COME HAVE TEA WITH KATE AT CT CABARET

                     KELLY BOUCHER AS KATHARINE HEPBURN

Katharine Hepburn was a Hollywood leading lady for over six decades, the winner of four Academy Awards, a true Connecticut daughter, who was named in 1999 the greatest female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema by the American Film Institute. Kate died in 2003 at her home in Fenwick, a part of Old Saybrook, at the venerable age of 96. You have the unique opportunity to make her acquaintance over a cup of tea courtesy of the remarkable acting talents of Kelly Boucher and the Connecticut Cabaret Theatre of Berlin weekends until September 23.

Thanks to Matthew Lombardo’s revealing comedy “Tea at Five,” we are privileged to meet Ms. Hepburn at two distinct stages of her life, the first when she is mentally reviewing her career to date and actively lobbying to get the role of Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind,” and fifty years later when she is contemplating her life and her choices, now a victim of Parkinson’s disease.

Kelly Boucher becomes this venerable actress, who is aggressive, self-assured, strong willed, an athlete, a non conformist, independent, unconventional and eccentric, with a distinctive patrician voice.  Boucher shares intimate details of Kate’s life, in a progressive and structured family that kept secrets, her early drive and ambition to be a movie actress, her many missteps along the way, and the plays and movies and even television roles she accepted.

She happily admits that the press was not fond of her or her of it, and she even earned the title Katherine of Arrogance.  When she had six or seven flops in a row, she also earned the appellate “box office poison.” Her relationships with many Hollywood big wigs were often contentious and she was known to bully and boss to get her way.  A creature of habit, she often sought the comfort of her family when things went awry, and she enjoyed a cup of tea every day at five o’clock.  The audience is privileged to be in her company for that tradition.

Her father had a tremendous influence on Kate, one she reveals in difficult confessions.  Tom, her older brother, was her protector and she terms it “Paradise” when she was home in Fenwick with him.  His death had a tremendous influence on her life. As she sips tea, she sprinkles her stories with tales of the 1938 hurricane that washed her home away, her dalliance with such suitors as Howard Hughes, her relationship with her German acting teacher, her abhorrence of calla lilies, her brief marriage and her dislike of the institution and her conflicts with leading stars like John Barrymore.

In the second act, we meet a Katharine who has suffered many disappointments  and is now battling Parkinson’s.  She has just suffered a car accident and has a broken ankle.  Warren Beatty is actively pursuing her to end her retirement and return to the screen and he has mistakenly sent her a bouquet of calla lilies to woo her.  This is a frail and fragile queen who is still in charge of her reign. Her attention to detail is still a primary key to her success in life.  Even now she is finally ready to reveal her private relationship with Spencer Tracy, one she kept secret for more than twenty five years.

Through all her trials and triumphs, she freely admits that work has always been her salvation and her priority. After Tracy's death, she returned to acting to survive.  Even at the finale, she was always seeking her happy ending. 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. There are no performances September 1 and 2. Remember to bring goodies to share at your table or plan to buy desserts and drinks  on site. Now is the time to sign up for the cabaret’s next season, its twentieth anniversary.

Don’t miss Kelly Boucher’s outstanding performance as one of America’s foremost females of stage and screen and be guaranteed to learn some intimate secrets and gain even more admiration for our personal Connecticut star.

THE TEMPERATURE IS RISING ON “SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER” AT IVORYTON

Be nostalgic and raise your hand triumphantly to the sky, slick your hair back, practice your dance moves and get set to move and groove, jump and jive, as the Ivoryton Playhouse welcomes the classic hit show “Saturday Night Fever” to town until Sunday, September 3.

Get set to conjure up the iconic image of a man, in this case John Travolta, clad in vanilla colored suit, passionately dancing to win his future. Now with the help of Michael Notardonato’s magnetic Tony Manero we meet a young man trapped in Brooklyn who yearns to escape and his cool dance moves are his ticket out. Thanks to a book by Nan Knighton, in collaboration with Arlene Phillips, Paul Nicholas and Robert Stigwood, you have the exciting opportunity to watch Tony reach out to catch his dreams.

