"THE WEDDING SINGER" IS READY TO PARTY AT THE WARNER THEATRE IN TORRINGTON

Shakespeare once stated “If music be the food of love, play on.” But our love affair with music dates far beyond the Bard. Every society, past and present, has embraced music as a cultural constant, even back to isolated tribal groups and their primitive instruments. In 2008, a five-holed bone flute was discovered in a cave in Germany thought to be 35,000 years old. Think how colorless and silent our world would be without magical musical sounds.

The Warner Theatre in Torrington in general and the Nancy Marine Studio in particular are anything but colorless and silent as “The Wedding Singer” The Musical Comedy roars into town in party mode until Sunday April 26. For that popular and often confused Robbie Hart. love is a central theme of his life, after all he serenades brides and grooms at their marriages for a living. Is it wrong for him to desire that companionship and eternal romance for himself? Come watch the merry and energetic cast blow their bobby socks out of their sneakers with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, book by Beguelin and Tim Herlihy, based on the 1998 film of the same name.

One of the hardest and most important decisions you must make in life is who to marry. This is a lasting and profound life answer with grand consequences. It may take years or even decades before you truly know whether the decision was truly correct or definitely a mistake. What answer could be so decisive in its scope? Who is the perfect one to bond with in marriage?

Ron St. John’s Robbie Hart has just suffered heartbreak when his fiancee Linda leaves him for her old flame Sammy. Meanwhile Robbie meets a lovely singer Julia, Julia Nelson, at a wedding venue and interesting sparks begin to fly. Poor, confused Robbie lives in Ridgefield, New Jersey with Rosie (Elyse Jasensky) a lively senior who believes in her heart her grandson will achieve his dreams, be a success in life and find true love. She is his number one fan club president.

Along the way, he has a short fling with Holly (Zayda), tries to reconnect with Linda (Katie Locascio), watches Julia select Glen (Paul Donovan-Lietz) as better husband material, has to see Holly hook up again with Sammy (Mike Zimmerman), and decide to join the financial firm run by Glen and quit his bandmates and his dream of being a rock star.

Lively tunes like “It’s Your Wedding Day,” “Casuality of Love,” “Come Out of the Dumpster,” “Saturday Night in the City,” “All About the Green,” “Right in Front of Your Eyes,” “Single,” and “Grow Old With You” keep the action jumping. This big hearted musical is directed and choreographed by Travis Kendrick-Castanho.

For tickets ($32-37), call the Warner Theatre, 84 Main Street, Torrington at 860-489-7180 or online at warner theatre.org. Performances are Friday at 7:30 p.m, Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Get your dancing shoes on, wrap a wedding present, and buy hop over to the Nancy Marine Studio Theater for some jazzy fun as orange blossom bloom and love fills the air. Let’s get this party started!

WHAT IS "THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT" AT PLAYHOUSE ON PARK

How important is the truth? Must it be accurate? Does anybody really care? Will the world revolve around news that is almost factual? Is what you read in the newspapers and magazines, see on the tv news channels, or hear on the radio. an estimate of the truth or a wild guess of what might really be occurring? How would you even know?

Playhouse on Park in West Hartford is offering you a real and dramatic entry into the publication world of veracity with an intriguing foray into fiction vs. fact, the rabbit hole of “false news,” the option of exaggeration to make the writing more enticing, the difference between truth in journalism and creativity in an essay. Based on the true book by essayist John D’Agata snd fact checker Jim Fingal, come see the play by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell and Gordon Farrell, “The Lifespan of a Fact” playing until Sunday May 3rd.

John D’Agata has penned a powerful piece about a young man, a teenager who commits suicide in Las Vegas by jumping off a tall building. Emily Penrose is the editor of a literary magazine wishing to publish John’s piece, but only if her newest hire Jim Fingal can fact check its accuracy. Suddenly with Jim’s attentiveness the fifteen page writing mushrooms to over one hundred pages.

Edward Montoya’s Jim wants to be perfect and accurate at his assignment. He questions everything: the boy’s name, his parents’ reaction to the deed, every comment John makes, the color of the bricks on the building, the seconds of the fall, every minute detail. Shannon Michael Wamser’s John is not amused by the excessive investigation, while Suzanne O’Donnell’s Emily is the referee in charge of the two men not resorting to fisticuffs and whether the “article” even gets pblished. The volcano is about to explode with hot lava in danger of burning the trio. Matt Pfeiffer directs this cauldron of controversy.

