THE ERRANT KNIGHT DON QUIXOTE LIVES AGAIN AT HARTFORD STAGE IN “QUIXOTE NUEVO”

Growing older isn’t for sissies.  The process can be painful, as in sore joints, or difficult, as in forgotten and unfulfilled dreams and worrisome and troublesome memories.  What happens if you look back at your past and want to change your choices? Is there such an act as a “do over”?  For one poor Mexican immigrant,  Jose Quijano, the answer is easy:  he is willing to risk life and limb to right the past and correct his mistakes.

For Latino playwright Octavio Solis, the leap from the delusional but impassioned Don Quixote of Cervantes’ mind to a present day old man living in La Plancha, Texas on the Mexican border is easily accomplished.  

The Hartford Stage, in association with Huntington Theatre Company and the Alley Theatre are presenting “Quixote Nuevo” until Sunday, October 13.

Jose, a courageous Emilio Delgado, is more than ready to take up sword and shield and become a gallant knight of old.  Weary himself and suffering from the beginnings of dementia, he, nevertheless, mobilizes his “last ounce of courage” to 

“dream the impossible dream.”

When his family prepares to have him move into an assisted living facility, which he refers to as a living death facility, Jose recognizes he can postpose his glorious quest no longer.  He must right the wrongs against his one true love Dulcinea (Gisela Chipe) and reunite with her in his heart.  With the trusty and loyal aide Sancho (Juan Manuel Amador), the ice cream man, at his side, the pair set off  into the desert, stopping at castles, seeking windmills and dragons, willing to stop at nothing to find “the queen of my heart.”

Once a mere professor teaching literature at a college, Jose is now on a tricycle as a soldier of virtue willing to protect the rights of the undocumented and poor, even if it means knocking down “walls” along the way.  With colorful costuming by Rachel  Healey, spirited Tejano music and a beautiful and bittersweet story,  Jose, whom you may remember as Luis, the handyman, on “Sesame Street,” is determined to rescue his angel.  With flashbacks to his abused youth, Jose is determined to defend his love and embrace chivalry.  KJ Sanchez directs this saga of tears and laughter as we cheer on our dubious hero who rallies despite the great odds. The play may be a challenge for the non-Spanish speaking audience, although there is a glossary to help.

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 matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Enter into the mind and spirit of an old man who is plagued with good intentions and sets off on a worthy mission to finally give meaning to his life…and death.

SETH RUDETSKY HOSTS “SETH’S BIG FAT 70S SHOW” AT CHARTER OAK CULTURAL CENTER

 

Seth Rudetsky spent his childhood spinning vinyl platters on his record player and watching hours of non-stop television variety shows.  This master comedian and pianist, the host of “Seth’s Big Fat Broadway” program on Sirius/FM Radio, has parlayed his youthful experiences into an evening of “all those horrific variety shows from the 70s.  I’ll be dissecting them, like the ‘Brady Bunch Variety Show,’ which was called the worst TV show ever by TV Guide.”

With biting humor, Rudetsky will be skewering all his all-time favorite worst variety shows in the one night production “Seth Rudetsky’s Big Fat 70s Show” at the Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Avenue, Hartford on Thursday, October 3 at 7 p.m.  The evening is part of the Charter Oak Cultural Center’s celebration of Jewish Arts and Culture.

As a well documented analyst of the entertainment world, Rudetsky will evaluate the performances of such notables as Liza Minelli, Donny and Marie and the various members of the Brady Bunch, including Alice the maid, showing clips from their memorable and not so memorable television appearances.  Part nostalgia, part historical, part hysterical, he will provide his personal insights into this less than admirable era.

For tickets ($30, seniors $15, with no one being turned away for lack of funds), go online to CharterOakCenter.org.

Revisit the past and laugh all the way along on this journey with the entertaining Seth Rudetsky as your genial guide. Just delicious!

“RAGTIME” STRUTS ITS STUFF SPLENDIDLY AT MUSIC THEATRE OF CT

Music Theatre of Connecticut in Norwalk has risen to the challenge and created a remarkable and exhilarating show for your entertainment until Sunday, October 13 and you must see its splendor for yourself. A new music craze, an abandoned baby boy, a time of hope and promise, and an era of civil unrest are all captured in an historical pageant of America at the turn of the twentieth century in the Tony-Award winning “Ragtime.” E. L. Doctorow’s novel, with a book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty, and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens focuses on three divergent families, one upper class white, one Harlem colored, and one Jewish immigrant hopeful, whose paths cross and intersect in New Rochelle, New York in the early 1900’s.

This passionate parade of Americana “Ragtime” echoes an era that reverberated with the zeal of social reformer Emma Goldman, the courageous stance of Booker T. Washington as he tried to advance his people, the progressive Henry Ford who made automobiles an economic necessity, the magical illusionism of Harry Houdini, and the sensational notoriety of chorus star Evelyn Nesbitt.

