"THE TIN WOMAN" REVEALS THE MAGICAL AND MIRACULOUS GIFT OF LIFE

What can be more central to life than your heart? This vital organ works 24/7/365 to pump blood through your body, delivering oxygen and nutrients to the heart and carrying away waste products. The right side of your heart receives blood and pumps it on to the lungs where it is freshly oxygenated and rid of carbon dioxide. It then returns to the heart and is pumped to the rest of the body.

In 1967 the first operation in the country of a heart transplant occurred. The operation is no longer an experimental procedure and today is the third most common transplant operation in the country. Organs that can be donated also include kidneys and livers (both cadaver and living), lungs, pancreas, eye corneas, intestines, skin, bone and tissue or donation of the body to medical schools for education. Donations only occur when you are declared brain dead and you cannot be resuscitated. Only three people of any age out of 1000 are suitable of this life saving gift, a profound gift, to save the life of a stranger. Thousands die waiting.

For playwright Sean Grennan, the idea for this touching story grew out of a true incident. In this emotionally poignant tale “The ’Tin Woman," one is reminded of "The Wizard of Oz” when the tin man desires the gift of a heart above all else. Here Joy, portrayed by a passionate Maggie Anne Gillette receives a second chance at life. The Kate in Old Saybrook will be unveiling her story, courtesy of the Saybrook Stage Company, from Thursday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, January 24 and 25 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, January 26 at 2 p.m.

Director Terri Corigliano was searching for a new, contemporary relatable play with a real meaningful story and was taken by Joy's journey from near death to restored life. Terri loved the balance of drama and comedy, its heartwarming strength and great message of love and courage. What more generous gift can one family give another person than in the midst of their own tragedy to create life with a selfless present.

After Joy receives a new heart from Jack’s donor family, she feels a compelling desire to connect with them to express her gratitude. Normally the two parts of a new whole have no direct contact in the circle. The recipient is encouraged to send a letter -anonymously- to the donor’s kin. How emotionally tender can the giving family be? Will they welcome the transplant's entrance, especially if they are still actively grieving? Will Joy’s presence be an intrusion or an act of healing? The remainder of this talented cast includes Terri Corigliano, Mary Corigliano, Mark Gilchrist, Abby Malczcon, James Van Nostrand and Charles Rusciano.

According to the director Terri Coligliano, “THE TIN WOMAN reminds us that we are all connected to each other and if we embrace that connection, we can make the most of our time on earth and appreciate every moment we have with the ones we love. It brings a message of life and hope to the audience. It’s wonderful when live theater can inspire an audience to learn more about something as important as organ donation. Anyone can be an organ donor. It's incredible that we all have the power to save someone else’s life through this miracle of modern medicine!”

For tickets ($15-25), call the Kate, 300 Main Street, Old Saybrook at 860- 510-0453 or online at www.thekate.org.

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How can one possibly put a price tag on the gift of life? Experience, with Joy, what that second chance can truly mean.

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OPEN THE SACRED SCRIPT TO "GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!" AND LAUGH

Have you ever stayed up nights pondering the life and fate of one Johannes Gutenberg? You know or may not know, he’s the guy who invented the printing press and produced the first copy of the Bible. This all happened way, way back in 1454 and, according to records, only 180 copies were engraved and stamped, with color added by the purchasers. Just 49 remain of this first large-format typographic book printed in Mainz, Germany, with just 42 lines on a page. Moveable type in Korea accounts for the first printed book nearly a century before.

I have always maintained one can write a musical on any topic, from giant ships that hit icebergs to people who successfully and/or fail to assassinate presidents, from ears of corn that like to be shucked to green skinned ogres who live in a swamp. Nothing is beyond immortalization. So why not a musical about Johannes Gutenberg, a literary marvel living and working in 1454?

