Alessandro Powell Photo
“Can you remember the best Christmas ever?” asked Mike Miglietta, aka noise artist Parlay Droner. “How about the worst?”
Noise for Toys, an outgrowth of Drink Deeply’s Elm City Noise Festival, is set to ring in the Yuletide spirit on Friday at Lyric Hall in Westville, where the festival’s proud parents, Margaret Milano and Miglietta, celebrated their engagement earlier this year.
Noise for Toys will feature headliner Landing, supported by Parlay Droner and The Forest Room. It’ll also include comedy by Dan Kalwhite, Craig Taylor, Stosh Mikita, Shawn Murray, and Kevin Fitzgerald, who will, as Miglietta put it, “regurgitate the human condition.”
Event proceeds help make the holidays special for needy children: Admission to the show is one new toy, or ten dollars, which goes to Toys for Tots or other local charities in the name of Lyric Hall.
For Miglietta and Milano, Noise for Toys is the latest in a string of events they’ve put together — and will continue to put together in New Haven. This year, Milano founded and ran the Elm City Folk Festival, and Miglietta and Milano followed up with the Noise Festival in September. Miglietta organized an event similar to Noise for Toys last year at the Heirloom Arts Theatre in Danbury. In the past Milano has organized benefits to raise funds for everything from diabetes and cancer research and treatment to animal shelters.
Lyric Hall itself is no stranger to charity. In the short time since the theater reopened it has hosted a dozen benefits for several organizations. Last winter, when tax discrepancies threatened to shut Lyric Hall’s doors, the community gave back. The venue raised $16,000 in one night, according to John Cavaliere, the hall’s owner and antiques renovator who resurrected the hall.
“You’re looking at ten years of work,” said Cavaliere. “Really, this place is the biggest antique I’ve ever worked on.”
With the money Cavaliere had left after settling his taxes, he said, he invested in a new tin ceiling for the atrium, an almost mirror-like surface that will be ready just in time for Noise for Toys.
“Lyric Hall is a reflection of our community,” said Cavaliere.
Noise for Toys will be held Nov. 20 at Lyric Hall, 827 Whalley Avenue, 8 p.m. Admission is $10 or one unopened toy of approximately the same value. Click here for more information.