WOODY GUTHRIE, A FOLK SINGER EXTRAORDINAIRE

Woody Guthrie was like a Will Rogers with a guitar and a cowboy hat filled with pithy comments.  He wrote songs of protest, of commentary and criticism, 3000 in all, about the country he loved and wanted to proclaim and protect.  In addition, he penned two novels, wrote poems,  plays and prose, and painted the scenes he saw on his travels.  To learn about his life, the peaks and valleys, head on over to the Ivoryton Playhouse until Sunday, November 10 to say Howdy and make his acquaintance in “Woody Sez,” a a musical portrait devised by David M. Lutken, with Nick Corley, Darcie Deaville, Helen Jean Russell and Andy Tierstein. David Lutken will star as Woody until November 1 when Andy Christopher continues as Woody until November 10.

Being named after a President might be daunting for a baby boy, but if your moniker is Woodrow Wilson Guthrie you are able to strive for perfection and then some.  Your life has to be meaningful and special, even if it means walking from one end of the country to the other and making a joyful noise unto the Lord. Woody Guthrie wrote  folk tunes about his growing up years in Oklahoma's Dust Bowl, political, children's, songs of wanderlust and traveling, songs of peace and against war, social justice and even songs with a Jewish flavor.  None of his verses is more well known than "This Land Is Your Land," that he penned in 1940, considered one of folk music's most famous tunes.  Even that was a protest against the sentiment he heard in Irving Berlin's "God Bless America."

Lutken stars as the prosaic philosophizing guitar playing guy who was compelled to ramble across the country and write about all he saw and all the people he met along the way.  Nick Corley sets his hand to directing this impassioned yet humble tale, of a man and the music he had to make. Guthrie was a social commentator, a radical with a penchant for truth, who believed “all you can write is all you can see.”  He has been described as “a three chord picker with a poet’s brain” and his tale has been brought from coast to coast by Lutken with his faithful comrades Darcie Deaville, Maggie Hollinbeck and David Finch on fiddle, bass, guitar, harmonica and more. 

Think of Woody Guthrie as an amalgam of Will Rogers and Pete Seeger, a man filled with words and sentiments which he put into poems, plays, letters, a newspaper column called "Woody Sez," song lyrics as well as novels and artwork. He suffered many tragic losses in his life as well as great happiness. They translated into his writings.  As Woody says himself, "There's a feeling in music and it carries you back down the road you have traveled and makes you travel it again.  Sometimes when I hear music I think back over my days - and a feeling that is fifty-fifty joy and pain swells like clouds taking all kinds of shapes in my mind.”

 Some highlights of the more than thirty six tunes include "This Train Is Bound for Glory,” “Jack Hammer Blues,” "Sinking of the Reuben James," "The Ballad of Tom Joad," "Riding In My Car," and, of course, "This Land Is Your Land.” In his music he fought famine, floods, fires and Fascism as he traveled the “ribbon of the highway” as he came in with the dust and went out with the wind.

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 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.,  Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at  8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. On Sundays, a hootenanny follows across the street at the Ivoryton Tavern so bring your fiddle along. It’s time to get your holiday spirit in gear and the Ivoryton Playhouse is ready to help. ”A Christmas Carol in Concert "will be held Sunday and Monday, December 8 and 9 and “An Actor's Carol” will play December 13 to 22.

Come meet this home spun, down home country boy, a pure ramblin’ man, named after our 28th president, with his guitar and his friends in this special and moving tribute to the Oklahoma Troubadour. They are all bound for glory.

“AMERICAN SON” SEEKS PROTECTION AT HARTFORD THEATERWORKS

The police force in this country has evolved from the concept of citizen volunteers to night watchmen  to southern slave patrols before it became what we know today:  protecting and serving, enforcing the law, preventing crimes and preserving order.  The relationship between the police and the citizens has not always been an easy one.  Despite the fact that the police work on more than eight million criminal offenses each year, the public confidence has been called into question, especially on such issues as racial profiling.

 Just ask Kendra Ellis-Connor, a concerned and anxious Ami Brabson, whose eighteen year old son Jamal has disappeared and the Miami police are stonewalling her and not telling her what has happened and where her son is at the moment.

It’s 4 a.m. and you are invited to keep vigil with Kendra, a black professor of psychology, who knows her son has been involved in an “incident” but little more in the gripping drama “American Son” by Christopher Demos-Brown.  The newly renovated TheaterWorks of Hartford will plunge you into her personal crisis until Saturday, November 23.

