PASSIONATE DESIGNS MARK ”BUYER AND CELLAR”

TOM LENK AS THE EXTRAORDINARY SHOPKEEPER IN "BUYER AND CELLAR"

Calling all Barbra Streisand fans to run to Hartford TheaterWorks by Valentine’s Day to indulge in some highly entertaining fictional fantasy about that gorgeous gal. Playwright Jonathan Tolins has indulged in creating a fictionalized account about Barbra’s basement, of all things.  As she explains in her exceptionally detailed fashion coffee table book about her Malibu, California home, “My Passion for Design,” even her basement is worthy of admiration.

Many of us collect “stuff,” but Barbra Streisand’s stuff is destined to be remarkable.  To display it properly, she had a series of boutiques, in the European style, a mall if you will, built below her incredible house.  To care for her things, her dolls, her costumes, her dollhouses, her antiques, she hires an out-of-work actor to be her shopkeeper.  That is the intriguing premise upon which Tolins layers his lavish imaginary storyline “Buyer and Cellar.”

Tom Lenk plays Alex More, the impressionable and eager to please faux proprietor of the shops, the caretaker of the goodies that range from gifts to yogurt and popcorn machines, the man whose singular job is to cater to and serve his singular mistress.  Lenk plays all the parts from the diva herself, her accommodating husband James, her difficult to please assistant Sharon and Alex’s obsessively jealous boyfriend Barry.  And he plays each part with caring and panache.

Lenk is deliciously delightful as he dishes with his darling of a department store doings.  Initially he might not have wanted the position but soon he is thoroughly engaged in doing his best to please “Sadie,” the name Barbra goes by when she deigns to browse, shop and, occasionally, purchase.  Their encounter over FiFi, the imported French doll who blows bubbles, is priceless…well, actually $850 retail.

Rob Ruggiero lets his directorial talents shine, as projections of the legend by Rob Denton fill the set beautifully designed by Luke Hegel-Cantarella.  The theme is carried out in the upstairs art gallery where shades of Barbra bloom in abundance.  You can even pose with the star and her Oscar.

For tickets ($50-65), call TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford at 860-527-7838 or online at www.theaterworkshartford.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.

Admit it. Wouldn’t you just love to shop in Barbra Streisand’s basement, even if you couldn’t afford to buy anything. Well, maybe, you could purchase a gardenia scented bar of soap.

PERSONAL AND INTIMATE STORY IN “BORN FAT”

APRIL WOODALL AND ELIZABETH PETRUCCIONE IN ELIZABETH'S LIFE STORY "BORN FAT"

If you are one of the millions of people who consider DIET a despicable four-letter word, if you’ve lost and found again pounds of fat like your’e holding a yo-yo, if one of your New Year’s Resolutions every year (or every Monday), is to shed that unwanted adipose tissue, then I have the perfect inspirational play for you.  Until Sunday, January 31, Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury is presenting Jacques LaMarre’s world premiere play “Born Fat.”

Based on the real life story of Waterbury native Elizabeth Petruccione, it chronicles the ups and downs of her personal life, traumas and triumphs, from childhood to the present.  Cursed by a mother who proclaimed to the impressionable child “You were born fat,” Elizabeth spent the majority of her life fighting a battle with weight she was pre-ordained not to win.

Come meet April Woodall as the unsinkable Liz, the woman who like Bozo the Clown, that long ago inflatable toy, can be knocked down but bounces back up again and again.  We meet Elizabeth today as she runs her own motivational meeting encouraging others to learn from her trials and errors and take the first steps down the rocky road to success and good health.

The show is packed with good tips and cautionary advice.  You may never look at a “blooming’ onion” appetizer again once you realize it has packed in its crunchy deep fried leaves 2000 calories and 161 grams of fat.  Elizabeth takes you on her personal, physical and emotional journey as tries every diet on the Do It Yourself help shelf of your local bookstore until she magically finds the answer for herself, the one destined to work so she lives in the moment.  Now she is no longer popping diet pills or following fads eating cabbage three times a day or starving on a 1000 calories.  Steven Raider-Ginsburg directs this intimate tale of healing.

For tickets ($27.50), call Seven Angels Theatre, Plank Road, Waterbury at 203-757-4676 or online at www.sevenangelstheatre.org.  Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

A trio of great New York comedians will highlight Badda Bing Comedy Night on Saturday, January 30 at 8 p.m. when Johnny Rizzo, Fran Capo and Bob Luparello combine a slice of free pizza with spicy humor.  For tickets ($30 subscriber and $35), call the box office.

