Islands, ’80s nights, musicals and “excitals” come in pairs.
Monday, August 5
A 6 p.m. Cars & Vinyl Cruise Night at New England Brewing in Woodbridge cuts a just-show-up selection of local display cars with a popup vinyl record shop courtesy of Cromwell-based Uncle Joe’s Records.
Tuesday, August 6
“Connect with nature while finding inner peace” during a yoga excursion to Outer Island off the coast of Branford. The timing—from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on a Tuesday—is a stretch, though regular ferry stops through the afternoon provide flexibility on the back end.
Later, Broadway Island hosts the next Salsa Under the Stars. Led by the Yale Salsa Society, the gathering begins with a free beginner lesson from 6:30 to 7, followed by an open dance session.
At Best Video in Hamden, a 125th birthday retrospective celebrating the work of Alfred Hitchcock begins in the middle of his career with Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Co-written by Hamden’s own Thornton Wilder, the film, screening at 7, follows a young woman as she discovers that someone she knows is a serial killer—and as the killer discovers that she’s figured it out.
Thursday, August 8
An annual Community Greenspace Bus Tour organized by the Urban Resources Initiative leaves from City Hall at 5 p.m. “We will tour a few Greenspace sites on the west side of town via bus and stop at one of the sites for a light dinner.”
Magnolia Theatre Company presents a four-day, four-show run of Ride the Cyclone: The Musical starting at 7:30 in Hamden’s Whitneyville Cultural Commons. “In this hilarious and outlandish story, the lives of six teenagers from a Canadian chamber choir are cut short in a freak accident aboard a roller coaster. When they awake in limbo, a mechanical fortune teller invites each to tell a story to win a prize like no other—the chance to return to life. This popular musical is a funny, moving look at what makes a life well-lived!”
Friday, August 9
The next Happy Hour in the Plaza starts at 5 p.m. in Temple Plaza. Offering “music, food, drink[s] and game[s]” (of both the lawn and board varieties), the food and drink this time come from Geronimo, while the music comes courtesy of the New Haven Jazz Underground.
Brewery collective The Twelve Percent Beer Project hosts its annual Rare Fog Day, which presents an opportunity to taste what I assume are limited-supply variants of cohort member Abomination Brewing Company’s Fog series. The event actually spans two calendar days, with a session this evening from 6 to 9 and a day session tomorrow from noon to 3.
Starting at 7:30 tonight, “forty-two local young actors” in Milford-based Pantochino Productions’s “immersive summer program” bring a musical version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to New Haven’s own Educational Center for the Arts.
At 8, ’80s post-punk band The Chameleons, “one of the genre’s greatest bands,” perform their 1986 album Strange Times—which some fans of a different genre, dream pop, also consider seminal—at Hamden’s Space Ballroom.
Saturday, August 10
From 1 to 9 p.m., the Puerto Rican Festival of New Haven returns to the Green with food trucks, live music, DJs and vendors.
“Founded in 2021 by brothers and musicians Rod Harris Jr. and Ionne”—a.k.a. Maurice Harris—“to advance artist-driven works and inspire positive social change,” 5015 Records presents a 7 p.m “excital,” or “combination exhibition-recital,” at The Square at St. PJ’s (New Haven’s Episcopal Church of St. Paul and St. James). The night features performances by the Harris brothers—the former a Grammy-nominated jazz guitarist, the latter a “visionary electronica artist”—as well as “a curated selection of paintings and photography by New Haven-area creators, including works by Kulimushi Barongozi, Noé Jimenez, The Collective NHV, and Susan Warner-Lambert.”
Also at 7, improv comedy troupe The Regicides, an offshoot of A Broken Umbrella Theatre, headline a show at their home venue, The Smokestack. Opening things up are Dr. Caterwaul’s Cadre of Clairvoyant Claptraps, who “play[] music from around the world and use[] it as a launching pad for improvisations that never lose their sense of groove.”
Also at 7, a Back to the ’80s Party at Longley’s in Branford promises “all your favorite throwbacks” with “prizes for the best-dressed 80s outfits.”
Sunday, August 11
From 4 to 8 p.m., CANVAS, “a debut gallery showcase of art by Brenton Shumaker, creator of the brand Deadby5am,” appears at NXTHVN along with music, workshops, a panel discussion, a marketplace and refreshments.
Written by Dan Mims. Image, featuring a view from Outer Island, photographed by Jim Murphy. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