Jamal left his home after a spat of angry words with his mom, driving a Lexus registered to his white father, an F.B.I. officer, who is estranged from Kendra. With being a distinct minority at his prep school, furious at his father Scott, an absent J. Anthony Crane, for abandoning him, uncertain of his own identity, experiencing a personal awakening that is raising difficult questions, Jamal’s state of mind is under siege.

The police, first the newbe cop Officer Larkin, an unaccommodating John Ford Dunker, and later a more knowing Lieutenant Stokes, a control in your face Michael Genet, attempt to answer the parents’ probing questions.  Where is their son?  Is he alright?  Can they speak 

to him? Why aren’t the police more open and forthright?  The concern mounts and tempers flare as their questions are ignored and go unanswered.

Kendra and Scott share their frustrations that are fueled by a video discovered by Scott’s brother. The tension builds under Rob Ruggiero’s taut direction.

For tickets ($35 and up), call Hartford TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford at 860-527-7838 or online at www.twhartford.org.  Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Hold onto the arms of the theater’s new ergonomic chairs as the uncertainties mount to a crescendo of fear.

"THE WOLVES” ON THE WAR PATH AT UCONN

Who are these girls who have gathered to win their games at any price?  They are embracing their power and selectivity as they lace their sneakers and hydrate for the exhaustive exercises to come. This  team of high school girls are "The Wolves," a soccer club poised for greatness. Playwright Sarah DeLappe puts her ensemble of adolescents front and center as they cross-chat about topics ranging from genocide in Cambodia to immigration issues to abortion and feminine hygiene products. The girls buzz and sting as they tease, swear and jabber through their extensive warm ups.  

The Studio Theatre on the campus of the University of Connecticut wants you to become captivated with their interactions and personal revelations as it presents  "The Wolves"  until Sunday, November 3.  Set on a green indoor Astroturf field created by Kristen P.E. Zarabozo, we get up close and intimately involved in the lives of these females on the peak of womanhood as they prepare to win their way to the nationals. They are the ones who will serve as the striker, the midfields, the defense, the captain and the goalie and they need to forget their conflicts and disagreements as they take the field.  They are a pack, warriors, a team, who need to be united if they are to succeed.

These lady crusaders are a sisterhood of sorts, each different, but united for the purpose of winning. They embrace different personalities, with a variety of temperaments and sensibilities.  The cool, sarcastic girl is  the most worldly and sexually advanced who plays side by side with the skinny, innocent and unlucky girl who may be battling an eating disorder.  The perfectionist member whose fears cause her to throw up before every game is running beside the new girl who has an international background and is trying so hard to fit in with the team.  They each have goals and dreams, a need to be recognized, to be the one hand-selected when the scouts come to town.

By the end of this ninety minute interaction, well directed by Julia Foh, to score goal winning points, an event takes place that shakes up their equilibrium and weakens their foundation.  The talented cast includes Alexandra Brokowski, Megan O’Connor, Eliza Carson, Maddy Tamms, Nicolle Cooper, Jamie Feidner, Betty Smith, Elizabeth Jebran, and Eilis Garcia as team members and April Lichtman as the soccer mom.

For tickets ($10-33), call The Connecticut Repertory Theatre at the Studio Theatre at 860-486-2113 or online at crt.uconn.edu. Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m and matinees weekends at 2:00 p.m.

Come cheer on these remarkable female warriors as they learn to play and to manipulate the game of soccer as well as the game of life.

CT CABARET SALUTES WOMEN GAINING “RESPECT” IN A MUSICAL JOURNEY OF GROWTH

We’ve come a long way, baby if you can believe the message Vanderbilt professor Dorothy Marcic is proclaiming loudly and clearly in her stand up and take no prisoners presentation “Respect A Musical Journey of Women.”  With spirit and vitality, Ct Cabaret in Berlin will be celebrating women, in the home, the workplace and socially, especially as they relate to the men in their lives, weekends until Saturday, November 9^th.

In her research, Marcic discovered how accurately the Top 40 tunes on the Hit Parade paralleled the stories of women’s lives from the 1900’s to the year 2000.  From a position of co-dependency where men were necessary, even if they were abusive cads, changed over the century. Females slowly but surely gained their voice and stood up for their rights as the decades progressed.

