Category: News

The 2023 International Festival of Arts & Ideas returns to pre-pandemic levels of talks, concerts, theater, dance, and family activities emphasizing connections, creativity, exploration, and involvement. The majority of the festival runs from Friday, June 9 to Sunday, June 25. Exceptions include the neighborhood days that began in early May and will conclude with West Hills/West Rock Festival (Sunday, May 28) and the Dixwell Festival (Saturday, June 3). Also, the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica will perform Friday, June 2 and Saturday, June 3 at the Shubert Theatre. There will be events geared towards adults, teens, and kids; talks… read more

We’ve all been raised with the admonition “Don’t touch that.” Whether it is the hot stove, an expensive vase or a downed electrical wire, we know the inherent danger of disobeying. If you are a security guard at an art museum, your job is to protect the paintings or sculptures or artifacts from inquisitive children and thieves bent on destruction or financial mischief. Might you, the guarder of the masterpieces, ever be tempted to reach out and touch one yourself? Such is the premise of Jessica Dickey’s intriguing play “The Rembrandt” currently center stage at TheaterWorks Hartford until Sunday, May… read more

The 31st Annual Connecticut Critics Circle Awards Ceremony will take place on Monday, June 26, 2023 at Theaterworks Hartford from 7:30 – 9:00PM. The event is open to the public. CLICK ON THE “READ MORE” BUTTON for the link – To RSVP to the event. We hope you will join us in helping the Connecticut Critics Circle, a not-for-profit organization, celebrate theater in Connecticut, honor the artists who make it happen and help us create opportunities for a new generation of theater enthusiasts. CLICK ON THE “READ MORE” BUTTON for the link – for information on how you can help… read more

Thirty-six years ago (1987), I was the Associate Director of Student Activities at Barnard College in New York City. I ran a ticket booth, purchasing discount tickets from the Theater Development Fund and reselling them to students, faculty, and staff at a slight mark-up. As a certified musical theater geek (I currently operate the 24/7 online Broadway radio station, SoundsofBroadway.com), I was always keeping up with the latest shows currently on Broadway, playing out-of-town engagements and residing on the London stage. In Fall 1986 I had read about (remember, there was no Internet back then, just good old-fashioned newspapers) a… read more

The beautiful Hamlet of Bloomfield has certainly had a treasure-trove of talent walk the halls of its schools – everyone from Tony Award Winner Actress/Singer Anika Noni Rose to Pro Football player and Super Bowl Champ Dwight Freeney (both originally from Bloomfield)– today we add to these illustrious BHS alumni – their current BHS Principal and Bloomfield resident- Jesse White III. Mr. White along with the following fellow cast of fathers – Abdul-Rahmann I. Muhammad, Demetrius Chamblee, and Malik S. Champlain will be on stage participating in a four-performance engagement of the “Fatherhood Manologues,” a storytelling event featuring four fathers… read more

You might not recognize their names – unless you are Broadway musical fan – but you have seen them in films and on TV. Between them, the six performers for the Legacy Theatre’s Sunday Broadway Concert Series that begins Sunday, Feb. 26, have acquired numerous Tony nominations (and awards), plus too many nominations and awards from the other major Broadway awards groups (Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk) to count. Plus, Grammy and Emmy nominations and awards from major critic groups in cities around the US. Colin Sheehan, producer of the series for the Legacy Theatre has put together these series… read more

Hallelujah! You are just in time to attend Goodspeed Musical’s 17th Annual Festival of New Musicals the weekend of March 17-19 and what a wonderful opportunity for theater lovers everywhere. Goodspeed Musicals will devote Friday, Saturday and Sunday to celebrate the newest stars in the firmament across the country and bring their brilliance to East Haddam for a glorious weekend. The highlight of the trio of days will be staged readings of three all new musicals performed by the talented students of The Hartt School, Boston Conservatory at Berkeley and Montclair State University. The readings are enhanced by a series… read more

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