The final show in the Westport Country Playhouse’s 75th anniversary summer season will be “Journey’s End.” The play celebrating heroism runs Aug. 18 through Sept. 4.

First staged in 1929, “Journey’s End” was called “the play that swept the world,” according to a Playhouse announcement.  It is based on the author R.C. Sherriff’s own experience during World War I.

Joanne Woodward, Playhouse artistic director, said, “This extraordinary rarity of a play is about human decency, about courage, comradeship and trust.  Deeply moving, yet laced with humor, it is as pertinent now as ever.”

“Journey’s End” shows the effects of war on a group of British soldiers during WWI.

A capacity crowd is expected Friday when the Beach Boys return to Westport’s Levitt Pavilion.

According to Levitt Pavilion Executive Director Freda Welsh, the concert is now sold out with 2,500 tickets sold. She said there are still a limited number of Gala Dinner tickets at $250 which include priority seating at the concert and the after-party.

Gates will open for the concert at 7:30 p.m. with general admission ticket holders seated on a first-come basis. Starting at 8 p.m., singer and guitarist Forrest Sun will provide some pre-concert entertainment, and the Beach Boys will take the stage at 9 p.m.

In 1998, after the death of lead guitarist Carl Wilson, the original Beach Boys split up into three separate tours, according to the band’s official fan club Web site.

Mollie Donovan told today’s Westport Rotary Club luncheon about the successful effort to return artist Stevan Dohanos’s “Honor Roll” painting to Westport. Donovan and Wally Woods (l) put together the current Westport Historical Society exhibit “The Folks Back Home” where the painting is on display. The luncheon went on despite a power outage that left diners in the dark and without air conditioning.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Saturday was the opening night performance of Carson McCullers’ “The Member of the Wedding”  at the Westport Country Playhouse. Pictured (l-r) are: Jack Metzger, playing ‘John Henry’; Joanne Woodward, director; Samuel L. Jackson; LaTanya Richardson Jackson, playing ‘Berenice’; and Mary Jane Langrall.  The play runs through Aug. 14. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

1943 Saturday Evening Post cover. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) File photoThe effort to raise $12,500 to acquire Stevan Dohanos’s historic World War II Westport “Honor Roll” painting has been successful and today those involved in the purchase celebrated.

They gathered at the Westport Historical Society, where the painting is currently on display. Thanking them were members of the Society as well as members of the Westport Schools Permanent Art Collection Committee and the Westport WPA Art Rescue Committee.

The painting served as a December 1943 cover of The Saturday Evening Post, and was the first of 136 Post covers created by Dohanos, a Westport artist.

The painting, formally acquired last week, will become part of the Westport Schools Permanent Art Collection, a “living museum” of more than 700 works of art on view in schools and other public buildings in town.

Those involved in bringing home Stevan Dohanos’s “Honor Roll” painting gathered today at the Westport Historical Society. Picured (l-r) are: George Sterling, Dave Matlow, Denise McLaughlin, Marty Resnick, Joyce Netherton (partial), Ann Sheffer, Bill Gault, Betty Lou Cummings, Judy Sterling, Helenanne Wilmott, Mollie Donovan, Ann Chernow, Katie Chase, Elizabeth Strick, Carol Malone, and Linda Gramatky Smith. Seated is Howard Munce. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Emily Laux for WestportNow.com

The big band sound drew a big crowd to Westport’s Levitt Pavilion Sunday night as Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks made their debut performance. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

Sixteen members of the Staples High School Orphenians, including seven who graduated last month, performed at the McManus Room in the Westport Public Library today. At the end of the performance the Orphenians applaud fellow Orphenian Alec Galambos (far right) who accompanied some selections on the piano today as well as having served as conductor for vocal performances. Alec will attend Emory University in the fall pursuing studies in music composition and politics. Today’s performance was the last time that this group of Orphenians will perform together.  Pictured (l-r) are: Anna Slate, Cindy Shuck, Mel Siegel, Natalie Carlson, Noah Schnoll, Steve Fuertes, Sally Eidman, Kathleen Hessman, Brooke Charlesworth, Zachary Shornick, Jacob Heimer, Claire Bangser, Chloe Sloat, Rachel Ivison, James Allison, and Alec Galambos. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Zachery Kampler, a 2001 Staples grad, led the Eastern Festival Symphony Orchestra Saturday night at the Midsummer Music Festival at the Norwalk Concert Hall. All net proceeds of the concert were donated to the Hudsan Valley Cerebral Palsey Association. The all volunteer orchestra, consisting of local college and high school students, played “Overture to Egmont” by Beethoven, “Peter and the Wolf” by Prokefiev and finally Tchaikovsky’s Violin Conerto. Just days before the concert, the violinist who was supposed to play the concerto abruptly quit and Igor Pikayzen, a recent Staples graduate and soon to be Julliard student, filled in. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jonathan Thrope for WestportNow.com