JACQUES LAMARRE TIMES THREE

If you’re in Hartford the weekend of June 2, you have to work hard to miss playwright Jacques Lamarre’s three openings.  He modestly refers to them as “Jacques-a-Palooza.”

The Unitarian Society of Hartford as part of its Performing Arts Series will present the Herstory Theater Reading of his drama “PIERCE,” at 7 p.m., Saturday, June 2 at 50 Bloomfield Avenue, Hartford.  This historical play deals with the tragic life of Jane Means Appleton Pierce, the religious and reclusive wife of Franklin Pierce who was elected President at the brink of the Civil War.

Born in Lamarre’s hometown of Amherst, New Hampshire, the Pierces have been extensively researched through letters and archives.  Will Jane be able to handle the rigors and responsibilities of being First Lady, a title she desperately does not want to assume?

For tickets ($15, or $30 for VIP seating), call 860-233-9897, online at www.ushartford.com or at the door.  The reading will be followed by a Talk Back with the playwright and Herstory Theater cast members.

The busy Mr. Lamarre will then head off to the Gay and Lesbian Film Fest at Cinestudio, 300 Summit Street, on the campus of Trinity College, in Hartford at 10:30 p.m., Saturday, June 2 for the screening of “Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads,” a film he co-wrote for drag queen performer Varla Jean Merman.  The festival runs from June 1 to June 9.  For information and tickets ($10, students and seniors $7), call the theater at 860-297-2463 or the festival at 860-586-1136, or online at http://outfilmct.org/.

As if that isn’t enough, Lamarre’s new play “I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti,” a comedy he  adapted from the memoir by Giulia Melucci, will premiere this weekend at TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford and run through Sunday, July 8.  A delicious diva in the kitchen, Giulia hasn’t mastered the correct ingredients for true love.  Share her tantalizing and tasty pasta, as she cooks up cures for a broken heart. 

For tickets ($50-63 or special kitchen seating at $76 that includes a front row table with wine and food), call the theater at 860-527-7838 or online at www.theaterworkshartford.org.  Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m.

Come cheer for Jacques Lamarre at any one of his trio of exciting events or join his fan club and attend all three.

THE HISTORY OF WOMEN IN ART

 

The significant role women have played over time is explored in the new exhibition The History of Woman, on view from May 30, 2012, through June 23, 2012, at Fairfield University’s Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery, located in the Quick Center. The exhibition is presented by Montage Initiative, a program dedicated to providing impoverished and disadvantaged women and families around the globe with expanded opportunities to earn a sustainable living.

The History of Woman features works by local artists, students, and faculty in celebration of cultural acceptance and individual expression. development. The History of Woman is the capstone event of the Quick Center’s involvement in Fairfield University’s Global Citizenship initiative. During this period, from June 11-15, 2012, Fairfield University is hosting the 3rd Biennial JUHAN (Jesuit Universities Humanitarian Action Network) Student Leadership Conference: Global Perspectives on Humanitarian Action. An estimated 200 students, faculty and staff will be attending the conference from Jesuit Universities globally and nationally to visit the exhibition. Montage Initiative’s attention is currently focused on the plight of the widows in the Indian providence of Vrindavan, although it endeavors to alleviate the reality of extreme poverty worldwide by rallying support and awareness and promoting peace building.

The Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery is free and open to the public. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays from noon to 4 p.m., and approximately one hour prior to curtain and during intermission at all Quick Center events. The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Fairfield University at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut.. Fairfield University is located off exit 22 of Interstate-95. For further information and directions, call (203) 254-4010 or 1-877-278-7396, or visit www.fairfield.edu/quick.

THIS AMERICAN LIFE-LIVE!

