Whenever did the idea of chefs onstage in large venues come into vogue? Never mind; that time is here, and on Sunday, February 15, the Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC) in Kingston will be presenting Chef Robert Irvine Live! booked as a “a high-energy, multimedia and multisensory theatrical experience.” His show is built upon Irvine’s Dinner: Impossible and Restaurant: Impossible, as well as the many other Food Network programs with which he has been associated since leaving a career as a cruise ship chef – including time on the British royal family’s HMS Britannia – in 2007.
Irvine has cooked overseas, has a great British accent and is known for shedding his chef coat and hat to show off his trim, muscular build as he roars through recipes onstage in a multimedia presentation that allows a lot of audience participation, along with multi-screen closeups of the actual cooking in progress. Plus, everyone can meet the chef himself in the UPAC lobby after the show (and buy his various cookbooks and Irvine-branded line of spices, oils and vinegars).
Chef Robert Irvine Live! Sunday, February 15, 7 p.m., $65/$45/$30, UPAC, 601 Broadway, Kingston; (845) 339-6088, https://upac.org.
Join the family! 