“Ragtime” is a tintype or daguerreotype come to life, a montage of people and places and events frozen in the camera’s eye, as America grows, not always wisely or well, into a new nation. When Mother (Julia Lambert Pratt) discovers an abandoned black baby and chooses to protect him and his unwed mother Sarah (Soara Joye Ross), she sets in motion a chain of incidents that are both tragic and heartfelt. Sarah’s lover Coalhouse (Ezekiel Andrew), a musician by trade of the new musical craze ragtime, seeks her out, much to the dismay of Father (Dennis Holland), who had been exploring with Admiral Peary but is now home and displeased with the decisions made by his wife who

showcases her independent spirit for the first time while he is away.

Mother’s life has also collided with that of the Jewish immigrant Tateh (Frank Mastrone), a silhouette artist, who is preoccupied keeping his motherless daughter (Ryan Ryan or Hannah Pressman) alive. In the future he will be influenced by Emma Goldman’s (Mia Scarpa) reforms for workers and realize his own American dreamCome and make the acquaintance of the sensational burlesque queen Evelyn Nesbitt (Jessica Molly Schwartz), Harry Houdini (Christian Carodozo), Henry Ford (Jeff Gurner), Booker T.

Washington (Brian Demar Jones), J. P. Morgan (Bill Nabel), Sarah’s friend (Kanova Latrice Johnson),Older brother (Jacob Sundlie) and Younger brother

Ari Frimmer.  Many actors play multiple roles and change frequently into the lovely costumes designed by Diane Vanderkroff on the set designed by Jessie Lizotte.

Songs sparkle and stimulate the heart strings throughout like “Journey On,” “Wheels of a Dream,” “Sarah Brown Eyes,” “Till We Reach That Day” and “Make Them Hear You.”

Music and choreography spell out “Ragtime’s” soul in brilliant hues, thanks to the direction by Kevin Connors and the musical accompaniment by pianists David Wolfson and Mark Ceppetelli. The richness and rightness of the voices shine with passion and power.

For tickets ($35-65) call Muisc Theatre of CT, 509 Westport Avenue, Norwalk (behind Nine West Shoes) at (203)454-3883 or online at www. musictheatreofct.com. Performances are Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Let ”Ragtime’s” fever infect you as you jump on an American bandwagon for an historical and spirited ride you will long remember.

JOANNA GLEASON MUCH MORE THAN “A BAKER’S WIFE”

At the age of eleven, Joanna Gleason already enjoyed a rich fantasy life, imagining herself a singer with a 1940’s big band, with a gardenia in her hair and clad in a fabulous satin gown.  She had already determined by age nine, in elementary school, that the theater was her destiny so these dreams seemed not only possible but quite realistic.  One would think that as the daughter of game show host Monty and Marilyn Hall, growing up in Toronto, Canada, her home life would have predisposed her to show business, but she declares her parents never exposed her to that life.  There were family dinners, piano lessons, going to see school plays and down to earth values. Her parents played Broadway albums and opera and took the family to museums.  Joanna learned early on, “I could have a future in the least show business family around.”

After her father co-created “Let’s Make a Deal” and hosted the game show for thirty years, he was “recognized everywhere and being the charming man he was, he loved it.”  Joanna, on the other hand, initially shrank from it.  Like all her siblings, she was proud of her parents’ extensive charity work raising a million dollars over the years and the speeches dad made, especially after moving the family to Beverly Hills for fifty five years.

Joanna Gleason is an accomplished actress, singer, acting teacher, writer and director, having established herself in television, film and theater. In times of stress, she remembers asking her father, “Oy, what is happening?”  His answer was a comforting, “Honey, we’ve seen worse. It’s a bump.  Everything is cyclical.  Keep changing.”  Joanna still listens to that advise as evidenced by new latest project, an intimate one woman show that is a love letter to her parents and

their seventy year romance, “Out of the Eclipse.” The show will enjoy its Connecticut debut at the Quick Center at Fairfield University on Friday, November 8 at 

7 p.m., followed by a private dinner with the star at 8:30 p.m. This musical evening debuted this spring at Feinstein’s/54 Below dinner club in New York City to sold out crowds, thanks to the encouragement of the venue’s producer Jennifer Tepper.

“Out of the Eclipse” was Gleason’s therapeutic and cathartic response to her parents’ deaths within weeks of each other, at 96 and 90, and the solar eclipse of 2017 that occurred in the middle.  The show takes the audience on its own individual journey of loss as it reveals Gleason’s personal dark time of care giving in their last days and how she brought herself back into the light.  With her arranger and music director Jeffrey Klitz, backed by the tight three part harmony of the Moontones and a band that consists of guitar, banjo, autoharp, cello, percussion and piano.  For tickets ($75, 65, Quick members $55, University students $5), call the Quick Center box office at 203-254-4010 or go online to quickcenter.com or @fairfieldquick.  The dinner is $150 and includes a ticket to the performance.