 

Fairfield University’s Quick Center presents an encore screening in High Definition of This American Life- Live! hosted by Ira Glass at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 7, 2012. The original broadcast and performance took place on May 10, 2012, at the Skirball Center at New York University in New York City. It is being presented by WBEZ Chicago and BY Experience in collaboration with Public Radio International. Ira Glass is the well-known host of WBEZ Chicago’s critically acclaimed radio show This American Life, a weekly hour-long radio program that debuted in 1995 on WBEZ Chicago, and broadcast to 500 radio stations reaching 1.7 million weekly listeners.

 This American Life- Live! features stories by writer David Rakoff, comedian Tig Notaro and Snap Judgment host Glynn Washington. Together they perform a live stage version of the radio show, centered on the theme “The Invisible Made Visible.” The performance also features a new short film by Mike Birbiglia, live music by the rock band and YouTube sensations OK Go, a dance performance by Monica Bill Barnes & Company, original animation and illustration, and special surprise guests.

 "I saw this amazing dance performance by Monica Bill Barnes' company, and I thought - that is totally in the style of our radio show," said host Ira Glass. "But obviously you can't have dance on the radio. Then I realized, we have to do another cinema event! We've built this lineup of stories mixed with super visual things, including the dancers I saw that night, so it's going to feel like the radio show but also totally unlike anything we've done before.”

 Tickets ($20, $15 for students and seniors) are available through the Quick Center: (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396. (1-877-278-7396).

Come see and hear a radio show come to life, with Ira Glass at the helm.

“COME FLY AWAY” A WONDERFUL TICKET TO ROMANCE

The theatrical marriage of Frank Sinatra’s sultry love songs and Twyla Tharp’s dazzling dance moves is an evening that promotes and celebrates romance.  Think of a Valentine’s Day holiday gala hosted by Cupid himself where a big band, more than a dozen dancers and Ol’ Blue Eyes’ memorable music serenade and sooth.  Experience “Come Fly Away” coming to Hartford’s Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts on gossamer wings of love until Sunday, June 3.

Sexy and sophisticated, flirtatious and fancy free, “Come Fly Away” follows four couples Kate and Hank (Ashley Blair Fitzgerald and Anthony Burrell), Marty and Betsy  (Christopher Vo and Ramona Kelley), Slim and Chanos (Ioana Alfonso and Matthew Stockwell Dibble) and Babe and Sid (Meredith Miles and Stephen Hanna) as they fall in and out of love, experience their first exhilarating smooch, discover what may not be fated to be and explore all the intricate parts of the puzzle known as love.

Great Sinatra favorites like “Fly Me to the Moon,” “New York, New York,” “You Make Me Feel So Young,” “Body and Soul,” and “I’ve Got a Crush on You” ignite the stage, with Twyla 

Tharp’s innovative and sizzling dance steps to bring the scenes to dramatic and daring life.

With shimmering long legged ladies and dapper gents, the numbers fly by with fluid moves and sensuous styling.  Whether it’s the bumpy courtship of “Let’s Fall in Love” with Marty and Betsy, the possessive and confrontational action between Hank and Kate in “That’s Life,” the spellbinding movements of Sid and Babe in “Witchcraft” or the caveman techniques of  Slim and Chanos in “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby,” these versatile dancers go all out to make their feelings known through their incredible body language on stage.

For tickets ($17-72), call the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford at 860-987-5900 or online at www.bushnell.org. Performances are Wednesday  and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Sip an imaginary martini at the hot nightspot where the dancing is deliciously sexy and sensual and sensational, the big band brilliantly brassy and the vocals of Frank Sinatra dripping with dangerous delight.

“NUMBER THE STARS” A STIRRING STORY OF COURAGE AND FAITH

                                   Ellen and Annemarie

On Memorial Day, we pause to value our freedoms and thank the men and women who have guaranteed them over the decades.  How appropriate is it , therefore, to look back to a time when Hitler and his Nazi soldiers ruled0 Germany and had plans for a master race and a plot to control the world.

The Spirit of Broadway Theater in Norwich will be shining a spotlight on a memorable moment in World War II with a new musical “Number the Stars,” with book, music and lyrics by Sean Hartley, based on the Newberry Medal Award-winning book by Lois Lowry, until Sunday, June 3.