A quartet of female firebrands-Maria Soaft, Emily Gray, Erin Liddell and Erica Whitfield-tell their collective tales in music with snippets to full versions of sixty songs.  From “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man of Mine” to the Depression era tunes of “I Wanna Be Loved By You” and “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do,” the mood changes to  the accommodating “Que Sera Sera” and “As Long As He Needs Me.”  The message is still “Stand By Your Man” and “It Must Be Him” but the anger is starting to bubble to the surface.

The need for empowerment is growing and the music reflects the change. As Rosa Parks embodies the Civil Rights Movement, women gain their feet and are willing and able to use “These Boots…For Walkin.’ “  Songs like “You Don’t Own Me” give strength to battered women and equal rights take their rightful place on the negotiating table.  Women like Michelle Obama provide encouragement to the cause.

Soon the powerful foursome is belting out “The Eye of the Tiger,” “I Am Woman,” and “I Will Survive” as a testament to power, strength and sense of self.  Kris McMurray directs this tribute to womanhood and the evolution of the gender.  

For tickets ($35), call the CT Cabaret, 31 Webster Square Road, Berlin at 860-829-1248 or online at www.ctcabaret.com. Performances are Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7:15 p.m.  Remember to bring goodies to share at your table or plan to buy dessert at the concession stand onsite.

We are women, come hear us roar. Yeah for girl power and women power!  Move over, Prince Charming and make room for the independent ladies.

PANTOCHINO PRODUCTIONS IS PUTTING KANSAS ON THE MAP OF MUSICAL FUN

SHELLEY MARSH POGGIO AS THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST

Once upon a time, a spunky girl named Dorothy went on a giantadventure.  Thanks to a tornado, the farmhouse she lived in with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry spun out of control and landed on a witch, wicked to her core, and placed Dorothy in the Land of Oz

In Oz, she skipped along the Yellow Brick Road with a trio of strangers who would become her friends, the Scarecrow (Jimmy Johansmeyer), the Tin Man (Justin Rugg) and the Lion (Cadence Castro).   But now our spirited heroine is back among the corn fields with her Auntie Em (George Spelvin) and her Uncle Henry (Jimmy Johansmeyer) and she is bored, bored, bored.  Be careful what you wish for, Dorothy, because trouble is right around the corner.

Gather the family and a basket of treats to share at your table and let Pantochino Productions entertain you with the delightful original spoof "The Wicked Witch of the West: Kansas or Bust!" playing weekends until Sunday, October 27 at the Milford Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Avenue, Milford.

Use your imagination to think mean and green and before you can say "Munchkins" three times who should appear but that scary madame of malice The Wicked Witch of the West, wonderfully portrayed by Shelley Marsh Poggio. Don’t let her froggy greenness scare you. She has a specific agenda:  to get  back her magical powers, her broom and her ravishing ruby slippers.  To accomplish this, she must, at all costs and comedy, find Dorothy who stole them away from her, right under her pickled green nose.  Once the WWW meets Professor Marvel and his crystal ball, another role by George Spelvin, she is quickly on the way to her goal.

Dorothy is portrayed by the adorable pigtailed sweetheart, Mary Mannix, who is plum full of spirit and perkiness. With her trio of hearty and trusted cohorts, the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man, they all set off to find the mysterious Wizard of Oz, another characterization assumed by the versatile George Spelvin.  It's rumored that the Wizard is in Wichita, in possession of all the good stuff.

That road of yellow is getting mighty crowded as the ragged Vagabelle kids, Elrod (Connor Rizzo), Faylene (Kiera Citarella) and Billie Rae Jay (Nora Simonelli) are also on the trail of the treasure.  And don't forget that big green lady who's determined to get all her goodies back, even if it means traveling in disguise.

Thankfully Dorothy remembers to ask for help from her friend from her previous escapade, and the Good Witch Glinda (Rachelle  Ianiello) flies in with a little comforting advice.  Bert Bernardi has outdone himself in the clever department as this show is filled to the top of the corn fields with genuine humor (most of it corny).  Justin Rugg's music, like the Wicked Witch's "I'm Back with a Vengeance," adds a delightful liveliness to the action. Jimmy Johansmeyer's costumes are a Halloween hoot.

For tickets ($22 online, $25 at the door), go to www.pantochino.com.  Performances are Friday at 7:30 p.m.;, Saturday at 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Look for the troupe’s Podcasts on iTunes and Spotify.  This ninth season is dedicated to the memory of Evan Faram, who was a valued company member who will be greatly missed.