Come to a meeting of “Losing Weight with Elizabeth” held at Seven Angels “Church” and learn how she got healthy.

THE KATE AND CPTV ANNOUNCE MUSICAL TV ENGAGEMENT

ANA GASTEYER, RICKIE LEE JONES AND JARROD SPECTOR   PHOTOS BY JONATHAN OLSON

The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center of Old Saybrook is now happily and formally engaged to Connecticut Public Television.  Their exciting union is being celebrated with a series of televised musical events, a half dozen to start, that promote dynamic legends in the world of entertainment.

All of these iconic performers were filmed live at The Kate and now CPTV will share them with a vast viewing audience.  Tune in starting Friday, January 22 at 10 p.m. for a mind-shattering hour with Ana Gasteyer, who cut her acting and musical teeth on Saturday Night Live and on Broadway with “Wicked.” Hear her belt out novelty songs from the 1930’s and 40’s in an intimate and personal nightclub act that straddles the line between concert and cabaret.  As the “Mistress of Moxie,” Ana Gasteyer is edgy and jazzy and daringly different.

One week later, on Friday, January 29 at 10 p.m., CPTV will usher in an hour with two-time Grammy-winner Rickie Lee Jones.  Alternately fragile and feisty, she is embarking on new roads, reinventing herself as she overcomes her hardships and celebrates her art and her life.  With her guitar at the ready, she will strum and sing such favorites as “It Must Be Love” and “The Other Side of Desire.”

Jarrod Spector will take center stage on Friday, February 5 at 10 p.m.  No stranger to the spotlight, Spector began his tuneful career at the tender age of 3, made his Broadway debut at 9 with “Les Miz,” and was burned out by age 15.  After college, he reentered the entertainment world with a vengeance, starring as Frankie Valli in ”Jersey Boys” and as Barry Mann in “BEAUTIFUL: The Carole King Musical.” Now he will bring his finely honed talents to the concert stage.

Ann Wilson of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame achievement will explode the house on Friday, February 12 at 10 p.m. with her passionate performance of a new, sweet sound, the blues, with her own special renditions of “Ain’t No Way,” “Every Grain of Sand,” “For What It’s Worth” and “Isolation.”  She shares personal intimacies about her life, her marriage and her art.

Traveling from across the pond will be the brave iconoclast Barb Jungr, bringing a bit of Britain on Friday, February 19 at 10 p.m.  A diva of the nightclub scene, Jungr will put her own unique spin on the works of such legends as David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Stephen Sondheim and Joni Mitchell.  She will also share from her new album of healing, “Shelter from the Storm.”

Well Known for her film and television acting and for directing, Rita Wilson will grab the microphone on Friday, March 25 at 10 p.m. to reveal her singing and songwriting talents.  With original material as well as classics from the 1960’s and 70’s, Rita Wilson will forge her music along a highway of honestly human experiences.

For more information about this new and exhilarating and original series, go to http://thekate.tv.

Inspired by the “take-no-prisoners” attitude of Katharine Hepburn, this musical programming will highlight each unique songster with boldly intimate interviews and revelations as well as the best musical genres each artist offers.

HEAR BEN SCHEUER ROAR IN “THE LION”

BEN SCHEUER STARS IN HIS OWN STORY "THE LION" AT LONG WHARF

If Ben Scheuer opens his heart, music is clearly going to pour out. From the time he was two or three, he was at his father’s knee inheriting a love of the guitar and folk tunes. His deeply personal and heartfelt journey from boyhood to adulthood, from lion cub to mighty beast, is captured in “The Lion” on Stage II of New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre until Sunday, February 7.

Using six unique guitars, that produce a variety of sounds, from gentle and sweet to fierce and roaring, Schemer has taken his special story and wedded it to his love of storytelling and guitar songs.  This incredible evening begins with his dad taking rubber bands, a red necktie and a cookie tin and making him a “Tin Cookie Banjo,” a toy that started Ben’s odyssey to create song.  Wanting to play like his father, Ben soon desired a new and real guitar of his own and the instrument quickly became his greatest source of joy.  He always credits his dad, whom he labels as Saint Rick, with giving him the gift of music.

Their relationship hit some sour notes over the years, especially when Ben became a teenager.  A particularly difficult moment occurred when they clashed over Ben’s poor grades in math, his scholarly dad’s area of expertise. His dad’s anger over his grades and Ben’s response to that criticism culminated in a life-altering crisis when his dad dies suddenly.  The boy is forced to become a man and is consumed with the guilt that he may have caused his father to die.  A deeply moving tune “Weather the Storm” expresses his agonizing personal battle about his part in his father’s demise, a theme that is destined to plague him for years to come.