This ambitious and well- staged production focuses on two ten year old girls in Denmark and how the Nazi invasion affects their daily lives.  First it is a lack of sugar, cream, flour, coffee.  No more cupcakes.  Then it is an 8 p.m. curfew and a curtailment of personal freedoms, with the Jewish people being specifically targeted, their stores closed and members of their faith rounded up, sent to ghettoes and destined for annihilation.

Annemarie (Vera Farina) is best friends with Ellen (Abby Rain Heiser) and they walk to school together with Annemarie’s precocious younger sister Kirsti (Aysia Reed) until Nazi soldiers (Brandon Nichols and Rob Grgach) repeatedly stop and question them.  As the months of 1943 pass, it becomes clear that the Denmark they once enjoyed is gone, possibly for a long time, if not forever.

When Ellen and her mother Sophy (Kristin Lattin) fear for their lives because of their Jewish faith, it is Annemarie’s Christian parents (Shawn Rucker and Frank Calamaro) who risk their own lives to hide Ellen.  When soldiers knock at their door in the middle of the night, they claim Ellen is their daughter Lise (Anne Fowler) who was killed working with her friend Peter (Connor Harvey) in the Resistance movement.

Annemarie’s Uncle Henrik (Corrado Alicata) has a plan to spirit Ellen and her mother away to Sweden and safety.  This plan allows Annemarie the opportunity to show her courage and bravery and underscores how neighbors join in a community to fight evil and stand up for justice.

Songs like “I’ll Tell You Just a Little,” “The Robin and the Rosebud,” “L’Shana Tova” and “Friends” express the heartfelt sentiments of a people fighting an enemy that has invaded their homeland.

Artistic director Brett A. Bernardini has shepherded this production like a proud papa showing off a newborn child, nurturing its development with love and care.  For tickets ($30, students $15 one hour before curtain), call Spirit of Broadway Theater, 24 Chestnut Street, Norwich at 860-886-2378 or online at www.spiritofbroadway.org.  Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Sign up today for the Connecticut High School Musical Theater Awards, a black tie event to be held on Monday, June 4 at 6:30 p.m. at Waterbury’s Palace Theater, 100 East Main Street.  Nineteen member schools, seventeen of which are self-funded acting programs, will receive awards in sixteen categories.  Tickets for the Gala begin at $50.  Call the Palace Theater box office at 203-346-2000 for this outstanding salute to our youth.

Discover the hope and promise that can emerge from even the darkest corners when our freedoms are threatened and our faith is tested.

“MAME:” AS MAGNIFICENT AS EVER!

Mame Dennis of 3 Beekman Place, New York City prides herself on being unconventional, eccentric and free spirited, on giving spectacular parties and for wringing the last juicy and joyous drop from the sponge of life.  When she finds herself the legal guardian of her late brother’s son Patrick, she incorporates the young lad into her pattern of living without missing a syncopated beat.

To experience a glimpse into her dazzling demeanor, delight in the spirited and engaging production of Jerry Herman’s “Mame” at Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, extended to Saturday, July 7 by popular demand.

Louise Pitre sparkles and shines as the adventurous Auntie Mame who only knows one way to live, with exuberance.  When a cautiously timid Agnes Gooch, a deliciously timorous Kirsten Wyatt, delivers young Patrick, a sporting and game Eli Baker, to Mame’s doorstep, they are soon swept away in the glorious goings on.  A starchy Dwight Babcock (Paul Carlin), Patrick’s legal trustee, casts a disapproving eye on the proceedings but he is powerless to control or tame the galloping goddess, Mame.

Patrick is quickly surrounded by the people who hold Mame dear, like her best friend Vera Charles (Judy Blazer), her houseboy Ito (James Seol), her new husband Beau (James Lloyd Reynolds) and her publishing friend Woolsey (James Beaman).  As the roaring twenties progress through the Depression, the grown-up Patrick is portrayed by an understanding but conflicted Charles Hagerty, who still needs Auntie to set him straight.