Calling the show “funny and tender,” when she lost her bearings “I put my faith in other people.”  Like the song she sang in her Tony Award winning performance as the Baker’s Wife in Sondheim’s “Into the Woods,” she recognizes that “life is made of moments.” Looking back at the tremendous love and affection for her folks, she, with the help of most extraordinary collaborator Jeffrey Klitz, carefully selected songs and stories that illustrated their loving relationship.  She freely admits, “We mutually inspire each other.” Some songs are well known like the Rodgers and Hart standard “With a Song in My Heart” and the Cole Porter tune “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To” and her parents’ personal love song “Where or When” as well as some more obscure, like the 1800’s Yiddish lullaby “Oyfn Prpestshik.”

During the evening, Joanna Gleason will share funny stories about how she landed the career changing role of the Baker’s Wife, how her role in Broadway’s “Nick and Nora” was short lived on stage but resulted in a twenty nine year long marriage to her co-star Nick, now husband actor Chris Saradon and how wonderful being a grandmother and called ”Yia Yia” has “opened chambers of my heart I didn’t know I had.” On February 9, 2020, her show will open at Los Angeles’ Renberg Theater where she hopes “school mates and friends will come.”

As if all these successes weren’t enough, Ms. Gleason is exploring writing and directing a feature film set to be made in Connecticut in December.  Having practiced on a short film first, she is now ready to tackle ”Possom,” a tender and moving tale of the last few days of her mom’s life, stating “I had to connect before I could let go.”

 With a career that has spanned such shows as “Boogie Nights,” “The Good Wife,” “Hamlet,” “The West Wing,” “I Love My Wife,” ”Murphy Brown,” “It’s Only a Play” and dozens more, Joanna Gleason admits that “life is surprisingly wonderful.” Living on a beautiful and rambling farm house in Connecticut where she and her “dashing” husband Chris Saradon grow sunflowers, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, beets, radishes and herbs,greeting her newest grandchild, a boy Daniel from her son Aaron and his wife Stacy and opening new directions in the theater world, stating that “life is surprisingly wonderful” just might be an understatement.

SPIKE LEE SPEAKS AT FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY TO SOLDOUT CROWD

Spike Lee has been called a legend, icon and visionary in the film world, a trailblazer, a man who stands up and does the right thing for his beliefs, unafraid of the consequences or controversy he may create. Named Spike by his mother, a teacher of art and black literature, he grew up in Brooklyn, New York with his father, a jazz musician, who composed and taught. He was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia.

After an absence of 24 years, he recently returned to the Quick Center at Fairfield University to give a talk  “Creating Social Change Through Film: Do the Right Thing” on Thursday, September 19.  Speaking frankly, he explained the history of his family, why he values education so highly, and the disgrace of teachers being underpaid and underappreciated. He feels everyone can point to one teacher who encouraged them to succeed. He also feels education should be free as tuition is “crazy” and, even worse, kids are being taught lies, about native Americans and about our Founding Fathers. He doesn’t believe school texts are telling our youth that George Washington owed 123 slaves as did the “first 11 or 12 Presidents of this country.”

He is proud to come from educated people and to being the first grandchild of a grandmother who saved her social security money to fund his learning. He went to Morehouse College and then Clark Atlanta University. Giving back himself, he teaches at the New York Tisch School of Arts, and has for seventeen years, where he himself learned some of his craft. He marveled that his grandmother taught art for fifty years and never had one white student. “Whether you are born black, white or brown, the wrong zip code can defeat you.”

One of his first ventures was the comedy about sexual relationships, “She’s Gotta Have It” which he filmed in two weeks for a cost of $175,000.  When it earned him over $7,000,000, he used the funds to create his company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks that has produced 35 films since 1983, including the landmark “Do the Right Thing,”  “Mo’ Better Blues,” “Malcolm X,” “4 Little Girls,” and his most recent “BlacKkKlansman.”

An advocate for change, he tackles racial inequality and civil rights, calling his films Spike Lee Joints.  He wants his audience to be challenged and angered by what they see on the screen.

Spike Lee doesn’t like labels as he “feels they are a lazy way to slap on a person.”  He admits to being a storyteller. As a child he went to films for the candy and popcorn, with no thought of making them himself.  Circumstances like one professor who encouraged him and a chance gift of a Super 8 camera and film in the summer of 1977, when he was broke without a job, turned his life in a new direction.  He calls it “one of the most important days of my life.”  It happened to coincide with a blackout that was like Christmas in July, plus the presence of David Berkowitz, that led him to make a documentary of that summer and to his declaring film making as his major.

