COME EASE ON DOWN THAT YELLOW BRICK ROAD WITH DOROTHY IN "THE WIZ" AT THE BUSHNELL

If Dorothy is about to ease on down the road, that yellow brick road of musical theater fame, you just might like to accompany her to Oz and beyond. Adapted from L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Wiz” is being revived for a magical new adventure at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts from Tuesday, March 11 to Sunday, March 16 with Dana Cimone as Dorothy and Alan Mingo Jr. as The Wiz.

This all African-American cast will also feature Sheherazade as Glinda, Kyla Jade as both Aunt Em and Evillene, D. Jerome as Tinman, Mykal Kilgore as Lion and Elijah Ahmad Lewis as Scarecrow plus an ensemble of acting partners, Be prepared to be wowed by this book by William F. Brown, music and lyrics by Charles Smalls, with additional material by Amber Ruffin, scenic design by Hannah Beachler and costumes by Sharen Davis, under the direction of Schele Williams, with choreography by JaQuel Knight.

Get your feet ready for a combination plate of jazz, modern pop and ballet while your ears delight in such glorious tunes as “Ease on Down the Road,” “It’s a Brand New Day,” “Soon As I Get Home,” “He’s the Wizard,” “Mean Old Lion,” “Be a Lion,” “Meet the Wizard, “Believe in Yourself” and more.

Come join Dorothy, a 24 year old elementary school teacher from Harlem, who finds herself on a mysterious urban adventure, traveling to the Land of Oz where she befriends three friends, a Scarecrow, a Tinman and a Cowardly Lion, as she seeks the help of the great Oz. Caught in a snowstorm, after her precious dog Toto runs away, Dorothy finds them both transported to the Emerald City. From the time Dorothy lands in Oz, and accidentally kills the Wicked Witch of the East, she encounters Munchkins, more good and evil witches, Poppy Girls, the mysterious Oz and Flying Monkeys. Thankfully Glinda the Good Witch guides her and her magic silver slippers home again.

For tickets ($34-140), call the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford at 860-987-5900 or online at bushnell.org/shows-concerts/the-wiz. Performances are Tuesday to Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Whether you find yourself in need of a brain, a heart or courage, or just a delightful and colorful adventurous theatrical experience, you will thoroughly enjoy your musical journey on the yellow brick road with Dorothy and Toto and her exciting enemies and engaging friends.

COME LAUGH, LAUGH. LAUGH WITH "MODI" AT THE BUSHNELL ON SUNDAY, MARCH 23

With the state of the world at this precise moment in time, you might feel the need for some laughter. Actually a lot of comic relief. Have I got a comedian for you. Mordechi Rosenfeld better known as MODI is a stand-up comedian and actor, born in Tel Aviv, Israel who emigrated to New York City at the age of seven. He studied to be a cantor and leads a New York City synagogue, spent time as a Wall Street international banker for Merrill Lynch and suddenly turn a left turn and attended an open mike night at a club that effectively changed his life. Now he has switched investments for insults and observations on life. His home base is the Comedy Cellar and his humor has found a home in his Jewish roots, appealing to both Orthodox and non-Orthodox audiences. Modi calls himself a member of the fashion police through US Weekly, was a semi-finalist in the fourth season of Last Comic Standing and leads his own podcast And Here’s Modi.

In listing his inspirations, he credits his comic timing to Alan King and his idols as Don Rickles, Jackie Mason, Louis CK and George Carlin. He even has a day named after himself -June 26, 2018-Mordechi ‘Modi’ Day by the City of New York. With Elon Gold and Dani Zoldan, he is the producer and co-founder of the Chosen Comedy Festival.

Modi has been voted one the top-10 comedians in New York City by “BackStage” and “The Hollywood Reporter” as well as being featured on HBO, ABC, NBC, CBS, Comedy Central, The Howard Stern Show and E! Entertainment. You may have seen his shana punim (pretty face) doing commercials for Honda Motors or hawking the New York Lottery on TV.

He also graced the big screen playing leading roles in “Waiting for Woody Allen” and “StandUp," the first of which won the LA Film Festival. Modi is also known for voicing video characters like Menachem Mendel in the TV series Deadbeat and David Klein in CSI NY as well as Isaac Roth in the Video Game Grand Theft Auto IV.