No thoughts are held back as Ben fights his way to adulthood, from meeting a girl named Julia on a train, for whom he writes the delightful “You Make Me Laugh,” his alienation from his family, his talk with his dad at his cemetery thanks to Julia and his need to face his fears and build bridges of understanding.  He excels at revealing the things he doesn’t want people to know about him, the things he is afraid to face, in telling the truth warts and all.  As therapy and catharsis, his musical storytelling is moving and meaningful. Sean Daniels directs this redemptive piece, presented in conjunction with Eva Price.

For tickets ($25-85), call Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven at 203-787-4282 or online at www.longwharf.org.  Performances are 

Tuesday at 7 p.m., Wednesday 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 Sunday at 2 p.m.

Long Wharf will present Discovery Day 2016: The Dream Factory on Saturday, January 23 beginning with registration at 9 a.m. and the free events, dress-up, storytelling, building box cities and making musical instruments all support the theme of imagination in the theater. On Monday, January 25 at 7:30 p.m., Long Wharf will host a “Sing Your Story” Contest to celebrate the music of Ben Scheuer.  Hosted by Chenot Keith, lead singer of New Haven-based indie pop favorite Mission Zero, the evening will showcase original songs by local musicians.  The winner will earn four hours of studio time at Baobo Tree Studios on Orange Street in New Haven. Tickets are $5. 

Come connect with Ben Scheuer as he exposes his soul to a depth of honesty and raw pain and ecstatic joy rarely experienced on stage.

WAR PHOTO SEARS PSYCHE OF JOURNALIST

MICHAEL CUMPSTY AS PAUL WATSON IN "THE BODY OF AN AMERICAN" AT HARTFORD STAGE

A photojournalist travels to hot spots and war zones to capture a picture and report a story.  The job is risky and dangerous. For Canadian Paul Watson. it is also life-altering and haunting. The true story of one moment in time changed his life forever and occurred in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993 and is preserved for posterity in Dan O’Brien’s moving tribute “The Body of an American” coming to startling life at Hartford Stage until Sunday, January 31.

Bearing witness to the civil war raging in Mogadishu, Watson is appalled by the sight of a mob of 200 dragging the body of an American soldier through the streets of the city, beating and spitting on it. As Watson pauses to frame the image, he clearly hears the voice of the victim, Sergeant William David Cleveland, announce “If you do this, I will own you forever.”

Hearing Cleveland’s voice as a  ghost, Watson nevertheless snaps the shutter and takes the photo that will ultimately win him the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography in 1994 and persuade President Clinton to change America’s foreign policy.

Years later playwright Dan O’Brien heard Watson on the NPR radio show Fresh Air, talking about his recently published book “Where War Lives” and reached out to connect by email. Although Watson is loath to return messages, the two start a tentative online conversation. In 2010, O’Brien finds himself traveling to the Arctic to meet the elusive reporter in person and the reality of writing a play about their unusual friendship is finally born. 

With Michael Cumpsty as Watson and Michael Crane as O’Brien, “The Body of an American” is a shatteringly detailed narrative of the ghosts that trouble both men.  Compelling insights are signposts, thanks to the intriguing projects designed by Alex Basco Koch, that mark the journey of the pair as they come to terms with life events.  Jo Bonney directs this starkly human tale of ultimate acceptance and redemption.

For tickets ($25 and up), call the Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street, Hartford at 860-527-5151 or online at www.hartfordstage.org.  Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Come discover how one moment in time, in this case one intensely seared photograph on a psyche, can have lasting repercussions even decades later.

NEW YEAR 2016 THOUGHTS AND RESOLUTIONS

MAKE ONE BIG GOAL: MONEY, FAMILY, WORK, HOME, HEALTH

A HABIT TO MAKE, A HABIT TO BREAK, A SKILL TO MASTER, BOOKS TO READ, A NEW PLACE TO GO

WAKE UP AND BE AWESOME   TRY, TRY, TRY    DREAM BIG   RELAX

 CREATE EVERY DAY   CHOOSE HAPPY    DANCE IN THE RAIN   STAY WEIRD   CHASE ADVENTURE     DO WHAT YOU LOVE      THINK OUTSIDE THE LINES

CHOICE CHANCE CHANGE   MAKE THE CHOICE TO TAKE THE CHANCE IF YOU WANT ANYTHING IN LIFE TO CHANGE

TAKE UP A HOBBY   LAUGH MORE    STOP BEING SLOPPY    BREAK BAD HABITS

REFRESH YOUR ENTIRE OUTLOOK    HAVE REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