By day Tony works in a paint store but the colors there are  drab black and white and gray. He deals with a crowd of deadbeat pals, Colin Lee, Pierre Marais, Tom DiFeo.Joey Lucherini and Jamal Shuriah,  who aren’t going to win any prizes in the game of life.  When the workweek ends, however, Tony crosses into a technicolor world when he struts into the local disco.

At the discotheque, he is morphed from a lowly frog into the worshiped prince and suddenly he owns the musical world.  Here he is admired.  All things are possible, even a courtship with the much appreciated Stephanie Mangano, Caroline Lellouche. Tony quickly forgets his former dance partner Annette, a loyal Nora Fox, to pursue the exotic new girl.

Will Tony’s smooth and groovy dance floor moves help him win Stephanie’s heart?  Could they even be the magic gold ticket that will launch him out of Brooklyn into the big time? Stephanie, however, is the “maybe” girl, who is reluctant to make a commitment.

The great tunes from the Bee Gees' repertoire, starting with the smart and savvy lyrics of “Stayin’ Alive,” pulsate compellingly to aid the story’s advance.  Other tunes like “How Deep Is Your Love,” “If I Can’t Have Him” and “Top of Your Game” stroke the momentum, especially with impressive choreography.

For tickets ($50-), call the  at or online at www..org.  Performances are Friday, February 19 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, February 20 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.  

Watch temperatures rise to an explosive pitch as “Saturday Night Fever” raises the Ivoryton roof and sets it sailing to the strastosphere.

GLORIOUS "OKLAHOMA!" RIDES INTO GOODSPEED MUSICALS UNTIL SEPT. 27

                                      PHOTO BY DIANE SOBOLEWSKI

If it had been about Michigan or Mississippi, history would have been quite different. If the title hadn’t been changed from “Green Grow the Lilacs” and “Away We Go,” it might not have won a Special Pulitzer Prize for Drama or become the first Broadway musical honored with a commemorative U.S. stamp. If millions of people hadn’t flocked to see it, it might not have been translated into over a dozen languages from Hebrew to Hungarian.

Now celebrating over seven decades of popularity is Rodgers and Hammerstein’s gift to American musical theatre, one of Broadway’s longest running shows, “Oklahoma!”  Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam will be decorating surreys and picking elephant high sweet corn until Wednesay, September 27th in an effort to make this a remarkable theatrical experience, one not to be missed.

This is pure Americana at its best.

This production, beautifully directed by Jenn Thompson and choreographed with spirit and spunk by Katie Spelman is guaranteed to present the sunshine of the Oklahoma prairie from the dawn of each “oh, what a beautiful morning” as farmer battles the cowman for supremacy in the territory trying to reconcile how both can be friends.

.

Love swirls around the Box Social as Will Parker (Jake Swain) bargains for the picnic basket made by Ado Annie (Gizel Jimenez) and Curly (Rhett Guter) and Jud (Matt Faucher) try to outbid each other for Laurey’s (Samantha Bruce) offering. While Ado Annie has to deal with the fast talking salesman Ali Hakim (Matthew Curiano), Laurey’s dilemma with the sullen farm hand Jud and the energetic and engaging Curly poses the show’s real conflict in an otherwise sunny and optimistic landscape. A kindly Aunt Eller (Terry Burrell) and a feisty Andrew Carnes (C. Mingo Long) try to keep the folks peaceful.

Songs like the show stopping title “Oklahoma!,”  "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top,"  the lovely duet “People Will Say We’re in Love” and the comic “I Cain’t Say No!” attest to why this show is a classic family favorite. A intriguing ballet poignantly ends the first act. The cast is awesome and the festivities abound with joy tinged with sorrow.