Polish your crystal ball, practice your cackles, look for rainbows and bluebirds and bring a big glass of water for you-know-who, just in case you need her to melt!

JIM CROW LAWS ARE AN UNWELCOME CHARACTER IN “ON THE GROUNDS OF BELONGING” AT LONG WHARF

 

The painful lessons of the doomed love between Juliet and her Romeo as well as the passionate climax of Tony’s devotion for Maria in “West Side Story,” what happens when you don’t “stick to your own kind,” are all too evident in the unexpected romance that blooms between Russell and Tom in Ricardo Perez Gonzalez’s world premiere drama “On the Grounds of Belonging.” Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven will unveil this forbidden coupling until Sunday, November 3.

 

While Houston, Texas in the late 1950’s sported a number of gay bars, the number and frequency  of lynchings was well documented.  Wilson Chin has designed one such establishment, a detailed Gold Room where men of color frequented for social connections of a sexual nature.  Presided over by bartender Hugh Williams, a judicious Thomas Silcott, it was a safe environment for meetings.  Safe that is until a white man in drag, one Thomas Aston, captured by a sensitive Jeremiah Clapp, runs in to find sanctuary when a raid in the nearby Red Room for white gays only is in progress. 

 

The Red Room for gay white men is owned by Mooney Fitzpatrick, a mean spirited Craig Bockhorn,  who also lays claim to the Gold Room.  He needs to be in control and he is quick to proclaim his power if anyone opposes his will. When Tom and Russell find a tender connection that has the potential to develop into something deeper and more lasting, the dye is cast for complications and possible disaster.  Also on the scene as witnesses are Russell’s long standing more than a friend Henry Stanfield, a jealously guarded Blake Anthony Morris, who enjoys playing the field as long as Russell is loyally there to come home to at the end of the day.  The powerful lounge singer Tanya Starr, a concerned Tracey Conyer Lee, spreads her influence in the maelstrom of emotions and swirls the action to a heartbreaking pitch.

 

These are trying times where violence is just around the corner waiting to pounce.  The story is real, the characters are sincere and the ending is anticipated to be tragic. David Mendizabel directs the action with consummate grace.

 

For tickets ($30-75), call the Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven at 203-787-4282 or online at www.longwharftheatre.org.  Performances are Tuesday at 7 p.m., Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

 

Be a witness to a forbidden love,  “of a homosexual persuasion,” that defies the odds and declares itself worthy of existence.

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE CREATES A FRENZY WITH ”GIRLS”

 

You might think a play entitled “Girls” could be about a bevy of high schoolers debating the dating scene, or college gals weighing the benefits and obstacles of joining a sorority or sisters trying to establish a relationship with parents, classmates and the world.  How wrong you would be.  In this world premiere drama at the Yale Repertory Theatre until Saturday, October 26,  playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has taken a new look at Euripides’ ancient Greek tragedy “The Bacchae” and fashioned his own version of revenge and retribution.

 

On a forested woodland set lushly designed by Adam Rigg that resembles a well detailed diorama at the Peabody Museum, from which dinosaurs might emerge, we meet a disc jockey Deon, a determined Nicholas L. Ashe, who has a specific agenda in mind.  He wants to welcome the women of the community to a dance marathon where inhibitions are forsaken and madness can prevail.  As a stranger in their midst, he sets up his music to lure them into the park and watches what happens.

 

Formerly exiled to boarding schools, he is back with a purpose. Loudly playing his intoxicating and hypnotic songs, he encourages them to spin like whirling dervishes into a frenzy of passion.  He knows one of them is guilty of causing his mother’s brutal death and is confident he can expose the perpetrator and enact his vengeance.

 

Meanwhile like a voyeur above the fray we find Theo who speaks to the world from his bedroom, live streaming, and interacting with his hippie grandfather Dada, Tom Nelis, and his blind friend, Haynes Thigpen, who also plays the sheriff and the cowherd who has lost his cows. 

 

Also seeking and searching is Gaga, a focused and gun toting Jeanine Serralles, who wants to find her sisters but is easily seduced into malicious mischief.  Armed and dangerous, Gaga is the antithesis of Asia, one of the many women who pepper the scene with monologues. Ayesha Jordan’s Asia provides much needed comic relief as she speaks non-stop about the difficulties of finding the perfect office chair, expanding and expounding  on the theme with obvious delight and humor.