For tickets ($38.50-58.50), call Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, West Hartford at 860-523-5900 ex. 10 or online at playhouseonpark.org. Performances are Tuesday at 2 p.m., 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 2 p.m. Morning shows are at 10:30 a.m.and cost $25.

Come see the power struggle that wages between the three opinionated individuals and the controversial piece of writing that may help save a magazines’s future or destroy its integrity forever.

WORKING "9-5" WHAT A WAY TO EARN A LIVING AT MTC

Who would want to work for a mean and demeaning boss, one who dictates deadlines and uncompromising rules without consideration? Is the almighty paycheck and health insurance worth the daily punishment? What if you had the power to turn the tables (or desks) and get some satisfying revenge? Would you cringe away from the satisfaction or seize the opportunity? The moment for decision is now as Music Theatre of Connecticut in Norwalk launches the stellar musical “9-5” weekends until Sunday, May 3.

Come glory in the music and lyrics of the grand Dolly Parton paired with the delightful book by Patricia Resnick as three downtrodden female coworkers decide they have had enough guff and disrespect and they can’t take it any more. With a clever scheme and some heavy handed plotting, this trio of lady coworkers decide they have to take command of the copy machine and the coffee maker and take a stand for justice, women and the American way so watch out Franklin Hart the lines of battle have been drawn in the mimeograph machine.

Come watch as Gina Lamparella as Violet, Hannah Bonnett as Doralee and Elissa Demaria as Judy take on Joe Cassidy's Franklin Hart, with the help of Robin Lounsbury as Roz, Matt Mancuso as Joe, Christian Libonati as Dick, Scott Ahearn as Dwayne, Emma Kops as Maria, Alyssa McDonald as Kathy, Tyler Brian Miranda as Josh and Lucy Moon as Margaret and Missy. This cast is super enthusiastic and great on their feet. Tucked inside the plot for revenge, you might even discover a little romance.

The show is set in the late 1970’s, way before the #Me Too Movement got started. The stellar creative team is led by Director Amy Griffin and includes Choreographer Clint Hromsco, Music Director Zachary Anderson, Costume Designer Diane Vanderkroef. Lighting Designer Scott Borowka, and Scenic Designer Starlet Jacobs. Great fun songs keep the action jumping.

Tickets ($ 50-60 ), call the MTC, 509 Westport Avenue, Norwalk at 203-454-3883 or online at musictheatreofct.com. The production will run on Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm. and Sundays at 2 pm.

Whether your boss is the nicest person in the world or a close relative of a monster, you will have an In box of joy watching this musical comedy of office politics play out on the stage of the MTC. Your desk chair and Rolodex, your rope and gun are waiting. Watch friendship and revenge battle against a sexist, egotistical bigot and cheer on the winners!

COME LEARN ABOUT NEW FILM "LADY PARTS"

When Bonnie Gross was only 13, she experienced a sharp, burning, stabbing pain in her stomach that escaped diagnosis for years, across four states by twenty different doctors. She was told she was crazy, that it was all in her head, and that she was making it up. This condition was isolating and was brought about when she rode a bicycle, tryed to use tampons, and later had sex. The problem was in her female genitalia, a body part that has been given such strange names as fufu, vajayjay, pussy, kitty, muff, fandango, hoo ha, down there, lady garden, pocketbook and happy clam. You may know it better as vagina.

After ten years of searching, and being told to use more lube and to stop concentrating on her symptoms, Bonnie found a doctor, Dr. Andrew Goldstein, who diagnosed her condition in five minutes and told her she needed surgery: a vulvar vestibulectomy. She discovered 16% of women suffer from this condition, but little is taught about it, little research is being conducted, and very few people are even talking about it. It was even more disturbing to learn the $10,000 surgery was not covered by insurance because the procedure was considered cosmetic.

All of this was happening while Bonnie was being offered her dream job and the length of her recovery would take a year to complete. Luckily for her, her parents were very supportive, had her move home to Philadelphia and were wonderfully helpful through ever step of the operation. This life changing validation occurred in 2016. By some miraculous stroke of fate, Bonnie Gross possesses skills that made it perfect for her to tell her story to the world in the form of a film, a documentary, a dramedy, a comedy. Her story is now “Lady Parts,” filmed in New York and Los Angeles, giving her a diagnosis and a platform to make a difference, to show how she was to finally find answers, to use her mother’s similar medical issue to expand the conversation for other women, to raise public awareness and create a community conversation.