For tickets ($29 and up) call the Goodspeed Musicals, on the Connecticut River in East Haddam at 860-873-8668 or online at www.goodspeed.org. . Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (with select shows at 2 p.m.), Friday at 8 p.m.,  Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.,  and Sunday at 2 p.m. (with select shows at 6:30 p.m.).

If you weren’t lucky enough to be at the show’s premiere at New Haven’’s Shubert Theatre on March 15, 1943, don’t compound the mistake by missing this outstanding opportunity to climb aboard the most famous surrey with the fringe on top and merrily ride into musical history.

DISCOVER WHAT IS "APPROPRIATE" OR NOT IN INTENSE FAMILY DRAMA

                THE LAFAYETTE FAMILY     PHOTO BY CAROL ROSEGG

Arguments, accusations and apologies mark the uncomfortable "reunion" of the Lafayette family at their crumbling plantation home in Arkansas. They are gathering to prepare for an estate sale, now that the patriarch of the clan has died.  At the same time a relentless and shrill buzz of insects, cicadas, is experiencing its 13-17 year explosion of promulgation.  The insistent and annoying summer mating song of the insects is like the hostile environment that the Lafayette family is engaged in trying to survive.

The Westport Country Playhouse  will be caught in this storm of emotion as Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Obie Award-winning play "Appropriate" shows its family fangs until Saturday, September 2.  Be forewarned you may need a shot of whiskey straight as you bear witness to three siblings, their partners and offspring, as they struggle to come to terms with the death of dear old dad.

A major debt to the bank is prompting an estate sale and it is questionable if the proceeds will be barely enough to cover the indebtedness and whether there will a pittance left over to share.  Sister Toni, a decisive and determined Betsy Aidem, holds court and commands the role of four star general.  She knows best and woe to anyone who opposes her leadership.  She has come home with her son Rhys, Nick Selting, without a husband or a job and with excuses for everything that has happened in the past.

Toni holds sway over her younger brother Bo, an indecisive and anxious David Aaron Baker, who wants the sale to go well so he can return home with his wife Rachael (Diane Davis) and children Cassie (Allison Winn) and Ainsley (Christian Michael Camporin).  This visit to the homestead is stirring up lots of angst and emotions, and that is before the third member of the triumvirate appears, unannounced and largely unwelcome.  When Franz (or Frank, if you will) literally falls into the home, any evidence of civility flies out of the doorway.  Franz, the brother with the past litany of transgressions, a contrite Shawn Fagan, has returned to the scene of his crimes, for the primary purpose of apologizing for sins of the past.  He is accompanied by his spiritual soulmate River, a consoling Anna Crivelli, to prove he has changed and wants to resume his place in the family order.

Suddenly a photo album opens a hailstorm of secrets and revelations that threaten everyone. Toni's Betsy Aidem is fierce in her condemnation and verbal fisticuffs fly in all directions.  Who was their father in reality?  What are they descended from as an inheritance?  Can these rifts be mended or are they too deep and scarred to ever heal?  David Kennedy directs a drama that will long haunt you as you contemplate how like our nation the Lafayette family truly is.

For tickets ($30 and up), call the Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off route 1, Westport at 1-888-927-7529 or 203-227-4177 or online at www.westportplayhouse.org.  Performances are Tuesday at 7 p.m., Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.

Become intimately involved with the Lafayettes as they struggle to reconcile the past with the present and survive the intensely personal encounter, just like the cicadas swarming in the woods outside the door.

ELM SHAKESPEARE INTRODUCES “ROMEO AND JULIET” UNDER THE STARS

New Haven's lovely tree scape Edgerton Park becomes a colorful quilt of families every night, except Mondays, until Sunday, September 3 as the tragically romantic tale of Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet"reveals itself, thanks to Elm Shakespeare, under the stars. For the 22nd year, this fine acting company brings exceptional theater to the community so people of all ages can enjoy the Bard up close and personal.

