GEORGIA MCBRIDE TRANSFORMATIVE AT HTW

MISS TRACY MILLS  (JAMISON STERN)     PHOTO BY LANNY NAGLER

In the world of entertainment, an actor can transform from one character or persona to another with a change in voice, a wig or a costume.  With skill and talent, a complete metamorphosis can occur right before the audience’s eyes. When Casey, a struggling Elvis impersonator, finds he is overwhelmed with financial issues, from unpaid rent to buying a pizza on the installment plan, he has a moment of revelation:  he must change, his name, his dress and his act.

Hartford TheaterWorks is inviting you to that moment of epiphany in Matthew Lopez’s “The Legend of Georgia McBride” stripping down to its essentials until Sunday, April 29.  In the hands and other body parts by Austin Thomas, we see Casey struggle to support his wife Jo, an understanding and newly pregnant Samaria Nixon-Fleming, with an optimistic outlook and a new wardrobe.  With the encouragement and mama mentoring of Miss Tracy Mills,  a fantastic Jamison Stern, Casey finds himself on stage at a bar/club run by Eddie, an enterprising J. Tucker Smith, as a drag queen.

Enter Georgia McBride and learn that Elvis has, indeed, left the building.  With bows to Liza, Pink and Lady Gaga, Casey emerges in full feathers and flamboyant fashion.  The drag queens strut triumphantly, with the addition of Rexy, an outspoken and sassy Nik Alexander, who doubles as Casey and Jo’s understanding landlord Jason.  So what’s the problem with this picture?  Casey forgets to tell Jo of his new career choice.

While Jo is responsible and realistic, Casey is optimistic and full of potential. With the green light from Eddie, and the encouragement and assistance of Miss Tracy, Casey sees the future through his rose colored glasses.  Being kind, wise and dependable, Casey discovers that tolerance and diversity and being open to change and opportunity can be life altering. When he lip syncs “Man, I Feel Like a Woman,”  he is

just hitting his stride. Rob Ruggiero directs this peek under the wig and inside the dress of a drag queen, with help from Leon Dobkowski’s

fascinating costumes, Paul Tate dePoo III’s behind and before the stage set design, John Lasiter’s sparkling lighting, Ralph Perkins’ perky choreography and Ed Chapman’s sultry sound.

For tickets ($45-70), call Hartford TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford at 860-527-7838 or online at www.twhartfrod.org.  Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

For lessons in makeup, wig styling and drag queen dress, look no further than Casey and Tracy’s dressing room for a behind the curtain peek at a unique area of show business. 

CIVIL WAR DRAMA SHINES AT YALE REP IN NEW HAVEN

              HERO (JAMES UDOM) AND PENNY (EBONI FLOWERS)
              PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS

Being christened with the name Hero as a baby is both a blessing and a curse, ladened as it is with expectations and responsibilities. How do you live up to a name that conjures ancient warriors like Hannibal and Ulysses?  Where do the burdens and disappointments lie?  For a young black slave living in a corrugated metal hut on his master’s plantation during the Civil War, the potential for disaster is evident every time someone calls out his name.  Now Hero is at a crossroads.  He must make a difficult choice, one that will make some people happy and another group of his family and friends devastated.  The two sides are even betting on the outcome.

Suzan-Lori Parks has fashioned an epic saga in the first triptych of her historical drama “Father Comes Home From the Wars Parts 1, 2 & 3” marching into the Yale Repertory Theatre’s University Theatre, 222 York Street, New Haven until Saturday, April 7.  James Udom is commanding and conflicted as Hero who is asked by his boss master the Colonel, Tom Hiatt, to accompany him to war against the Union Army.  For this dangerous deed, the Colonel will reward Hero’s courage with the gift of his freedom. It will be Hero’s responsibility to care for his master and for the master’s horse.

For Hero, his choice is a field of cotton or the field of battle and he must decide which direction to take.  Hero’s dog, an engagingly vital Gregory Wallace,  has run off which Hero interprets as a bad sign.  To his friend Homer, a disabled Julian Elijah Martinez, the choice is further complicated by the fact that he doesn’t believe the boss master can be trusted to honor his pledge of freedom.  Homer and Hero have a complicated relationship that involves a lack of trust with serious consequences.

