"PAUL ANKA ALL THE HITS - HIS WAY" AT WARNER THEATRE NOVEMBER 13

For a young teenage heartthrob, look no further than singer/songwriter Paul Anka who is still, at the tender age of 83, just as swoon worthy as he was as a confident lad with big dreams. He admits he was “pretty precocious, a pretty aggressive kid. I think my parents knew they had an unusual child.” He honed his big charismatic personality as he worked the crowds at his father's Canadian restaurant, the Locanda, helping out in the kitchen and kibitzing with the politicians, businessmen and journalists who frequented it.

At the age of 15, he set his sights on Los Angeles, with $100 in his pocket, with the goal of making his name as a singer, staying with his uncle at the time. Before long, he wanted to try for New York City. His father agreed on one condition: he had to return to Ottawa if he didn’t succeed. The rest, as they say, is history. Only days later, his father was singing a contract at ABC/Paramount Records, as Paul was too young to sign it himself.

To catch up with all the years in-between then and now, bop on over to the Warner Theatre in Torrington on Wednesday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m to get up close and personal with ”Paul Anka All the Hits - His Way.”

As a mere 16 year old, Anka wrote a song for a hometown girl he had a crush on, a little tune called “Diana” that would launch his career, selling more than 20 million copies and become the number one song in the world. Soon the whole globe was dancing to hits like “Lonely Boy,” (All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings,” and “Put Your Head on my Shoulder,” and he hadn’t even hit the big 2-0 yet.

When the world of music changed, Anka adapted himself into a “Rat Pack-style writer,” composing little successes like the theme song to Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show, “My Way” his tribute to Frank Sinatra and the Tom Jones’s hit “She’s a Lady.” It’s reported the royalties from Jones’s hit alone earned him close to a million dollars in one year.

In collaboration or alone he has written about 900 songs, appeared in films and on television, toured across the globe, released more than 120 albums, placing singles in the Top 50 in five different decades and he is still going strong.

For tickets ($69-109), call the Warner Theatre, 68 Main Street, Torrington at 860-489-7180 or online at warner theatre.org.

For Paul Albert Anka, he has always done it “his way,” living a life that is full. Come discover that exciting life for yourself. Watch for the world premiere of “Paul Anka: His Way,“ a documentary of his incredible career as “one of Canada’s most successful exports."

WATCH WHERE YOU WALK ON "THE 39 STEPS" AT WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE

Even though Alfred Hitchcock was noted for his suspenseful and mysterious movies, as the master of the macabre he probably would have relished the farcical humor endowed on this fast paced suspenseful and silly slapstick ride, 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. Clearly Alfred Hitchcock would have gotten a hoot from the clever doings of the four stars who play a whole mine field of characters, donning wigs and hats, aprons and uniforms, leaping off bridges and trains, as the grand pursuit unfolds.

Think of a game of CLUE that has run amok. Think of it aa a humorous homage to the great film maker Alfred Hitchcock. Think of a spy film with secret agents of decidedly German ancestry. Think practically autumn entertainment with a sense of humor and a special spoof in the making. All these clues spell out “The 39 Steps” and the Westport Country Playhouse can’t wait for you to come, until Saturday, November 9, to solve the comical adventurous game afoot.

There's an old saying "Be careful what you wish for" so when Richard Hannay, a resourceful and resiilent Joe Delafield, complains one day in his London apartment in 1935 that he is bored, what happens next sends him fleeing for his life, accused of murder. Not so bored any more, eh Richard.

When he attends a performance at the London Palladium, he triggers a series of episodes that begin with a German damsel in distress, Annabella (Sharone Sayegh) being murdered in his bed. Before she dies, she warns Hannay that there is a dastardly plot being brewed to smuggle documents out of the country that will lead to disaster for England. She also cautions him to beware of a man with part of his little finger missing.

Soon Hannay is jumping on and off trains, running from spies, hiding out on farms and in hotels, a fugitive from justice, giving speeches in double talk for unknown politicians and falling in love with Pamela (Sharone Sayegh), one of his chief accusers. A versatile fleet of only two more, Seth Andrew Bridges and Evan Zes, play a plethora of roles from milkman to mothers, motormen to Mr. Memory, adding spice to a veritable stew of characters. Mark Shanahan directs this merry and mysterious romp in Alfred Hitchcock Land with aplomb.

For tickets ($40-80), call the Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport at 203-227-4177 or online at boxoffice@westportplayhouse.org. Performances are Tuesday at 7 p.m, Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.,Thursday at 7 p.m. and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 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.

NEW HAVEN THEATER COMPANY SHARING LOVE LETTERS IN "DEAR ELIZABETH"

New Haven Theater Company member J. Kevin Smith is a decidedly patient man. Way back in the theater season 2023-2024 Sarah Ruhl’s invitingly intimate play “Dear Elizabeth” was selected to be the first production of the company’s new season. One week before opening a bad accident to a cast member cancelled the show. Now J. Kevin Smith is indulging in second chances and will direct the series of letters, 80 out of the original 450, penned between two famous poets Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop, that track their close relationship, a friendship that lasted for thirty years.