Thanks to the Ty and Tay Theatre at Cabaret on Main, 597 Main Street, East Haven, from Friday, January 26 at 7 p.m. for four performances to Sunday, January 26 at 2 p.m., you are comically invited to the theatre’s debut performance (as in first ever), to the mostly imaginative journey to the world of Johannes Gutenberg, without benefit of Wikipedia or Google or any historical documents of “Gutenberg! The Musical!” Originally written in 2005 by Scott Brown and Anthony King, it centers on Bud Davenport and Doug Simon who deliberately and determinately want to create a play about this guy named Gutenberg who is the only one in his depressing German town named Schlimmer who can read. One night this inventive lad decides to turn his wine press into a printing press and Bud and Doug find themselves off and running making stuff up, from A to Z, to create a highly fictional version that may or may not have a page or fact of truth.

Bud and Doug want to become producers on Broadway and set about “selling” their concept to any one with money enough to fund it. They stretch their talent and their truth, overlooking the facts as minor in significance. With a limited amount of talent, the pair are forced to play all the cast, using a series of hats with their characters’ names on them and switch the caps like Dr. Seuss’s story about Bartholomew’s 500 hats.

Aiding Gutenberg is his less than brainy but beautiful assistant Helvetica (note the pun on a printing type) and Monk, the villain of the piece, who is determined to foil Johannes in his quest by distorting the Bible verses and destroying the printing press. The new theaters founders Tyler Gay (Ty) and Devont’e Campbell (Tay) will star as Bud and Doug in this musical spoof, singing all the songs and enthusiastically playing all the parts. Their hope and dream is to persuade the producers to fund their crazy project straight to stardom.

These new founders Tay and Ty who have been acting for years are, incredibly, still teenagers in high school and are each working on second playa, “Seussical the Musical” and "The Addams Family.” Fortuitously Ty’s father has aided with financial advice and his mom has experience fashioning dozens of caps. Hats off to Phyllis the amazing pianist and Patrick for artwork.

For tickets ($20 adults, $18 students and seniors)go online at cabaret-on-main.com.

A hearty Bravo and Hats Off to Tay and Ty for their exciting new adventure, and hope they break a leg or three along the way.

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COME MEET THE QUIRKY AND UNUSUAL "THE ADDAMS FAMILY" AT WATERBURY'S PALACE THEATER

Cartoonist Charles Addams is known for his weird and wild sense of humor. One wonders who and what his own creepy family might be hiding in its closet if it is anything like his creative mind has imagined in the third iteration of "The Addams Family.” Give thanks to the Waterbury's Palace Theater, from Friday, January 17 to Saturday, January 18 for three performances as you have been cordially and comically invited to a special meet-the-family dinner This musical treat was written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elise, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and with direction and choreography by Antoinette DiPletropole.

The princess of the family, Wednesday, who presides under a crown of darkness, has a new beau, one who knows nothing about her unusual and cemetery-stained history. She has arranged a dinner for his straight laced and incredibly normal folks and has warned her father Gomez not to tell her mother Morticia anything about the proposed meeting.

Can Gomez keep a secret from his beloved wife for the first time? Will the two families learn to break bread together and bless the bread and the new union? Will the weirdness and the commonest blend or backfire?

The Broadway National Tour will be arriving early at the Palace on January 6 for preparation or "teching,” to rehearse the show, for lighting, sound, scenery and cast run throughs. The Waterbury audience will be the first to view the initial product before it travels to the rest of the country.

Can a responsible and respectable young gentleman, Lucas, from a far distance from dysfunctional be able to reconcile his differences from a clan that embraces the macabre and oh-so-different? Is Wednesday doomed to be disappointed in love, much like Juliet was with her Romeo?

For tickets ($47-87, save 25% on 8 pm tickets with code KOOKY until January 10), call the Palace, 100 East Main Street, Waterbury at 203-346-2000 or online at palacetheaterct.org. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday matinee at 2 p.m.

Let this maniacal musical thrill your heartstrings as you root for true love to triumph against tremendous odds.

