Arts and Ideas Festival Kicks Off

The internationally-renowned Downtown New Haven event begins this weekend. The Hartford Courant has a nice piece on it today:

"This year the festival is expected to attract an even larger crowd than its typical 100,000-plus numbers. Gasoline-challenged families no doubt are looking to fill the warm-weather weeks with nearby events and the festival has much to choose from....

"And let's not forget the "ideas" portion of the festival, which includes many of the artists at the festival, such as Irish playwright Sebastian Barry. The U.S. premiere of his play about Ireland's emergence as a world player, "The Pride of Parnell Street," which bows here, and who will have a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon....

"Aleskie says she hopes audiences will check out off-beat, shorter shows like "Siren," "The Japanese Garden" and "Glow." But traditional, classic or just for fun shows abound as well: Roseanne Cash and Mark O'Connor perform a salute to Cash's father Johnny Cash; Maya Beiser performs a commissioned work on cello; New Haven native Ben Allison presents his new jazz group; mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves sings an evening of arias at the Shubert.

For contrast, East Village Opera Company reinvents classical opera with rock in a free concert on the Green. "Think Puccini meets Freddie Mercury," says Aleskie."