TIME TO PAY THE BILL FOR “RENT” WITH LOVE AT IVORYTON

ENERGETIC CAST OF "RENT" AT IVORYTON PLAYHOUSE

Christmas Eve should be a time for celebration, reflection and admiration, unless you are hungry, cold, virtually homeless and without prospects for the future.  Squatters in an abandoned New York City tenement dealing with life and death issues like AIDS hardly seem the stuff of musical magic but Jonathan Larson’s “Rent” has achieved cult status and Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, a winning effort by a young man who tragically died the night before the play’s off-Broadway opening.

Larson was the composer and lyricist of this rock opera and his untimely death is a tragic footnote to the story he spent seven years creating.  Using the tale of Puccini’s opera “La Boheme” as a framework, he made the 1840’s characters into 1990’s artists, struggling to meet the next rent bill as they strive for creative validation in their chosen fields.

Until Sunday, August 28, the Ivoryton Playhouse is welcoming a troupe of perpetual motion youth, high energy and talented, who will fill the rafters with an electrifying wattage of enthusiasm.  These ragtag bohemians create a community that morphs into a family as they struggle daily to earn their crust of bread.

Instead of the tuberculosis that Puccini’s heroine Mimi contracts, this time the ominous specters are drugs and AIDS that claim young lives in their prime. One of Larson’s goals was to portray these accomplished artists and to show how tragedy strikes in their ranks. Mark, a visual recorder Tim Russell, is the narrator and cinematographer who chronicles all the activities in the loft.  He is alone as he copes with the reality that his ex-girlfriend Maureen, a vibrant Stephanie Genito, has a new relationship with Joanne, an understanding Maritza Bostic.  Meanwhile his roommate Roger, a frustrated Johnny Newcomb, is trying desperately  to compose one “glory” song before AIDS takes him.  His chance meeting with another AIDS patient Mimi, a seeking for love Alyssa V. Gomez, may be just the impetus he needs and the candle of inspiration he is searching to find.

The holiday boasts no holly and no heat, no mistletoe and no money, but this motley clan have gathered to celebrate with the natural exuberance that the young cling with hope to so promisingly.  Songs like “Seasons of Love” with its 525,600 minutes in a year, the soulful “Without You,”  the dance of protest in “Tango: Maureen” and the “Over the Moon” by Maureen that is, well, over the moon wonderful are just four of the over forty tunes that light their fires.  Jacqueline Hubbard directs this energy fest, with her supportive team of Michael Morris as Music Director, Todd Underwood as Choreographer, and Martin Scott Marchitto as Scenic Designer.

For tickets ($50, senior $45, students $22, child $17), call the Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street, Ivoryton at 860-767-7318 or online at

www.ivorytonplayhouse.org. Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees August 20 and 27 and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Are you willing to share your last crumbs of bread?  Yes, if it is with a coterie of friends who are really family.

YOUR TABLE’S WAITING AT THE “CABARET”

THE EMCEE EMILIO GUZMAN IN "CABARET"

 The ostrich was known for sticking its head in the sand and ignoring the world around it.  The same could be argued for the citizens of Berlin in 1930 when they kept themselves busy partying and dancing and drinking, faster and faster, so they were oblivious to the dangers swirling around them outside the night club doors.  In this case it is the Kit Kat Klub and you are invited inside to witness the insidious changes that the party goers are blind to seeing and acknowledging.  

The Chestnut Street Playhouse in Norwich has your table waiting until  Sunday, August 28, as  it recreates the frantic and frenetic times created so masterfully by Joe Masteroff’s book, John Kander’s music and Fred Ebb’s lyrics in “Cabaret,” based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood.

The welcome mat is securely laid out by the seductive and most accommodating Emcee Emilio Guzman who urges you to leave all your troubles outside and have a good time, especially with his bevy of Kit Kat Girls to entertain you, Sarah Mock, Heather Spiegel Auden, Emily Elsemore, Debra Slezak, Amanda Nelson and Kristen Rizzi. Headlining the show is the sparkling singer from Mayfair, England, Miss Sally Bowles, a stars in her eyes Jennifer McPherson, who is busy breezing through life seemingly without a care. She dangles men like so much jewelry, using them to accommodate her needs, like the club owner Max (Michael Vernon Davis) and the newcomer to Berlin, the American writer Cliff Bradshaw, the naive but trusting Jason Sedgwick.