WATERBURY'S SEVEN ANGELS THEATRE WELCOMES 2025 WITH LAUGHTER

What better way to end 2024 and welcome in 2025 than with laughter! Waterbury’s Seven Angels Theatre has booked a trio of comedians straight from the Big Apple for just such an auspicious occasion on Tuesday, December 31 and please consider yourself cordially invited to either the 5 p.m. or 8 p.m. performances, with a glass of complimentary champagne to toast either after the 5 p.m. show or before the 8 p.m. show. Welcome 2025 in style.

Plan to spend New Year’s Eve at Seven Angels Stand Up Countdown: Comedy Night. Leading the merry parade is one of Seven Angels’ favorite mistress of ceremonies Michelle Gotay, who just finished another stint as the hilarious Earlene Babcock, the proprietress of Pottsville’s jovial diner, tavern, motel and cabaret. For more than three decades, Michelle has put on her special entertainment hats as a variety of humor divas and pushed her extraordinary envelope to all kinds of outrageous lengths. She is sure to punch up her emcee talents to hysterical limits.

Joining her will be headliner Steve Shaffer known for clean humor and popularity on college campuses, country clubs, cruise ships and corporate retreats. His credits include dozens of comedy television gigs and appearances with such stars as George Carlin, Paul Anka and The Beach Boys.

A regular on the Seven Angels stage will be John Iavarone, hailing from the Bronx, who has been described in one big word: honest and original and animated. Whether he is appearing at comedy clubs or casinos, his audiences find him hysterically funny and you will surely do too.

Completing the comic lineup, come meet Rich Francese, a man with a sure fire delivery, a fast improvisational style and the ability to spit out great original material. His writing for Colin Quinn as a full time staff member led to him being described by Quinn: “Rich is one of the greatest minds in popular comedy” and by Conan O’Brian as “a truly accomplished triple threat.” High praise indeed, a “must see.”

For tickets ($50), call Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Road, Waterbury at 203-757-4676 or online at boxoffice@sevenangelstheatre.org.

Don’t miss this great and glorious opportunity to start off 2025 with a smile in your heart and a hearty laugh on your lips…both with the delicious flavor of champagne.

GOODSPEED MUSICALS HAS A FESTIVAL FOR YOU IN JANUARY!

If skiing or iceskating, sledding or snowman building aren’t on your list of requirements for winter activities, then please consider joining me at an indoor event that rocks my personal world, one where blazing excitement reigns supreme. For the nineteenth year, Goodspeed Musicals is once again bringing new and innovative musical theater to the stage, this year for the weekend of Friday, January 17 to Sunday, January 19. Due to renovations at Goodspeed in East Haddam, the Festival of New Musicals will be held at The Terris Theatre just down the street in the charming town of Chester.

Over the years, this festival has launched fifty new musicals to Broadway and the world on this winter weekend of panel discussions, seminars, new musicals and cabarets, showcasing the future of musical theater with staged readings, like the wildly successful “Come From Away.” First up is "R & J: Fire on the Bayou” at 7:30 p.m. Friday at The Terris, conceived by Kevin Ramsey, adapted by Kevin Ramsey and Nygel D. Robinson, with music and lyrics by Kevin Ramsey and Nygel D. Robinson. Set in modern day Mardi Gras, welcome R & J to the stage for a jazz-and-blues flavored romantic score that embellishes New Orleans and transforms this age old tragedy to today’s times. How will these star-crossed lovers fare among modern beads and baubles, costumes and chaos?

Following at 10:30 p.m. is Oliver Houser’s musical the “Wunderkind” about a young American Jewish piano prodigy searching to escape his father’s stranglehold grip on his future in order to establish his personal and individual musical voice. Can he become free of these bonds, find forgiveness and redemption to become who he needs to be?

On Saturday from 1 p.m to 4:30 p.m., the Chester Meeting House at 4 Liberty Street, two blocks from the Terris, will host an exclusive Gold Package Event of festival seminars. With book, music and lyrics by Bonnie Gleicher at 7:30 p.m. at The Terris, get ready for “Oy Band,” when a quartet of Orthodox Jewish girls from Brooklyn encounter a regulation that prohibits them from performing in front of men due to their age and sex. To enter this now forbidden world, they disguise themselves as a boy band and risk their future or, perhaps, allow themselves to claim it.

