Author: Stuart Brown

Connecticut theater doesn’t take a summer vacation. While some of the major companies – Yale Rep, Long Wharf and Hartford Stage take a summer break, others go on all year and still others present a summer only season. Long gone are the days of the “straw hat circuit” of productions that toured a variety of summer theaters in New England offering light comedies often starring B-list or aging Hollywood and TV names. Now you can see world premieres with leading performers as well as classic musicals, dramas and plays. You can sit outdoors or under a covering or in traditional… read more

Goodspeed Musicals will host the 29th Connecticut Critics Circle’s annual at its Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam on Monday, June 3, 2019. The annual event celebrates and honors the state’s outstanding professional theater. The 90-minute event, scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. that night, is free and open to the public. Nominees for the awards will be made public in mid-May. Winners in each category will be announced at the awards ceremony. “Our annual awards show is the only event in the state which brings the theater community together,” stated Stuart Brown, President of the organization. “It can be… read more

Yale Repertory Theatre’s Afro-futuristic “Twelfth Night” and Goodspeed Musical’s nostalgic “The Music Man” lead the shows nominated for the 29th annual Connecticut Critics Circle Awards. The awards event, which celebrates the best in professional theater in the state, will be held Monday, June 3 at 7 p.m. at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam. Jennifer Cody, who stars in “Mamma Mia!” at Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s Nutmeg Summer Series next month, will preside over the show which is free and open to the public. “Twelfth Night” earned nine nominations, including outstanding play production, projections, sound, lighting, costumes, director, two featured… read more

EAST HADDAM — Theater, film and television actor Jennifer Cody, will be the m.c. of the 29th annual Connecticut Critics Circle Awards June 3, at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, this year’s hosting theater. The 7 p.m. event, which is free and open to the public, honors outstanding work by the state’s professional theater during the 2018-19 season. Among the honorees will be Tony Award-winning set designer Michael Yeargan who will be the recipient of this years’s Tom Killen Award, which pays tribute to longtime excellence and service on behalf of Connecticut theater. Cody will be starring in… read more

by Frank Rizzo William Castle is best known as the director and producer of a series of B-horror films of the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s who upped his reputation in the late ‘60s as producer of the classic Rosemary’s Baby. Orson Welles is best known as the wunderkind stage and film director-producer-writer-actor and film auteur of what is arguably the greatest film of all time, Citizen Kane. stony creek theater.jpg But what both men had in common—master of middlebrow suspense and imperfect genius of the stage and screen—was a little summer theater in the hamlet of Stony Creek on 128… read more

Playhouse on Park Executive Director Tracy Flater and Co-Artistic Directors Sean Harris and Darlene Zoller have announced their 2019-2020 Season. Season Eleven opens with NUNSENSE, by Dan Goggin. Revel in the madness of this hilariously funny musical comedy, featuring a troupe of dancing, singing nuns. NUNSENSE follows the crazy antics of five nuns from the Little Sisters of Hoboken convent. When their cook, Sister Julia, Child of God, accidentally serves some tainted soup, poisoning 52 of the sisters, the five surviving nuns must band together to raise funds for their burials. Directed by Playhouse co-founder and co-artistic founder Darlene Zoller.… read more

The Palace Theater in Waterbury has announced their 2019-2020 Webster Broadway Subscription series. The well-rounded “dream season” offers theater goers the first play at a Connecticut venue of Chazz Palminteri’s semi-autobiographical story, A Bronx Tale; a week-long engagement of the new production of Cameron Mackintosh’s Les Misérables; the clever and hilarious farce, The Play That Goes Wrong; the moving backstory of Peter Pan in Finding Neverland and the iconic George and Ira Gershwin music and glorious dancing of An American in Paris. A season that guarantees patrons the thrill and enjoyment that only a live theatrical experience offers. A BRONX… read more

This month a new online, 24/7 Broadway music radio station – “Sounds of Broadway” (www.SoundsofBroadway.com) – went live. “Sounds of Broadway” offers the most wide-ranging listing of music from the Off-Broadway, Broadway, and London stages. Thousands of songs from hundreds of cast recordings are in rotation. In addition, every night from 8:00 – 10:00 PM EST is an all-request time slot. Listeners can search the extensive database and select the songs they want to hear. “Everyone has their favorite songs they want to hear and this will give listeners the opportunity to do so,” said Stuart Brown, founder of the… read more