Author: Stuart Brown

To celebrate the arrival of the national tour of Hamilton at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts (December 11 – 30), the Broadway music radio program, “On Broadway,” will feature an all-Presidential themed show on Sunday, December 9 from 5:30-6:30pm on WRTC-FM, 89.3. The program can also be heard online at www.wrtcfm.com. “Alexander Hamilton may not have reached the Presidency,” said long time host Stuart Brown, “but a number of characters in the musical Hamilton such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe did ascend to our nation’s highest office.” “The most well-known Presidential musical is probably 1776,… read more

New Haven’s Yale Cabaret is a gift to the theater community and has been offering inspired and challenging works for over five decades. With a goal of eighteen shows this school year, overseen by co-artistic directors Latiana “LT” Gourzong and Molly FitzMaurice and managing director Armando Huipe, Cab 51 promises, according to the playbill, to “cultivate surprise, embrace divergence, practice compassion and share joy.” Tucked in a flexible downstairs space on the Yale campus, at 217 Park Street, students from the Yale School of Drama shine a spotlight on work composed by colleagues, find plays that invite presentation or adapt… read more

The festive season is just about upon us and many Connecticut theaters are readying their seasonal offerings. Below is a list of what is in store for area audiences. The Christmas Elf 2 Downtown Cabaret – Bridgeport, CT https://dtcab.com/show/christmas-elf-2/ November 10 – December 29 It’s that time of year again for Santa to call on everyone’s favorite elves and their toy friends to bring holiday joy to boys and girls all over the world, but this Christmas is about more than presents and carols. With new adventures and new challenges, our hero must enlist all the help he can get… read more

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