SENSATIONAL "SUMMER STOCK" DANCES INTO GOODSPEED MUSICALS

THE CAST OF "SUMMER STOCK" PHOTO BY DIANE SOBOLEWSKI

Get your rake and hoe and denim overalls for a rousing good time down on the farm, in Connecticut, to help save our heroine Jane when she realizes her family’s crop of cherries won’t be enough to provide finances for fodder for her animals. Conveniently her sister Gloria is in a dance troupe in New York that is similarly struggling with a lack of funds and needs to find a place to rehearse their latest venture before it hits Broadway. What if each sister can solve the dilemma of the other by pooling resources to save the farm, the harvest, the show and the day? Wouldn’t that be loverly?

Luckily for you, Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam has just the prescription for success as it presents a newly minted musical comedy “Summer Stock” based on an old Judy Garland and Gene Kelly movie filmed over seven decades ago. This original MGM movie has been given new sparkle by Cheri Steinkellner for book and additional lyrics and it is a real crowd pleaser of a show. Adaptations from the movie were made by George Wells and Sy Gromberg, with spirited direction and choreography by Donna Feore, music direction by Adam Souza, and music supervision by Doug Besterman. Until Sunday, August 27, you’re invited to come down on the farm for a lively hoedown of a good time and some of the dancingest, ( I just made up the word) energetic and acrobatic numbers you’ve ever witnessed.

Danielle Wade's Jane could have followed her younger sister, Arianna Rosario’s Gloria, into the entertainment world but she chose to stay with her father Pop, Stephen Lee Anderson, and protect her legacy in the good earth. Right now she has a new foe, not drought or floods or beetles, but a neighboring landowner Veanne Cox’s Margaret Wingate, a witch of a woman who is determined to take over Jane’s land and make it part and parcel of her estate. Margaret has even come up with a plan B, to have her wishy-washy son Orville, Will Roland, marry Jane to secure her plans are guaranteed.

Hoping to throw a shovel or boot into Margaret’s plans are Corbin Bleu’s Joe Ross, the show’s dynamic director, and Gilbert L. Bailey II’s Phil Filmore, the show’s illustrious writer. But it is the arrival of the leading man, the flamboyant Montgomery Leach captured by J. Anthony Crane, who turns the stream into a flood of complications. A wheel barrel of great tunes like “Happy Days Are Here Again,” “ Accentuate the Positive,” “Always,” ”It’s Only a Paper Moon,” “The Best Things in Life are Free,” and "I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” are sprinkled throughout.

For tickets ($38 and up), call the Goodspeed Musicals, 6 Main Street, on the Connecticut River, East Haddam at 860-873-8664 or online at goodspeed.org. Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 2 p.m. and 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. Please note there are many special events and offers so check online. Also there is work being done on the bridge so allow extra time. This is Goodspeed’s 60th anniversary so please consider making a donation of $60 or any amount to support their good works.

Come chase all your cares away and be happy! This sunshiney song and dance fest is ready to say "howdy, neighbor" and make this your lucky day.

CENTER STAGE DARED YOU TO "CATCH ME OF YOU CAN"

Parents have a great influence on their children and how they live their lives. Children commonly like to play dress-up and pretend games, making believe they are fairy princesses, cowboys, firemen or clowns. Halloween presents a grand time to indulge in fantasy every October, as an excuse to go trick-or-tricking. What happens if a child cannot reconcile the world of make believe with one of reality, so that they blur and overlap? What happens when parents set their children on the wrong path and encourage that behavior?

Such a child might grow up to become Frank Abagnale, Jr., who works hard to escape his personal family life by assuming new identities and personas, ones that he has no training for but, nonetheless, succeeds at portraying. The story of Frank's intriguing true escapades have been captured by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whittman, from a book by Terrence McNally. The Broadway musical "Catch Me If You Can” has flown into Shelton’s Center Stage only until Sunday, July 30.

Frank's adventures in crime, as an incredibly successful con man, probably began as an attempt to escape an unhappy home life. He runs away from his family as a teenager and with a million dollars worth of charm, imagination and forged checks, he dons the costumes of college professor, airline pilot, pediatrician and attorney. Two talented young men share the fascinating role of Frank, Spencer Fiske and Jaxon Beirne, on alternate nights, and make this larger than life personality spring to amazing life.

