Author: Stuart Brown

The Goodspeed Opera House announced their 2019 season, which, according to Michael Gennaro, Goodspeed’s Executive Director, will include “a beloved classic, a heartwarming new musical and a dance-filled tale of triumph.” The three productions are Meredith Willson’s The Music Man which will run April 12 – June 16; followed by a heartwarming new musical Because of Winn Dixie featuring book and lyrics by Nell Benjamin and music by Duncan Sheik and based on the award-winning novel by Kate DiCamillo which will run from June 28 – September 1; closing the season will be The Goodspeed production of Billy Elliot –… read more

Theaterworks will perform 2 full productions this season at the Wadsworth Atheneum. The theater company anticipates being off-site for the latter part of the 2018 – 2019 season due to previously announced renovations to City Arts on Pearl, its home at 233 Pearl Street in downtown Hartford. Actually by Anna Zeigler (May 23 – June 23, 2019) and Fully Committed by Becky Mode ( August 1- September 1) will both be performed in the Wadsworth theater. Rob Ruggiero, Producing Artistic Director, said “ We are so excited to partner with the Wadsworth Atheneum. Tom (Tom Loughman, Director and CEO of… read more

West Hartford native Andrea Grody, who is the musical director of the Broadway hit, The Band’s Visit, will be a guest on the radio program “On Broadway” on Sunday, February 18, 2018 from 5:30-6:30pm. The show airs on the Trinity College radio station, WRTC-FM, 89.3. It can also be heard via live streaming at WRTCFM.com. “I’m very happy to have Andrea back on my show,” stated long-time host Stuart Brown. “In February 2012 Andrea came on to talk about Strange Faces, a musical she wrote as part of her senior thesis at Princeton University.” On the February 18th program Ms.… read more

A glorious production of “Evita” is onstage at the Westport Playhouse this weekend, thanks to a collaboration the Playhouse has with BMA, the Broadway Method Academy in Fairfield. BMA is a studio program that trains young students for careers in theater, by bringing them together with artists, actors, and other theater folk to learn techniques and to experience productions. In the case of “Evita,” a large student chorus provided singing and dancing and staging under the direction of Connor Deane [New Canaan will recognize the name of Kitchens by Deane – yes, related]! Music direction was by J Scott Handley.… read more

by David Rosenberg Who speaks for America? Poets or politicians? Or both? After a year of gigantic hurricanes, global warming warnings, terrorism, species extinctions, mass shootings and threats of atomic annihilation, to whom do we turn for solace and hope? One of the great American poets is Woody Guthrie, subject of a raved-about tribute, “Woody Sez,” now at the Westport Country Playhouse. Inheriting the mantle of Walt Whitman, who was dubbed “the bard of democracy,” Guthrie remained ever-hopeful. “Woody Sez,” a fully-staged work that combines biography, history and music, stars award-winning David M. Lutken as the legendary folk singer. According… read more

Broadway music celebrating Halloween will takeover the airwaves on the show music radio program, “On Broadway,” on Sunday, October 29th from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on WRTC-FM, 89.3. The show can also be heard live over the Internet at http://www.wrtc.com. Host Stuart Brown will play music from a variety of Broadway musicals that have a haunted, supernatural theme including “Jekyll and Hyde,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Wicked,” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”  “There are quite a few Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals that are perfect for the Halloween season,” stated Brown, who has hosted “On Broadway” for over 22 years. “We’ll have… read more

Portraying passion on stage — whether it’s a steamy romance or just hot-and-heavy sex — has been a theatrical staple from the Greeks to the Bard to contemporary work where making love can be oh-so-realistic. So how do actors — especially those who don’t know each other— make the love connection believable? In other words, how do they have sex with strangerThat’s the question I posed to Chris Ghaffari and Jessica Love, who star in the fittingly named “Sex with Strangers,” Laura Eason’s two-actor play at the Westport Country Playhouse Sept. 26 to Oct. 14. Greenwich native Ghaffari is no… read more

Broadway Lighting Designer and League of Professional Theatre Women member Dawn Chiang will lead an interactive discussion on how visual vocabulary and theatrical crafts contribute to the emotional life of the storytelling art Monday, Oct. 23 in Norwalk. Joining Chiang for the “Find Your Light!” panel are Elizabeth Williamson, artistic director at Hartford Stage, Costume Designer Tilly Grimes and Scenic Designer Jessica Parks. The event, produced by Co-Founder Marie Reynolds, will kick of the 2017-2018 season for the CT Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women, now in its second year. A networking time with light refreshments will be held from  5:30… read more