Painting the town red: what to see and do beyond the ivy gates

New Haven may not be "the city that never sleeps," but it sure doesn't sleep much. The Elm City is a cultural center packed with a wide variety of entertainment options. If you look in the right places, you will find all sorts of new and interesting entertainment to inject a complementary zing into your campus experience. Here's a sampler:

Where to Kick It

As a freshman, tradition dictates that you go to Naples Pizzeria (90 Wall St.) on Thursday nights. The pizza at Naples isn't bad, but it's the atmosphere that draws the crowds. Though recently repainted in pastels to get a more "family-friendly" ambience, the tables are made of thick, stained wood and are covered with carvings of students' initials. The jukebox contains a random assortment of sing-along tunes, including Sinatra's "My Way" and the classic "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." For students lucky enough to avoid taking Friday morning classes, Thursday nights at Naples can be an integral part of the Yale experience.Though Naples doesn't have its own dance floor, innovative freshmen are known to have been seen dancing in every possible inch of the restaurant, including on top of the ever-popular booths and tables. In addition to music, Naples is a reliable source for pitchers of beer sans ID.>

If the usual drinking games just aren't cutting it for you anymore and you feel like you need a bit more "culture," then you should definitely check out Mory's (306 York St.), which was featured recently in the teen thriller The Skulls. Mory's is a members-only restaurant with high-priced and often mediocre food. Part of the Old Blue tradition, Mory's was where the Whiffenpoofs were founded in 1909, and indeed, they still gather to sing and perform there every Monday night. What attracts most undergrads to Mory's, however, isn't the food or music, but the cups. "Doing cups" involves consuming large goblets of colored champagne-based drinks, loud singing, and pointless rules followed solely for tradition's sake. The dress code is strict: skirts or dresses for women, jackets and ties for men.

For a more laid back party atmosphere, large groups often like to frolic with nachos and sangria at Viva Zapata (161 Park St.). Some students go there for Mexican meals, but most go for late-night snacks or the occasional birthday or cast party. An eclectic variety of farm equipment and sundry objects decorate the wood interior. It may be dim and smoky, but you are guaranteed to find some of your friends there on a Friday or Saturday night.

Most recently, Kavanagh's (1166 Chapel St.) has become the place to see and be seen on a Thursday night. While this traditional feeling bar (read: slightly dirty and very crowded) primarily caters to an older, non-Yale clientele, Thursday night and at times on Fridays and Saturdays, you can't move without bumping into a fellow Eli.

Music and Dancing

Several years ago, Performance magazine rated Toad's Place (300 York St.) the best nightclub in the country. Over the years, Toad's has hosted a number of famous performers. The Rolling Stones kicked off their Steel Wheels tour at Toad's while one of Mick Jagger's daughters was a student at Yale.

Since Toad's does have a bar, it is often necessary to convince the large burly men at the door that you're over 21 before you can get in, which can be quite difficult. To the many Yalies able to circumvent the bouncer, however, Toad's is well-known for its Saturday night dance parties and the notorious "booty cam" which projects images of partygoers across the club for all to see.

A recent addition to the club scene is Gecko (239 Crown St.), a new dance club that temporarily threatened to eclipse Naples' dominance of the Thursday night social scene. Gecko offers a slightly more commercial alternative to the familiar college bar feeling, with pool tables, multiple T.V.s, and a tremendous dance floor. It feels a bit VH-1; it doesn't yet have the familiar signs of wear and tear one expects from a crowded club and looks like it just popped off the dance club/sports bar assembly line. It was a popular place among Yalies for about a year, but its allure has begun to wane. While still a contender of sorts, it has become more of a place to pick up local New Haven residents rather than Yalies. Go expecting to see plenty of gold chains, hairspray, and body piercings, and be prepared to dance up a storm to techno and top 40 dance music.