With a string of aliases and a ton of chutzpah, Frank brings the art of false identity to a new height. Nicknamed "The Skywayman," he had police in all fifty states and in twenty-six countries on his trail before he turned 21. The most persistent of all is F.B.I. agent Carl Hanratty, alternately played by Paul Keegan and Matt Sullivan, who pledges to catch Frank and put him where he belongs: in prison.

Frank’s parents, his father alternately played by Hunter Smith and Zach Simonetti, and his mother Paula by Cora Welsh and Zola Kneeland, set their son on a course that they are powerless to control. When Frank meets a nurse Brenda, captured by Kate McPadden and Shay Marie Neary, with the support of her parents played by Mel Byron and Jess Nivison as Carol and Harry Rosenay and Nick Nunez as Roger, Frank has the chance to change the path his life has taken…if it isn’t too late.

Liz Muller, assisted by Justin Zenchuk, are responsible for the fine direction, while the energetic choreography is credited to Stephen Kallas, Katherine Sedlock and Kelsey Sullivan. Songs like “Live in Living Color.” “The Man Inside the Clues,” “Little Boy, Be a Man,” and “Fly, Fly Away” move the action along dramatically.

Center Stage is proud to present “BINGO Jamboree” termed a “musical with balls” that is definitely not your grandmother’s bingo. Written by Liz Muller and John Skufca, this show premiered last year and will soon travel for a professional presentation at a San Diego casino. Come play a bingo card with a nun, a grandma, a pregnant lady and a basketball star, among others and try your luck at the winning combinations. Recommended for eighteen year olds and older. Tickets are $35. Call the Center Stage,54 Grove Street, Shelton at 203-225-6079 or online at info@centerstageshelton.org.

With a rugged determination like policeman Javert exhibited in tracking down Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables," Carl Hanratty makes Frank Abagnale, Jr. the target of his dedicated pursuit. It all makes for an exciting production of theater by an exceptional Youth Connection cast of high school and college kids who has been hitting its mark for forty years.

"CLYDE'S" WHERE THE IMPERFECT SEEK PERFECTION

LATONIA PHIPPS AS CLYDE

Some days a crunchy peanut butter sandwich, with globs of strawberry jelly, on fresh Wonder bread might be your ticket to heaven. On other days, you crave nothing less than a mound of spicy hot pastrami, oozing with melted Swiss cheese, thick tomato and grilled onions, with a smear of Deli brown mustard, on grilled poppyseed laced Jewish rye bread. Whatever your sandwich of choice, playwright Lynn Nottage has her multi-faseted menu of selections ready to satisfy your taste buds when you enter her creative comedy “Clyde’s.”

Until Saturday, August 5, TheaterWorks Hartford is inviting you to pull up a stool and set yourself down at a truck stop sandwich shop that is unique in its culinary offerings and in its staff of employees: formerly incarcerated criminals. With Latonia Phipps as the eatery’s take-no prisoners’ owner, her staff has set themselves an unusual goal, with or without her blessing, to create the perfect sandwich. With the encouragement of Michael Chenevert’s Montrellous, each of the other three workers dream aloud of the tastes and flavors that could mingle and match in their personal version of the ideal, the sublime, concoction that will elicit rapture and ecstasy with each morsel.

The employees at Clyde’s have made serious mistakes and have served their time and are now trying to put their lives back together, fragile and full of doubts as they are. David T. Patterson’s Jason is the newest man on the line and he quickly sees that Clyde holds the verbal whip, ready to accuse him of sexual advancements, even if there are none, to keep him in step. Samuel Maria Gomez’s Rafael knows the ropes and he is aiming for a better life, especially if he can convince Ayanna Bria Bakari’s Letitia of his genuine love and concern for her and her sick child Carmen.

Who will win the battle of wits as Clyde exudes her power and control over all their fates, not allowing their dreams to be given a glimmer of hope? Could she be the Devil as she plays master puppeteer with their uncertain lives? Will the proper and perfect set of ingredients ever be combined to elicit bliss to the palate and sundry senses?