QUIT AN ADDICTION      PAY OFF DEBT

CONTRIBUTE TO A CAUSE   LIVEN UP YOUR LIFESTYLE    GET ORGANIZED

HAVE FUN WITH YOUR FAMILY   ADOPT A PET    UNLEASH THE ANGEL IN YOU AND HELP OTHERS   HAVE A POSITIVE APPROACH TO LIFE

DON’T BE A COUCH POTATO-GET MOVING

GROW A PLANT INDOORS OR OUT – A SWEET POTATO VINE IS NICE

GIVE AWAY STUFF YOU DON’T NEED OR WANT – SOMEONE ELSE DOES

WRITE A JOURNAL    COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS   HATE LESS, LOVE MORE

FORGIVE EVERYONE EVERYTHING

TAKE A RISK   TRY SOMETHING NEW   FINISH SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN UNFINISHED    MAKE TIME FOR SELF REFLECTION

HIT THE GYM – BE CONSISTENT    TRY MEDITATING TO REDUCE STRESS

EAT MORE VEGGIES AND DRINK MORE WATER   DABBLE IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE    PUT MONEY IN A SAVINGS ACCOUNT   JOIN A BOOK CLUB

START VOLUNTEERING

GIVE YOURSELF AWAY – PROMISE TO GIVE 29 GIFTS IN 29 DAYS AND WATCH HOW YOUR LIFE MAY CHANGE.  A SMILE IS A GIFT  (CAMI WALKER IMPROVED HER MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS DRAMATICALLY FOLLOWING THIS PLAN)

PICK ONE THOUGHT OR IDEA OR MANY 

MAKE YOUR CHOICE MEANINGFUL AND FUN

MAKE 2016 SPECIAL

COME HEAR THE PLAYS OF JIM GORDON AT MTC

If you grow up in a family of storytellers, having brothers who write or paint or both, and if you’re fortunate enough to have an Irish tale spinner for a mother, one who was still telling tales on her death bed at 105, it’s probably preordained that you’ll one day pick up a pent write.  Such is the history of playwright, actor and director Jim Gordon of Norwalk.

One added bonus, and a big one at that, is that Gordon grew up in a poor Bronx neighborhood of Mt. Vernon, New York that “was like a United Nations, with characters who were strange but lovable, Irish, Italian, Jews, German, Russians and blacks.  It was a great time to grow up.  The apartment building was full of accents and smells, mostly of cabbage.”

If Gordon wasn’t on the playground having fun, he could often be found at the local bars, interacting with an older crowd.  His youth was filled with a flavarable and rich population, like the man who walked the hallways a full Robin Hood costume, complete with bow and arrow, and the German his dad hired to hag wallpaper who got it all up - upside down - with Eiffel Towers on their heads.  His house was even a place old relatives came to die, like his Uncle Jack who drove up from Florida, walked in and took a nap on the couch never to wake up again,

For four decades, Jim Gordon was dedicated commercial insurance agent for the good hands people Allstate.  That changed dramatically fifteen years ago when he broke his hip and couldn’t move. His terrific wife Maureen 9his words), an actress herself, suggested he start writing.  The result was “Murder 1, 2, 3” that he submitted to a contest and won.  Jim Gordon, playwright,was instantly born.

Gordon loves to write mysteries as well as comedies and character studies.  He prides himself on insinuating surprises and twists, encouraging his audiences “expect the unexpected.”  For years he has been testing his material at East Norwalk’s Theatre Artists Workshop, a collaborative efforts of “good professional people” who listen to your work and offer creative comments.  The workshop has a great base of mature and seasoned actors and directors and writers but Gordon would like to encourage more young people to sign on to their unique theatrical bandwagon.

Every October the TAW holds a Festival and Gordon has contributed a play almost every time in the last seven or eight years.  You don’t have to wait until the fall, however, to experience a taste of Jim Gordon’s humorous, ghostly or dreamlike tales,  Music Theatre of Connecticut will hold a fundraiser at its new intimate location in Norwalk, at 509 Westport Avenue, behind Nine West, by offering “ Short and Sweet: The Plays of Jim Gordon” on Saturday, January 23 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 24 at 2 p.m. Call 203-454-3883 or go online to www.musictheatreofct.com for tickets ($30 and $40).

Discover a definitely different way to pay your debts “Making Ends Meet,” how not to win the job as a department store Santa in “If Only in My Dreams,”

learn how a tavern can close when the owner is the last one to know in “Starlight Ballroom,” and meet two art critics who differ dramatically on the meaning of a painting in “Untitled #2.” These are but a few of the stories on the merry and menacing menu.