 

Clearly there will be no happy reunions here and the sound of gunfire is resolutely loud.  With Raja Feather Kelly’s intense choreography and Lileana Blain-Cruz’s direction,  “Girls” will echo for a long time in your questioning psyche.

 

For tickets, call the Yale Repertory Theatre at 203-432-1234 or online at www.yalerep.org The production will be held at the University Theatre, 222 York Street, New Haven.Performances are Tuesday to Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m. on Saturday. 

Let your imagination run wild as the passions soar and the music inspires madness .

 

 

 

A BRONX MAN WITH A TALE COMING MUSICALLY TO THE WATERBURY PALACE THEATER

                                                CHAZZ PALMINTERI

When actor and writer Chazz Palminteri was a nine year old boy sitting innocently on a cement stoop in front of his Bronx home, he witnessed a murder.  He saw two men fighting five feet in front of him, ostensibly over a parking space, when a third man stepped in to help his pal. He killed his friend's opponent and, thus, rescued his friend.  The police, no matter how they tried, couldn't get Chazz, who was called by his given name Calogero, to testify.

In the midst of this devastating encounter, Chazz's eyes met those of the stranger's, who turned out to be Sonny, the capo di tutti capi, or "boss of all bosses" or godfather if you prefer. The young impressionable lad soon found himself swept into a different and exciting world that Sonny commanded, into a fancy club, fetching coffee and cutting lemons and limes, rolling dice and collecting tips.  Chazz's father, a hardworking bus driver, did not approve of his son's new associates and when Sonny tried to give him a lucrative job he refused.  Soon "C" as he was called became Sonny's "penance, something good to leave behind."

Chazz was now influenced by two father figures.  His dad Lorenzo gave him a card that stated "Don't waste your talent," while Sonny taught him life lessons like "It's better to be feared than to be loved" and "Never underestimate your enemy.” You are now invited to enter Chazz’s world courtesy of Waterbury’s Palace Theater with “A Bronx Tale The Musical” comes to town from Tuesday to Thursday, October 22 to 24, with 2015 American idol winner Nick Fradiani in the role of Lorenzo, the father. the new musical features a book by Chazz Palminteri, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater.  Alec Nevin will play “C”, with Jeff Brooks as Sonny, the mob boss.

Chazz recalls his early years as an "outrageous time to grow up.  I had a great childhood in an Italian neighborhood with happy times, sports and some violence."  Writing about it has proven therapeutic, "a transference of energy from negative to positive."  He is grateful his father lived to see his success.  

Chazz Palminteri is a man of many talents, none of which he wastes, as his father had warned.  A veteran of 50 films like "Analyze This" and "The Usual Suspects," he also runs classes three or four times a year "One on One Auditions" and the website www.chazzpalminteri.net to "give back" and help young actors as well as hosts a new Baltimore restaurant "Chazz A Bronx Original."  There his cold fire oven pizza cooks in 90 seconds, "sweet and fluffy on the inside, crispy and caramelized on the outside.” 

For tickets, call the Palace Theater, 100 East Main Street, Waterbury at 203-346-2000 or online at www.palacetheaterct.org.  Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 8 p.m.

 As for those life lessons, Chazz Palminteri also has learned "family is important" and "stay close to the things you value."  Come see his musical put all these lessons to good use.

ANSWER YOUR DOORBELL TODAY: “THE BOOK OF MORMON” IS CALLING

PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS OF AN EARLIER NATIONAL TOUR

The Mormons, also known as the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, are estimated to number 15 million people.   In upper New York state in the 1820’s, Joseph Smith had a vision of an angel and he saw buried books of golden plates.  Brigham Young continued Smith’s religious work and brought the new faith to Utah’s borders.  Now you are invited to learn a novel view of the religion when the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford offers up a donation plate featuring the famous and equally infamous “The Book of Mormon.”

The creators of the television cartoon series “South Park” claim the rights to this irreverent satire that has won 9 Tony Awards: Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone.  Church services will be held from Tuesday, October 15 to Sunday, October 20 and the pews are sure to fill up quickly.

“The Book of Mormon” concerns a pair of young missionaries sent out from Utah to convert the world.  This is a door-to-door attempt to sell beliefs, similar to an Avon lady or a Fuller Brush man.  The goal is to bring enlightenment to the uninformed.  Their lucky assignment is Uganda, in the remote and dark regions of Africa.