For tickets ($25 and up), call TheaterWorks Hartford, 233 Church Street, Hartford at 860-527-7838 or online at twhartford.org. Performances are Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday at 2 p.m and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Come early to view CHOW, a series of artwork by inmates about their last meal before incarceration and their first meal after being released.

Fair warning: Don’t come hungry!

FOLLOW THE CLUES FOR THIS THRILLER AT WCP: "DIAL M FOR MURDER"

Move over, Alfred Hitchcock, there’s a new playwright in town who has made interesting and critical changes to the original mystery you directed in 1954: “Dial M For Murder.” First penned by English playwright Frederick Knott, now last year Jeffrey Hatcher secured the approval of the Knott estate to make changes to the plot. Max Holiday has now morphed into Maxine Hadley, creating a lesbian relationship with Margot, a wealthy socialite married to Tony Wendice.

The Westport Country Playhouse is stirring up a stage thriller, an edge-of-your-seat game of tricks and twists, until Sunday, July 30 as Mark Lamos directs this, his farewell production at the Playhouse. What do you get when a jealous husband discovers his wealthy wife is having an affair and decides it is more convenient to have her murdered than to simply divorce her. He will then, with sincere heartbreak, have to find millions of reasons to suffer and survive his loss.

Patrick Andrews’ Tony is calculating and the epitome of greed as he plots the best way to rid his life of Kate Abbruzzese’s Margot. As a failed novelist, it is increasingly irksome that now, as a publicist, he must spread encouraging words and schedule events to promote a new writer, his wife’s paramour, Krystel Lucas’ Maxine Hadley. That fact just adds a tantalizing pleasure to the dastardly deed. To help him commit the crime, he hires an old and not so savory school chum, a felon, Denver Milord’s Lesgate, who quickly agrees to take up the plot and strangle Margot, while Tony is interviewing Maxine on the radio. What better way to establish an iron clad alibi?

Of course, the perfect murder does not go exactly as planned. Thanks to the evidence and the keen work of Inspector Hubbard, a no nonsense Kate Burton, the mystery runs off in complicated and unexpected directions. Will the devious and methodical Tony succeed in eliminating his tiredsome wife from his life?

For tickets ($45-75), call Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport at 203-227-4177 or online at ticketswestportplayhouse.org. Performances are Tuesday at 7 p.m., Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. The Playhouse needs to raise $2,000,000 by the end of July. Please help save this historic landmark and send a donation. Free theatre tours, 90 minutes each, are offered August 5 and 7, visit westportplayhouse.org/whats-on.

Watch how a stolen letter, a blackmailer, a successful author, a timely telephone call, a nylon stocking and a pair of scissors could all be "the keys" to solving this crime of passion.

"THE MUSIC MAN" SMARTLY STRUTS INTO SEVEN ANGELS THEATRE

Seven decades ago Meredith Willson took a story he created with Franklin Lacey and added book, music and lyrics to develop a delightfully devious con man Harold Hill who dupped his victims into believing their town’s fate could only be saved if he, “Professor” Hill, could organize a boys’ band. Thus the sparkling spectacle Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” was born and now the Summer Community Stage at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury is bringing its triumphant seventy-six trombones to your doorstep weekends until Sunday, August 6.

Traveling salesmen who went from town to town by train pedaling their wares were not admiring of a man who conned money from innocent folk who believed his lies and schemes, giving him payment for musical instruments, instruction books and uniforms Hill had no intention of delivering. Smooth and fast talking Moses Jacob’s Harold Hill arrives in River City, Iowa ready to once again fleece his “prey,” but some highly unusual events occur.

An old friend and schemer Marcellus Washburn, an energetic Jimmy Donohue, claims to now be reformed and warns his pal to beware of the town librarian Marian Paroo, a lovely Marcia Maslo, who is the only one who knows enough about music to unmask him. Marian also has a young brother Winthrop, an adorable Geno Bascetta, who has a lisp and rarely talks, and a caring mother, Joyce Follo Jeffrey, who only wants her children to be happy.

“The Music Man” is stuffed with great songs, like “Ya Got Trouble” when Hill warns Mayor Shinn, an in-charge Joe Stofko, about the destructive influence of pool halls and billiard parlors, “Seventy-Six Trombones” that promises redemption for all the wayward youth, a barbershop quartet that sings at every drop of a straw hat, the grand arrival of “The Wells Fargo Wagon” (an early version of Amazon), the delightful dance “Shipoopi,” and the lyrical love song “Till There Was You” and many more.