On the train into town, Cliff meets the dangerously single minded Ernst Ludwig, a focused for the cause Andrew Goehring, who helps Cliff secure a room at the boarding house of Fraulein Schneider, a hard working and sincere Angela Dias.  She is busy keeping track of her tenants like the overly friendly to sailors Fraulein Kost, a convincing Barbara Schreier, and the greengrocer Herr Schultz, Justin Carroll, who wants to make her his wife.  The fact that he is Jewish becomes an obstacle of elephantine proportions.

Light hearted fun in songs like “Don’t Tell Mama” segue in alarming ways to the themes of “Tomorrow BelongsTo Me,” as it echoes the Nazi message, and the hidden in plain sight discrimination of “If You Could See Her,” as the Emcee dances with his monkey friend.  Meanwhile dark clouds obscure the sun, foreshadowing the storm to come, as David Fenn directs this musical with hidden fangs in a decidedly wicked and “wunderbar” way.

For tickets ($25), call the Chestnut Street Playhouse, 24 Chestnut Street, Norwich at 860- 886-2378 or online at www.chestnutstreetplayhouse.org.

Performances are Thursday to Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Scrap off the glitter on the surface of the Kit Kat Klub and discover that all is not beautiful, no matter how hard the Emcee tries to make you believe it is so.

COME FEATHER YOUR NEST WITH “BYE BYE BIRDIE”

CONRAD BIRDIE (RHETT GUTER) AND HIS FANS   PHOTO BY DIANE SOBOLEWSKI

Think James Dean Meets Elvis Presley.  Think bad boy merges with heartthrob.  Think wild teenage girls mooning and moaning over singing sensation with swivel hips and sassy lips aplenty.  Come meet Conrad Birdie, the star of the smash musical “Bye Bye Birdie” flying high at Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam until Thursday, September 8.

Sweet Apple, Ohio and its residents will never be the same again after it is announced that Conrad Birdie will go there to plant a big kiss on Kim MacLee, the president of one of his biggest fan clubs, as a farewell gesture before he goes into the army.  This prominent press publicity stunt is the brainchild of Conrad’s manager’s secretary Rosie and getting it televised on the Ed Sullivan Show nationwide is a five-star bonus.

With a book by Michael Stewart, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, “Bye Bye Birdie” is a “happy face” happening from the first party-line telephone hello to the last railroad station goodbye.  Rhett Guter is a standout as the man of the hour, about to enter the military, trying to be brave and obedient as he follows the letter of the law set down by his manager Albert, an overwhelmed mama’s boy well portrayed by George Merrick.

Albert only wants the best for the boy, but he is being pulled in different directions by his domineering mother, a tenacious pit bull captured by Kristine Zbornik, one who is dedicated to her son’s well-being and to her plastic rain bonnet.  On the other side of the rope pull is Rosie, the faithful and loving Janet Dacal, who wants Albert to abandon show biz, marry her and become the English teacher he was meant to be.

Beyond the orange blossom bouquet is sweetheart Tristen Buettel’s Kim, thrilled to be the lucky girl chosen to receive Conrad’s kiss but conflicted because she has just been pinned by boyfriend Hugo, a not-so-willing-to-share Alex Walton.  Kim’s parents, a fantastic Warren Kelley as a perplexed dad, a supportive Donna English as a helpful mom and a great little kid brother Randolph, an adorable Ben Stone-Zelman,all add to the comic chaos.

Grand songs keep popping up, keeping the action merry and dizzying at the same time, as everyone tries to get their heart’s desire.  You can’t help but smile and cheer them all along thanks to the inspired direction of Jenn Thompson and her wonderful team.

For tickets ($29 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.(select 2 p.m.), Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. (select 6:30 p.m.).

It’s the 1960’s and young girls are going crazy for Conrad Birdie who is well worthy of their admiration and adoration.  Watch out and you’ll find yourself in his fan club in no time at all.

CELEBRATE THE “MIDSUMMER” HOLIDAY

M. SCOTT MCLEAN AND REBECCA HART IN "MIDSUMMER"  PHOTOS BY LANNY NAGLER

Do you fancy an evening of sweetness, silliness, secrets and songs with a specifically Scottish favor?  It’s officially midsummer, so how appropriate that “Midsummer (a play with songs)” by David Greig and Gordon McIntyre will be offered by TheaterWorks of Hartford until Sunday, August 21.

Even though the heroine of “Midsummer” is named Helena and there are running romps through the “forests” of Edinburgh, there is little resemblance  to the Bard’s work with a longer, similar title.  This Helena is guarding a secret, a truth she refuses to acknowledge even to herself. As a successful divorce lawyer, she has, nonetheless, taken the unrealistic path of an affair with a married man.

