SARATOGA SPRINGS — Universal Preservation Hall has announced Shawn Colvin and KT Tunstall will be coming to the Great Hall for a concert on Friday, April 26. In the 30 years since the release of her debut album, Colvin has released 13 albums, written a critically acclaimed memoir, maintained a non-stop national and international touring schedule, and had her songs featured in major motion pictures. Tunstall is a Scottish musician who entered the music scene with her multi-platinum debut album in 2004, “Eye to the Telescope,” which included hits “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” and “Suddenly I See.” 

Performing at UPH on May 2, is Lyle Lovett and Lisa Loeb. As a singer, composer and actor, Lyle Lovett has broadened the definition of American music in a career that spans 14 albums. 

Singer-songwriter, touring musician and philanthropist Lisa Loeb started her career with the platinum-selling hit song “Stay (I Missed You).” A trailblazing independent artist, Loeb was the first pop musician to have a Number 1 single while not signed to a recording contract. She followed the feat with several hit singles and six albums.

Tickets on sale through the Box Office at Proctors in-person, via phone at 518-346-6204 Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., or visit atuph.org.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College announces Framing the Flesh, a series of four films shown over three nights on March 28, April 4, and April 18 that explore our relationship with our bodies and unconventional bodily alterations. 

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Abject Anatomy, the screening series is the capstone project by Piper Ingels ’24, the 2023-24 Meg Reitman Jacobs ’63 Endowed Intern at the Tang.

Framing the Flesh screenings are:

March 28, 7:30 p.m.: Crimes of the Future (2022): Directed by David Cronenberg; starring Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, and Kristen Stewart.

April 4, 6 p.m.: Double Feature – Eyes Without a Face (1960), Directed by Georges Franju; starring Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel; Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), Directed by Shin’ya Tsukamoto; starring Tomorô Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, and Nobu Kanaoka. 

April 18, 6 pm: birth/rebirth (2023): Directed by Laura Moss; starring Marin Ireland, Judy Reyes, and A.J. Lister.

Note, the films contain material of a highly sensitive nature including language, nudity, violence, gore, and disturbing content. The screenings are free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080 or visit the Tang website at tang.skidmore.edu.

The exhibition Abject Anatomy is on view at the Tang through April 21.

SARATOGA SPRINGS —Musician/comedian Erin Harkes continues her songwriters’ series at Caffè Lena on Wednesday, March 27. Doors at 7 p.m.

The monthly showcase, curated and hosted by Harkes, spotlights rising talent who take turns playing their songs and telling stories “in the round,” for an audience and for each other. 

Lena Go Round is inspired by the original music that has been the cornerstone of Caffè Lena’s 63 years in operation.

The featured songwriters this month are Jacob Shipley, Ryan Leddick and Deb Cavanaugh. For more information, go to: caffelena.org. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — More than 100 local children took part in an audition to dance with New York City Ballet during its Saratoga season, July 9 – 13.

New York City Ballet Children’s Repertory Director Dena Abergel led the auditions seeking 24 children for roles in scenes from George Balanchine’s Coppélia. Auditions were staged at SPAC School of the Arts on South Broadway. 

Considered one of the greatest comedic ballets of the 19th Century, Coppélia premiered in Saratoga in 1974 and was co-commissioned by SPAC. Choreographed by George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova after Marius Petipa, it has remained one of the best-loved classical works in the ballet repertory.

Scenes from Coppélia will be featured as part of the Swan Lake & Stars and Stripes program on Friday, July 12 and Saturday, July 13, in addition to opening night’s NYCB On and Off Stage program on Tuesday, July 9.

SARATOGA SPRINGS ­—In recognition of SaratogaREADS! 20th Anniversary, Saratoga Springs Public Library asked the community to revisit by vote a previous community read selection. By popular vote, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” by Rebecca Skloot was chosen. 

For this year’s keynote event, SaratogaREADS! and Skidmore College will welcome two members of Henrietta Lacks’ family to Saratoga Springs, streaming to an in-person audience at Skidmore’s Gannett Auditorium, 2-3 p.m. Saturday, March 23. Lacks’ great-grandaughter, Victoria Baptiste and daughter-in-law, Shirley Lacks will participate in a conversation about Henrietta’s legacy. 

The event does not require tickets or pre-registration, and is open to all.

Through SaratogaREADS! programming, the library plans to delve into a variety of the book’s themes – sexism, racism, classism, poverty, inequality, ethics, medicine, and other themes.

In addition to the keynote event, a variety of library programs inspired by the 2024 selection can be found at www.saratogareads.org, or on the library’s Events Calendar at www.sspl.org.

GANSEVOORT — A captivating evening of jazz, spirits, and secrets is slated for the 6th Annual CLUE Murder Mystery Fundraiser to benefit Saratoga Children’s Theatre.  

The event – titled ‘And All That Jazz’ – will take place 6-9 p.m. Friday, March 22 at The Wishing Well, 745 Saratoga Road, Gansevoort. 