Now you could follow Modi to Mexico City or Las Vegas or Los Angeles or wait a few days later and discover his sharp wit and unique observations on life at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford on Sunday, March 23 at 7 p.m. as part of his "Modi Pause for Laughter Tour." For tickets ($39.50-69.50, Platinum $163, VIP $144.50 (Premium reserved seat, Post Show Meet and Greet with Modi), call the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford at 860-987-5900 or online at https://bushnell.org. The show is sponsored by the JCC of Greater New Haven and tickets can also be obtained by contacting Steven Goldstein at sgoldstein@jewishnewhaven.org.

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Get your smile lines ready to crackle as Modi prepares to tickle your funny bones and jiggle your juices with his own special brand of humor for laughter galore. Start your comic engines.

COME DISCUSS FAITH WITH "THE CHRISTIANS" AT THE NEW HAVEN THEATER COMPANY

Faith and religion are bound together but can be loosened by the unraveling of beliefs, incessant questioning, an internal war that casts doubts and raises discontent. The New Haven Theater Company is urging you to enter their theatrical church and witness the struggle and torment that resides therein as Pastor Paul questions God and the existence of Hell. Until March 8, you are invited to grapple theologically with Lucas Hnath’s involving and gripping “The Christians.”

Join the community where brothers and sisters fill themselves with courage and abandon their fear. Their goal is to find everlasting love in God’s graces. Today is a special day to celebrate the growth of the church, now after twenty years that the mortgage is finally paid off. What started as a fledgling store front with a tiny congregation has blossomed into a magnificent building with a mighty community. At the helm over all these years and achievements is Paster Paul, a well respected and gifted orator in Marty Tucker, with his wife Elizabeth, Susan Kulp. devotedly by his side, aided by Associate Pastor Joshua, Gavin Whelan faithfully echoing the gospel.

Today, Pastor Paul is using the church’s achievement to raise a new message, one that many church peers led by Associate Pastor Joshua vehemently oppose: to question the existence of Hell. To Pastor Paul, God is advocating a happy family in heaven for everyone, including one the likes of a Hitler. Joining Joshua in his opposition are a long time church member Sister Jenny, Margaret Mann, who wants answers to her questions and J., Kevin Smith’s Elder Jay who represents the Church Board.

in a series of arguments, both sides try to justify their beliefs and convince their opponents of their truths. This debate on doctrine is intensely personal and threatens the very foundation of the church. For tickets ($25), contact the New Haven Theater Company, 839 Chapel Street, New Haven at EBM Vintage (courtesy of Carol and Robert Orr), online at NewHavenTheaterCompany.com for its weekend performances.

Follow this crisis of faith, where a boy who doesn’t believe in God rescues his sister from a fire and his fate is questioned, Does he go to Heaven or Hell? Deena Nicol Blifford directs this examination of faith with intense feeling, led by a sincere Pastor Paul and the genuine church members who need answers to hold on to so they won’t be lost souls.

FLY BACK IN TIME IN THE DELOREAN TO "BACK TO THE FUTURE" IN WATERBURY

What’s forty years between friends? Turn your clock back to 1985 and look up your old pal Marty McFly who is about to embark on a science fiction adventure of momentous depths and heights. You and the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra are providing the passport and tickets on Saturday, March 15. Lift off time is 2 p.m. at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main Street, Waterbury and luggage is not required but anti-nausea medication might be necessary.

Way back in 1980 Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale conceived of writing a screenplay about time travel, a project they could not get off the ground (pun intended), after a number of theatrical failures to launch (another pun intended). After forty rejections by various studios, it finally got approved after Zemeckis’ successful direction of “Romancing the Stone.” The men’s next obstacle was their choice of Michael J. Fox for Marty McFly proved unsuccessful. The casting of Eric Stoltz worked… for a short time. Renegotiations with Fox, re-shoting all the scenes already shot with Stoltz and adding $4 million to the budget sealed the new deal and created a $381.1 million hit, the highest grossing film of 1985, and a multi-award winner. "Back to the Future" was officially born.

You now have the unique opportunity to revisit Marty McFly before, during and after his historic flight in the DeLorean back into the future, flux capacitor and all, with the magnificent assistance of the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra in concert musically accompanying you to the heights, while watching the big screen movie. Join Marty and his good friend Doc Brown, the eccentric scientist Christopher Lloyd who dreams up his time travel invention, and their incredible adventures back to 1955. Marty gets the chance to meet his future parents and has to prevent them from never marrying, an event that would have doomed his ever being born. He has to make them reconcile and fall in love and then solve the bigger problem of finding a way to transport himself back to the future and the present, when there is no more plutonium as fuel. Where is there a good lightning bolt when you need one?

