Latin Heat at Jorgensen; Tasting Manchester; and A Comedy of Errors at the Playhouse

There’s something about salsa that makes you think of warm weather. Salsa for eating. Salsa for dancing. Well, we like the image. Bring it on.

And how about some nice fluffy merengue as well?

Join headliners Melina León and Kevin Ceballo, plus UConn’s Latin Dance Club, BAILE, in a hot hot hot dance cabaret at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts this Saturday, April 2. DJ Wil G is also on the program, which starts at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7.

Enjoy Latino dinner fare and cash bar in Jorgensen’s nightclub setting. Semi-formal attire is required. This is a special night, presented by Jorgensen and the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center on the UConn campus. Univision is sponsoring. Call 860-486-4226, or order tickets ($35, $30, $25) online atjorgensen.uconn.edu.

Taste of Manchester Puts On the Dog

Can’t decide which great downtown Manchester restaurant to hit this week? Try a bunch at Taste of Manchester Tuesday, April 5, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. For a $25 ticket you can venture into Rocco’s Pizza Bar & Grill, The Main Pub, Great Harvest Bread Co., El Mariachi Loco and plenty of others. Sample to your heart’s content and don’t worry about the weather. A complimentary “limo bus” will cart you from site to site.

The event will benefit the Manchester Dog Owners Group. Get tickets at participating restaurants or the Town Hall Customer Service & Information Center. This event can sell out, so better hurry.

Playhouse Presents a Contemporary Comedy of Errors 

Playhouse on Park, West Hartford's happening theater and arts presenter, welcomes Stages on the Sound and their contemporary adaptation of William Shakepeare's farcical early play The Comedy of Errors. You remember the outline: two sets of twins separated at birth, mistaken identities, wrongful beatings, and confused seduction. Adding to the fun in this production? Four actors play all the parts. Will Ditterline directs.

The Comedy of Errors runs April 6 through 17. Tickets range from $20 to $32.50. Playhouse on Park is at 244 Park Road, West Hartford. For more information, visit www.playhouseonpark.org or call 860-523-5900 x10.

Strindberg with Strings

You might bump into some puppet masters and fans who are in Storrs for the International Puppetry Conference this weekend, March 31-April 2, especially if you go to a Connecticut Repertory Theatre performance of Strindberg’s A Dream Play at the Studio Theatre.

The production of original puppet creations, adapted and directed by Joseph Jonah Therrien, tells the story of Agnes, daughter of the gods, who is sent down to earth to see if life is tough among mortals. Puppet artist Therrien has an open landscape for creating a reinterpretation of the surreal Strindberg 1901 classic, where “everything can happen, everything is possible and probable.”

Shows are 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. For tickets, priced at $26 or $29, call 860-486-4226. For information, call 860-486-1429. Or visit the CRT website for either.

It’s Young, It’s French, C’est Ebène

One of the world’s most sought-after young chamber ensembles is France’s Ebène Quartet. And the group is performing at Jorgensen on Wednesday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m. These musicians were the darlings of critics on their first U.S. tour and in 2009 won both “Recording of the Year” at the Classic FM Gramophone Awards and BBC Music Magazine’s “Newcomer of the Year.” The quartet has been described as playing “with a sense of controlled danger.” I’m in.

Don’t miss this program of Mozart, Debussy and Mendelssohn or the pre-concert talk by Michael Lankester, former head of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are $28 and $30 with some discounts. Call 860-486-4226 or visit jorgensen.uconn.edu.

Highlights of Renowned Warner Collection in New Britain

Works by artists including Albert Bierstadt, Mary Cassatt, Frederic E. Church, Thomas Cole, and Winslow Homer give you some idea of what awaits when the New Britain Museum of American Art unveils An American Odyssey: The Warner Collection of American Art. Arriving at the museum from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the exhibition contains highlights from the private collection of Jonathan "Jack" Warner, his wife, Susan Austin Warner, and the Warner Foundation. Warner began collecting art in the 1950s, purchasing a series of prints by John James Audubon. The collection's historical and genre paintings, portraits, landscapes, and works from specific schools including Impressionism reflect Warner's conviction that American history can be taught through art. 