New Haven Theater Company will open with “Dear Elizabeth" on Thursday, November 7 and run for the next two weekends, entering their personal lives, from the time they were introduced by a fellow poet at a dinner party and realized they’d like to spend more time together indulging in their mutual love of poetry. Only Robert’s death ended their special connection.

Two newer troop members Sandra Rodriguez and Ralph Buonocore, with visiting artist Abby Klein, will portray Elizabeth and Robert, both Poet Laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners. Even though they were often geographically apart in different countries their friendship spanned years and separation but was always warm and sentimentally close. Letter writing may seem to be a lost art today but for these two their connection with pen and paper was a valuable lifeline between their minds and hearts. It didn’t seem to matter if he was in Italy and she in Brazil or if he was in Maine and she in Key West, their spirts were united. They both spoke in poetry, she writing traditionally of her own experience and he revealing his soul for all to see, like a father’s confessional. She was not a big fan of his way of communicating.a

J. Kevin Smith hopes audiences will come away with a sense of the beauty of friendship, one inspired by love. As our current political angst grows, he wants them to see it as a sense of escape, a way to feel better about the world. He wants their intimate stories, how they supported each other through their problems and boosted each other’s spirits, to leave the audience feeling better than when they came in the door.

For tickets ($25), go online to www.newhaventheatercompany.com. Performances are Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at the back of EBM Vintage, 839 Chapel Street, New Haven.

Calling upon the elements of nature, from water to planets to the moon, Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell promise each other a starry eternity.

"FALCON GIRLS" RUNNING FOR THE FINISH LINE AT YALE REP

Teenage girls and puberty can be a deadly combination of hormones. Just ask the eighth grade girls bonded together in a horse judging competition who experience all the great and grotesque diary entries of their age and gender. Yale Rep is currently exposing all the various body parts and peculiarities of one group of active participants in this true tale memoir of "falcon girls” by Hilary Bettis playing at its theater at 1120 Chapel Street in New Haven until Saturday, November 2.

Hold on to your bobby socks and horse’s pommel as you make the intimate acquaintance of six young girls as they reveal the true story of their ascent toward adulthood. These are supposed to be the best and golden years of youth but are they? Each budding flower is dealing with a full hand of issues, from jealousy to Jesus, rivalries to romances, horses and hostilities and sex and serial killers.

In this world premiere play directed with skilled hands by May Adrales, we encounter a bevy of personalities and problems in a rural Colorado ranch land in the early 1990’s. When H (or Hillary or Hillary Clinton) arrives in town, she tries to find a place for herself as a member of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) to indulge her love of horses and her desperate need to fit in and not to just be the new girl. She has to settle for being an alternate to an alternate, but waiting for her turn on the team can be tiresome.

The tribe of troubled teens includes Alexa Lopez’s April who wants to be a Hollywood star married to an even more famous Hollywood star, Alysssa Marck’s Carly who is saddled with an abusive father and some strict rules of behavior, Anna Roman’s Mary who leads the fan club for Jesus and continually asks WWJD (What Would Jesus Do in every situation), Annie Abramczyk’s Rebecca who has been indoctrinated to believe, courtesy of her mom, that winning at all costs is the prize and Sophia Marcelle’s Jasmine who has plunged herself into phone sex and online chats no matter the danger of being thrown off her mount. At the heart of this saga is Gabrielle Policano’s H who learns more lessons than she bargained for before and after she revealed her big secret.

This sisterhood enjoys a patient coach (Teddy Canez) as Mr. K who tries to reign them in and set them on a comfortable trotting path, Juan Sebastian Cruz’s Dan who just likes to be considered part of the team no matter what job he needs to do and Liza Fernandez’s Beverlee who as H’s mom tries to protect her from all the evils of her world. The girls prefer to gallop often out of control as they drop their leads and adventure off the path into pregnancy, abortion, guns, race, murder mysteries and, of course, their beloved horses. Evaluating the horses and their finer points is given a whole new perspective when H humorously applies the same terms, unflatteringly, to her potential teammates. Meanwhile one brave boy, Dan, serves as their male mascot and erroneously seeks dating advice when he fancies a relationship with H.

Think Mean Girls on Horseback to capture or lasso some of the angst of these talented performances. These adolescents are not likable, as they hug each other one moment and spit venom the next. For them, growing up is a gigantic challenge, one many of their parents make incredibly harder. If only Mr. K. could make them believe in themselves and their intrinsic value.

For tickets ($15-65). call the Yale Rep at 203-432-1234 or online at yalerep.org. Performances are Tuesday to Saturday at 8 p.m. with occasional matinees at 2 p.m. on Wednesday and every Saturday.