Now as a teacher himself, with experience of three decades, he hopes “students listen to me.  I love the interactions with young minds who are excited about cinema.  I look for ‘hustle’ 

in young directors and I am hard on lazy students who are only taking up space.”  To him, they need to put forth “effort, as this here’s no joke.”  He believes “you can’t teach get up and go.  They need to be motivated.  The first day of class I hand out a list of the greatest film directors that students should view and expose themselves to.  The Ziegfeld Theater was my theater and it had a lot of premieres there. I am old school.  I don’t watch films on my phone. On the first day “The Exorcist” came out, I stood in the freezing cold for two hours to see Linda Blair’s head turn around,”

Giving vent to political issues, Spike Lee pronounced ,“we are not a colorblind society. With our 44^thPresident, this might be the most important Presidential election in history. We are a divided country and there is a difference between love and hate, and good and evil.  When I see infants snatched from their mother’s arms, what the f--- country says that…Is this what we’ve become?  First we have to register to vote. We are better than what we are. The rest of the world is laughing at us but it’s no joke.”

He alluded to a New York Times article about the 1619 Project and the fact that in August of 1619 the first slaves came to Jamestown, Virginia, 400 years ago. He feels there is not a lot of truthfulness told about the land stolen, the slavery, the genocide this country is built upon. The land belonged to the natives who were already here who were demonized. He admits “I hated the Lone Ranger and had no use for Daniel Boone.” He felt we displaced them and didn’t tell the truth about it.

As a filmmaker, Spike Lee tries to tell a different story in a different way each time.  He likes to brag that the Obamas’ first date was to see “Do the Right Thing” and that it “gave a name and a face to racial issues.” He was criticized that the film gave no answers to racism and he admits that, thirty years later, “I still have no answers.”  He believes it’s not the job of artists, “we paint the picture and start the question.” 

When he was making ”Malcolm X” with Denzel Washington and Warner Brothers balked at the length of the film going over three hours, he simply raised the money himself until the studio saw the errors of its ways. He states that raising money for films “is always a struggle.”  Currently he is working on a film about Vietnam soldiers and the lack of recognition of black men in the fighting.

Spike Lee wants people to “look at my films and make an educated accessment of my work.”  Whether they comment on his father’s acoustic bass, for he refused to play electric guitar, or mention his double dolly shots that he invented for his films, where people float on the screen that is his trademark or signature motif, Spike Lee wants to be acknowledged for the voice he shares on film for the world. 

MURDER IS COMICALLY AFOOT AT THE IVORYTON PLAYHOUSE

DETECTIVE NICK O'BRIEN (PATRICK NOONAN) AND SALON OWNER TONY WHITCOMB (JORDAN AHNQUIST)

SQUARE OFF IN "SHEAR MADNESS" AT THE IVORYTON PLAYHOUSE

Be forewarned that the Ivoryton Playhouse is inviting its audiences to evaluate clues, question motives, examine the actions and, ultimately, to solve the crime. The Shear Madness Beauty Salon in Essex, Connecticut is the scene of the murder and one of the owners, assistants or patrons is guilty as sin but which one?

For almost four decades, the mystery comedy “Shear Madness” has been delighting fans in Boston and there is no likelihood of it stopping any time soon.  Already hailed as Guiness Book of World Records’ longest running nonmusical production, the play is based on Paul Portner’s serious German murder mystery “Scherenschnitt.” Actors Marilyn Abrams and Bruce Jordan have successfully adapted it into what you will see on the Ivoryton Playhouse stage until Sunday, October 6^th.

Continually updated and stuffed with timely, current references, and set in the town where it is playing, “Shear Madness” is a delight of comic confusion where the audience helps the police, Nick O’Brien (Patrick Noonan) and his assistant Mikey Thomas (Lev Harvey).

Working in cahoots, there is a pressing need to determine who had the most to gain if the salon’s landlord and piano virtuoso, the reclusive Isabel Czeony, fortuitously dies.

Is the guilty one the flamboyant salon owner Tony Whitcomb (Jordan Ahnquist) who hates the old lady and her continuous piano playing that is driving him mad? Or could it be his assistant the sexy and pseudo friend to Isabel Barbara DeMarco (Siobhan Fitzgerald)

who might have a lot to gain by Isabel’s untimely demise? When the socialite Mrs. Shubert (Lisa McMillan) arrives, the pool of suspects widens for she clearly has secrets she is hiding.  Or could be guilty one be the suspicious used antique dealer Eddie Lawrence (Bill Mootos) who might be blackmailing Isabel as well as having an affair with Barbara?

