Bobby Valentine celebrates with father-son birthday twins
Scene… Stamford resident and former Major League Baseball manager Bobby Valentine, athletic director at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, met up with birthday boys and Stamford residents Sky Mercede Sr. of Forever Sweet Bakery and Sky Mercede II on Wednesday after a round of golf at the Darien Country Club. Valentine shared a birthday photo with the fatherand-son duo 10 years after taking a birthday photo with them at his former restaurant, Bobby Valentine’s Sports Gallery Cafe, in downtown Stamford.
Out there… Off-Beat Players say “The Show Must Go On!” as they prepare for their new season. The Greenwichbased theater company has taken its rehearsals and performances digitally to protect its performers, crew and loyal patrons during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Off-Beat Players includes 40 teens and young adults who come together each summer to produce a fully staged musical with a live orchestra. They will premiere three performances online this summer. On July 31, they will unveil “A Rogers and Hammerstein Concert” with hit songs from “Cinderella,” “The Sound of Music,” “The King and I,” “South Pacific” and more. Premiering on Aug. 7 will be “Charlotte’s Web,” based on the beloved children’s book by E.B. White and adapted by Joseph Robinette, bringing to life the story of a “terrific, radiant and humble” pig. On Aug. 14, viewers can see “The Off-Beat Players Variety Show,” featuring the amazing talents of its performers as they sing Broadway hits, perform sketch comedy and present original pieces of theater that they wrote. To learn more about OBP and for tickets, go to www.offbeatplayers.org.
Out there… Actor/musician and Connecticut resident Kevin Bacon is starring in the new film “You Should Have Left” with actress Amanda Seyfried. The two play haunted lovers in a horror film that is currently available On Demand.
In concert… There’s Music in the Air as the Bedford Playhouse in nearby Bedford, N.Y., reunites with its audience for the first concert on the Playhouse Lawn. It will feature singer/songwriter and Bedford resident Riley Goldstein with special guest The School of Rock / Bedford House Band. Goldstein recently released her third single “How Did I
Get Here?” Food from Bedford’s local restaurants will be available for purchase at the event as well as drinks and concessions. For more info and tickets to reserve your personal spot on the lawn, go to www.bedfordplayhouse.org or call 914-234-6704.
Timely talk… The Greenwich Library is offering a live Vimeo conversation about race with Seattlebased Ijeoma Oluo, author of the New York Times bestselling book, “So You Want to Talk About Race,” from 7 to 8 p.m. Monday, July 20. Oluo will be joined in conversation by journalist and author Joanne Lipman. Oluo’s work on social issues has been published in The Guardian, The Stranger, Washington Post and ELLE magazine, to name a few.
She is the recipient of the Feminist Humanist Award in 2018 from the American Humanist Association and the 2018 Aubrey Davis Visionary Leadership Award from the Equal Opportunity Institute. Lipman, author of “That’s What She Said: What Men and Women Need to Know About Working Together,” has served as editor in chief at USA Today, USA Today Network, Conde Nast Portfolio and The Wall Street Journal’s Weekend Journal. She is currently the inaugural distinguished journalism fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.
To register and for more info, call 203- 6256527 or visit www.greenwichlibrary.org.
“Healing is simply attempting to do more of those things that bring joy and fewer of those things that bring pain.
— O. Carl Simonton