If Hero gains his freedom, he will have the opportunity to live in glory and belong to himself, and even to marry Penny, Eboni Flowers, the faithful woman who loves him.  The illusions to Homer’s "The Odyssey," Ulysses, Penelope and the faithful dog are evident. Hero’s decision to go or to stay weighs heavily on his heart and has the potential to change the course of his life.  Liz Diamond directs this involving and intriguing tale of life altering choices of which road to travel.

For tickets ($44-90 ), call the Yale Rep at 203-432-1234 or online at www.yalerep.org. Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday matinee at 2 p.m.

How will Hero act when asked to help defend a country that does not value him, except in terms of the sweat of his brow and the strength of his muscles, but not of his humanity.

TIME STOPS AT STOP/TIME DANCE AT PLAYHOUSE ON PARK

THE STOP/TIME DANCE  COMPANY   PHOTO BY CURT HENDERSON

Whether you measure time in moments, minutes or months, with an alarm clock, a cuckoo clock, a fob watch on a chain, a grandfather clock, an hourglass, a Rolex or Timex, a sundial or bejewelled time piece, you must agree on one thing:  time is precarious and precious.  We all come with an expiration date, one we cannot avoid or out run.  Playhouse on Park in West Hartford is exploring the concept of time passages in a most creative and delightfully energetic way with dance by the stop/time dance theater as it celebrates achieving fifteen years of the playhouse’s resident dance troupe.  Come experience “15."

What was to have been a three day run of a dance program fifteen years ago, is still going strong today.  Until Sunday, March 25, Artistic Director Darlene Zoller will lead her passionate and joy filled “family” of performers in a montage of more than twenty sparkling numbers that swirl around time and a confused creature named Victoria who is searching for the right directions for her life.  Her choices have virtually paralyzed her and she doesn’t know which map or road sign to travel.

Luckily for Victoria, an adventurous Victoria Mooney, she has two helpers Eon, an accommodating Rick Fountain and Millenia, a supportive Amanda Forker, to sing and guide her on her way.  Unfortunately, they aren’t sure themselves. Do they need a GPS or a yellow brick road?

With spirited and enthusiastic dance moves, tap and jazz and nods to popular shows like “Hairspray,” “Funny Girl,” “Damn Yankees,” “West Side Story” and ”Mary Poppins,” this troupe owns the stage.  Come experience the dancing prowess of Meredith Atkinson, Ali Barney, Lisa Caffyn, Lynsey Chartier, Jennifer Checovetes, Beckie Correale, Shannon DelGuidice, Amelia Flater, Constance Gobeille, Erica Misenti, Laurie Misenti, Erica O’Keefe, Spencer Pond, Sheri Righi, Melissa B. Shannon, Alicia Voukides and Courtney Woods, in a bevy of beautiful costumes designed by Lisa Steier, bathed in lighting designed by Aaron Hochheiser, spectacular sound by Lucas Clopton  and lively musical direction by Colin Britt. Darlene Zoller deserves triple credit for conceiving, directing and choreographing this perfect blending of community and audience symmetry.

By day these talented hoofers assume roles as elementary and high school teachers, dance and music instructors, business administrators, physician assistants, physical therapists and parents.  They all devote their tons of energy and enthusiasm to making stop/time dance company a shining example of neighborhood theater at its best.

For tickets ($25-40), call Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, West Hartford at 860-523-5900 ext.10 or online at www.PlayhouseOnPark.org. Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Watch for the next two Comedy Nights ($15) on Saturdays March 31 and May 19 at 8 p.m.

Come learn the life lessons that you need to make the most of every day, remember to live in the moment  and enjoy the time that is allotted you.  Get your jazz hands ready to applaud all this joyous effort of “15.".

“JERSEY BOYS” OH, WHAT A NIGHT AT THE PALACE!

THE JERSEY BOYS: CHRIS STEVENS AS NICK MASSI, TOMMASO ANTICO AS BOB GAUDIO. JONNY WEXLER AS FRANKIE VALLI AND COREY GREENAN AS TOMMY DEVITO
PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS

Rarely has a musical the ability to raise the rafters quite like “Jersey Boys,”  the show about a quartet of young guys, blue-collar workers, from the Garden State.  With  book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, and music by Bob Gaudio and lyrics by Bob Crewe, “Jersey Boys” tells the tale of how Frankie Valli becomes lead singer of The Four Seasons. The transformation is not an easy one, and the four have some hard choices to make along the way, but that "rocky road” is a spectacular journey you won’t want to miss.