Guess what? You, the audience, decides whodunit and the cast changes the script to fit your decision.  With a fair amount of improvisation, the show is not the same on any given night, so many people see it again and again.  Bob Lohrmann directs and misdirects your attention in a hundred different ways as you decide who is going to jail for a very long time, and you will surely laugh your way to the guilty verdict.

For tickets ($55, seniors $50, students $25, children $20), call the Ivoryton Playhouse,  103 Main Street, Ivoryton at 860-767-7318 or online at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org.  Performances are Wednesday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m.

Come and recline in an aqua salon chair, courtesy of scenic designer Daniel Nischan, as you await your cut, curl or color and determine who committed the crime

d’jour.

“NUNSENSE” OFF ON A MERRY ROMP IN WEST HARTFORD

BRANDI PORTER, AMANDA FORKER AND HILLARY EKWALL GIVE A COOKING LESSON

Thanks to playwright Dan Goggin, his favorite elementary school nuns are on the move again. Those engaging Little Sisters of Hoboken will be kicking up their sturdy heels until Sunday, October 13 dressed in their black and white simplicity. Mother Superior Mary Regina (Amanda Forker) and her favorite quartet of sisters want to entertain you and they are willing to pull out all the stops to showcase their talents. Believe me, you have never seen nuns with these “habits” ever before.

 

In “Nunsense A Musical Comedy,” the good sisters have to solve a sticky problem: how to bury the last four nuns, victims originally numbering 52, who were accidentally poisoned by the chef Sister Julia, Child of God, in a bad soup incident. When the sisters ran out of burial fees, they stuck the last four nuns in the freezer and now the New Jersey Board of Health is on the way for an inspection. Of course, if the Mother Superior hadn’t diverted funds to buy a large screen television set, this crisis could easily have been averted, or so says the second in command, Sister Mary Hubert, the Mistress of Novices (Brandi Porter).

 

What can the Little Sisters do, after they panic, but put on a fundraising party, a variety show, to raise the much needed funds. To that end, Mother Superior, who once was a tight rope walker in the circus, is calling upon all her theatrical skills. She is mobilizing the talents of Sister Mary Hubert to “Tackle That Temptation with a Time Step.” For the budding ballerina Sister Mary Leo (Rachel Oremland) who dedicates the dance to God, it’s the sweet and sentimental thoughts conjured up with “Lilacs Bring Back Memories.”

 

For Sister Mary Amnesia (Hillary Ekwall), who lost her memory when a crucifix fell on her head, it’s using her best friend, the puppet Sister Marionette, and giving a lesson on joining the convent for the trio of benefits: poverty, chastity and obedience. Last, but not forgotten, is Sister Robert Anne (Lily Dickinson) who grew up as a troubled kid in Brooklyn and is the perpetual understudy for the cast. Until, that is, an accident sidelines the Reverend Mother and Sister Robert Anne gets to belt out “I Just Want to Be a Star.”

 

Between the religious quizzes, the cooking lessons from the B. V. M. (Blessed Virgin Mary), the country singing sessions, a quick trip to the drive-in movie, the show under the fine direction of Darlene Zoller will prove that “Nunsense is (delightfully) Habit Forming.”

 

For tickets ($47.50-50), call the Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, West Hartford at 860-523-5900, ext. 10, or online atwww.PlayhouseOnPark.org. Performances are Tuesday at 7:30 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.

 

Discover the humor of the nun, complete with clackers and rulers, to make sure you sit up straight, are respectful and, most of all, have a great time.

 

 

“SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS THE MUSICAL” SWIMS INTO THE BUSHNELL

A unique musical adventure awaits you if you are daring enough to travel under the sea to the fictional town of Bikini Bottom and make the acquaintance of one character known as SpongeBob  SquarePants. Do not be dismayed that he resembles a square kitchen sponge as that’s just part of his charm.  He lives in a pineapple house, in a coral reef, with nearby best friends Patrick, his neighbor Squidward and Sandy Cheeks.

Conceived and directed by Tina Landau, with book by Kyle Jarrow, orchestrations by Tom Kitt, choreography by Christopher Gattelli and songs by a number of composers, “SpongeBob SquarePants The Broadway Musical” will be making its second stop on its new national tour at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts from Tuesday, October 1 to Sunday, October 6 and the whole family is invited.

Originally a highly successful animated series on Nickelodeon, it has now garnered 12 Tony Award nominations.  Filled with sponges, squid, starfish, snails and sardines, it quickly plunges the residents of Bikini Bottom into panic mode.  A nearby volcano at Mount Humongous will soon erupt and the town will be destroyed.

The evil doers in town, the married couple Plankton and Karen have a plan to talk the citizens into entering their escape pod, but it’s really a plot to hypnotize the unsuspected to like the chum they serve at their restaurant the Chum Bucket.  Their rival restaurant the Krusty Krab would be devastated.  A fundraising concert is planned to help the cause. 

