Circus, football and hip hop hardly begin to summarize the week, though—like voting, comedy and pumpkins—they do embody its variety.
Tuesday, September 12
The polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. for today’s Democratic Party primary. Questions? This handy guide from the New Haven Independent can probably help.
There should still be some daylight when Salsa Under the Stars, offering a lesson followed by open dancing, gets going at 6:30 p.m. on Broadway Island.
Or, at 7, watch others contort their bodies at Air Temple Arts in Woodbridge, where the traveling troupe Cirque Us presents Cirque Us Stories, featuring “aerialists, jugglers, acrobats, contortionists
The Yale School of Music opens the 2023-24 concert season with a 7:30 performance by the “legendary” Emerson String Quartet, set to perform “works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and George Walker as part of
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Wednesday, September 13
At 4 p.m., with one of the directors on hand, Yale’s Franke Program screens a film that’s made a splash: the Oscar-winning documentary My Octopus Teacher. “Craig Foster, suffering from a loss of purpose, begins a daily diving regimen in the freezing kelp forests at the tip of Africa in order to re-energize himself. What he discovers below the water’s surface is a totally alien motivation in the form of an unusually curious octopus. This beautiful record of an animal’s entire life—something seldom achieved in the wild, let alone underwater—was shot over a full year and explores the habits and personality of a strange, undulating creature that most of us have only ever eaten. Beyond intelligent, dextrous and resilient, the cephalopod shares her secret world with Foster as they develop a touching bond.”
“Good food, good friends, and merriment by the sea” are the promises of Elm Shakespeare Company’s annual gala, starting at 5:30 at Amarante’s Sea Cliff.
Thursday, September 14
At 35 Hillhouse Avenue, Cambridge professor Ayse Zarakol delivers a blast from the distant past via a lecture titled, “Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders.”
At 7 p.m., the Legacy Theatre begins a three-weekend run of The Play That Goes Wrong. “A farce of epic proportions, this hilarious play within a play is part Monty Python, part Sherlock Holmes, and is a global phenomenon that’s guaranteed to leave the entire family aching with laughter!”
At 8, Yale Cabaret starts their 2023-24 season even more provocatively, with We Fucked Up: A Gameshow. “Generic University has really f*cked up this time,” the blurb says. “
Also at 8, College Street Music Hall hosts a night of standup by Ilana Glazer, co-creator and co-star of the wacky, beloved Comedy Central sitcom Broad City.
Friday, September 15
Starting at 4 p.m., the New Haven Grand Prix and concurrent Apizza Feast turn downtown into an open-air race course and pizza concourse. As bicycles and their riders zip around a loop formed by Chapel, High, Elm and Temple Streets, the Feast and other activities, including a pair of beer gardens, extend north and south of Chapel on College.
At 7, in the first of four performances this weekend, Madison Lyric Stage presents Climb Every Mountain: An Evening of Rodgers & Hammerstein, a tribute to “perhaps the greatest musical theater team” ever featuring “selections from Oklahoma, Carousel, The King and I, South Pacific, Cinderella, State Fair, and The Sound of Music.”
Saturday, September 16
The Yale football team open their season at noon, hosting Holy Cross in the Yale Bowl.
From noon to 10, Armada Brewing throws an Oktoberfest replete with “German-inspired beers, food, music<,> games” and the “official release of Celestial Union, our new fest beer.”
Also, starting at noon, it’s the main day (after a Friday night start) of the 15th Annual Milford Irish Festival, offering “great music, vendors and your favorite Irish food and beverages” on Fowler Field.
From 3 to 8, a local named Darius Murrell is throwing a public ticketed birthday party at Club Vandome featuring performances by Wu-Tang Clan founding members Ghostface Killah and Raekwon.
Sunday, September 17
From 10 a.m. to 5 in Seymour’s French Memorial Park, the Seymour Pumpkin Festival, a town tradition since 1965, offers “homemade craft vendors, food vendors, music, entertainment and kid-friendly activities.”
Sunday in the Park, “an outdoor celebration under the trees with food trucks, music, scavenger hunt, children’s games, hayrides, dog parade, book sale and more,” comes together from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Edgerton Park.
On the 236th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution, Yale’s Beinecke Library celebrates Constitution Day with a display of remarkable artifacts including “the first printing of the Constitution by Dunlap and Claypoole as well as its first appearance in a newspaper, on September 19, 1787, in the Pennsylvania Packet. You will also be able to see the first printing of The Federalist Papers and other texts and correspondence from the collections related to the Constitution.”
The Lost Flamingo, a roving tiki party series featuring “speciality cocktails, food, bands, vinyl and disco vibes,” pops up at Cafe Nine at 3 p.m.
Written by Dan Mims. Image 1, of cyclists sprinting and drafting during a past New Haven Grand Prix, photographed by Dan Mims. Image 2, of the Emerson String Quartet, courtesy of the quartet. Image 3, featuring a still or promo image from My Octopus Teacher, sourced from Netflix. Image 4, of Ilana Glazer, courtesy of Glazer and Starrpix, Inc. Image 5, of Yale football fans at a game, photographed by Dan Mims. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