On opening night, I spied a woman knitting a fuzzy blue blanket while her black bunny BoonBoon (short for Brunhilda) scampered near by enjoying the greenery, kids played ball, couples dined on tuna fish sandwiches or fried chicken, babies happily broke crackers on a blanket, cell phones were activated, plastic cups of white wine were toasted and one woman sported a head of bright purple hair...until the magic happened and the play began.

Brawls and bawdy language and tenderness and tears mark this current production of the classic Shakespeare tale “never was a story of more woe than Juliet and her Romeo.”  You are invited to visit these star-crossed lovers who meet, marry and die in way less than a fortnight, plagued by two families who consider feuding their special right.

The Capulets and the Montagues will be entertaining, but definitely not each other, on an elaborate set designed by Elizabeth Bolster over five weeks at the company's new alliance and home at Southern Connecticut State University.  Directed by long time actor Raphael Massie, this version of “Romeo and Juliet” is blessed with love songs of a contemporary flavor. 

To Massie, "The challenge is how do I keep the story fresh and relevant.  Here there is no particular time period.  The story transcends time.  Here we have a mix of fresh faces as new actors as well as veterans on the board.  This is compelling theater that crosses every time period since the year it was written."  Additionally, he hopes that love will always triumph over hatred and prove "we are one humanity."

Courtney Jamison is chaste and charming, soft and luminous, as the young teenage girl, barely fourteen,  eager to embrace love and choose her own mate, not willing to concede to the pressures of her parents (Mark Sage Hamilton and Samantha Dena Smith) to marry their choice of suitor Paris (Martin K. Lewis).  When Juliet meets the dashing and newly devoted Romeo (Steven Lee Johnson) at her parents' ball, her fate is sealed and the tragedy quickly unfolds.

The ancient grudge between the two families leads to the deaths of two young citizens, Tybalt (Claire Warden) and Mercutio (James Udom).  For the role Romeo plays in the battle, he is banished from Verona.  Despite the helpful and often comic aid of Juliet’s nurse, a cunning Gracy Brown, and the well-meaning advice of Friar Laurence (James Andreassi), the young lovers are doomed by their parents’ animosity to a tragic end.  Their first bloom of love is destined to be short lived. Just as in our present world, hatred often trumps love and understanding and we are all the poorer for it.  Escalus, Prince of Verona, (Tamika Pittway) speaks sagely about the great price this hatred has wrought.

Come learn the costs of adversity in ancient Verona and in our present world.  Elm Shakespeare requests donations to fund their year round activities in school and with youth.  To help in their goal of raising $50,000, make a donation by texting elm91011 or do so at the performances where suggested donations are $20 adults, $10 students and $5 children.

Other activities of note to add to your calendar are "An Evening Under the Stars," a Gala and Auction at Edgerton Park on Thursday, August 31, with cocktails, buffet and auction at 5 p.m. followed by the performance.  Tickets start at $75 and are available at ElmShakespeare.org or 203-392-8882. 

On Thursday, October 26 from 6:30-8:30pm in the Curran Community Room at Gateway Community College founding board member of Elm Shakespeare Bill Curran will celebrate his 90th birthday. Call for tickets in mid-September but reserve now at ElmShakespeare.org or 203-392-8882.

The joy of wedding planning quickly turns to preparations for funerals as the two feuding families learn too late what their enmity has cost.

THE MASTER OF MUSICAL BIOGRAPHIES STRIKES AGAIN

Canadian born Hershey Felder excels as a pianist but his many titles include playwright, composer, producer, director and master of musical biographies.  He has brought to life, in his amazing one man shows, the lives and works of such notables as George Gershwin, Fryderyk Chopin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonard Bernstein and Franz Liszt. Now he is prepared to bring you the musical works of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in his newest offering "The Great Tchaikovsky."

From Saturday, August 19 to Sunday, August 27, the Hartford Stage will present this gifted maestro in a new play with music, weaving politics with his favored works, in a fascinating journey into the past.  Felder will play excerpts from Tchaikovsky's classic ballets, "The Nutcracker," "Sleeping Beauty" and "Swan Lake" as well as concertos and symphonic pieces, all while being the great man himself and sharing secrets and revelations about his life and his mysterious death.

