New Haven Festival Keeps Music, Entertainment Flowing
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A quick trip to the New Haven Green can be music to New Yorkers' ears this month. NY1's Valarie D'Elia filed the following report.The International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, Connecticut got off to a soulful start with a concert headlined by Aaron Neville.
Neville is just of the musicians scheduled to give free concerts over the next two weeks, among other entertainment.
"Performances in theatre, dance, music, circus arts and a lot of fun things for kids," says International Festival of Arts & Ideas Executive Director Mary Lou Aleskie.
An intimate one-man circus created and performed by Swiss wire walker David Dimitri, is one of the few performances that requires tickets purchased in advance.
"Everything like in the circus from the circus tents to the horse to the human cannon ball act, I do everything by myself," says Dimitri.
The festival is showcasing two particular shows with Broadway connections. The creative team behind "War Horse" presents "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream" with puppets and "Sequence 8" by 7 Fingers, a production of Circus Arts.
"Diane Paulus, who just won the Tony for this outstanding creative revival of
'Pippin' collaborated with a fantastic circus artist by the name of Gypsy Schneider who is an artistic director of 7 Fingers," notes Aleskie.
Visitors can do everything or nothing. Simply bring a blanket, pack a picnic and chill.
"It's like a calm, collected like setting, sitting here listening to some good jazz music," says one festival goer.
The International Festival of Arts & Ideas runs through June 29, every day except Mondays. Free shuttle service is available from New Haven's Union Station, which is serviced by Amtrak and Metro-North from New York, about an hour and a half away.