With director Nancy Boyd and producer Bonnie Gross, the pair have used their personal and painful experiences, honestly and brutally truthfully, what they each went through for medical treatment, when having a sense of humor, surrounded by family and friends was critical. Come meet Paige, a brave Valentina Tammaro, on the verge of her dream career in Los Angeles and moving home to her parents, recovery a year over. The film won festivals, same resources with majestic connections like Tight Lipped, Intimate Rose, Hellocina, The Pelvic People, Isswsh and Our Body Justice Project and she will prepare for another surgery this summer.

Now thirty-two Bonnie Gross has championed to challenge her cause to research, education and treatment, to give the vagina "a voice,” and an ideal writer, filmmaker and comedian to make a major difference.

SAY HELLO, JERRY TO "JERRY'S GIRLS" COURTESY OF CENTER STAGE IN SHELTON

Composer and lyricist Jerry Herman is known for being one of the most successful composers on Broadway starting in the 1960’s. His upbeat and optimistic hit musicals, characterized by Herman for their “simple hummable show tunes” like “Hello, Dolly!,” “Mame,” and “La Cage aux Folles” won him the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors. His 1964 hit “Hello, Dolly!” was at one time the longest-running musical in Broadway history. He is the only composer to have a trio of musicals that ran for more than 1500 consecutive performances. In 1983 he wrote the first musial about a gay couple, “La Cage aux Folles.” In 2009, he received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

To marvel in Jerry Herman’s parade of hits, skip on over to the Center Stage in Shelton for a musical visit with a trio of delightful singers as “Jerry Girls” until Sunday, April 19. Come hear Sandra Fernandes, Mackensie Massey and Emerson Raymond belt out thirty-six tunes that mark Herman’s genius and tribute as a composer and testify how and why Herman won so many Tonys, Grammies, Olivier, Dram Desk, Johnny Mercer, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Frederick Loewe, Songwriters of Fame, Theater Hall of Fame and Kennedy Center Honors.

For example, “Hello, Dolly!” was based on Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker.” The title song by Jerry Herman became a hit for Louis Armstrong when he recorded it to publicize the play and it became his biggest hit when it climbed the charts as a “natural” in 1963. His fans made it the number one hit, so successful it pushed the Beatles off the top of the charts.Satchmo and his trumpet made it the biggest seller of his lifetime when it went gold.

Come hear some immortal tunes like "‘Put on Your Sunday Clothes,” “Before the Parade Passes By,” “It Only Takes a Moment” from “Hello, Dolly!” and “We Need A Little Christmas,” “If He Walked Into My Life,” “It’s Today” and “Bosom Buddies” from “Mame.” From “La Cage aux Folles.” delight in “I Am What I Am,” and “The Best of Times,” and from “Mack and Mabel “ such favorites as “Time Heals Everything,” and “Movies Were Movies.” Pianist and Music Director Jane Best performed on a revolving stage while Sandra Fernandes and Liz Muller created a colorful fashion show, Brandy Bailey and Michael “Beetle” Bailey kept the ladies on their dancing toes and Liz Muller served as a merry musical director and stage director. My personal regret was the lack of stories about the composer himself.

For tickets ($20-50), call Center Stage, 54 Grove Street, Shelton at 203-225-6079 or online at https://go-event.com/3570448-0. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Come enjoy the music of Gerald Sheldon Herman, better known as Jerry, famous for “upbeat and optimistic outlook and his simple, hummable show tunes.” And what hummable tunes they are.

"DISNEY'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" WALTZS INTO THE BUSHNELL

Come witness the first North American touring production of the beloved musical "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" in over a quarter of a century. If you are 6 or 86, you’re invited to enter the magical world of Belle, the book loving adventurous maiden, a luminous and lovely lass who would enjoy reading her precious books from dawn to dusk, as long as she doesn’t have to fend off the affections of the vain and egotistical Gaston, a tower of vanity, who imagines himself to be a desirable gift to womankind. Please open the fairy tale book that features a sweet maiden and the monster who frightens the little village where she lives. As fairy tales go, “Beauty and the Beast” is one of the enchanted best.

Meanwhile in a castle in the forest, an enchantress, for displeasing her, has cast a handsome prince into a hideous beast. Only a love that is pure and true can release him from his spell, and only before the last petal falls from a bewitched rose. Time is running out and he and his household are in danger of being cursed for all eternity. The Beast is cloaked in the persona of a challenged and unhappy soul.

Enter the fascinating musical and magical world of "Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” waltzing into the Hartford’s Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts for eight performances, April 7-12, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Follow the brave heroine Belle hoping to rescue her father Maurice who, after getting lost in the woods, sought shelter at the castle of the Beast and becomes his prisoner. The angry Beast, who guards his privacy, locks her father, an inventor, in a dungeon.

