Joan Rivers Comic Impersonator Kicks off Dinner Concerts at The Mansion of Saratoga June 8

ROCK CITY FALLS —

The Mansion of Saratoga kicks off its 801 Concert Series this summer with a tribute to Joan Rivers on what would be the caustic comic’s 90th birthday.

On Thursday, June 8 at 8 p.m., award winning actor and celebrity impersonator Joe Posa will perform as Rivers in a 90-minute comedy concert tribute.

“Joe was Joan’s favorite impersonator. It’s not just the clothes, the voice and the rapid fire jokes—all of which he gets perfect,” Jeff Wodicka, managing partner of The Mansion of Saratoga, said in a statement. “He truly inhabits Joan’s verynaughty-but-so-much-fun persona. This show is not for the politically correct, the weakkneed or children.”

Posa began performing as Rivers in 2004 and first met her in 2006 while he was impersonating her at a corporate event in Houston, Texas. In a planned schtick, Posa first took the stage to do his act when suddenly the real Joan Rivers, who was hired to be the evening’s main performer, appeared to chase him off. After that show the two stayed in touch over the next decade, last meeting in July 2014, two months before she died at age 81. For more information on the dinner and show concert series, which features multiple artists through August, go to: www. themansionsaratoga.com.

Tix on Sale: Pulitzer PrizeWinner Richard Russo Returns to Spa City on Aug. 3

SARATOGA SPRINGS —

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo will return to Saratoga Springs for a special event celebrating the release of his new novel Somebody’s Fool, the third and final novel in his beloved North Bath Trilogy.

The event will take place 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 3 at the Spa Little Theater, and is presented in partnership with the Saratoga Performing Arts Center’s Literary Arts@SPAC initiative and WAMC/ Northeast Public Radio.

Russo will be interviewed on stage by Joe Donahue of WAMC, and recorded for subsequent broadcast on Donahue’s The Book Show. The conversation will be followed by a question-and-answer session, and a book signing.

In Somebody’s Fool, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Empire Falls returns to upstate New York, and to the characters that captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of readers in his beloved best sellers Nobody’s Fool and Everybody’s Fool. Infused with all the wry humor and shrewd observations that Russo is known for, Somebody’s Fool is another classic from a modern master.

Russo is the author of nine novels, most recently Chances Are..., Everybody’s Fool and That Old Cape Magic; two collections of stories; and the memoir Elsewhere. In 2002 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls, which, like Nobody’s Fool, won multiple awards for its screen adaptation, and in 2023 his novel Straight Man was adapted into the television series Lucky Hank. In 2017, he received France’s Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine. Originally from Gloversville, NY, he now lives in Portland, ME.

Tickets are required for this event and space is limited. Tickets, and can be purchased at northshire.com/upcoming-events. For more information on this or other Northshire events, call 518682-4200 or visit northshire.com.