BWW Preview: Connecticut Theater - January's Top Hits

By: Jan. 03, 2017
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BEAUTIFUL coming to The Bushnell. Pictures Curt Bouril, Liam Tobin, Julia Knitnel, Ben Fankhauser, Erika Olson. Photo: Joan Marcus

By Lauren Yarger
Connecticut knows no bounds when it comes to exciting professional theater and I am excited to bring you a monthly column in BroadwayWorld highlighting my top picks for what is coming up starting with January 2017.

For some months, I will have my job cut out for me narrowing down the selections. For those of you not familiar with all of the offerings in Connecticut, they are vast and top quality. Let me start by giving an overview of Connecticut's professional theater scene. We boast a number of Regional Tony Award winners:

  1. Hartford Stage - Producing home of the Tony-Award-winning musical A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER (Steven Lutvik and Robert L. Freedman) and this season's Broadway-bound ANASTASIA (Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty), Hartford Stage also presented the world premiere of Quiara Alegría Hudes' Pulitzer-Prize winner, WATER BY THE SPOONFUL in 2011. This is one happening place under the artistic direction of Darko Dresnjak.
  2. Yale Repertory - Looking for something new and edgy? You're likely to find it at this theater where this theater is celebrating its 50th anniversary. James Bundy (who also is dean of the Yale School of Drama) recently was appointed to his fourth term as artistic director of Yale Rep. Under his leadership, the theater has presented more than 30 premieres, nine of which have been honored by the Connecticut Critics Circle for best show of the year and two of which have been Pulitzer Prize finalists. Yale Rep also has commissioned more than 50 artists to write new works.
  3. Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven completed a renovation which gives it two theaters in which to present work under the artistic direction of Gordon Edelstein. Over the years more than 30 of Long Wharf's productions have transferred to New York stages.
  4. Goodspeed Musicals. When you think quintessential American musical, Goodspeed in East Haddam, CT no doubt comes to mind (where ANNIE and SHENANDOAH got their starts). Longtime Executive Director Michael Price recently retired and Michael Gennaro now helms. The theater produces three musicals each season at the historic Goodspeed Opera House and additional works at its developmental theater, the Norma Terri, in Chester.
  5. Eugene O'Neill Theater Center - Led by Executive Director Preston Whiteway, the O'Neill in Waterford, CT, a recent recipient of the National Medal of the Arts, is home to home to the National Playwrights Conference, National Music Theater Conference, National Puppetry Conference, Cabaret and Performance Conference, the National Theater Institute, and the National Critics Institute.

Other professional theaters offering top-notch theater throughout the state include:

  1. TheaterWorks in Hartford. Missed the hottest, most-awarded Off-Broadway play last season? Chances are it's on the season calendar at TheaterWorks, where Rob Ruggiero serves as artistic director and the small, intimate theater provides a ready home for these works. The historic building on Pearl Street also offers an art gallery (where selections often are tied to the current production).
  2. Ivoryton Playhouse - This gem boasts walls lined with autographed pictures of stars who graced the stage during the theater's history as the first self-supporting summer theater in the nation. Under the artistic direction of Jacqueline Hubbard (who is celebrating her 25th year with the organization), the theater now presents professional theater year round.
  3. Westport Country Playhouse - Under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos (who has prior history leading Hartford Stage), the theater offers a regular season May through November and a variety of other offerings with a mission of engaging the community in theater. The popular Script in Hand series is curated by Anne Keefe, who formerly served as co-artistic director of The Playhouse with JoAnne Woodward.
  4. Playhouse on Park - This newer theater company (currently in season 8), co-artistic directed by Sean Harris and Darlene Zoller, has put itself on the map with excellently produced productions in its intimate home in West Hartford.
  5. CT Repertory Theatre - This is the producing arm of the University of Connecticut's theater program on the Storrs campus under the artistic direction of newly appointed Michael Bradford. Thanks to a special Equity contract, students are able to perform with seasoned veterans guesting in the productions. Terrence Mann has just signed on as artistic director of the Summer Nutmeg Series here.
  6. Music Theatre of Connecticut - In its new, intimate blackbox theater in Norwalk, Artistic Director Kevin Connors oversees mainstage productions as well as instructional programs.
  7. Seven Angels Theatre - with its fun nun décor (a production of NUNSENSE was the stimulus for the theater's founding) Seven Angels brings a full season of theater to Waterbury under the artistic direction of Semina DeLaurentis.
  8. Downtown Cabaret - in Bridgeport offers an eclectic collection of musicals and plays in a mainstage series as well as concerts and children's programming headed by Hugh Hallinan, executive producer and Eli Newsome, producing artistic director.

