Author: Stuart Brown

Back in 2015, Yale Repertory Theatre presented the world premiere of Paula Vogel’s “Indecent” in a stellar production that moved to Broadway where it won critical raves and Tony nominations. Approaching Playhouse on Park’s new production of Vogel’s masterwork I worried that the small but plucky theatre troupe had taken on more than they could handle. My worries soon dissipated. This is one of POP’s very best productions in their 14-year season. Based on the controversial obscenity trial of an American production of Sholem Asch’s classic “The God of Vengeance”, this is easily Paula Vogel’s finest work since her 1998… read more

Here’s my list of the best Connecticut productions I saw this year. Instead of ranking them, I’ve just listed what I found particularly noteworthy. Playhouse on Park in West Hartford is another smaller theater that scored with a high-energy production of Five Guys Named Moe. It was glorious. Sunset Blvd received a terrific production at MTC in Norwalk. Director Kevin Connors has a way of taking big shows and making them work in his small, intimate theater. Kiss My Aztec! ended Hartford Stage’s 2021-22 season. It is a new musical that uses humor to look at the time when the… read more

Connecticut theater-goers have some new choices for holiday theater, concerts and dance, beyond the usual mixture of A Christmas Carol, It’s a Wonderful Life and The Nutcracker. Goodspeed has a brand-new musical, Christmas in Connecticut, based on the film of the same name. The 1945 rom-com film that starred Barbara Stanwyck isn’t one of the Hollywood Christmas films most people remember, though it was a box office hit. The heroine, Liz Lane is a well-known expert on marriage, cooking and homemaking. When she’s asked to prepare a Christmas dinner for a WWII hero, there are just a few problems: she… read more

The Ivoryton Playhouse just announced their 2023 season. Here’s a brief review: THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA McBRIDE – Opening April 6, 2023 – by Matthew Lopez is a wildly entertaining story filled with drag queens and an Elvis impersonator, snappy zingers and dance worthy numbers. A show that will challenge your assumptions with extraordinary humor and depth. ON GOLDEN POND – Opening May 18, 2023 – The movie was a big hit for one of the Playhouse’s most famous alums – Katharine Hepburn – and the play is a beautifully crafted love story about generations of a family struggling to… read more

Last month it was announced that The Phantom of the Opera will close on Broadway on February 18, 2023 after 35 years and 13,925 performances. In January 1988, I was certain the show was going to be a huge hit before it opened on Broadway and bet a sizeable chunk of my department budget on this hunch. At the time, I was living in New York City and was employed as the Associate Director of Student Activities at Barnard College (part of Columbia University). I ran a discount ticket booth for the campus, selling hundreds of tickets via a program… read more

Carpenters are building sets, actors are learning lines, dancers are rehearsing routines, and the front-of-house people are preparing. The fall theater scene in Connecticut is starting. For some of Connecticut’s professional theaters, it is the start of a new year, and for others, it is the finishing of a season that began in the spring. It will include everything from hard-hitting comedy/drama such as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to Tony-winning musicals – 42nd Street, Fun Home and Sunset Blvd and everything in between. In fact, two shows – the Great Gatsby and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are getting… read more

One of the leading summer theaters in the country is The Ogunquit Playhouse in the town of Ogunquit, Maine. According to the history of the theater, “it was the first, and remains the only, summer theatre from the summer stock era built exclusively as a seasonal theatre.” Opening in 1933, he theater is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2015, the listing was raised to National Level of Significance “in consideration of the significant contributions made by its founder Walter J. Hartwig and the Playhouse to Performing Arts Education throughout the nation.” This summer’s productions have already… read more

The Barrington Stage Company has consistently produced hight-quality, award-winning productions. A number of their shows have gone onto Broadway including the world premiere of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; and in 2013 the theater produced Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green’s On the Town. Our CT Critics Circle member, Karen Isaac, traveled to Barrington to review their current production – the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music. The music starts and the five ensemble singers enter individually, one strikes a note on the piano and they all begin to harmonize… read more

One of the leading summer theaters in the country is The Ogunquit Playhouse in the town of Ogunquit, Maine. According to the history of the theater, “it was the first, and remains the only, summer theatre from the summer stock era built exclusively as a seasonal theatre.” Opening in 1933, he theater is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2015, the listing was raised to National Level of Significance “in consideration of the significant contributions made by its founder Walter J. Hartwig and the Playhouse to Performing Arts Education throughout the nation.” This summer’s productions have already… read more

Yep, it’s all true! “Hamilton”, the much-exalted, much-awarded landmark musical by Lin Manual Miranda, lives up to expectations. Often when you see a show that has entered the zeitgeist with rapturous reviews and multiple prizes, you are left disappointed when you see the actual product. Not the case with “Hamilton”, Miranda’s brilliant and often astonishing take on the historical figure and victim of Aaron Burr via rap, hip-hop and Ron Chernow’s extensive, 800-page Hamilton memoir. This simply should not work. By some miracle (and more) it does. Gloriously. Currently on a national tour and playing through July 10 at Hartford’s… read more