Take a startling ride, often bareback, as these girls struggle to find their identity in a world that is often confusing and hostile, where even their beloved stallions can not always carry them cross the finish line into adulthood.

"A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE AUDITION" COMES TO NELSON HALL ON NOVEMBER 8TH

PRESS RELEASE

Calling all “Opera, Broadway and Comedy Lovers.” After a run of sold-out performances, Award-Winning Director, Martin Marchitto brings the madcap musical cabaret “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Audition” for one special encore performance to Nelson Hall at Elim Park.

Join us for a hilarious evening featuring talented singers and Opera professionals lamenting about audition mishaps, mayhem, and miracles through hits from the Opera, Operetta and Broadway stages. With action taking place in the audience everyone is part of the show.

Friday, November 8th 7:30pm. Tickets are only $15 https://www.nelsonhallelimpark.org

"JERSEY BOYS" LIGHTS UP THE CONNECTICUT SKIES AT A.C.T.

Four guys singing under the streetlamp on a New Jersey corner enjoy the saving grace of redemption when they each could have been destined for a jail cell. Music helped them to escape the fate as juvenile delinquents and led, in a round about fashion, to their amazing success, ultimately, as the Four Seasons, Venture to A.C.T. of CT in Ridgefield for the mostly joyful story of Frankie Valli and friends in the exuberant “Jersey Boys” delighting audiences now extended until Sunday, November 17.

Rarely has a musical the ability to raise the rafters quite like this 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.

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, eventually, set their careers straight toward 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 Gian Raffaele Dicostanzo’s Frankie Valli, Christian Engelhardt’s Bob Gaudio, Matthew Stoke’s Tommy DeVito and Anthony

Cangiamila’s Nick Massi persevere and go on to sell 175 million records worldwide, all before they hit thirty, with Gaudio and Justin Michael Duval’s 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,” and so many more.

Watch how the brash and bold Tommy DeVito takes full credit for forming the group, discovering the angelic voiced Frank Valli, and steering them to stardom but never claims the ultimate sin that almost destroys them. Christopher D. Betts directs this great gift of momentum, motives and music.

For tickets ($72 and up), call A.C.T. of CT, 38 Old Quarry Road, Ridgefield at 475-215-5433 or online at www.actofct.org. Performances are Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.and Sunday at 2 p.m., with no performance Thursday, October 31 and an additional performance Wednesday, October 30 at 7 p.m.

Let a quartet of wildly talented guys 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 multiple millions who have loved this show as they reunite to enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an honor they cherish and deservedly so.

"DR. JEKYLL AND MR HYDE" SET TO SCARE AT HARTFORD STAGE

To celebrate the spookiest time of the year, the Hartford Stage has conjured up a new, novel and scary version of that Victorian classic by Robert Louis Stevenson penned in 1886, the result of a nightmare that is the origin of the macabre tale. Screw up your courage and venture into the dark and dangerous world of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” scaring audiences until Sunday, November 3. This new adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher and skillfully directed by Melia Bensussen, confronts the age old question of good and evil, are we all one or the other or rather a mixture of each in a varying degree.

Nathan Darrow’s Dr. Henry Jekyll is a physician consumed with the conscious mind, with research, with experimental drugs, with the struggle of good impulses fighting off impulses of evil. When he swallows a tincture of ingredients, he creates a variety of alter egos, depending on the combination of drugs taken and the amount of each in his system. This inability to control the results of his experiment leads to uncontrollable and often disastrous results. Yet in each a variation on a theme, a differring version of Mr, Edward Hyde, is created.

On a majestic thrust stage created by Sara Brown, we encounter the characters who people Jekyll’s world, those who support him and those who oppose him: Peter Stray’s Dr. H. K. Lanyon, Omar Robinson’s Dr. Gabriel Utterson, Nayib Felix’s Sir Danvers Carew and also The Inspector, Sarah Chalfie’s Elizabeth Jelkes and Jennifer Rae Bareilles’ Mr. Poole. Do not for an instant believe you are safe from murder just because you once were on Dr. Jekyll’s good side. Anyone and everyone is fair game in this tale of dual consciousness, of lightness and darkness, of salvation and condemnation, sanity and madness. Dark desires are clearly not easy to control, when appetites and impulses range out of command.

For tickets ($30 and up), call the Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street, Hartford at 860-527-5151 or online at boxoffice@hartfordstage.org. Performances are Tuesday to Saturday at 7:30 p.m with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Added shows are Thursday, October 31 at 1 p.m. and Sunday November 3 at 7:30 p.m.

The theater has just announced that $9,000,000 of its $20,000,000 Set the Stage Endowment has already been reached for this nationally recognized live theater where stories are told.

Witness this macabre dance nightmare where psychological repercussions reign and good impulses and bad impulses run amok, where a potion has the power to create evil and the beast in man’s nature can be so easily unleashed.