Bits and Pieces 04.11.19

Danny Kaye Tribute

“Courting the Jester: A Musical Salute to Danny Kaye” will come to the East Hampton Library on Saturday at 1 p.m. Bob Spiotto, a director, producer, actor, choreographer, and teacher who is currently director of programs at the Friars Club in New York City, will combine song, dance, slides, biographical readings, and impersonations to evoke the life and times of the multitalented performer of radio, television, film, and theater.

Drama and Music

Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor will screen the urban drama "City Hall" Friday evening at 8. Starring Al Pacino, John Cusack, Bridget Fonda, and Danny Aiello, the film's screening will be followed by a discussion with Ken Lipper, who co-produced and co-wrote the 1996 film.

The story is set in motion by the accidental shooting of a young boy on the streets of New York City. An idealistic deputy mayor (Mr. Cusack) launches an investigation that reveals a web of corruption, eventually leading to the mayor (Mr. Pacino). Tickets are $12.

A lighter mood will prevail on Saturday with “A Star Is Born: The Concert” at 8 p.m. Music from all three film versions of the story will be featured, including “Shallow,” which won this year’s Oscar for best original song, and “Evergreen,” which collected the same award when Barbra Streisand performed it in the 1976 film.

The cast of Broadway and cabaret veterans includes Farah Alvin, Alex Getlin, Jessica Hendy, Kelli Rabke, Scott Coulter, and Ashton Michael Corey. Tickets are $35, $45 the day of the show.

‘Free Solo’ 

The Southampton Arts Center’s 2019 Oscar Doc series will conclude Friday evening at 7 with “Free Solo,” the winner of this year’s Academy Award for best documentary feature. Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin and a selection of the Hamptons Doc Fest, the film follows the quest of Alex Honnold to become the first person to climb El Capitan, the 3,000-foot vertical monolith in Yosemite National Park, without a rope or any other assistance.

Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times praised the film’s “heart-stopping camera angles and crisp, vertigo-inducing vistas” but added that the filmmakers “also have a knack for exposing, without exploiting, a little of the man beneath the apparent madness.” Tickets are $10, $7 for members.