Comic complications arise as the Mayor demands Hill’s credentials, his wife Eulalie Shinn, a spirited Sheree Marcucci, gets seduced into leading a ladies dance troupe, the local hoodlum Tommy, a energetic Tyler Caisse, is persuaded to woo the Mayor’s daughter Zaneeta, a hard-to-resist Tori Sperry, and Marian’s piano student Amaryllis, a cute Hanalei Cocchiola, who confesses her affection for the seldom speaking Winthrop.

What a joy! What a delight! What a great family classic! James Donohue directs a wonderful cast of dozens and dozens who bring this fun musical to spectacular life, with Richard Carsey as musical director and Marissa Follo Perry as choreographer.

For tickets ($30, a set of 4 for $100, use discount MUSIC), call Seven Angels, Plank Road, Hamilton Park, Waterbury at 203-757-4676 or online at SevenAngelsTheatre.org. Performances are Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Check for all the speciality evenings of treats before the show.

Will Harold Hill be unmasked for the shyster he is? Come discover if anyone deserves to be tarred and feathered. Learn that today is a day worth remembering.

STONC INVITES YOU TO BE THEIR GUEST AT A SPECTACULAR "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST"

Light up your summer with the masterful and magical tale of one young girl and her adventurous journey of discovery.

Come open the fairy tale book that features this sweet maiden and the monster who frightens the little village where she lives. As fairy tales go, “Beauty and the Beast” is one of the enchanted best. Belle, a luminous Ella Raymont, is a lovely lass who would enjoy reading her precious books from dawn to dusk, as long as she doesn’t have to fend off the affections of the vain and egotistical Gaston, Jordan Goodsell, the tower of vanity, who imagines himself to be a desirable gift to womankind. How could Belle refuse his proposal (really a demand) of marriage?

Meanwhile in a castle in the forest, an enchantress, for displeasing her, has cast a handsome prince into a hideous beast. Only a love that is pure and true can release him from his spell, and only before the last petal falls from a bewitched rose. Time is running out and he and his household will be cursed for all eternity. The Beast is cloaked in the persona of a fierce Shafiq Hicks, who is angry at his fate and takes his displeasure out on everyone in his employ, including LeFou, Malcolm Durning, Babette, Alexandra Pouloutides, Madame de le Grande Bouche, Gina Hanzlik,and Monsieur D’Arque, Graham Mortier.

Enter the fascinating musical and magical world of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” waltzing into the Summer Theatre of New Canaan until Sunday, July 30. Performances will be in the air conditioned auditorium of the New Canaan High School, 11 Farm Road, New Canaan. With music by Alan Menken, book by Linda Woolverton and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, this is a performance this is spectacular and splendid for the whole family to enjoy. It could easily be the highlight of your whole summer season!

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

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

For tickets, go online to STONC.org. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. with matinees at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The entire cast is tremendous, the story is wonderful, the costumes-all 200 of them-are fantastic, and the giant castle actually revolves. What more could you desire?

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

SURF ON OVER TO THE DOWNTOWN CABARET FOR SOME CALIFORNIA STYLE SUNSHINE

In the 1960’s, The Beach Boys created a sweet California sound, complete with an all-American blue and white striped shirt and a crisp new approach to the world of music. They represented the youth of America with joy, exuding happiness, sunshine and the promise of dreams coming true. Their vocal harmonies are easily recognizable in such tunes as “Kokomo,” “The Deuce Coupe,” “409,” “California Girls,” “Caroline, No,” ”Barbara Ann,” "Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Sloop John B,” and ”Good Vibrations,” to name drop a few.

Brian Wilson created these complex and intricate arrangements that represented a universal love for cars, girls, surfing and the idyllic California life that can be lived anywhere. What more could you want?

The Downtown Cabaret Theatre in Bridgeport is going to bring these sensational sounds to Connecticut on Saturday, July 22 for one day and night only at 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. with a tribute band The Beach Bums, six guys who know thoroughly whose music they love and they will share their love with you. They will keep to the pure beauty of the originals, in harmonies and music, not relying on backing tracks. Their music will make you want to sing and dance and move to the groove as you listen to these great synchronized songs.