This movie is considered “the landmark of American cinema," one of the greatest films ever made, in 2004 called one of the 1000 best movies ever by the New York Times, in 2005 the 56th greatest screenplay in the preceding 75 years by Writers Guild of America, number 10 on Film4’s 50 Films to See Before You Die and by Rolling Stone the #1 Best Time -Travel Film Ever Made. What are you waiting for?

For tickets ($35-75 plus fees), call The Palace Theater, 100 East Main Street, Waterbury at 203- 346- 2000 or online at palacetheaterct.org.

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Follow Alan Silvestri’s dazzling score as it embraces this exciting time travel adventure into the unknown. Hold on to your seat belt and flux capacitor and remember the words of Doc Brown: “Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one."

"NATIVE GARDENS" BLOOM OUT OF CONTROL AT WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE

Can you imagine having a confrontation with a family member, a co-worker or a neighbor that escalates into a full blown verbal war of words, or a law suit, or a battle with fists? Suddenly civility and politeness fly out the window and the overwhelming desire to win at all costs captures the day.

One moment you are peacefully and delightfully sitting among an array of colorful flowers of all delightful hues, in your own backyard, enjoying the fragrances and vision of joy they create. The next moment you are welcoming new next door neighbors with wine and chocolates. The next you are immersed in a World War III and ready to explode.

You’ve heard of the feuding families of the Hatfields and the McCoys circa the Civil War in West Virginia and Kentucky? Well, there’s a new feud in town, this time in Washington, DC and you’re invited to take one side or the other. Westport Country Playhouse welcomes you to “Native Gardens” by playwright Karen Zacarias, growing out of control until Saturday, March 8. Traditionally gardens are a special place for pleasure and a sense of peace, where one can contemplate nature in all its glory, watching bees pollinate petunias and butterflies flit their wings fancy free.

What happens when new neighbors have vastly different views of appropriate flowering plants and the fences that enclose them, despite Robert Frost’s view that fences make good neighbors? Come meet Frank and Virginia (Adam Heller and Paula Leggett Chase) who have enjoyed their historic neighborhood for years, while Frank has cultivated a special flower garden so he can compete for a much desired horticultural prize, one that keeps eluding him.

Enter new next door neighbors Tania and Pablo (Linedy Genae and Anthony Michael Martinez), she who is quite pregnant and working on a doctorate and he who has joined a law firm and is anxious to make partner. The couples share glasses of wine and good company until Pablo confesses he rashly invited his entire legal firm to a barbecue at their new home in less than a week and Tania tries to renovate their garden and erect a new fence in preparation. Her desire to grow native plants, which Frank sees as nothing more than weeds, and a surveyor’s plot lines that reveal a big discrepancy in who owns what land cause the two couples to verbally and physically come to blows.

As the date of the barbecue inches closer, the not-so-nice neighbors are ready for a full fledged feud. The fact that Frank’s big flower competition is now seriously in question, after all the hard work he has done, does not alter or diminish the tension. Will Frank and Virginia claim Squatter’s rights? Will the law firm be impressed by Tania’s “natural garden”? Can the stately neighborhood withstand the accusations of being racist? How will the arrival of the new baby affect the situation?

JoAnn M. Hunter directs this delightful comedy on a lovely set designed by Anna Louizos. For tickets ($40 and up), call the Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport at 203-227-4177 or online at boxoffice@westportplayhouse.org. Performances are Tuesday to Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Send Westport Country Playhouse a photo of your garden... even if it is under snow.

Come discover whether bees and butterflies will find a home in the gardens in question, creating peace and harmony in nature, or will the conflict create a permanent rift that will be impossible to cultivate without bloodshed.

LONG WHARF THEATRE PRESENTS SUPERHEROES AT SCSU

Everyone might like to think of themselves as extraordinary, special in a unique way, capable of changing the world for the better. There are ordinary people like the police and firemen and paramedics who save lives on a daily basis, ordinary souls who risk their own lives to perform heroic deeds. Then there are those with extraordinary powers, superheroes like Superman and Batman who conceal their identity and use their magical abilities to fight crime and save the world one good deed at a time. Which would you like to be?