A beloved hole-in-the-wall, The Tune Inn (29 Center St.) offers an intimate environment to enjoy lively and intense shows. The stage is stuck in the corner of a cozy, enclosed area and audiences are forced to commune and stand close to the band. Though also occasionally hosting big shows and dance parties, The Tune Inn usually offers a venue for off-beat musicians, both local and in-coming.

New Haven's flashiest and most dynamic dance club, Gotham Citi (130 Crown St.) offers something for everyone. Wednesday night features "Party 105" co-sponsored by a local mainstream radio station which delivers consistant top 40 hits. Friday is "Dark Carnival," lauded as "the largest goth/industrial party in the tri-state area" and Saturday is renowned as "the largest gay party in Connecticut." After doubling its space this past year, Gotham Citi complemented its classy dance floor with an exotic alcohol-free after-hours lounge area upstairs.

Offering both outrageous jam sessions and reasonable meals, the newly opened Blues Café (Whitney Ave. and Trumbull St.) has become a hangout for music lovers from across New Haven. Major blues players from Boston, New York and beyond, along with some local talent, have made this long-troubled club site a surprising recent success.

The Palace Theater (246 College St.) hosts a stream of musical festivals. Last year, Rusted Root and 'N Sync performed here, and in the past several years, Ani DiFranco, Sonic Youth, the Indigo Girls, Lou Reed, Dave Matthews Band, Spin Doctors, Robert Cray, Tori Amos, Bob Dylan, Wynton Marsalis, Lyle Lovett, Natalie Merchant, and Blues Traveler have all also made appearances. In addition to musicians, comedians, bodybuilders and other entertainers also frequent the Palace during the year. Last winter, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sold the theater to a private area developer when Yale declined to buy the property. But despite the change in ownership, the Palace remains fully functional and attracts prominent performers.

Theater

Called "the birthplace of the nation's greatest hits," the Shubert Theater (247 College St.) was once the place where shows opened before heading to Broadway. Famous musicals like Brigadoon, South Pacific, The King and I, My Fair Lady, and A Streetcar Named Desire all made their debuts at the Shubert.

After peaking during the '50s and '60s, however, the Shubert fell on hard times and even closed for a short period. Although it is not the powerhouse that it once was, it is still the centerpiece of a thriving theater scene in New Haven. And it remains the breeding ground for much Broadway-bound theater: Neil Simon's latest, Proposals, opened here in the fall of 1997 before going to New York. Other recent productions have included Crazy for You, Angels in America, Guys and Dolls, Les Misérables, Grease, and Fiddler on the Roof. Over the past couple years, the Shubert presented operas and musicals such as Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, Chicago and other exciting fare like Savion Glover's tap dance extravaganza Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk. Other dance productions appeared this past year, including the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. In addition, the theater staged operas like Die Fledermaus and plays like Master Class, which also ran on Broadway.

Founded in the '60s, the Long Wharf Theatre (222 Sargent Dr.) offers an affordable alternative to the Yale-dominated theater scene. Although known for bringing in such big names as James Avery from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Geoffrey Owens, BR '83, from The Cosby Show for a well-received 1920's restaging of Much Ado About Nothing, the theater has otherwise had a hit-and-miss record this season.

The Yale Repertory Theatre (corner of Chapel and York), known also as the Yale Rep, is a professional theater that employs actors from around the nation and also trains students in the Yale School of Drama. It stages six different performances every year, each running three weeks.

Plays range from the traditional to the bizarre. This past season has demonstrated impressive staging and artistic design, but the acting has been unimpressive. However, a new artistic director will be taking over in the fall, so next season has more potential. The highlights of this year were Harold Pinter's Betrayal and Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class, but some of the more traditional classics such as Molière's Imaginary Invalid and Shakespeare's Richard III were disappointing. Tickets range from $10 to $28, or you can buy a $51 season pass that is good for six shows. The Rep also sells passes for Dramat performances and experimental theater shows at a slightly higher cost.

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