The Beach Bums are the ultimate Beach Boys tribute band, clan in the traditional blue and white striped shirts, with over twenty years of experience across this great country. They drive a sweet ride down memory lane with their sound, these six guys who banded together in 1998 for your listening enjoyment.

For tickets ($49), call the Downtown Cabaret, 263 Golden Hill Street, Bridgeport at 203-576-1636 or online at www.dtcab.com. Don’t forget that this is cabaret so you are invited to bring food and drink for your table.

Now is the time to make plans for the Cabaret Gala on Saturday, October 21 for an exciting evening of food, drinks and entertainment, with the goat of raising funds for the upcoming season of special productions. Don’t miss this night of a silent auction, a 50/50 raffle and in person performances by past cast members. If you can’t come, donations are welcome. Tickets are $50. Go to dtcab.com/show/the-cabaret-gala/

Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone could catch a wave and ride the surf with joy and happiness that The Beach Bums will bring back with nostalgia.

WELCOME HOME THE WWII TROOPS IN "BANDSTAND" AT PLAYHOUSE ON PARK

War is never easy or, in many opinions, a necessary solution to problems. Fighting over a little red truck in a sand box is a far cry from countries amassing guns, tanks and weapons of mass destruction. Yet at this moment in time there are conflicts from drug wars in Mexico and Columbia to terrorist attacks from Algeria and Nigeria to Chad and Sudan to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And when war is finally over, the returning soldiers find life has changed irrevocably since they left.

To enter the minds and hearts of the soldiers from World War II in 1945, look no further than Playhouse on Park in West Hartford’s soul searching musical “Bandstand” playing until August 20, with music by Richard Oberacker and book and lyrics by Robert Taylor and Oberacker, under the skillful and sensitive direction of Sean Harris.

In “Bandstand” we meet Donny Novitski, a dynamic Benjamin Nurthen, a singer/songwriter and pianist, who would like resume his career on stage but is suffering from insomnia and a secret that is tearing him apart. When he hears about a National Radio Swing Band Competition as a Tribute to the Troops, he excitedly decides he will form a band of returning veterans and enter the contest and win it. Each of his members is suffering from the effects of wartime, from amnesia, being a prisoner of war, a drinking problem, having seen the liberation of Holocaust survivors and mental illness. With his new band of brothers, he adds a wonderful singer, Julia, a lovely Katie Luke, the widow of his best buddy in his unit.

With moving songs like “Aint We Proud.” ”Proud Riff,” "You Become It,” ”Love Will Come and Find Me Again,” “Right This Way” and “Welcome Home,” the new band becomes the Donny Nova Band and suffers from the trials and tribulations of readjusting to life at home and to the disappointments of show business. Their home town of Cleveland helps to work a miracle of hope at the end. A revolving platform is the center of the action with smooth choreography by Darlene Zoller and Robert Mintz keeping the action flowing.

For tickets ($45-55), call Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, West Hartford at 860-523-5900 ext. 10 or online at www.playhouseonpark.org. Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday at 2 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. with a talk back with cast on Sundays.

Will music and companionship be enough for these great guys to claim victory in their homecoming and spur them on to victory? Come discover for yourself.