This year’s event will feature a full course meal and an enhanced collection of silent auction items. The theme is 1920s Jazz. Dress to impress. 

Cost is $100 per person and all proceeds benefit Saratoga Children’s Theatre ongoing programs, equipment upgrades and theater improvements. For more information   visit saratogachildrenstheatre.org/event-details-registration/6th-annual-clue-murder-mystery-night

ALBANY — Donny Osmond will stage a show at The Palace Theatre on July 3. 

Osmond has sold over 100 million records, received 33 gold records and has performed for millions of fans around the globe during his six-decade long music career.

Currently, he headlines his award-winning solo residency at Harrah’s Las Vegas where he performs his hit songs, shares stories of his greatest showstopping memories and introduces brand new music in a new and completely reimagined song and dance celebration. 

Tickets range from $49.50 – $124.50 and are available via Ticketmaster at ticketmaster.com, and at the Palace Theatre Box Office (located at 19 Clinton Ave., Albany). 

SARATOGA SPRINGS —Cage The Elephant last appeared onstage at SPAC in 2019, performing a memorable set on a memorable summer night while on a co-headlining tour with Beck. Five years later, Cage the Elephant, or CTE as they are known in some circles, return Aug. 18 to headline their own gig at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. 

Scribbles from this reporter’s notebook that night: 

Singer Matt Shultz, blessed with a seemingly unlimited amount of boundless energy, led Cage The Elephant through an entertaining hourlong set – crawling, taunting and exhibiting Jagger-esque dance moves in a mashed-up fury of dayglo mesh cloths. Accompanied by a strip of eternal flames and a rotisserie of flashing lights turning stage spectacle to the spectacular – yellow smoke here, green laser beams and strobes-a-plenty there – and showcasing the band at their post-Pixies singalong best, bringing the crowd to a standing cheer. 

Schultz concluded the set by crowd-surfing to the outer reaches of the amphitheater while Queen’s “We Are The Champions” played over the house PA, emerging 15 minutes later as the house lights burned bright for the intermission changeover, stripped down to a pair of red gym shorts, strips of black Velcro across his upper torso, and wearing a nude bodysuit…

Cage The Elephant last week announced the band’s 45-date North American U.S. tour with its Aug. 18 Saratoga Springs stopover that will include Young The Giant & Bakar as special guests. The band’s sixth studio album, titled “Neon Pill,” will drop via RCA Records on May 17.

This week, Shultz made a public revelation via an Instagram post that he has been suffering through a mental health crisis during the past few years and spent two months in a hospital followed by months of outpatient treatment. He thanked those close to him for their support in helping him get to a better place. 

“It’s a miracle that I’m here today,” he wrote. “Over the last three years, I was unknowingly fighting my way through an utter mental health crisis. In a short time, I had slipped into psychosis due to an iatrogenic response to a medication I was prescribed. It took the love and support of my brothers in the band, my community, and, most of all, my wife Eva to get me through it. Eva stayed by my side, and she saved my life countless times. To say she is a warrior and a queen is an understatement,” Schultz wrote. 

“Her unwavering love coupled with professional treatment helped me to regain my grip on reality and fully recover. Along the way, I learned a lot of hard lessons, and I thank God I was able to come out on the other side. I’m humbled and grateful for the opportunity to write this message. I owe my life to God and the support system of friends, family, and Cage The Elephant. I’ll just say it now once again, because it needs to be said, ‘Thank you.’”

The new album finds the Kentucky-bred six-member CTE forging new musical ground, while maintaining their uncompromising creativity and wildly cathartic performances, according to advance press for “Neon Pill.” 

“Everything is undoubtedly expressed through having settled into finding our own voice,” Schultz said, in a statement.  “With this album, having gone through so much, life had almost forced us into becoming more and more comfortable with ourselves. We weren’t reaching for much outside of the pure experience of self-expression, and simultaneously not necessarily settling either. We just found a uniqueness in simply existing.”

LAKE GEORGE — Lake George Winter’s Dream will conclude its inaugural season with a Community Evening on Saturday, March 9, when attendees will have the exclusive opportunity to experience this magical attraction at the lowest rates of the season.

As a gesture of gratitude for the support received during its inaugural year, the community is invited to attend Lake George Winter’s Dream at the following special ticket prices: $14.90 for adults, $9.90 for seniors and children ages 4-12, and complimentary admission for children 3 and younger.

Following the final showing, ticket holders are invited to gather at the Lakeside Restaurant for a complimentary champagne toast at 9 p.m.

Though weather conditions characterized by warm temperatures and rain posed significant challenges, Lake George Winter’s Dream remained open, offering a distinctive and enjoyable experience for visitors. The attraction, unreliant solely on ice and snow, ensured continued patronage, with companies and tour groups still able to partake regardless of the weather.

During the season, Lake George Winter’s Dream hosted a Military Appreciation Evening on Jan. 25, which drew participation from a significant number of individuals. Additionally, Tri-County United Way organized a fundraising event on Feb 13.

For tickets visit lakegeorge.wintersdream.com.