Happily After Ever

Happily After Ever is a delightful and refreshing new musical audaciously conceived by Bob Chase based on the Biblical Book of Tobit. But while the Tobit story features boy meets girl by pure chance while he is performing an act of service, in this musical, the two female protagonists, after an arduous journey of self-discovery, fall in love. It was wonderful to hear Tobia, in the second act, ask Sarah to marry her. It reminded me of forty years ago when I saw the movie Julia in which Jane Fonda tells Vanessa Redgrave that she loves her. It is refreshing and glorious that same sex relationships (and marriages) which were considered outré – abnormal and in some places against the law – before the sixties are now mostly accepted and even celebrated in the Western world – at least we’ve made some social progress.

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The Thrill of the Chase

Were you one of those determined individuals last spring in pursuit of a diminutive piece of artwork done on the face of a postcard? Were you constantly visiting the Palisades Library’s website to follow the bidding status of your desired card and perhaps even sitting in front of your computer ready to pounce with the closing bid on a drawing, painting or photograph as the Library’s Silent Auction came to a close?

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LILIANE TOMASKO, A FORCE OF NATURE

The Hopper House Museum is currently displaying forty abstract works by acclaimed artist Liliane Tomasko. Titled "Liliane Tomasko: Evening Wind," the show was curated by Palisades resident Faye Fleming, projects director of the Sean Scully Studio.

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SOULMATES & STRANGERS by Palisadian Judith Umlas

Imagine being transported back in time to meet your mother when she was fifteen years old! Judith Umlas, a long-time Palisades resident, has had a version of this experience. She has published a new book, Soulmates & Strangers, about a long-distance correspondence between her mother Sylvia, who lived in the Bronx, and her pen pal Claudia, who lived in Lyon, France. Judy has written other books, among them the influential The Power of Acknowledgement, about how positive feedback improves both personal and professional relationships, but this book is very different.

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Robert Adzema: Piermont Library Hosts Virtual Show of Watercolor Paintings of Piermont Marsh

Please join me for this virtual viewing of a collection of my watercolor paintings of our beautiful Piermont Marsh. All these watercolors were painted on location in all types of weather, times of day and seasons of the year. To access the paintings, please log in to artist of the month

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Difficult Decisions for County Choral Groups

More than 54 million Americans belong to choral groups. A recent study by Chorus America found that people who sing together experience a number of personal benefits, from stronger relationships and better social skills to increased optimism, resilience, mindfulness and even improved health.

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A Bit Puzzling

Are you a jigsaw puzzle lover? My husband is. He can sit patiently for hours musing over a 1,000-piece puzzle stretched out over our dining room table. His latest, Earth from space, all muted greens, beige and white, looked totally impossible to me. It took him three months to complete. (It now resides in the Library awaiting someone who likes a challenge.)

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And in Palisades…

Yes! It is a giant Earth Worm. It’s sure to catch your eye and even then, you have to look twice. What is it?

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Cultural Institutions Respond

Like everything else, museums, opera, dance companies, Broadway shows, and even comedy clubs are retooling to create virtual communal spaces and experiences. The speed with which they’ve adapted is impressive,

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The Man Behind The Messiah

George Frideric Handel is regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era. His coronation anthem composed for the coronation of George II has been performed at every subsequent British coronation. Beethoven regarded him as “the master of us all… the greatest composer that ever lived.”

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Twenty Years of Children’s Shakespeare Theater

Tyrants, kings and lovers tread the boards right here in Palisades. For two decades, Children’s Shakespeare Theater has staged The Bard’s tragedies, comedies and histories for enthusiastic audiences of parents, friends and patrons, and it’s not stopping anytime soon.

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WHAT’S ALL THE HOOPLA WITH EBOOKS AT THE LIBRARY?

The Palisades Library has expanded its digital collection. Borrow more at home or on the go, any time of day. All you need is a Palisades Library card, an internet connection and a device such as an iPad or Kindle Fire. Use Roku, Fire TV, or Apple TV to stream movies and TV programs to your television.

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The Binge Watch: Succession

As any playwright will tell you, there’s no drama like family drama - especially when it’s a clan of one per-centers lusting for money, power, and parental approval, not necessarily in that order. Set in the glittering towers of New York City, that’s the premise of HBO’s Succession, a tangle of scheming, emotionally fragile kin jockeying for keys to the empire – in other words, Dynasty for the new millennium.

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THE BINGE WATCH: WILD WILD COUNTRY

Cults are juicy fodder for documentaries, but this six part Netflix series about the rise and fall of Rajneeshpurum, a New Age city in the remote hills of Oregon, is especially enticing. Scads of period footage mixed with present day interviews blend the Then and Now to tell the tale of some very strange events.

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THE BINGE WATCH: Deutschland 83

If you like your Cold War spy stories thick with betrayal, vivid with acid greens and spiced with a little sex, then you’ll enjoy Deutschland 83, an eight episode series set in the divided Germany of 1983 where no one can be trusted and the honorable seldom survive. This Peabody Award-winning series is a fascinating watch – an eerily relevant history lesson interwoven with familial conflict worthy of a Greek tragedy.

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The Binge Watch: Ozark.com

Gore-spattered and gristle-laced, this ten episode Netflix series is a fun and satisfying watch with surprising plot twists, colorful characters, and performances that push stereotypes towards authenticity. Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) is a Chicago investment manager unwittingly embroiled in a money laundering operation for a Mexican drug cartel. His wife Wendy (Laura Linney) enjoys her own secret life until the cartel intervenes and the couple has to pack up their two kids and head south to wash a dirty $8 million – fast.

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RCJBS Is Keeping Jazz and Blues Alive

The Rockland County Jazz and Blues Society is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is to promote jazz, blues, and music ranging from Dixieland to Brazilian Jazz and Samba.

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An Entertaining Organization: ArtsRock

ArtsRock heads into its ninth season this fall with another impressive list of programs. After the demise of Riverspace, Elliott Forrest, ArtsRock’s Executive and Artistic Director, and others formed what is now a thriving organization with events from concerts and recitals to celebrity interviews, puppet and magic shows, and theatre and political conversations.

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The Binge Watch

There is a lot to watch out there if you like your diversions intense, provocative, and addictive. Netfliks, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO, Showtime, FX, Starz, podcasts, and yes, even network TV, all compete for your ears and eyeballs, and with today’s technology, an entire season of content can be lapped up in a single marathon session known as a binge watch.

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Union Arts Center Events

A Morning with Tao Porchon-Lynch. Join “The World’s Oldest Living Yoga Teacher,” and award-winning author Tao Porchon-Lynch. Tao is a living advertisement for how to tap into our human potential. She has been featured in Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, Shape, Huffington Post, and numerous others, and has appeared on the Today Show, Martha Stewart, and CNN. She is the author of Dancing Light: The Spiritual Side of Being Through the Eyes of a Modern Yoga Master. Reserve your spot today. This is sure to sell out.
May 13, 10:00 am
To register go to uacny.com

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