The culture of 19th century Russia will be revealed in such a way that you will feel a kinship with this man and his music and all he suffered, trying to conceal his sexuality, a fact that could have led to his exile in Siberia.  With his director Trevor Hay, Felder will make this musical master come alive, showcasing his signature pieces and intimate details of his life.

For tickets ($25 and up, student $20), call the Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street, Hartford at 860-520-5151 or online at www.hartfordstage.org.  Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday.

Enter the heart and soul of this musician who brought such beauty to his works but yet who suffered deeply in his personal life as he created.  Let Hershey Felder bring Tchaikovsky to life in his words and music.

MEET KRISTIN HANGGI, “SHOW MIDWIFE,” AND HER LATEST BABY

KRISTIN HANGGI, DIRECTOR (TOP)

BRYAN FENKART AND EMILY WALTON IN "DARLING GRENADINE"
PHOTO BY ADRIAN BROOM

Self-described on her website as a director, writer, producer and dreamer, Kristin Hanggi has recently devoted her time and talents to a few projects of note:  “Rock of Ages,” “Clueless,” and “Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List.”  While “Rock of Ages” celebrates the classic rock hits of the 1980’s from Pat Benatar to Poison and Styx to Twister Sister, and “Clueless” is a coming-of-age comedy reminiscent of Jane Austen’s 1815 novel “Emma,” the third “Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List” is a movie about what happens when the title pair’s long time friendship and bonding are threatened by a new guy and all bets are suddenly off.

Hanggi is equally at home and equally excited whether she is working on musicals, plays, movies or television.  “In the job, I follow my heart and the story will dictate the particular directions I take.  I am attuned to the music, the dance and the story telling and seek the best format.”  An adaptation of the 1997 cult film “The Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion Musical,” premiering in Seattle this summer, is a perfect example of her talents.  It features two single L. A. party girls who need to reinvent themselves for their ten year reunion.

This “lover of new musicals and spiritual exploration” is in the midst of a new challenge,directing “Darling Grenadine” with book, lyrics and music by Daniel Zaitchik that will be enjoying its first full mounted production at Goodspeed Musicals’s little sister spot, the Terris Theatre in Chester, August 18 to September 17.

Three years ago, Hanggi heard the composer sing and play a number of his tunes at an L.A. showcase and immediately knew “his music was special and I had to direct it.”  At the time it was "just a handful of songs” and she encouraged him to expand it with a storyline and “Darling Grenadine” is the happy result.

With good reason, Kristin Hanggi calls herself “a show midwife,” taking a seedling of an idea and nurturing it until it is fully grown.  This is a “personal relationship, as intimate as raising a child should be.”  As with an individual child, each show is different and the challenges always change. “The process of discovery is an adventure.”  She reads a script, has a vision, with tone and color, but can get into the rehearsal room and it all changes.  Finding creative solutions can be “happy accidents.”

With “Darling Grenadine,” we meet Harry (Bryan Fenkart), a singer/songwriter who has a hit jingle about burgers that gives him financial security.  Harry is a modern man living in Manhattan who falls in love with Louise (Emily Walton), an actress in a Broadway show “Paradise.”  In addition, Harry has a brother (Ben Mayne) and a labrador retriever, a marionette created by Philip Huber, both of whom are named Paul.  This “musical within a musical” has an old-fashioned quality: think “Singing’ in the Rain,” as well as a contemporary feel.  Zaitchik describes it as “one foot in the past and one foot in the future” while Emily Walton claims “it is equal parts funny and moving and no better showcase for Daniel’s work." Woven into the piece are illusion and magic, a fantasy about how we perceive things.

