at Temple Israel of “82 Names: Syria, Please Don’t Forget Us,”, a documentary film about Mansour Omari, a refugee of torture and imprisonment in Bashar al-Assad’s Syria. In the film, Omari, living in exile, reflects on bringing attention to the brutal regime he escaped from, visiting Holocaust memorials in Germany to learn about the importance of preserving the past and countering extremist ideology. It was presented by the Westport Library and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and sponsored by Cohen & Wolf. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Lynn U. Miller for WestportNow.com

Nashville played Westport tonight with Kasey Tyndall playing her country influenced rock to a sold out crowd at the Seabury Center as part of the third emulation of the Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce Supper & Soul dinner and concert series. Patrons ate dinner before the show at six downtown restaurants.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo