Daybreak's Weekend Heads Up 9/17/26

If you’re headed to the Tunbridge World’s Fair this weekend, you might find this full-on guide from The Herald handy.

Telluride at Dartmouth screens The Debut. Jesse Eisenberg’s “sharp, slightly insane” comedy stars Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti about a buttoned-down housewife who auditions for a community theater production—and takes her director’s guidance to extremes. 4 pm and 7 pm in Spaulding Auditorium.

The Vermont Food & Music Fest opens in Brownsville. It’s the third year for what’s now a two-day festival, organized by Brownsville Butcher + Pantry’s Peter Varkonyi and Lauren Stevens. Friday’s got Lily Welch, Brooks Hubbard, and Kat Wright, but the focus is on food, with stations organized by chefs like Adam Monette of St. Albans’ Café Monette—a James Beard Award semifinalist this year. Saturday’s focused on music, with seven acts including Jay Nash, Dwight & Nicole, and Hiss Golden Messenger. Gates open at 4 pm Friday, noon Saturday.

Recital with double bassist Nick Browne and pianist Annemieke McLane. They’ll be performing short pieces from the double bass repertoire, a new arrangement of Bach's Second Gamba Sonata, and the premiere of a new sonata by Browne. 7 pm in the Hop’s Morris Recital Hall.

Every Brilliant Thing in Woodstock. RJ Crowley stars in The Little Theatre’s presentation of Duncan McMillan’s crowd-pleasing one-person—but highly collaborative—show about what makes life worth living. Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 3 pm.

Comedian Bob Marley at the Claremont Opera House. Among other accomplishments, the Maine comic landed a Guinness world record for “the longest stand-up comedy show by an individual” at 40 hrs of straight stand-up. This one’s shorter. 7:30 pm, and there are a few seats left.

Model railroad show in WRJ. The Connecticut Valley Model Railroad Club is hosting, with operating train layouts from hobbyists around northern New England, as well as deal sales and more. Kids under 14 get in free. From 10 am to 3 pm in the Connecticut Valley Auto Auction Building at 1567 VT Route 14.

Repair Café at Woodstock’s Norman Williams Public Library. “Think small appliances, clothing repairs, furniture fixes, bicycle tune-ups, sharpening, soldering – you name it. If it’s busted, we’ll try to help you fix it. A few of the items folks plan to bring: lamps, computers, vacuums, toys and stuffies, shirts and sweaters…” Organized by the NWPL, Sustainable Woodstock, and The Bunny Bin. 11 am to 2 pm.

LebFest in Colburn Park. Over 90 booths of activities, games, crafts, raffles, local vendors, music, food vendors, volunteer opportunities, and, of course, the Mac & Cheese competition featuring local restaurants. 11 am to 3 pm.

Telluride at Dartmouth screens Burgundy. Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw (who directed The Truffle Hunters) turn their documentary lens on the French wine-growing region with a rambling riff on Burgundian oenophilia and a crew of characters who embody it. 1:30 pm in Spaulding.

Telluride at Dartmouth screens Ink. Danny Boyle’s adaptation of the play about the rise of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, with Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy delving into what The Guardian calls “the prehistory of modern media” in a gleeful look at how the tabloid The Sun upended the newspaper world. 4 pm and 7 pm in Spaulding.

The Pandora Consort with The Fire Within Her: An American Folktale About Women’s Liberation at the Chandler in Randolph. A new folk opera that focuses on the voices of women throughout American history, from Anne Hutchinson in Puritan Boston to Susan B. Anthony to Betty Friedan. 7 pm. Here’s the Mountain Times’ writeup about it.

Sasha Velour and Travesty at Lebanon Opera House. As LOH writes, the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season nine delivers “‘a love letter to the ghosts history tried to erase’” with an “80-minute theatrical tour de force [that] features runway-worthy looks, inventive stage design, and a killer soundtrack featuring the music of Kate Bush, Björk, Halsey, Siouxsie and the Banshees,” and others. 7:30 pm.

Viva Las Elvis at the Claremont Opera House. Dan Fontaine “aims to capture the energy, passion, and vocal prowess of The King. He is a gifted band leader, originally fronting Fellowship of The King” and now performing now performing this tribute show with the Memphis Sun Mafia Band. 7:30 pm.

Karaoke Bandstand returns to the Main Street Museum in WRJ. Jakob Breitbach and his band play whatever you can throw at them while you do the singing. 8 to 10 pm.

Telluride at Dartmouth screens Fatherland. Director Paweł Pawlikowski collaborates with screenwriter (and visiting Dartmouth prof) Hendrik Handloegten on this film about novelist Thomas Mann’s 1949 road trip across postwar Germany with his daughter. With Hanns Zischler and Sandra Hüller (Project Hail Mary, Anatomy of a Fall). 1:30 pm in Spaulding Auditorium.

Harpsichord music of the 16th-18th centuries in Corinth. John Mellquist plays works by William Byrd, JS Bach, and others. A free event, though they’ll take donations for meeting house upkeep. 3 pm at 1211 Chelsea Road Corinth, info at: [email protected]

Soprano Luette Saul and pianist Matthew Odell at Artistree. The recital focuses on works by Maurice Ravel for voice and piano as well as for solo piano. 3 pm.

Telluride at Dartmouth screens Tender Loving Care. The series closes out with writer-director Mike Leigh’s look at two post-Brexit British social workers “who face, every day, a harsh reality: most of the people they try to help are too angry and withdrawn to even attempt to heal.” Hop Film writes that Leigh “once again works miracles, weaving together his unpredictable combination of pessimism and optimism to bring us, amidst life's sharp corners, profound joy and laughter.” 4 pm in Spaulding.

A celebration of Real Vermonters Don’t Milk Goats in Brookfield. It’s a kickoff party for the re-publication of the classic humor book by Bill Mares and Frank Bryan, emceed by Don Hooper—”one of the original ‘non-Vermonters’ who came to Vermont specifically to milk goats” (his wife is Vermont Creamery’s Allison Hooper)—and “Real Vermonter” Al Boright, producer and star of the Ground Hog Opry. 6 pm, Brookfield Old Town Hall.

The Thetford Arthouse Cinema screens Mona Lisa. A departure from its usual weekend night. As organizer Art Kahn writes, Neil Jordan’s 1986 film “finds Bob Hoskins and Michael Caine as colleagues in crime. Top dog Mortwell (Caine) assigns newly released George to chaperone high-end prostitute Simone (Cathy Tyson) on her routes. This makes for some cringeworthy, some hilarious, some emotional moments…” 7 pm in the Martha Rich Theater at Thetford Academy.

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