Unhappily for eager to please Elder Kevin Price, he had his heart set on going to Orlando, Florida for his conversion work for his two year mission. He certainly didn’t plan on being partnered with the nerdy and nebbishy Elder Arnold Cunningham who never bothered to even learn the approved script or even to read the Book of Mormon, their sacred text.

The situation in Uganda is not welcoming.  The incongruous pair are quickly robbed and then learn that the villagers are so busy battling poverty, famine, war and AIDS they have little time for prayer meetings.

The team of two struggle to make a difference and have obstacles placed in their rocky path at every turn.  Their faith is tested repeatedly and yet, despite all odds, many miraculous things occur.  With song and dance and incredible stories, “The Book of Mormon” manages to amuse, astonish and entertain in heavenly ways.  Be forewarned the language is not always sweet and pure.

For tickets ($ and up), call the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford  at 203-987-5900 or online at www.bushnell.com. 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.

Answer your door bell to discover the messengers from God who are ready to offer you salvation, redemption and an angelic host of humor.

“THE CAPITOL STEPS" PARADING POLITICAL POPPYCOCK

  

Late night comedians thrive on our political arena and the 

 antics on Capital Hill.  Way back in the 1980’s, there was a
 group that made its mark by doing the same thing and they
 are still actively engaged in that humor today.They zig. They zag. They zoom zingers. They’re the Capitol Steps and politics is easily the name of their “I can top that” game. Whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican, an independent, Green Party person, or otherwise affiliated, the Capitol Steps are bound to crunch a few of your sensitive toes as they sling their bipartisan barbs on the icons of Washington, D. C., those hard working and hard playing leaders of our country.

These entertainers know of what and whom they speak, for they were all former Congressional staffers who have gone legit by entering the world of show business. For one night only they will be the official speakers of the house at the Torrington's Warner Theatre. This command performance will take place on Saturday, October 19 at 8 p.m.

Calling their current show “The Lyin’ Kings” (pun definitely intended), this talented troupe, with satire and wit, will take today’s headlines and cast a new and slightly jaundiced eye on those happenings. Their highly successful stint began in the early 1980’s when three staffers for Senator Charles Percy needed to take center stage at a Congressional Christmas party. They took the stage then and haven’t yielded the floor to this day.

The original trio, Elaina Newport, Bill Strauss and Jim Aidala, continue to write the ever changing material. Newport frequently acts and is responsible for writing 95% of the humor. Don’t be surprised if you see the latest controversies from Washington D. C. paraded on the stage for your entertainment.  President #44 is sure to be front and center and singing and tweeting to his heart’s content. You might also see Bernie Saunders sing a show tune and Vladimir Putin, shirtless of course, dance a number. Don’t be surprised if the evening starts off with a rousing “76 Unknowns” to rib the Democrats for their overabundance of presidential candidates.

For tickets ($31-51) call the  Warner Theater, 68 Main Street, Torrington at 860-489-7180 or online at www.warnertheatre.org.

Cast your vote for the former and current politicians who are sure to please the crowds when the Capitol Steps march into our Connecticut political arena with their timely skits, lyrics and parodies.

SEVEN ANGELS THEATRE IN WATERBURY GOES NASHVILLE COUNTRY WESTERN

CARLYN CONNOLLY AS LANA MAE AND LAURA HODOS AS KATIE LANE
PHOTO BY PAULROTH

You’ve heard of the Grand Ole Opry, but have your ever encountered the Grand Ole Laundry? Country western music is intricately involved in each and you’re invited to sashay over with or without fringed shirts and cowboy boots, to make the acquaintance of the latter until Sunday, October 20 at Waterbury’s Seven Angels Theatre when “Honky Tonk Laundry” comes swinging into town.

 

Written by Roger Bean, with musical arrangements by Jon Newton, “Honky Tonk Laundry” will drop you plunk into the middle of the Wishy Washy Washateria in Tennessee for a quick wash, dry, fold and iron of your unmentionables.  The establishment owned and operated by Lana Mae Hopkins, a resilient Carlyn Connolly, knows what to do with the “dirty” aspects of life, like her no-account husband Earl who has made cheating on her an art form.