For Hanggi, “Darling Grenadine” is a magical wonderful ride and she calls Zaitchik a genius who does incredible work that she is honored to be part of developing.  The title comes from a love of Shirley Temple cocktails and the true sweetness they contain.  Harry is a great pianist and singer, a funny man who never leaves the stage.  He has a dark and a light side, is charming, and a man we want to root for.  His dog Paul is a puppet who can exhibit emotions, from shy to afraid to joyful and he is beautifully voiced by a trumpet.  Zaitchik, who has known Emily Walton for over a decade wrote the part of Louise for her, a woman who has a whole journey of her own.

As a director, Hanggi finds the music filled with fantasy and whimsy that honestly explores emotions  She feels listening to the tunes will dictate how to treat them, to “decode” them, “like being on an adventure with absolutely no map.”  She has to trust her actors and “figure out how to sculpt like Michelangelo handled his David.”  Seeing images in her head and visualizing the writer’s intent are her primary jobs and, for her, “nothing is more fun.”  Doing this innovative work for fifteen years, she rarely says yes to revivals.

For tickets ($42-59), call Goodspeed Musicals at 860-873-8668 or online at www.goodspeed.org.  Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m and 6:30 p.m. The Terris Theatre is located at 33  North Main Street, Chester, exit 6 off route 9.

As for the audience’s reaction to “Darling Grenadine,” Kristen Hanggi would like the focus to be on “personal power and responsibility that at any moment can transform ourselves into the kind of person we choose to be.” Let “Darling Grenadine”, thanks to  Daniel Zaitchik and Kristin Hanggi and whole team of collaborators, cast you under its spell, in a brand new musical that captures the old school magic of the MGM Golden Age married to a contemporary New York beat.  Shine on!

"RAGING SKILLET" COOKS UP COMEDY UNTIL AUGUST 27

CHEF ROSSI, AKA DANA SMITH-CROLL, PREPARES A NEW RECIPE

Chefs are noted for being temperamental and demanding divas who rule their domain, kitchens, like a dictator and hold dominion over all the appliances and food preparation .  Their menus are sacrosanct and the specific property of their creators, not subject to questions or reproach.  All that being said, you probably have not met the likes of Chaf Rossi, that distinct breed of food preparer who is taking over the kitchen set, created with care by Michael Schweikardt, at Hartford TheaterWorks until Sunday, August 27.

Thanks to playwright Jacques Lamarre, there's a new meal maven in town and you're invited to make her acquaintance.  Please note she is a punk rock, lesbian, Jewish, independent and free spirited caterer of a distinct rebellious nature in the world premiere of "Raging Skillet."

Dana Smith-Croll's Chef Rossi is her own woman, secure in her title and career and mistress of her destiny.  She has just written a new tell-all book about her life, complete with recipes, and tonight is her book launch party.  Signed copies of her book are available for purchase after the show.  Together with her right hand man and helpmate, George Salazar's D J Skillit, she is literally on top of her form, the meatball on top of her flavorful mound of spaghetti.

All is going swimmingly in rich tomato sauce until her mother invades the scene, a woman who has been dead since 1992.  Marilyn Sokol's mom upsets the culinary cart and spills the baked beans and Ritz crackers and has a kniption fit when she finds her daughter, for all her kosher upbringing, is cooking with bacon.  It's a shanda, a scandal, an outrageous act against God.

The mother-daughter dynamic is explored and shaken in a beer batter concoction.  Mom can accept the recipes that make up a Snickers and Potato Chip Casserole but bacon, even when it is dipped in chocolate, is too much.  It may cause mama to die all over again.

Audience members get to sample some of the unusual and tasty treats (I recommend the pizza bagels) and the even stranger drinks.  The ultimate message, after the chopped liver hits the fan, is that "food is love" and family is family.  John Simpkins directs this intriguing "sound track" of Chef Rossi's unorthodox life.

For tickets ($50-65, seniors Saturday matinee $35, student rush $15 when available), call TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford at 860-527-7838 or online at www.theaterworkshartford.org.  Performances are Tuesday to Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday matinee 2:30 p.m.

Bring your coupons, coriander and chopping block as this wild child reminisces about adventures and guilt trips on her way to success as a chief chef and caterer.