The Palace Announces Lineup For Family-Friendly Series PLAYTIME AT THE PALACE

Leave the iPads at home. Playtime at The Palace, the hit series of live performances geared toward children and families, returns to The Palace Theatre in Stamford on Sunday, January 26. The fun-filled season of magicians, musicians, clowns, puppets and more features seven shows to entertain and delight even the youngest theatergoers.

Playtime at The Palace runs select Sundays January through April with performances at 3:00pm.

The line-up includes:

January 26

Amazing Max: This high-energy, interactive and all-around silly magic show is appropriate for audiences of all ages. Max Darwin earned the moniker "The Amazing Max" for his extraordinary skills as a magician and also for his ability to entertain adult audiences while keeping the little ones spellbound. Max combines magic and comedy, making objects appear and disappear and generally defying the laws of physics inches from theatergoer's faces.

February 8

Flip Flop Circus: Comedy merges with imagination in the innovative new show Flip Flop Circus featuring Liz Bolick and Therese Schorn that brings slapstick, physical comedy, stunning visuals, wild costumes, original puppets, and comic antics all together. With classic vaudeville style and the worldwide language of clowns, Liz and Therese create hilarious family entertainment.

February 16

Mr. Fish: Fantastic Forces: Gravity forces are demonstrated and explained in this fast paced and fun show. The law of gravity says, "everything that goes up must come down." When things start spinning, however, everything changes. Audiences learn how to do many of the circus skills shown in this program, including balancing, rope spinning, magic, and more. Spinning ropes demonstrate centripetal force. The spinning Australian bull roar is a unique musical instrument that demonstrates sound waves. Peacock feathers explain balance. A floating beach ball explains flight. A madcap plate spinning routine makes the audience laughs so much, they will never forget the importance of the center of gravity.

March 1

Bossy Frog: The Bossy Frog Band thrills young audiences with their interactive, over-the-top, banjo-driven, costume-character-dancing musical performance.Led by certified music therapist and NY State licensed creative arts therapist Jeffrey Friedberg, The Bossy Frog Band is guaranteed to get all the kids (and adults) moving to and singing along with their music. Jeffrey developed the "Bossy Frog" concept in order to inspire children to learn as they learn best - through experiential activities and movement.The Bossy Frog Band includes Jeffrey on lead vocals, banjo and guitar, Alice the hula-hooping fiddler, Joe on bass and costume characters Bossy Frog, Monkey and Crabby.

March 15

Magic & Beyond: David Garrity uses visual magic and illusions combined with music, pantomime, situation comedy and audience participation to entertain audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Highlights from the "Magic & Beyond" performance may include hilarious stunts of apparent mindreading, an incredible illusion where a table mysteriously floats around the stage and out into the audience, "dangerous" stunts, a beautiful and artistic illusion involving ordinary hula hoops that perform extraordinary magic and a hilarious Houdini-style "Escape Challenge."

March 29

Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers: The Legend of the Banana Kid: Little Chucky heads to the Wild West to outwit outlaws in this cowboy adventure. With a fistful of bananas, Chucky rides into town on his trusty goat for a showdown with Big Bad Bart and his gang of bandits. The Legend of the Banana Kid features twenty of Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers' hand-crafted glove, mouth and rod puppets, and a slew of flying and twirling styrofoam bananas. Please note that there are no guns in the show.

April 5

Tanglewood Marionettes: Cinderella: Set in the eighteenth century and featuring a dozen lavishly costumed 30" marionettes, this production of Cinderella is a Tanglewood Marionettes showpiece. The story unfolds as the pages of a giant book open to reveal each beautifully painted setting - the village square, the rustic kitchen, the magnificent ballroom, plus many more. All your favorite characters are here, from gentle Cinderella to the bumptious stepsisters and the charming Prince, and each marionette is manipulated with precision and grace by our talented puppeteers.

"Playtime at The Palace programs are designed to spark imagination and joy for live performance - especially in our youngest audience members," said Michael Moran, President and CEO of The Palace. "By planting these seeds early, we hope to foster a lifelong passion for the performing arts."

The Palace Theatre is located at 61 Atlantic Street in Stamford, CT. Tickets for all performances may be purchased on palacestamford.org or by calling the box office at 203-325-4466. For the latest news and updates, follow @ThePalaceTheatreStamford on Facebook and @PalaceStamford on Twitter.

The 1,580-seat Palace Theatre is dedicated to performing arts of all genres - music, dance, theater and comedy. In addition to hosting world-renowned performers in each of those fields, the Palace partners with arts organizations like the Stamford Symphony and Connecticut Ballet for their performances. The Theatre's three floors encompass a deeper-than-typical Broadway-size stage, a café, a Learning Center, a theatre-long art gallery and a magnificent glass-walled promenade. The Palace is dedicated to providing exciting entertainment that enriches the cultural, educational, economic and social life of the community.

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