Belle discovers the castle and a troop of unlikely helpers in Lumiere the candelabra, Mrs. Potts the teapot, her son Chip the teacup and Cogsworth the clock. To free her father, Belle offers to stay in the castle with the Beast if he will just let her father go home. In a wild adventure, Belle and her father escape, Gaston and the villagers attack the castle, the Beast is grievously wounded and Belle learns the meaning of true love.

For tickets ($50.50 and up), call the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford at 860-987-5900 or online at www.bushnell.org. Come early and attend the “Roses of Love” tribute by writing the name of a loved one on a rose. The rose will be displayed at the theater and for each rose Max Cares Foundation will donate a $1 to My Sister’s Place, a Homeless Shelter, Thrift Store and Donation Center, up to $2500.

With spectacular new sets and glamorous costumes, this timeless tale will enchant and amaze. With classic tunes like “Be Our Guest” and “Beauty and the Beast,” this new production will feature members of the original Tony Award-winning artistic team including composer Alan Menken, lyricist Tim Rice, book creator Linda Woolverton, with choreography and direction by Oliver Award nominee Matt West, scenic designer Stanley A. Meyer, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward and lighting designer Natasha Katz.

Discover for yourself how the magic spell is broken, how the enchanted objects become human again and how “happily ever after” is the way all fairy tales are supposed to end.

WELCOME TO IVORYTON'S CHARMING TRIBUTE TO "I'M CONNECTICUT"

Connecticut is like Mississippi in being a challenge to spell correctly. Its uniqueness may begin and end there. Luckily it’s bigger than Rhode Island and can boast great basketball teams from the University of Connecticut for both men and women teams. Go Huskies!

But as exciting, romantic or sexy states go, Connecticut wouldn’t rank at the top of the continental 48 and especially not if you add in Alaska and Hawaii. Connecticut is known as the Insurance Capitol of the World, thanks to Hartford, and also the Land of Steady Habits, The Constitution State and The Nutmeg State. Connecticut doesn’t enjoy the glamour of its neighbor to the south and west, New York, or the mystic of its northern bordering Massachusetts with its rich political history.

Yet do not give up hope. Connecticut born playwright Mike Reiss is coming to your rescue with a prideful play, a special comedy, “I’m Connecticut,” enjoying its new light of day at the Ivoryton Playhouse until Sunday, April 19 in Ivoryton.

“I’m Connecticut” tells the charming tale of a nice guy named Marc, played with spirit and sincerity by Quinn Corcoran, who while born in Simsbury, has transplanted himself to the Big Apple. His lack of success with women he blames on geography: he comes from a boring and beige state.

With clever dialogue and amazing visual effects by John Horzen on a colorful set by Starlet Jacobs, we follow Marc’s quest for love, much as we would Don Quixote’s search for the Impossible Dream. After an unsuccessful, substitute disastrous, speed dating event, Marc meets Diane (Deanna Ott), a Georgia peach who has come north for adventure.

A secondary love story blooms when Diane’s mom Polly, a delightful Bonnie Black, meets Marc’s grandfather, a spry R. Bruce Connelly. The speed dating manager (Kenneth Robert Marlo) and Marc’s work buddy Kyle (Michael Barra) run interference in this lively game of love mating directed by Artistic Director Jacqueline Hubbard. Others in the cast include Nathan Szymanski, Alexis Trice and Stephanie Wasser andJohn C. Baker as Mark Twain and Canada.

Mike Reiss, the Aetna 2011 Writing Fellow at UCONN, wrote this comedy only a few years ago. He is no stranger to the world of humor, having written scripts for “The Simpsons” for more than twenty years, co-wrote “The Simpsons Movie,” “Horton Hears a Who!,” “ Ice Age,” and “Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” the screenplay for “My Life in Ruins,” fourteen children’s books, as well as writing for “It’s Gerry Shandling’s Show,” “ALF” and “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.”

A native of Connecticut, Reiss is uniquely suited to pen a romantic tale about our state and infuse it, just like he does his hero Marc, with pride, enthusiasm and patriotic spirit. Unfortunately he also makes Marc a liar, a trait that derails him from his true path to passion.

For tickets ($60 adults, $55 seniors, $25 students, and discounts on Thursday), call the Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street, Ivoryton at 860-767-7318 or online at Ivorytonplayhouse.org. Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m., Thursday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Root for your home team, in this case Marc and the entire Nutmeg state, as we cheer him on to find boasting rights and true love, all in seventy-five fun-filled minutes.