Long Island Violin Shop plugs in

MUSIC & DANCE 

The Long Island Violin Shop goes electric! OK, so maybe we could dispense with the exclamation point. It's not like Dylan plugging in at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. The downtown Huntington violin shop ("Serving musicians with fine-bowed instruments since 1983") also presents concerts from time to time -- acoustic heretofore. But now, in the intimate setting of its salon-style "Great Room," the string shop hosts acclaimed electric violinist Christian Howes. Four times he's been ranked No. 2 in Downbeat magazine's critics poll for "rising star" jazz violists. The matinee concert is sandwiched between a beginner's workshop in improvisation and an advanced improv workshop. So bring your fiddles if you've got 'em.

WHEN | WHERE Concert 1:30 p.m. Saturday, beginner's workshop at noon, advanced workshop at 2:30 p.m., at the Long Island Violin Shop, 8 Elm St., Huntington

INFO $10; liviolinshop.com, 631-427-3569

WHAT Alvin Ailey Dance Theater celebrates the golden anniversary of its founder and namesake's classic piece "Revelations" with a pair of Long Island performances. Also on the program are three premieres: "Anointed," "The Evolution of a Secured Feminine" and "The Hunt." Another new piece, "Three Black Kings," is featured in a matinee performance. This season also marks the farewell for artistic director Judith Jamison, who surrenders the helm to Robert Battle.

WHEN | WHERE Friday night at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., at Tilles Center, C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, Brookville

INFO $52 to $92 evenings, $42 to $77 matinee; tillescenter.org, 516-299-3100

THEATER

Master of suspense. Master of the macabre. Master of ceremonies. Master of manipulating blond leading ladies. Whatever faux master's degree you might associate with the late master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, you'd probably not think of him as a master of comedy. And that's just the inspiration for the 2008 Drama Desk winner for "unique theatrical experience" (also 2007 Olivier winner) "The 39 Steps," making its Long Island premiere next weekend. Notable for its efficient, if exhausting, use of actors (four thespians play about 150 roles), this murder-mystery farce is irreverently based on the 1935 film of the same name. The show's running gag(s) that all Hitchcock fans will get are the allusions to Sir Alfred's other classics -- from "Rear Window" to "North by Northwest." See how many film titles you come up with.

WHEN | WHERE 8 p.m. May 7, 2 p.m. May 8 and Thursdays-Sundays through June 26, Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. Main St.

INFO $28-$32, $18 students, $16 Thursday matinee (May 12); smithtown pac.org, 631-724-3700, 866-811-4111

ART

WHAT Hofstra has been celebrating its 75th anniversary all through this school year. That puts the university's founding in the mid-'30s, which encompasses the "1930s: Art in America" exhibit in the gallery space of the Axinn Library. Highlights include art produced during the Great Depression by gifted employees of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. A shift from rural to urban influences in art of that time are reflected in paintings and works on paper by George Grosz, Jon Corbino, Isaac Soyer, Marion Greenwood and Arthur Dove, who made his home in Huntington, as well as photographs by Man Ray and Berenice Abbott.

WHEN | WHERE 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through May 27 at the David Filderman Gallery, ninth floor of Axinn Library, Hofstra University, Hempstead

INFO Free; hofstra.edu/museum, 516-463-5672