A parade of great tunes sweep us along, like “It’s Today,” “Open a New Window,” “We Need a Little Christmas,” “Mame,” “Bosom Buddies,” “Gooch’s Song” and “If He Walked Into My Life Today.”  For director Ray Roderick, “Delivering this lavish musical with its thrilling Jerry Herman score, big, bold and stylish dances and its smart and funny book to audiences at Goodspeed’s jewel box of a theatre seemed like a thrilling ride…It is clearly a very special and unexpected love story that remains more than relevant today.”

Add in James Youmans’ versatile silver set, Gregg Barnes’ luscious costumes and Vince Pesce’s inspired choreography and you have a glorious production.  For tickets ($27 and up), call  Goodspeed Musicals on the Connecticut River in East Haddam at 860-873-8668 or online at www.goodspeed.org.  Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (with select ones at 2 p.m.), Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. (with select ones at 6:30 p.m.) Check the website for special events.

Sit down at the banquet of life where stuffing yourself is more than permitted it’s required, in this delightful family musical by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, adapted from the book written by Patrick Dennis about his life with his extraordinary Auntie Mame.

“THE TEMPEST:” A SENSATIONAL SWIRL OF A STORM

                            Miranda, Prospero and Ferdinand

                                     Photo by T. Charles Erickson

The master magician Prospero has been sent in exile, with his young daughter Miranda, to a deserted island by his brother Antonio, with the help of Alonso the King of Naples, because of jealousy.  Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan and now, twelve years after the deed, he is set to enact his revenge.

A ship carrying Alonso and Antonio and Alonso’s son Ferdinand and brother Sebastian is traveling home from Tunis where Alonso’s daughter Claribel has just wed the King and Prospero has sent a giant storm, a tempest, to cause it to shipwreck.

Let yourself surrender to the spellbinding enchantment which director Darko Tresnjak has woven into the Hartford Stage’s magnificent rendering of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” until Sunday, June 10.

Daniel Davis is riveting as the powerful Prospero.  Thanks to Gonzalo (Noble Shropshire), one of his enemy’s henchmen, and his initial help of food, water, clothes and a library of books when Prospero and a three year old Miranda were set adrift in a small boat, Prospero has thrived on the tiny island.  With the aide of Ariel (Shirine Babb), a spirit only he can see, and Caliban (Ben Cole), an ungrateful and menacing son of a witch, he has learned to survive.  While Ariel serves him, she only desires her freedom, but Caliban resents his presence and wants him gone.

Through his incantations, Prospero separates the men on the ship into three groups, so that Alonso and his son Ferdinand each believe the other is dead.  Two of Alonso’s servants Stephano (Michael Spencer-Davis) and Trinculo (Bruce Turk) are delightfully drunk and fall in with Caliban to plot a ridiculous defeat of Prospero.  The handsome young Ferdinand (William Patrick Riley) is immediately smitten with Miranda (Sara Topham), so quickly that Prospero feels he must place a few obstacles in the path of true love so “too light winning (may) make the prize light.”

Meanwhile Antonio (Jonathan Lincoln Fried) and Sebastian (David Barlow) have treachery firmly in mind as they plot to murder Alonso (Christopher Randolph) and the good-hearted Gonzalo so that Sebastian can become King.

A forgiving Prospero, calm after the storm, with the help of the Bard, makes sure everything works out as “all’s well that ends well.”  The set designed by Alexander Dodge is wondrous to behold, beautifully complemented by Fabio Toblini’s lovely costumes, Michael Chybowski’s inspired lighting and David Budries and Nathan A Roberts’ dramatic sounds and original music.

For tickets ($59.50-90.50), call the Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street, Hartford at 860-527-5151 or online at www.hartfordstage.org.  Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday at 7:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2 p.m.

Let Prospero and Ariel catch you in their web of enchantment that is both mesmerizing and magical in its utter imagination.

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