Waterbury’s Palace Theater will be rolling out the red carpet for these sensational, harmony driven lads on Friday, March 23 and Saturday, March 24 and you definitely want to cheer on this smash 2006 tony Award winning show. With a sweet, honey-dipped sound and a dazzling dream, these young kids flirt with crime and the wrong side of the law but, ultimately, set their careers straight towards stardom.  Finding members who fit their sound was the first hurdle.  Claiming a name that suited their voices was the second.  Avoiding arrest by the cops, reconciling family life with long stints on the road, a gambling addiction and burden of debt all conspire to almost bring them down.

 But Frank Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi  persevere and go on to sell 175 million records worldwide, all before they hit thirty, with Gaudio and Bob Crewe, their producer/lyricist writing many of the show’s thirty three songs, including five #1 hits and 11 that made the Billboard’s top ten. Come snap your fingers and hum along to “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Oh, What a Night,” “My Eyes Adore You,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” and “Working My Way Back to You.”

For tickets ($57.50 and up), call the Palace Theater, 100 East Main Street, Waterbury or go online to www.palacetheaterct.com. Performances are  Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 

 Let a quartet of talented guys from Jersey adore you with their eyes and serenade you with their great voices as they work their way into your heart. Oh, what a night! Join the 24 million who have loved this shows they enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and deservedly so.

HUMOR AND MYSTERY COMBINE WITH SHERLOCK HOLMES IN “BASKERVILLE” AT LWT

One cannot dispute that in fictional literature Sherlock Holmes reigns as one of the genre’s foremost

detectives.  Thanks to the great storytelling skills of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes will forever be

acknowledged for his powerful investigative prowess, along with his faithful sidekick Dr. Watson.

New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre is inviting you to witness those incredible deductive traits in its

latest offering Ken Ludwig’s "Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery” sure to be entertaining 

you until Sunday, March 25.  This case is purported to be Holmes’ most difficult and intriguing

ever.  Can Holmes with his reliance on science, facts and evidence be able to solve it?

Holmes is back, stronger and more brilliant than ever after his creator mistakenly killed him off in

his novel “The Final Solution.”  The public, however, screamed and protested indignation, forcing 

Doyle to resurrect him, claiming the great investigator had faked his own death and, thus, “The 

Hound of the Baskervilles” was born.

Now, thanks to Ken Ludwig, the king of farce and humor has put his own delightful spin on the tale

where Holmes, a suave and savvy Alex Moggridge, and his cohort Watson, an accommodating 

Daniel Pearce, are aided by a trio of flexible associates playing three dozen zany parts, 

Kelly Hutchinson, Christopher Livingston and Brian Owen. Nowhere have you likely seen faster

costume changes courtesy of Lex Liang, aided by sharp lighting designed by Robert Wierzel, and

sound effects engineered by Victoria Deiorio with original music.

Sir Charles Baskerville has mysteriously died, from a heart attack or was he frightened to death by 

a ferocious and fierce beast, a hound? Is this a continuation of a curse placed on the family 

generations ago when a Sir Hugo Baskerville kidnapped a young maiden and traded his soul to the devil

when she escaped in order to get her back.

Now Sir Henry Baskerville has left his Texas home to claim his inheritance as the only known living heir

but warnings keep popping up.  Holmes and Watson had been employed to keep him alive and to 

solve the mystery. The chase lands on the moors of Devonshire where director Brendon Fox keeps

 the action and suspense moving in a swirl of fog with the haunting howl of the hounds ever present.

For tickets ($ 46-91.50 ), call Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven at 203-787-4282 or online at www.longwharf.org/baskerville.  Performances are Tuesdays at 7 p.m., Wednesdays at 2 p.m. and

 7 p.m., Thursday at 8 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m on

the Claire Tow Stage.

Discover who you can trust and who is patently dishonest as you watch Holmes direct Watson

across the mysterious moors where anything can happen and danger looms large.