At 10 p.m. at The Terris, come welcome Singapore’s singer and songwriter Cheeyang Ng in “Legendary” as he takes us on a journey of discovery to a new land alone with little possessions, attempting to prove that it is a worthwhile flight. His immigrant, Asian and queer loss and acceptance will be illuminating.

The final entry into this year’s festival has book, music and lyrics by Nevada Lozano at 1 p.m. Sunday with “The Carol of the Bells,” a special occasion and the most favorite of the Bell family. Unique circumstances may doom this Christmas celebration to be the very last one and Silver, the youngest daughter, is set on reuniting the whole family for the best one ever.

Meet the writers for questions and answers will follow at 3:30 p.m., an exclusive Gold Package event, when the composers of all three musicals will talk about their inspirations. For $125, you can purchase the Gold Package for tickets to all three musicals, three seminars, both cabarets and Meet the Writers. The $75 Silver Package includes all three staged readings, while add ons for $20 include the Friday and Saturday night cabarets. Single tickets can be purchased for the staged readings, $30 adult, $15 students and cabarets $20. Call 860-878-8668.

VIP seating and special perks are yours if you become A Friend of the Festival, with a special Kick off Cocktail Party to meet writers and performers, Sunday Brunch with students special recognition and select festival rehearsals, all for $500. Contact Yz Josa at yz@goodspeed.org or 860-873-8668, ext.333.

Forget the snow balls and winter gear and plan to stay toasty and warm as you let the Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals, this year in Chester at The Terris Theatre, entertain you royally with the newest musical theatre offerings on the planet.

MYSTERY AND MAGIC ABOUND IN TALE OF SCROOGE AND SHERLOCK AT WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE

Artistic Director and playwright/director Mark Shanahan at Westport Country Playhouse has cleverly combined two classic tales,Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tale of Sherlock Holmes, detective extraordinaire, into one delightful production. What a coincidence…they both begin with a death in the first line: “Marley was dead to begin with” and “Moriarty was dead to begin with.” Both men are clearly dead as a doornail and will stay so until Sunday, December 22.

The similarities don’t end there. No Sir! The major figures in “A Christmas Carol” like Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Dr. Watson, Cratchit, The Fezziwigs, Mrs. Dilber and a few others pay visits to Sherlock Holmes and continue their journeys in a new place, a place where dastardly deeds may just happen.

Kudos to Mr. Shanahan and Westport Country Playhouse who opened this novel literary door to 221B Baker Street, London where a skeptical Sherlock (Drew McVety) finds himself in a most haunting of ghost tales, especially when he firmly believes there are no such creatures as spirits. Once again it’s Christmas Eve and our old friend Tiny Tim, now all grown up, shows up at Sherlock Holmes’s house to beg the great detective to solve a peculiar murder: the death of Ebenezer Scrooge (Byron St. Cyr). Will the ghosts of past, present and future appear? Of course!

What do you get when you combine a mystery with some ghosts and a heartwarming family holiday story? Just ask writer and director Mark Shanahan where his new play “A Sherlock Carol” will be playing until Sunday, December 22 how it all came to pass. To Shanahan, Charles Dickens wrote the best ghost story ever, calling it "astounding.” He combined that love with an admiration for the old Basil Rathbone movies starring that great detective Sherlock Holmes that his dad took him to when he was a child growing up in New York’s East Village.

Fortuitively, he has mixed these two favorite characters together into a holiday play for the whole family to enjoy, ages 7 and up. He likens it to "a dinner party, inviting friends from different social circles…and hoping like heck they’d get along.” To that end, he has placed these iconic characters by Doyle and Dickens in a new inventive stage mystery.

