Intercourse of Action To paraphrase Phyllis Diller, sex is like comedy — both require good timing. Cindy Pierce understood this long ago; it’s part of what got her started in standup. Pierce, an innkeeper, wife and mother from Etna, New Hampshire, developed her clit-wit stage show Finding the Doorbell after realizing that humor was a great way to get committed couples talking about happiness in the sack. Since playing the Flynn in 2005, Pierce has been busy co-authoring a book named after her act. (Subtitled Sexual Satisfaction for the Long Haul, the tongue-in-cheek tome recently received a glowing review from The L.A. Times.) Pierce reads excerpts at a Thursday signing, then hits Higher Ground for her trademark Lily-Tomlin-meets-Dr.-Ruth routine about drawing, as she says, “humor, rather than humiliation, from my anatomy.”
‘Finding the Doorbell’
Friday, April 11, Higher Ground, South Burlington, 7 p.m. $13-15. Info, 652-0777. www.findingthedoorbell.com
thu.10-sun.13 [theater]
Some Enchanted Evening Fairy tales benefit from distance — a setting of “long ago and far away” makes their fantastic conceits seem more plausible. That principle’s at work in the stage version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, whose cast members come close to embodying cartoons in the service of story. A bookish babe escapes her burly, boorish suitor after agreeing to imprisonment by a furry biped (a prince in disguise who needs to work on his manners). While gradually befriending the castle’s owner, she makes allies of his servants, who are disguised as living, talking objects from teapots to candlesticks. Based on the 1991 animated feature, the musical, which includes songs not in the movie, ran on Broadway for 13 years straight. Lyric Theatre delivers the romance with a nod to happily ever afters.
‘Beauty and the Beast’
Thursday through Sunday, April 10-13, Flynn MainStage, see calendar for various times. $19-30. Info, 863-5966. www.lyrictheatrevt.org
sun.13 [music]
Vox Populi It might surprise young people who associate a cappella with their college experience to know that one British group’s been going strong — and virtually nonstop — since the 1960s. The Swingle Singers fuse jazz and classical vocal styles in a signature sound that can make the human voice mimic, well, almost anything, from trumpets to traffic signals. Split evenly between men and women, the group has had a rotating ensemble for nearly half a century; previous cohorts worked with Quincy Jones and sang at the White House. The current lineup scats and beatboxes with the best, offering vocal takes on everything from Jones’ “Soul Bossa Nova,” a.k.a. the Austin Powers theme song, to madrigals and symphonic works by Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. The Hinesburg Artist Series hosts the fab eight in a concert also featuring vocal groups from area schools.
Key Player Who says romance is dead? Over the past decade, Canadian pianist André Laplante has established himself as a great romantic virtuoso. Laplante, a Montréal native, won several prizes early in his career, at international competitions in Geneva, Sydney and Moscow. More recently, one of his performances won a 2004 Juno Award (Canada’s equivalent of the Grammy) for Best Orchestral Recording. Laplante specializes in emotional, evocative compositions; Liszt and Chopin are key parts of his repertoire. He closes the Barre Opera House’s 2007-2008 Celebration Series with a concert featuring Chopin’s “Fantasy in F Minor,” as well as works by Bach, Schubert and Haydn.