We have three great touring stops in Connecticut as well:

  1. The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts - many of the most anticipated shows make a stop here for a week in Hartford's 2,800-seat Mortensen Hall. Some Broadway favorites also have been known to show up for a concert on their own or with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, which plays regularly in the smaller Belding Theater.
  2. The Palace Theater - Waterbury's restored former vaudeville house is host to limited runs of show tours and served as the launch for the national tour of SPAMALOT.
  3. The Shubert Theatre - The birthplace of countless Broadway hits, the Shubert presents limited tour stops in New Haven.

Also on my radar:

Hartbeat Ensemble -- creates provocative theater that connects our community beyond traditional barriers of class, race, geography and gender at the Carriage House Theater in Hartford. Julia Rosenblatt is the artistic director. A Women's Theater Festival is coming up in April.

New Haven International Festival of Arts and Ideas -- an eclectic array of speakers, music, circus and ground-breaking theater in June.

So after all that, here are my TOP PICKS for January 2017 in Connecticut theater:

Brian Dennehy (KRAPP'S LAST TAPE, HUGHIE and LOVE LETTERS) and Reg E. Cathey (TV's "The Wire", "House of Cards") star in Samuel Beckett's study of whether love, family or belief can give meaning to our lives. This one, directed by Edelstein, is selling out fast.

Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday at 7 pm; Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8 pm; Matinees Wednesday and Sunday at 2 pm, Saturdays at 3 pm. Tickets $34.40-$99.50; longwharf.org; 203-787-4282

  • {TITLE OF SHOW} Jan. 13-29 at Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, West Hartford

Two struggling writers Jeff Bowen (Music and Lyrics) and Hunter Bell (Book) as they decide to write an original musical and submit it to a festival. Saw this on Broadway and thought it was a hoot.

Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 pm; Friday and Saturday at 8 pm; Sunday at 2 pm. Open mic on Saturday, Jan. 14 after the show. Tickets are $40-$50: playhouseonpark.org; 860-523-5900 Ext. 10

  • BEAUTIFUL Jan. 17-22 at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave. Hartford

The Carole King musical follows the pop music writer and singer's rise to stardom, from being part of a hit songwriting team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. This popular musical with tunes like "He Sure is the Boy I Love," You've Lost ThaT Loving Feeling," "Walking in the Rain," and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" is still running on Broadway.

Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 pm; Friday and Saturday: 8 pm; Saturday at 2 pm; Sunday 1 and 6:30 pm Tickets $44.50-$127.50: bushnell.org; 860-987-5900

  • THE COMEDY OF ERRORS Jan. 12-Feb. 12 at Hartford Stage, 50 Church St., Hartford.

It's always worth watching when Tresnjak takes on Shakespeare. This one is billed as "22 actors. two pairs of twins, one crazy day -- shake the midwinter blues away with Shakespeare's zaniest comedy, performed by a lively ensemble of actors, singers, dancers, musicians and acrobats." OK, I'm in, even if the setting is Greece in 1965....

Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings at 7:30 pm.; Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm; Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm. Tickets are $25-$85: hartfordstage.org; 860-527-5151

  • SUNSET BABY Jan. 12-Feb. 19 at TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl St., Hartford.

The Connecticut premiere of Dominique Morisseau's play about a woman and her estranged father and the collision of personal and political priorities. Directed by Reginald L. Douglas, the play is written by the author of Skeleton Crew, which I enjoyed very much last season at New York's Atlantic Theatre Company.

Performances are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays: 7:30 pm; Fridays and Saturdays: 8 pm; Saturday and Sunday Matinees at 2:30 pm. Tickets are $15-$65: theaterworkshartford.org; 860-527-7838

The world premiere of Aditi Brenna Kapil's comedy set in Elizabethan England. Laurie Woolery directs this recipient of a 2016 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

Performances times vary. Tickets are $12-$99: yalerep.org; 203-432-1234


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