While being only a sponge, the inventive SpongeBob has a plan of his own to save the town, calling on his friendship with Patrick and Sandy to help.  Difficulties ensure and the townspeople are soon conflicted about whom to believe and to follow.  Loyalties are tested and disaster seems inevitable.  Come discover for yourself if Bikini Bottom is doomed to disappear forever.

For tickets ($31-123), call the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford at 860-987-5900 or online at www.bushnell.org. Performances are Tuesday, 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 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Can a lowly simple sponge find the courage to save his home and his friends and prove his bravery? Grab a crab, an octopus or a snail and help to save the day, turning the tide from “No Control” to “Hero Is My Middle Name” to “Best Day Ever.”

WATERBURY’S PALACE THEATER OFFERS NEW IDEAS AS YOUR “2ND ACT”

PAT ADDISS, BROADWAY PRODUCER, AND JACK LEVINE, STANDUP COMEDIAN, SHARE THEIR 2ND ACTS

Would you like to be inspired and entertained?  Do you need a little nudge to explore a new direction?  Are you on the verge of retirement and petrified that you will no longer have anything to do if you don’t go to work five days a week? Might you be over the age of 50 or 60, 70 or 80, and want a jump start in life?  If you answered yes to even one of these queries, Waterbury’s Palace Theater has just the solution for you.

Two years ago as the theater was preparing for a production of “Phantom of the Opera,” it held a costume exhibit.  The Palace’s Marketing and Public Relations officer Sheree Marcucci met a couple admiring the clothes and in a conversation with the wife Nancy Shuler learned her unique story.  Ever ready for a special opportunity, Sheree invited the woman to tell her tale on her radio show.  After spending thirty years as a fitness trainer, this lady decided to start writing memoirs and monologues about her grandmother.  She found herself after the age of 65, taking acting classes and performing.  Sheree called the talk “2^nd Act” which started her thinking about the Palace offering a series of story telling events in the intimate setting of the Poli Club upstairs.

After discussing the inspiring idea with the CEO of the Palace, Frank Tavera, Sheree found herself securing original funding from the CT Community Foundation. The current funding is from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UCONN Waterbury, Peak Physical Therapy and The Village of East Farms .She has recently lined up fascinating people of a certain age to tell their story of change. Last year was so successful, ending with a sold out crowd, that a second season has been created that will start on Tuesday, September 17 at 6 p.m. with Pat Addiss, now a successful Broadway producer speaking on how “Necessity Is the Mother of Reinvention.” Come learn how one competes in this expensive and cut throat world and how Pat Addiss came to produce such epic offerings as “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,”   “Little Women.” “Promises, Promises,” and “The 39 Steps.”

On Tuesday, October 29 at 6 p.m., one of the Palace’s own, Jillian Clentano, will reveal “The Stranger in the Mirror,” her personal story of transitioning from male to female three years ago.  Being authentic, overcoming obstacles, meeting hardships head on, and claiming victories, Jillian at 58 will discuss her new paths to understanding.

The Main Stage of the Palace will be the proving ground on Saturday, November 16 at 8 p.m. when the former Queen of Mean, Lisa Lampanelli, steps into the spotlight with her new show “Losin’ It.”  Lisa has turned in her sharp tongued wit for a softer, still comic version of herself as a life coach.  With a few friends, she will share personal after-50 life stories to inspire people to become better versions of themselves.

Back in the Poli Club, on Tuesday, December 10 at 6 p.m., Tanya Detrik will present how her life managed to “Change in the Blink of an Eye.”  Trauma waits for no one to be prepared:  it’s a ready or not event. Tanya knows personally how it can strike and, even more, how to overcome the devastation, by a shift in perspective from trouble to triumph.  That discovery has transformed her life and may do the same for you.

On Saturday, January 11 at noon, to start your New Year, come hear Karenna Alexander tell you how to “Listen to Your Heart” as she explores the dating game and the puzzles of finding love.  She may just share the secrets you have been needing to learn.

Has anyone ever told you that what you want to do is impossible and unachievable?  Don’t let Kate Katcher hear that. At 57, when one door closed, she proceeded to reinvent herself and create a multi-faceted building of opportunity.  In the next eleven years, she started a blog, opened a theatre company, held down two university teaching positions, served elite clients at Madison Square Garden and earned a Master’s Degree.

This talented lady will even act out her story in play form, on Saturday, February 1 at noon.

Afraid to leave his comfortable world of finance, Jack Levine postponed retirement for fear he would be bored.  Then one day he said, “What the heck? I’m going to have fun.”  He became a stand up comic, only no one laughed.  But since he was doing it just for him, he didn’t care.  Come hear this author, actor, standup comedian and improv performer in “Laughing Out Loud” on Tuesday, March 3 at 6 p.m. 