The exhibition opens April 1 and runs through July 3. The opening reception is April 2 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The New Britain Museum of American Art is at 56 Lexington St., New Britain. For more information, visit www.nbmaa.org or call 860-229-0257. 

Scrapbooking Crawl

Scrapbookers are a zealous lot, and so the 2011 Scrapbook Store Bus Tour to four Connecticut vendors Sunday morning, April 3, won’t throw them. For $65, hobbyists get breakfast, lunch and snack and stops at four specialty shops. The price also includes free gifts, shopping discounts and round-trip transportation to their store of origin.

The day starts with breakfast at 8 a.m. at the first stop and ends about 11 a.m. at the same place. The nearest departure point for eastern Nutmeggers is Inspiration Station, 13 Furnace Ave., Stafford Springs. Other stores are New England Scrapbook Co. in Canton, Papercraft Clubhouse in Westbrook and Wiggles & Giggles in Wethersfield.

Seating is limited, so register soon for this transporting crafts event. Call Inspiration Station at 860-684-2641, New England Scrapbook Co., 860-693-9197, Wiggles & Giggles, 860-529-5899, or Papercraft Clubhouse, 860-399-4443.

Renowned Old Saybrook-Born Diva Guests at A Night at the Opera

Arias, choruses, overtures and more are on the program when the Hartford Symphony Orchestra presents A Night at the Opera. The April 1 event, led by Willie Waters, former general and artistic director of the Connecticut Opera, features renowned guest soprano Mary Dunleavy, a native of Old Saybrook. Musical highlights include music from Puccini’s La bohème and Madama Butterfly, Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, Verdi’s Rigoletto, and Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. Also featured is a chorus of local singers under the direction of Neely Bruce.

Concert time is 8 p.m. at the Belding Theater at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts. Maestro Waters leads a pre-concert chat one hour before the performance. Tickets range in price from $30 to $62. Student tickets are $10. (Prices do not include applicable fees.) To purchase tickets or for more information, contact HSO ticket services at 860-244-2999 or visit www.hartfordsymphony.org.

Kite Runner at Bushnell

A theatrical adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's bestselling contemporary novel The Kite Runner comes to Hartford's Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts on April 4. The collaboration between the Bushnell and New York City's American Place Theatre features 50 minutes of verbatim material from the first half of Hosseini's book. Set to a background of original Afghani music, the show features eight characters brought to life by a single actor. The evening includes both pre- and post-show discussions during which the audience explores themes including redemption and class systems.

Show time is 7 p.m. Tickets cost $33. For reservations or more information, visitwww.bushnell.org or call 860-987-5900. The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts is at 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford.

Scholz Watercolors at Tolland Arts Center

Local artist Art Scholz is showcasing his new watercolors of rural, New England shore and Tuscan scenes this Saturday, April 2, and next at the Arts Center of Tolland on the town green. Scholz, an active member of several arts societies, is known for his paintings of people and nature in close harmony, portrayed with freshness, richness of color and expressive style.

You can see the works from noon to 4 p.m. on either Saturday. Admission is free. For information, call 860-871-7405 or visit the arts center’s website.

Last Call for Ballet Fans

Don’t forget to see the Russian National Ballet Theatre perform Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet and the repertoire staple Chopiniana tonight, March 31, at 7:30 p.m. at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $25-30, with some discounts. For information, call 860-486-4226 or visitJorgensen at UConn.

Hitchcock Adaptation at Hartford Stage

Anyone familiar with Sir Alfred Hitchcock's cinema classic The 39 Steps should have no trouble imagining how the material could be adapted to create a theatrical romp. Patrick Barlow did just that, combining the movie with elements of John Buchan's spy novel and adding a dash of Monty Python. The result? A Tony Award-winning Broadway hit that requires four actors to play a cast of 150 characters. Hartford Stage now mounts a production of Barlow's adaptation in which a beautiful spy embroils a noble young man in a game of high-stakes intrigue. Maxwell Williams directs.

Performances run from March 31 through May 1. Hartford Stage is at 50 Church St., Hartford. For tickets or more information, visit www.hartfordstage.org or call 860-527-5151.