BE READY TO BARTER JOY FOR "SEVEN COUSINS FOR A HORSE" IN RIDGEFIELD

A limner was an untrained artist in colonial times in America who traveled the countryside of middle class folk to earn a living, He added elegance to his pictures as he painted ornamental decoration on the faces he studied as if they were a looking glass into their hearts and souls To limn means to illuminate or to give more light. Many were miniatures painted in watercolor on vellum or canvas. To make the acquaintance of one of the true limners working at that time, Ammi Phillips, attend the world premiere of “Seven Cousins for a Horse” by Tammy Ryan, a delightful production at Ridgefield’s Thrown Stone Theatre Company until July 23. Will Jeffries' Ammi Phillips is good at what he does, painting portraits, but he is tired and heartsick. He has yet to begin to recover from the tragic loss of his young daughter Sadie to sudden illness and the toll that has taken on his rock, his wife Annie. He has stopped at the home of his favorite cousin Nisus Kinney, a kind hearted Jason Peck, with the hope of bartering for a horse by painting a likeness of seven of Nisus’ family members. As the roosters crow and the frogs ribbit, Ammi uses all his itinerant skills to capture the inner picture of everyone in the family from the gentleman farmer Nisus to his lovely wife Sally (Bridget Ann White), their head strong daughter Hattie (Shannon Helene Barnes) who plans to reform the world, Jane (Emma Factor) a dress maker who is all-to-ready to believe in vampires, and the shy Sarah (Emmanuelle Nadeau) who lacks the confidence to see her own beauty. Other family members include the rambunctious son Andrew Jackson who is always off somewhere playing hide and seek to avoid chores, the absent daughter Susan who is away visiting and Lucius Culver (Aiden Meachem) who is newly engaged to Hattie and is trying to assert his opinions without offending his bride-to-be. Intervals of sweet music mark the change of scenes, while ghosts from the past dance their way into the story. As Ammi captures the charming likenesses of his cousins, he is made to realize that life is precious and all too fleeting, and like the cobbler who does not make shoes for his own family he has not painted portraits of his loved ones. Is it too late for him to correct this tragic mistake? Can he help himself and Annie recover from their loss? Is the country primed for change? Jonathan Winn directs this sensitive peek into the lives of another era that offers much to ponder and appreciate. For tickets ($49), check out Thrown Stone Theatre, located at the Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance, 440 Main Street, Ridgefield, and go online at thrownstone.org/events. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Enter the artistic world of Ammi Phillips in 1848, the most well known and revered portraitist in New England, who grew up in Colebrook, Connecticut, and pose for a folk art portrait as he looks into your soul to find your kindness and goodness.

CENTER STAGE OF SHELTON CELEBRATES FORTY YEARS OF YOUTH CONNECTION

Center Stage Theater of Shelton is celebrating a very special anniversary. In addition to Broadway shows for their subscribers, and educational programming all year long, every summer they created a significant production focusing on high school and college age performers…and they have been leading this Youth CONNection for four decades! On this their fortieth anniversary, they are inviting back to the theater their legion of alumni for a gala party and to view a performance of their current show “Catch Me If You Can” on Sunday evening, July 23. The lobby of the theater will be decorated with memorabilia from past productions and anywhere from fifty to one hundred former participants are expected to gather. For the prize of traveling the furthest, the winner is definitely Stephen Friedfeld from California who spent a decade with the Youth CONNection. Currently he is the co-founder and COO of AcceptU, a highly rated admissions consulting firm but, back in the day, he fondly remembers his first summer as the Jet “Big Deal” in "West Side Story” and being Lon Smith in “Meet Me in St Louis.” "The Youth CONNection was a big part of my life back then and I am excited to reunite with many of them, like my next door neighbors, a brother and sister, in Shelton.” As to how he originally got the acting bug, he credits his mom who in 1964, when he was ten, took him to see “Bye, Bye Birdie" a show she had performed in years before and he was “hooked.” Friedfeld looks at this anniversary as a “great excuse to come back to town. Forty years is a long run and a testament to how strong the productions were. My love of theater was sparked by my years with the Youth CONNection and the work of Fran and Gary Scarpa. They created a fantastic community and group of friends.” Way back in 1983, Lynn Coffin and four other family members were a part of the first show the Youth CONNection ever did, “West Side Story." This year her daughter Tessa will be performing In “Catch Me If You Can” and also serving as a volunteer camp counselor. Lynn is a teacher of English at Shelton High School but her memories of those long ago days acting are still vivid. Lynn holds the distinction of being a three generation Youth CONNection member as her dad played a Police Officer in “West Side Story “ forty years ago. She calls Center Stage a “wonderful legacy, with a great community that is so supportive and good to each other. It’s a great outlet for kids, a super opportunity, a family.” This reunion for her will be a “real family affair” and even though her dad passed away in August she knows he will be applauding from heaven. Center Stage Theatre in Shelton will present “Catch Me If You Can” July 21-30, based on the hit film and the incredible true story, “Catch Me If You Can." It is the high-flying musical comedy about chasing your dreams and not getting caught. Nominated for four Tony awards, including Best Musical, this delightfully entertaining show was created by a Tony Award-winning "dream team," with a book by Terrence McNally and a swinging score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Seeking fame and fortune, precocious teenager, Frank Abagnale, Jr., runs away from home to begin an unforgettable adventure. With nothing more than his boyish charm, a big imagination and millions of dollars in forged checks, Frank successfully poses as a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer – living the high life and winning the girl of his dreams. When Frank's lies catch the attention of FBI agent, Carl Hanratty, though, Carl pursues Frank across the country to make him pay for his crimes. Performances are Friday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 7:30pm, Sunday at 1pm and 6pm, Wednesday, at 7:30pm, and Thursday, 7:30pm until July 30. Tickets are available at centerstageshelton.org. The show will be held at 54 Grove Street, Shelton. Center Stage should be congratulated for its long standing theatrical accomplishments and its encouragement of theater opportunities for children and adults of all ages, beginning forty years ago with its founders Fran and Gary Scarpa and continuing with managing director Carla Sullivan and chairman of the board John Corraro. Cheers to the next forty years!