 

Joining her is a soul mate companion who wanders in to the Laundromat one day seeking solace and soul cleansing, an optimistic Katie Lane Murphy, courtesy of Laura Hodos, who doesn’t object to a little help from pills and alcohol to maintain her equilibrium.  The two gals commiserate over problems of the heart and take to singing like Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton to help themselves survive the long days and longer nights.

Be prepared for a feast for the eyes and ears when the pair transform their workplace into a showcase for girls like Patsy Cline and Wynonna Judd who put country western music on the map.  Tunes like “Stand By Your Man,” even if he is a cheating son of a gun, “These Boots Were Made for Walkin’,”  of Nancy Sinatra fame, as well as twenty others, will set your toes atappin.’  Close your eyes and you’ll think you’re in Nashville, as these two talented and energetic gals belt out their heartache and hope, without ever losing their sense of righteous indignation and humor, thanks to the direction of Russell Garrett and musical direction of Brent Crawford Mauldin.

 

For tickets ($42-49.50, 30 and under $25), call Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Road, Waterbury at 203-757-4676 or online at www.SevenAngelsTheatre.org.  Performances are Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., with added 2 p.m. matinees October 10 and 19.

 

For one night only, Saturday, October 26 at 8 p.m., Seven Angels Theatre is going Italian with “Coppa Italia 2019.”  Think of stuffing a manicotti or cannoli with “Italy’s Got Talent,” “Italian Idol,” “The Voice” and “So You Think You Can Dance” into one tasty and entertaining confection and you will have some idea of the festivities awaiting you.  Call the theater for reservations.

 

Feel the need for a good soul cleansing? Lana Mae and Katie Lane have all the fixings in spot remover, soap and suds to wash out all your problems.  Just best not ask Katie Lane to iron out any wrinkles.

 

 

ALERT! ALL GREEN THUMBS WANTED AT ACT IN RIDGEFIELD

With sunshine, a weekly watering, a pinch of plant food, an occasional sprinkle of fertilizer, a few encouraging words and most plants are in a state of nirvana. But if your philodendron or ivy could talk, it might request some special tidbit for blooming pleasure. It definitely would if it’s a unique prickly variety hand cultivated in the skid row floral establishment, Mr.Mushnik's Flower Shop, where one Seymour Krelbourn (Robb Sapp) works in the exotically entertaining “Little Shop of Horrors” by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken taking root at The ACT of Connecticut in Ridgefield until Sunday, November 3.

Love will motivate even the meekest of men to move mountains and molehills for their sweethearts, even if it means making a pact with a fiendish plant. In order for Seymour to woo and win Audrey (Laura Woyasz), the girl of his dreams who also works at Mushnik's, he must supply “the plant” with its favorite growth elixir: human blood. As “the plant,” nicknamed Audrey II, flourishes and flowers, Seymour realizes what a money making monsterpiece he has created and the potential fame it can bring to his modest establishment. He also realizes that as “the plant” grows, so does its thirsty need for the red stuff and its cries of “feed me” echo louder and louder.

This Jack-in-the-Beanstalk and Venus Fly Trap combination conundrum grows right before your eyes and has a voice provided by Kent Overshown. Also starring in the show are the theater’s Artistic Director Daniel C. Levine reprising his role from Broadway as the mad dentist Orin and assorted others and Williams Thomas Evans as Mr. Mushnik, the shop owner. A whole flowerpot of singing and dancing, like a modern Greek chorus, are provided by Kadrea Dawkins, Ashley Alexandra Seldon and Rachelle Legrand. Jason A. Sparks directs and choreographs this production that originally opened on Broadway in 2003. Songs like “Suddenly Seymour,” “Somewhere That’s Green,” “Dentist!” and “Feed Me” propel the action as the plot thickens and people start to disappear.

For tickets ($57-72, with discounts for children and seniors), call ACT, 36 Old Quarry Road, Ridgefield at 475-215-5433 or online at https://www.actofct.org. Performances are Thursday  at 7 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday.at 2 p.m.

You don’t need a green thumb to enjoy “Little Shop of Horrors” but if Seymour offers you a Band-Aid run for the hills of Ridgefield as fast as you can.

“MLIMA’S TALE” AT WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE WILL TRUMPET ATTENTION

You are surely long familiar with elephants from literature and movie fame like Babar, Dumbo, Horton, Hathi and Jumbo and dozens of others, but now playwright Lynn Nottage desperately wants you to acknowledge the fragile existence of Mlima, an extraordinary pachyderm from Kenya, a national treasure, decades old, that is prized and protected for his perfect pair of ivory tusks.