Come hear how the gift of her uncle’s 100 year old viola

impacted the life of Sharon Ruchman on Tuesday, April 21 at 6 p.m. Her love of music was rekindled after being lost in life stress and anxiety.  Now she can’t stop composing chamber music and tangos and everything in between.  Her topic will be “The Gift of Rudy: A Second Chance.” 

For a dramatic tale of fighting the system, of taking on the cause of sexual assault, come learn how Donna Paloma stood up for what she believed.  In her talk “BE the Change,” on Tuesday, May 19 at 6 p.m., she will empower  her audience to fight against injustice and become an agent for good,  to make the world a better place.

Born with cerebral palsy, RICH Cyr was given last rites three times and told he would never walk or talk.  These many obstacles never stopped him and now, in his early 50’s, he has become a financial advisor, actor, podcaster, author, voice actor, motivational speaker and stand up comedian. Come on Tuesday, June 23 at 6 p.m. and be inspired by a man who clearly doesn’t believe in being told never as he dreams on to higher heights.

Tickets to the nine intimate series are $25, or a package of  5 are $20 each.  They include a light dinner first. AARP and members of OLLI can purchase tickets for $20.  Call 203-346-2000 or go online to www.palacetheaterct.org.  The Palace is at 100 East Main Street, Waterbury.  Tickets for Lisa Lampanelli are $75, $65, $55 and $45 with a 10% discount if purchased with the 2^nd Act series.

The Palace Theater is clearly vested in your well being  and your desire to stay vital. Encouraging you to do something you’ve never done before, like tap dancing or water color painting or  running for public office might be just the incentive you need.  Have a bucket list

with items not yet crossed off?  Now might be the perfect time to get your pencil busy.

FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY’S QUICK CENTER ON FIRE WITH GREAT EVENTS

SPIKE LEE SPEAKING AT QUICK CENTER ON SEPTEMBER 19

The learning atmosphere at Fairfield University is an exploding gift to the community and you need to acknowledge the incredible opportunities and advantages it happily offers so you can participate totally and invest yourself all season. Peter Van Heerden, the Executive Director of the Regina A.Quick Center for the Arts, declares the Quick Center is the best kept secret in the Fairfield community” and he is determined to change that. He has spent considerable time “taking a look at the past thirty years of programming and pulling together a season by picking the highest caliber of the best artists in an exciting, sexy, meaty, fun and diverse array.” The cultural experience will welcome patrons back to a fantastic and wonderful offering that includes Open Vision speakers, opera, theater, Broadway stars, powerful interesting topical talks, a circus with a continental flavor, dance from Africa, Europe and locally, all events that “were years in the making"

 

These events in conversations, music, dance, and theater are yours for the taking, all at the Regina Quick Center unless noted to be elsewhere. 

 

Want to avail yourself of London’s theater scene without crossing the pond, plan to attend a National Theatre Live performance like the powerful family drama The Lehman Trilogy, in three parts, by Stefano Massini, adapted by Ben Power and directed by Sam Mendes. This critically acclaimed play tells the story of a family and a company that changed the world and airs Tuesday, September 10 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

 

Fascinated by Hollywood and who isn’t, come hear writer, director, actor and producer Spike Lee star in Open Visions Forum. His talk “Creating Social Change Through Film: Do the Right Thing” will reveal his passion for the world of film and how he uses his influence to define the black people and give them an identity. A private dinner will be held at 6 p.m. before his talk at 8 p.m. on Thursday, September 19.

 

Two Artists in Residence will be able to show off their unique talents as they work on campus to produce creative endeavors in their respective fields. On Monday, September 23 at noon, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., you are invited to pay what you can to hear Arien Wilkerson, the director of Tnmot Aztro Performance Art and Dance Installation delve into how marginalized communities deal with queerness and become part of the dialogue. Nora Chipaumire will expose African stereotypes and blacks as performers in her project on Thursday, November 21 at 6 p.m. In “The Queen vs. Nehanda,” we experience an opera where the Zimbabwean spirit leader confronts Queen Victoria.

 

A series of four open classrooms will tempt you to open your mind to new ideas. The fall semester includes Erik Novoa and “Opera and Us for Beginners: Exploring Live from the Met” Thursdays at 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. from September 26 to October 31, Alan Neigher, J. D. discussing “The Supreme Court: Its Greatest Cases” at the Pequot Library Tuesdays 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. from October 8 to November 5, ”Fact in the Age of Fake News: American Democracy’s Stress Test: with Matthew Tullis, PhD at the Pequot Library on Wednesdays, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p,m. and “Love, Lust and Luxury; The Art of 15^thCentury Florence” with Fiona Garland Wednesdays 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

 

The Metropolitan Opera series features such HD Live offerings as Puccini’s Turandot on Saturday, October 12, with a live performance at 1 p.m. and an encore show at 6 p.m. Massenet’s Manon will be shown Saturday, October 26 live at 1 p.m. and an encore at 6:30 p.m. with Madama Butterfly by Puccini on Sunday, November 10 at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m., both encores, with a pre-talk at 12:15. Glass’s Akhnaten will complete the Met season on Sunday, December 8 with encores at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.