LIFE LESSONS I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN AT THE KATE

Just in case it’s a little late to discover how well you were paying attention in kindergarten, the Saybrook Stage Company is primed and ready for a refresher course, a do-over if you will. From Thursday, July 13 at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday July 14 and 15 at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday July 15 and 16 at 2 p.m., your seat will be ready in the classroom at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Center, 300 Main Street, Old Saybrook. Grab your pencil boxes, milk and crackers, and a blanket (optional) and prepare to discover "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." Based on the best selling book by Robert Fulghum, published in 93 countries and selling over 9 million copies, conceived and adapted by Ernest Zolia, with music and lyrics by David Caldwell, and directed by Terri Corigliano, this musical stars Brett Aiello, Terri Corigliano, Jim Hile, Autumn Eliza Shelly and Mark Gilchrist. Come hear stories of hope and humanity about every day life in our complicated world. Robert Fulghum wrote a guide for living, one that applies equally to children and adults, about basic rules in society. He stipulated that we need to share, play fair, clean up our own messes, put things back where they belong, don’t take what isn’t ours and say we’re sorry if we hurt someone. Not fighting, taking an afternoon nap (after eating warm cookies and cold milk), enjoying the small wonders of every day life, remembering to work, play, dance, draw, sing and think, and holding hands and sticking together. Looking and knowing that everything from goldfish to hamsters to people eventually die are further postulates. The talented cast will be sharing this simple yet profound guide for grown ups as vignettes and life lessons to learn, and will take your hand and hopscotch with you along the garden path to self-knowledge. When do we forget the eagerness and enthusiasm of the young who respond to every question with “Yes! Of Course I Can!”? This delightful troupe will act out a unique Cinderella play where the child who wants to play a pig, and not the prince or princess, wins the day. We count to ten and then engage in an invigorating game of Hide and Seek, launch a helium balloon ride with a daredevil adventurer named Larry Walters, empathize with a heart-broken actor Charles Boyer when he loses his true love and imagine how a great composer like Beethoven could create symphonies when he had lost the ability to hear. And that’s just some of Act 1. In Act II, we learn lessons about generations of fathers and sons, appreciate small wonders, neighborliness, Alzheimer’s disease and the power of love, religion, death and letting our inner child out. This intriguing look into childhood becomes a search for nuggets of wisdom. For tickets ($15-25), call The Kate at 860-510-0453 or online at boxoffice@thekate.org. Enjoy the pithy and poignant passages as Robert Fulghum spins his homespun humor and wisdom on the meaningful moments of life. Get ready to raise your hand with joy.

"THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS: THE MUSICAL" LIGHTS UP THE LEGACY

Do you love and adore musical theater, the joyous songs and inspired dancing? Do you find yourself humming along as the parade of tunes marches by? Does doing the dishes improve as you sing to show tunes? Might you have a small sign of regret that you are not blessed with the talents to take the spotlight yourself? Do you fantasize about blooming into the next Adele or Lizzo or Taylor Swift? Have no fear. The Legacy Theatre of Branford has a super special experience with your name (in lights) for you from Thursday, July 13 to Sunday, July 30. The Legacy is presenting a red, white and blue spectacular: "The Musical of Musicals: The Musical!” and your front row seat has your name on it. Stuffed with the favorites of such composers as Stephen Sondheim, Rogers and Hammerstein, Kander and Ebb and Andrew Loyd Webber you will be transported by a quartet of professional songsters: co-founders of the Legacy Keely Baisden and Stephanie Stiefel Williams as well as Legacy newcomers Randall Delone Adkison and Karl Gasteyer. Understudies are Thomas Beebe and Christine Voytko. And guess what, the whole show is a spoof! Called a love letter to Broadway, be prepared to laugh at the corny moments and funny references sprinkled throughout. Whether you know the music theater tunes or not, you will still enjoy the inside jokes these talented folks croon as the platters in this delightful comic turn. Colin Sheehan directs this production he terms “a dream come true!” With music by Eric Rockwell, lyrics by Joanne Bogart, and book by Rockwell and Bogart, this is a loving homage to the Great White Way. Bill Speed serves as music director, Paola Rarick as choreographer Jamie Burnett as scenic and lighting designer, Jimmy Johansmeyer as costume designer, Colleen Callahan as props designer and assistant stage manager, Adam Jackson as sound designer and Sarah Pera as stage manager. For tickets, call the Legacy Theatre, 128 Thimble Island Road, Branford at 203-315-1901 or online at info@legacytheatrect.org. Performances are Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. A special three ticket play offer includes this show as well as “Beauty and the Beast” from August 10-27 and “The Play That Goes Wrong” from September 14 to October 1 for $125. Be sure to check the website for all the acting classes and children’s programming the Legacy has to offer. Hop aboard the band wagon and delight in all the productions the Legacy has to delightfully deliver.

CHANGES ARE BLOWING IN THE WIND

Whoever said change is good in your life and should be welcomed is a big fat liar. Now getting through the night with leg cramps and needing to pee half a million times is no fun. I used to jump out of bed in the morning. I no longer jump any- where. Needing a cane to walk, especially on grass and sidewalks and streets, is downright dangerous, especially if it involves stairs or curbs. I now need to borrow a “wing” or an arm to accomplish what used to be so easy. Spending hours on the phone arguing with Comcast, U.I., T-Mobile and Capitol One about billing is less than delightful and occurs much too often. And what can be said about robo calls from annoying telemarketers. I do no want solar panels on my roof, thank you very much. Not being able to drive at night is a big stab at my independence. Having to take a dozen medications and over the counter remedies every day is a necessary nuisance. Getting older is not for sissies, that’s for sure. Having the love and support of family and friends is surely a godsend every day. This week has been especially hard as my editor at the Middletown Press has a new boss but has cancelled theater reviews being printed. For thirty- five years writing reviews has been my Technicolor world and literally saved my life after my husband Allen died. His fourteen-year illness has taken a great toll on our family and this is also the anniversary of his death, today, July 6. Life is not all gloom and doom. Our family had a reunion in Massachusetts in May celebrating a one- year- old, 53 year old 76 year old and 80th half birthday, with t-shirts I designed with a heart of butterflies surrounding Allen’s favorite saying “Don’t postpone joy.” Sadly Stacy collapsed the next day and was hospitalized for almost 3 weeks in ICU at Yale. My unexpected three-month IRS audit was finally resolved this week so that is one giant financial problem over. I didn’t win the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Contest for #1 Fan I entered but it was fun trying. I am even getting used to Christmas in July nightly events. Recently the CT Critics Circle Awards for best in local theater were wonderful, I saw Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch, I met a pop culture collage artist Michael Albert and made my own poster, and went to the Ivoryton Playhouse that was alive with “The Sound of Music.” Watching fireworks for the 4th at Connie’s beach house was a treat as is sitting with our terrier Zoe on my lap watching Jeopardy!, even though Zoe rarely remembers to frame her answers in the form of a question. My nightly fix of an ice cream cone doesn’t hurt either, except around the waist. At day’s end I take a few minutes to write notes of gratitude for the good things that happened that day. I am saving them in a jar to read at the end of the year, when I will empty the jar and hopefully start again for 2024.