Now ensconced in a wine bar, nursing her wounds, she makes the impetuous decision to approach a lone man and suggest he share her bottle of vino.  Robert, Bobby, Bob, a small time hoodlum, quickly agrees and this quirky, unlikely relationship is born.  Rebecca Hart’s Helena and M. Scott McLean’s Bob are perfection together, as each uses guitars and banjo and a score of original tunes to establish a journey of bizarre adventures that may or may not lead them to romance.

For one long weekend, this pair become cohorts in and out of bed, telling stories, running away from angry brides and even angrier bosses, getting drunk, accumulating a cadre of accomplices and spending the fruits of Bob’s illegal activities.

The occasion of Bob’s thirty-fifth birthday sets off a jaunt that includes Elmo, a pair of dancing lobsters, tambourines, a pink convertible, a missed wedding, a closed bank, IKEA, morning sickness and meatballs, and more.  Director Tracy Brigden keeps the action frothy and fun and fast-paced, laced with charm and crazy comedy.

For tickets ($40-65), call TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford at 860-527-7838 or online at www.theaterworkshartford.org.  Performances are Tuesday to Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Open your heart to the joy of abandon as cares and anguish are extinguished in this unusual poetic tribute to romance and redemption and realizing life’s dreams.

     M. SCOTT MCLEAN AND REBECCA HART

ENTER THE INTRIGUING WORLD OF CHOICES THAT IS “IF/THEN"

                                                      PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS

The poet Robert Frost knew all about crossroads and the paths less taken.  As mere humans we often have trouble with decision making, especially when it involves choices that may have lasting repercussions for the future.  Come meet Elizabeth who faces such dilemmas and the uncertainty they entail. She will be on the cusp of many choices and changes until Sunday, August 7 as the Bushnell Center for the performing Arts presents “If/THEN.” With music by Tom Kitt and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, this new musical will introduce Elizabeth who morphs into Liz and Beth so she can exercise double her possibilities about life.  If you have trouble deciding which ice cream flavors to choose, you will understand how Elizabeth can be paralyzed by which road to travel.

Her marriage of a dozen years in Phoenix has ended and now she has returned to New York City to pick up the pieces of her life.  Will she be cautious or impetuous, a free spirit or a conservative pragmatist?  Will her chance meeting with a new friend Kate help her on her journey?  How will her new next door neighbor Lucas influence her choices?  Will reestablishing a relationship with her old activist friend Josh, a soldier she meets in the park or will her new city planner Steve make the biggest changes happen

The premise is you never know what will happen to you, if you turn right at the corner instead of left, if you take one job or another.  The fact that life is never a straight line causes Elizabeth's dual personas to engage in twists and turns that complicate and color her worlds.  Which job should she accept?  Which man will she love?  She confesses, "I get lost in what might be."

This beautiful and powerful play soars to glorious heights with such songs, verging on operatic, like "It's a Sign," "You Never Know," " Here I Go," "Man Up," "Surprise," "What If" and "What Would You Do?.”  This compelling journey is stuffed with  sensitivity and skill on a set design of mirrored ceiling that reflects wonder and charm.

For tickets ($25.50 - 88.50), call The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue , Hartford  at 860- 987-5900 or online at www.bushnell.org.  Performances are Wednesday at  7:30 p.m., 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.

Whether you believe in fate or life's grand design, you'll enjoy traveling Robert Frost's less known paths as the parallel lives cross and intersect.

COME TO CLINTON TO BE SEDUCED BY “CARMEN”

                                            ZHIGUANG HONG AS ESCAMILLO
                                            KELLY HILL AS CARMEN

With the exotic setting of Seville, a swirl of flamenco skirts, a splash of Spanish flavor, the introduction of one of the stage’s most tempting seductresses and the downfall of the soldier who is the object of her womanly wiles, no wonder the opera “Carmen” by Georges Bizet is such a wildly popular success.

Performed in Paris in 1875, it shocked its initial audiences and Bizet died shortly thereafter, never knowing of its grand international achievement, one it accomplished in the next decade.  Written in the style of opera comique, it has been credited with being the bridge that crossed the existing  tradition into the new level of realism or verismo that occurred late in the 19th century of Italian opera.