 

The U. S. premiere of Quebec’s Cirque Alfonse TABARNAK will light up the stage with a rock-musical celebration that is sure to amaze. This family fun event will take place in a blaze of creativity on Sunday, September 29 at 3 p.m.

 

Plan to hear the youngest U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, an international voice for American diplomacy, one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People, the organizer of PeacePlayers International basketball tournament of Israeli and Palestinian youth, a leader of #FreeThe20 campaign to unlock the voices of women who are repressed and silenced when Samantha Power takes part in the Open Vision Forum. She will speak on Wednesday, October 2 at 8 p.m. on “Victories and Threats to the Pax Americana: A Global View.”

 

For an intense musical change of pace come under the spell of Tony Award nominee Ann Hampton Callaway as she takes a stroll through 30’s and 40’s songs that unite jazz and the world of film. As she performs on Saturday, October 5 at 8 p.m., you will learn how so many songs about dreams provided hope and inspiration.

 

Delight in more music when The Young Artists Series is held on Sunday, October 6 at 2 p.m., free, with tickets required. Gifted pianists will perform in collaboration with the New York International Piano Competition and the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation presenting the finest young artists in the country.

 

Desire a more intimate and personal cup of coffee, then the Open Visions Forum Espresso series might be the perfect cup of tea. I.D. Aruede will discuss “inside the Whitney Museum: Managing a Flagship Cultural Institution” on Thursday, October 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Wien Experimental Theatre while on Wednesday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m. Jesse Jarnow will talk on “The Weavers and the Birth of Radical American Music, from the Red Care to MAGA.” Pop culture and contemporary culture will mix, with harmony or discord.

 

A panel of distinguished speakers E.J. Dionne, Heather McGhee and Miles Rapoport will continue the Open Visions Forum with “American Democracy a Year from 2020: Reeling or Resilient?” on Thursday, October 17 at 8 p.m. They will provide a much needed Wellness Check Up.

 

Editor, writer, photographer and producer Cheryl Wiesenfeld will curate “Women on Fire Stories from the Frontlines” on Monday, November 4 at 7 p.m. Through word and dance, this 80-minute performance will engage and provoke conversation about women with a message. 

 

The conversation continues with Jon Meacham, termed by the New York Times as “one of the most influential editors in the news magazine business” on Wednesday, November 6 at 8 p.m. The Open Vision Forum will deal with “The Liberal Arts in a Global Culture Gaining the Competitive Edge.”

 

An intensely personal journey from darkness to light will be performed by Tony Award-winning actress Joanna Gleason on Friday, November 8 at 7 p.m. followed by a private dinner reception at 8:30 p.m. This will be the Connecticut premiere of her new show “Out of the Eclipse” complete with her musical arranger and director Jeffrey Klitz, a band and the Moontones.

 

For a fierce fighter for rights, both male and female, come on Wednesday, November 13 at 8 p.m. to hear Carrie Goldberg, an attorney who defends victims of sexual misconduct. Her Open Visions Forum talk is entitled “Demanding Justice for Victims: From Cyber Crimes to Federal Courts.”

 

Come if you dare to the solo performance of Frederick Gravel, a maverick who challenges the authority of the world, in the U. S. premiere of “Fear and Greed” at the intimate Wien Experimental Theatre on November 14, 15 and 16 at 8 p.m. Plan to have your mind expanded as this choreographer, dancer and musician, with Philippe Brault as musical director and Etienne Lepage as dramaturge, reveal an “outlandish vision of the world.”

 

What better way to celebrate the joyous spirit of the holiday than with Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy for “A Celtic Family Christmas.” Join with their family and a host of fiddle virtuosos for a unique and intimate, happy, musical time. It’s sure to be a tradition you will long treasure and want to continue every year.

 

Complete 2019 on a serious note when master photojournalist Lynsey Addario comes courtesy of the Open Vision Forum to tackle her life’s work on the front lines in “Eyewitness Through My Camera Lens: Worlds in Conflict.” On Monday, December 9, at 8 p.m. you will be brought front and center into the chaos and conflictby this courageous woman who grew up in Connecticut and has won an Emmy, the MacArthur Fellowship and The Pulitzer Prize for Journalism.

 

Fairfield University’s Quick Center for the Arts offers a plethora of opportunities that will enrich your life and challenge your perspectives in the most engaging manner. Sign up at quickcenter.comor call 203-254-4010 so you can confirm it’s a date.