Come learn for yourself how well Jim Gordon inherited his storytelling skills from his Irish mom.

                                        JIM GORDON, ACTOR, DIRECTOR, PLAYWRIGHT

MARRIAGE JUMPS ON A MUSICAL MERRY-GO-ROUND

Fortunetellers might enjoy the promise of a crystal ball to foresee the future.  Mere mortal folks have to learn about life and love the hard way, through experience.  That is the fate of Jamie Wellerstein, an up and coming novelist, and Cathy Hyatt, a struggling actress, who are both waiting for their big 

breaks in career and courtship.

With a poignant and bittersweet perspective, playwright Jason Robert Brown uses his own failed marriage for inspiration in “The Last 5 Years” being given an introspective airing weekends until February 13 at the Connecticut Cabaret Theatre in Berlin.

Nick D’Angelo is the eager and excited Jamie who has just met the girl of his dreams, one who unfortunately would not be the first or the 305th choice of his traditional Jewish mother.  His loving lament to his “Shiksa Goddess” is uniquely celebratory. He is looking expectantly forward, from new love’s first blush, starting in year one when they first meet in New York City. In the final moments, in year five, he is swimming in a lake of defeat and pens an unhappy note of farewell.

Kaite Corda is the older but wiser Cathy who has been struggling with balancing marriage and an acting career and finding little success with either.  From the perspective of time, she travels back from the final steps to the first, from year five to year one, following all the broken pieces and missteps that led them to turn their joyous hellos to tearful goodbyes.

“The Last 5 Years” is almost entirely sung, with humorous lyrics about a tailor in “The Schmuel Song” which Jamie presents as a Christmas gift to Cathy;  Cathy’s recitation about former boy friends in “I Can Do Better Than That” as she takes Jamie to meet her parents; when Jamie’s career takes a giant leap in “Moving Too Fast”; and Cathy experiences the utter joy of meeting Jamie for their first date in “Goodbye Until Tomorrow.”

Kaite Corda and Nick D’Angelo do a lovely job of telling about their courtship, bittersweet though it may be, with Kris McMurray directing them, as the perfect yenta/matchmaker.

For tickets ($30), call the CT Cabaret Theatre, 31-33 Webster Square Road, Berlin at 860-829-1248 or online at www.ctcabaret.com.  Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7:15 p.m. Bring goodies to share at your table or plan to buy desserts and drinks at the concession stand.

Watch how Jamie and Cathy leap into and slide out of love, as he loses his muse and she disengages from her hero.

GLASS SLIPPERS AND FAIRY GODMOTHERS COMING TO THE BUSHNELL

If you are waiting patiently for your Prince Charming to come, sitting by the fireplace anticipating a pumpkin coach and a pair of glass slippers courtesy of your Fairy Godmother, your name must be Cinderella. Luckily for all of us, you're scheduled to have all your dreams come true thanks to Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, with a new book by Douglas Carter Beane, in the Tony Award winning favorite "Cinderella" arriving at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, led by a team of high stepping horses from Tuesday, January 12 to Sunday, January 17.

If you believe in fairy tales and happily ever afters, then this new version of an old classic is just what the magician ordered to welcome a fantastic 2016.  Start conjuring up the sweet daughter whose father remarries and then dies suddenly and leaves his precious girl in the hands of a delighted-to-be-devilish step mother with two devious and less than darling step sisters.  Cinderella soon becomes a put upon scullery maid, sweeping the ashes from the hearth and waiting hand and foot on her newly acquired family.  Her loving father would be most dismayed to realize her fate.

Have no fear, however, for Cinderella has a cadre of good pals just waiting to save the day.  When an invitation arrives to the Prince's ball, it initially appears that our heroine has no more chance of attending than a mouse has of magically transforming itself into a majestic mare.  But stranger things have happened and thanks to an ingenious Fairy Godmother, someone every girl needs to have, Cinderella is able to dance the waltz with the man of her dreams.  What happens when the clock strikes midnight?  You'll have to come to see for yourself what trickery is afoot.  Mark Brokaw directs this perfection piece laced with songs like "In My Own Little Corner," "Impossible/It's Possible," "Ten Minutes Ago" and "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful." 

For tickets ($25.50 and up), call the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford at 860-9875900 or online at www.bushnell.org.  Performances are Tuesday to 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.

No need to don a tiara, long white gloves or a ball gown to enjoy this enchanting new version of Cinderella, an updated spirited tale that is sure to delight.