You have the opportunity to be personally seduced by the gypsy herself as Opera Theater of Connecticut inaugurates its fourth decade of enchanting entertainment with “Carmen” at Andrews Memorial Theater, 54 East Main Street, Clinton for your air-conditioned pleasure.  Performance dates are

Tuesday, August 9, Thursday, August 11, and Saturday, August 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, August 14 at 6 p.m.  The skills and talents of General Director Kate Ford, Production Director Alan Mann and Music Director Kyle Swann and their fine ensemble of operatic performers will be evident in every glorious moment of this four act masterpiece.

Come hear Kelly Hill capture the spirit of Carmen who flashes her charms to entice the affections of her jailer, the corporal Don Jose, the fiery Daniel Juarez.  When Carmen loses interest in him, and shifts her affections and attentions to the romantic toreador Escamillo, portrayed by Zhiguang Hong, the action is complicated by Carmen’s boredom with Don Jose and her refusal to join the smugglers Duncaire and Rememdado, sung by Dean Murphy and Lucas van Lierop, who urge her to help them.

Meanwhile Don Jose forgets his sweetheart Micaela, played by Rochelle Bard, making her debut with the company, who witnesses her marriage plans dissolve.  Carmen continues to toy with Don Jose’s obsession, getting him in trouble with the officer Zuniga, portrayed by Luke Scott, much to the amusement of Carmen’s friends at the cigarette factory Frasquita and Mercedes, played by Jenna Siladie and Amy Maude Helfer.  Incensed by Carmen’s rejection, in favor of the heroic matador and the superior officer Zuniga, Don Jose stabs and kills the woman he professes to love.

For tickets ($50, seniors $45, under 18 $35), call Opera Theater of CT at 860-669-8999 or go to www.operatheaterofct.org to download an order form to fax or mail to the office using a credit card or PayPal.  Boxed suppers from Chips' Pub III can be reserved for $15 in advance and enjoyed on the theater lawn, while Artistic Director Alan Mann presents an Opera Talk for $5, a half hour before curtain to further your appreciation of the performance.

Let the  gypsy Carmen entice you with her charms as she dances the seductive seguidilla and has soldiers, Don Jose and Zuniga, and the bullfighter Escamillo all competing for her affections.

SEND UP A CHEER FOR “BRING IT ON” AT THE BIJOU

The pressure of having to be practically perfect plagues everyone at one time or another, athletically, academically, artistically, in school, on the playing field or in the corporate world.  The need to be alive, alert, awake and enthusiastic is nowhere more evident than in the highly competitive arena of high school cheerleading competition.  Just ask Campbell Davis,  as a senior at Truman High School, she is about to realize her life- long dream, of seventeen years, to be elected captain of the cheer squad.

To meet Campbell up close and personal, head over to Bridgeport’s Bijou Theatre, with or without pom poms by Sunday, August 7, to experience the joy and heartache, jealousy and revenge, forgiveness and friendship of “Bring It On The Musical.”  With music by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, libretto by Jeff Whitty and lyrics by Amanda Green and Lin-Manuel Miranda, all the angst, anxiety and exhilaration of teenage years are revealed.

Shaylen Harger is a sparkling firecracker as the girl who has all her dreams within reach, only to have them snatched from her capable hands when a school redistricting change moves her to Jackson High School, a poor multicultural area that does not even boast a cheerleading squad.  How can she win Nationals now?  A devastated Campbell tries to put on a brave face but she finds little solace in the cold greeting she gets at her new scholastic home.  The presence of Bridget, an amicable Caitlin Brown, also caught in the redistricting laws, does little to help Campbell’s disappointment.

Soon, however, Campbell realizes several truths:  her move to Jackson was manipulated by a conniving rival Eva (Alissa Grey), her old boyfriend Steve (James Canal) is less than faithful, she really wants to trounce Truman and especially Skylar (Liza Kottler) and Kyler (Mackenzie Wenzel) and Eva on her old squad and she needs help from the new people in her life like Randall (Ryan Shea).  After a rocky start, she is able to enlist the jive and jumping help of a trio of hip hop dancers, the movin’ and groovin’ Malia West, Rajane Katurah and Ainsley Andrade.  With more than forty bouncy tunes, we watch these energetic and eager youngsters give it their all, in spirit and joy.  Kirby and Beverly Ward keep the pulse rocking loud and strong as lessons are learned and real values emerge.

For tickets ($15-23), call the Bijou Theatre, 275 Fairfield Avenue, Bridgeport (exit 2 off route 8) at 203-332-3228 or online at www.thebijoutheatre.com.  Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m.  Come early for cocktails, dinner, concessions, coffee and/ or dessert.

Revisit your high school days for a musical injection of what those teenage years were like way back when.