Come see such unique innovations as a talking door knocker, the spooky elements that resonate throughout, a reimagined holiday classic, a murder mystery set in London in 1894, the deaths of two famous characters like Holmes’ great enemy Professor James Moriarty and, unexpectedly, Ebenezer Scrooge. Can Holmes follow the clues to find the dastardly perpetrator or is he doomed to become the town's new miser himself? How will a grown-up Tiny Tim, now a doctor and Scrooge’s benefactor, influence the outcome? Come meet Joe Delafield as Dr. Watson and others, Dan Domingues as Crotchet and others Isabel Keating as the Countess and others and Sharone Sayegh as Emma Watson and others.

Also playing a huge part in writing the play, Shanahan was intrigued by the mission of Paul Newman’s The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp created in Ashford, Connecticut in 1988 to serve children with serious illnesses. Newman established a special place, a wonderful and free camping experience that is now in many places around the world. Donations to the camp and to the Westport Home with Hope food pantry drive will be benefactors from the production. Patrons are also encouraged to take a photo in the lobby at Sherlock Holmes' house, 221B Baker Street, London.

Shanahan was inspired to envision Tiny Tim as “someone with a little help from a certain benefactor, who battled illness and went on to help others do the same. Just like Scrooge did, we can all keep Christmas in our hearts throughout the year by donating to these remarkable organizations.”

For tickets ($35-80, students call the box office for discounted tickets), call the Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport, off route 1 at 203-227-4177 or online at www.westportplayhouse.org. Performances are today-Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Bring the family to the Westport Country Playhouse for a novel look at two classic tales with all the mystery and magic that the Christmas holiday demands.

"THE UGLY X-MAS SWEATER MUSICAL" GLOWS AT PLAYHOUSE ON PARK

Do you own an ugly holiday sweater or at least one that has been judged as barely wearable in public? If so, you are clad appropriately for Playhouse on Park’s northeast coast premiere of the current clever dancing and singing offering “The Ugly X-mas Sweater Musical.” Until Sunday, December 22, the singing and dancing will continue at the corporate office of the American Regalia Uniforms Company. Michelle Jennings’s head of Human Resources Cheryl is upset, anxious, disturbed, angry, frustrated, out-of-control and panicked that her beloved company may close its doors forever.

Knitted tightly together by Dan Knechtges and Megan Larche Dominick, based on an idea by Dan Knechtges, this is a wildly different take on the holidays. Cheryl is in trouble and clearly at the wrong time of year: Christmas. She is genuinely alarmed that all her trusty employees will lose their jobs and she won’t be able to save them from a dreaded enemy in the personage of Laura Yen Solito's Olga, a German villain who holds all their fates in her greedy hands.

To add to the company’s trauma its current CEO has absconded to Tahiti with all the funds and double crossed his crew, Jef Canter’s Charlie, Miles Messier’s Ben, Marcel Werder’s Doug/Niles and Cheron Whittley’s Misty/Kelli. He blames his divorce for all his problems. How will Cheryl save the day or can she? What new idea for a uniform can they create when Olga is snapping her whip of authority? With sheer creativity and imagination magically materialize the solution?

The team needs a crew of elves faster than you can say “candy cane creations” three times over, plus a troupe of volunteers from the audience to hop on board to model their Christmas clothing innovations, some ugly holiday sweaters if you will. With the trio of rules of construction, fitting and runway, and classic ideas like gingerbread, figgy pudding, heavenly bodies like angels, shake-shake-shake your snowglobes, evergreen trees and stocking stuffers, with the help of the audience a solution might be magically discovered. Hallelujah!

For tickets ($45-55, discount for senior, military, students), call Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, West Hartford at 860-523-5900, ext. 10 or online at www.playhouseonpark.org. Performances are Tuesday at 2 p.m., 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 2 p.m followed by a talkback. The lobby has many ugly sweaters on display as well as a cabinet cubbyhole to purchase new innovative creations to take home.

Get into the Christmas spirit by donning a colorful version of woolen, tinsel, reindeer, candy cane, or ornamental finery to proclaim your holiday happiness. And if you are invited to an ugly Christmas sweater contest, you just might win a prize.