Come cautiously enter the jungle home of this honored animal as Ms. Nottage spins “Mlima’s Tale” at Westport Country Playhouse until Saturday, October 19. By the drama’s end, you will know intimate details of Mlima’s life and tragic death.  Poaching by ivory traffickers is a serious and devastating practice that results in the deaths of 55 elephants a day, decimating the noble ranks of the populations from millions to a mere 40,000, making the species endangered.

Jermaine Rowe plays Mlima in all his proud and distinguished honor, his pleasure in listening to the night, hearing the rustle of the brush, the beating of the rain on the leaves, the trumpet cries of friends and the shifting of the earth.  His idyllic world is shattered when hunters mercilessly attack him in his native habitat, killing him tragically for his prized tusks of ivory.

A troupe of three versatile actors – Jennean Farmer, Adit Dileep and Carl Hendrick Louis- proceed to enact the stages of Mlima’s demise, as police officials, custom agents, corrupt ivory carvers and wealthy purchasers each take their bribes and allow the devious dealings to occur.

The audience as innocent witnesses to this slaughter is  now privy to actions that were previously unknown. Once informed, we are now charged with taking action, if it is only to join the World Wildlife Foundation and,  perhaps, Adopt an Elephant. For details, go to gifts.worldwildlife.org, starting at $25 and up.

This brave, memorable species will soon be gone if saviors are not diligent in their fight.  Greed drives their motives and corruption fuels their actions. Poetic sayings are illuminated as each scene changes and Mlima’s essence is continually degraded and abused.  Mark Lamos directs this probing and penetrating portrait of a vanishing species that needs protection to be saved from extinction.

For tickets ($30 and up), call Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport at 203-227-4177 or 1-888-927-7529 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.  Go online to discover all the associated activities tied to this production.

Come capture the spirit of this magnificent beast  as Mlima lived and died in this moving theatrical drama by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage.

TAKING A STROLL THROUGH CHEKHOV’S CHERRY ORCHARD

. Whether you live in a hovel or a McMansion, you definitely have feelings about the walls and roof that cover your head that you call home. For the Ranevakaya family in the early 1900’s in Imperial Russia, the symbol of their wealth and prestige is captured in a strand of trees known lovingly as the cherry orchard. Yet when that copse of forest is threatened, the mistress of the estate, Madame Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya, closes her eyes to the reality that the family heritage will be sold at auction and lost forever.

Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” was first produced on his birthday, January 17, 1904, and he died at a young age a few months after that same year. Now, more than a century later, the Connecticut Repertory Theatre is offering its own updated interpretation, thanks to an adaptation by Jean-Claude van Itallie, until Sunday, October 13th.

Caralyn Kozlowski’s Madame Ranevskaya fled to Paris after the accidental death of her son and has spent five years ithere living a gay party-filled life until a shatteringly tragic love affair sends her fleeing home to her Russian estate for the comfort of familiar surroundings and people. She chooses not to see the axe that is hanging over her home, nor does she seriously consider any of the ways presented to her to avert catastrophe. God may be sending her a canoe, a boat and a helicopter so she won’t drown in the financial flood but she refuses to acknowledge them. Her daughter Anya (Abigail Hilditch), her stepdaughter Varya (Alex Campbell), her brother Leonid (Mark Light-Orr), the tutor Trofimov (Bryan Mittelstadt) and the successful businessman who was once a serf Lopakhin (Nikolai Fernandez) are powerless to stop the downfall of this respected landowning aristocracy.

The versatile cast also includes Tristan Rewald, Rob Barnes, Sierra Kane, Sebastian Nagpal, Erin Cessna, Matthew Antoci and Anthony Giovino. The grinding sound of saws at the play’s end are ominous with the progress they represent. John Miller-Stephany directs this masterpiece of modern drama on a set designed by Zach Broome with a parade of costumes of the time created by Xurui Wang.

For tickets ($10-33) call the Connecticut Repertory Theatre at the Jorgenson, on the campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs, at 860-486-2113. or online at www.crt.uconn.edu.  Performances will be Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m.,  Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Watch Madame Ranevskaya who calls herself “silly old me” in her dealings with finances confess “I can’t conceive of life without my cherry orchard,” yet be ineffectual in looking the truth straight in the eye.