JOE BIDEN TO SPEAK AT SCSU MARCH 23

     FORMER VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN TO SPEAK AT SCSU

The Mary and Louis Fusco Distinguished Lecture Series is celebrating twenty years of bringing leaders from the worlds of politics, athletics, entertainment and science to Southern Connecticut State University.  These intellectual discussions

have, over the years, brought people like NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, former Tonight Show host Jay Leno, Astronaut Mark Kelly, political analyst Tim Russet, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and a star list of others to the stage of the John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts.

This year top billing will be for Joe Biden, former Vice President to Barack Obama, who will reflect on his two terms in that position and his contributions to secure peace domestically and on foreign soil.  Using his position as the creator of the Biden

Foundation, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania and the Biden Institute for Domestic Policy at the University of Delaware, Mr. Biden continues his important work to better our country's

world standing.

With his wife Dr. Jill Biden, he has also founded the Biden Cancer Institute for vital medical research and the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children in memory of their son. This engaging conversation with Vice President Biden 

will take place Friday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lyman Center.  Tickets are $75 for premium seating, $65 for regular seating and $25 for SCSU students with a valid ID.  For $175 a pre-lecture reception and photo opportunity, premium

lecture seats and an autographed copy of Biden's "Promise Me. Dad," a memoir about his last year as Vice President and the incalculable loss of his son Beau, will be available in VIP form.

Note to come early for parking with no bags or backpacks allowed. Proceeds from this event will fund scholarships for SCSU students, Endowed Awards of Excellence, to recognize academically talented youth.

Come hear the philosophy and ideals of the 47th Vice President of the United States, his thoughts and his hopes and his promises for America's future                                                                                                                    .

FOLLOW “THE 39 STEPS” TO FUN AND MYSTERY AT MTC

Did you ever desire to be a clandestine secret spy?  Have you ever envied Sherlock Holmes or Jessica Fletcher? Would examining clues and dusting for fingerprints be a glorious hoot of fun?  Are you addicted, even a little, to all the crime solving stories on television?  If you answered yes to any one of these questions, then Music Theatre of Connecticut has the perfect entertainment evening for you.  John Buchan’s “The 39 Steps” is ready to intrigue you, confuse you, confound you and delight you until Sunday, March 18 at MTC’s intimate Norwalk studio.

Four talented actors are prepared to change hats, don a mustache, put on a wig, change clothes, adapt a new accent and generally become an entirely new persona as the comic mystery unfolds.  Gary Lindemann presents himself as Richard Hannay, a Brit who is bored and tired of his humdrum life. He yearns for change.  This is a perfect example of being careful what you wish for as before you can say “Life is dull” three times, Hannay is concealing a woman of dubious character who has a message of doom for the country of England and quickly dies in his arms.

Now suspected of her murder, Hannay is off and running…for his life and to find the solution to the puzzle of the man with a missing little finger who is plotting to destroy the country.  Think of a game of CLUE that has run amok. In a humorous homage to Alfred Hitchcock, Hannay and a trio of cohorts:  Laura Cable, Matt Densky and Jim Schilling set off at a brisk pace, leaping off bridges and on to trains, across the moors to Scotland, stopping at farms and grand houses along the way, catching a plane, escaping from windows, all the time trying to evade the police and arrest.

This fast paced suspenseful and silly slapstick ride is an adaptation by Patrick Barlow, based on an original concept by Nobby Dimon and Simon Corble, from the novel by John Buchan and the 1935 movie of the same name. Starting from the time Hannay attends a performance at the London Palladium, where he witnesses a performance by Mr. Memory until the moment all the evidence falls neatly into place, you will be rooting for Hannay to succeed in his quest and secure the love of Pamela along the adventurous way.

Come witness the split timing schedule as a trio of actors play dozens of roles, from milkmen to motormen, mothers to Mr. Memory, as they romp across the countryside. Pamela Hill directs this merry go round of murder and mayhem with aplomb.

For tickets ($30-55), call Music Theatre of Connecticut, 509 Westport Avenue, (behind Nine West Shoes) Norwalk at 203-454-3883 or online at www.musictheatreofct.com.  Performances are Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Come discover for yourself how biscuits and bagpipes, haddock and handcuffs, underwear salesmen and undercover agents, play a significant role in this whistle-while-you-work theatrical tour de force event. Be sure to have your ears tuned to pick up all the references to Hitchcock hits sprinkled liberally throughout this wild and wooly whodunit.