For comic book cartoon creator Alex Nunez, he has one overwhelming goal: to protect the world in the guise of his artwork and his costumes, personally to make the world better for his active participation in it. Long Wharf Theatre is inviting you to share Alex’s worldview in Matt Barbot’s unusually minted storytelling drama “EL COQUI Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom.” SCSU’s John Lyman Auditorium on the New Haven campus will be the site of this high energy, imaginative family drama until Sunday, February 23 as the audience experiences Alex’s journey to be an active hero in his life story, a superhero fighting his villain, El Chupacabra known for being a goat sucker or vampire, always protecting his homeland of Puerto Rico from the safety of his Brooklyn, New York bedroom.

Jason Sanchez’s Alex embraces his comic book hero and the mask and costume he has designed and his big dreams. On his journey to success, he has the help of his brother Kavier Cano’s Joe who wants his assistance with the promotion of his advertising company’s new product, a spicy and highly sugary soft drink Voltage, a drink that would be unhealthy for his native Puerto Ricans and their risk of contacting diabetes. Also by his side with encouragement is his mother Susanna Guzman’s Patricia (and also the language professor) who wants her sons to work together and profit, the photographer friend he meets Melissa Duprey’s Yesica who has goals of her own and the out of control villain of the piece Michael John Improta’s El Chupacabra (and also Junior).

Kinan Valdez directs this engaging, utterly different, dramatic action tale where you root for the hero to defeat the enemy and save the day on his own terms. For tickets ($49 and up, students free, college students $10 ), call Long Wharf Theatre at 203-693-1486 or online at longwharf.org. Performances are Wednesday to Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at 501 Crescent Street, New Haven on the campus of Southern Connecticut State College at Lyman Auditorium.

Be prepared to take a giant step into a different world where Alex defends his ancestors and protects his personal integrity, staying true to his values and his superhero views of the world, in colorful visions that light up his spirit and outsized personality. Join his crusade for justice, with humor and heart.

ONE AND ONLY "THE CHER SHOW" COMING TO WATERBURY'S PALACE THEATER

If you heard the name Cheryl Sarkisian, there might not be any recognition but shorten her name to CHER and the impressions would be automatic and immediate, astounding and absolute. Cher is a legend, an icon, a star in the heavens and her story is dramatic and astonishing and worthy of appreciation. You now have the unique opportunity to meet Cher as a young girl, a rising glamorous star and a sparkling icon of the stage. It takes three versions of her to play her completely, with Catherine Ariale as Lady, Ella Perez as Babe and Morgan Scott as Star to achieve the full effect. Thanks to playwright Rick Elice, Waterbury's Palace Theater will present the full package in “The Cher Show” Friday, February 28 at 8 p.m., and Saturday, March 1 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Be there for the total Bob Mackie sequined effect!

All during her troubled childhood, Cher had one overwhelming desire: to be famous. Today at age 78, she has achieved stardom as part of the folk rock duo with husband Sonny Bono, been a television and movie star and cemented her status as a strong, independent cultural icon as one of the best selling musical artists of all time. The path was not always easy. Come discover her rocky road to greatness.

With her distinctive low contralto voice, this “Goddess of Pop” has carved a singular staircase to the heavens that will be dramatically illustrated in almost three dozen hit songs like “If I Could Turn Back Time,” “Half Breed,” “I Got You Babe,” “Bang Bang,” "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves,” "I Found Someone,” ”Strong Enough,” “A Dream Is a Wish,” and “Take Me Home” and many more.

A legend in her own time, with accolades that pile up to the sky, a star in her own universe, Cher is a veritable electrifying one of a kind. Come watch Bob Mackie make her a fashion figure of glitz and sequins. Cher is the only single artist to dominate Billboard number one designation for seven straight decades in a row, from the 1960s to the 2020s, selling over 100 million records worldwide.

For tickets ($47-87, plus fees), call the Palace, 300 East Main Street, Waterbury at 203-346-2000 or online at palacetheaterct.org. A pre-show dinner can be reserved in advance at the Poli Club upstairs.

There is only the one the only Cher. Don’t miss making her intimate and personal acquaintance. She is spectacular in every sense of the word.

HOLLYWOOD COMES TO OLD SAYBROOK FOR OSCAR NIGHT MARCH 2

Hollywood is officially invading Old Saybrook on Sunday, March 2 for a gala theatrical celebration and you are enthusiastically invited to join every singular savory moment. The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center will be spreading the love as well as the red carpet to honor the Oscar-nominated stars of the industry at 300 Main Street, Old Saybrook where our favorite and beloved Katharine is celebrated for her 12 nominations and 4 times winning these prestigious awards. Oscar Night is a long honored tradition at the Kate and what better place to pay tribute to the industry royally and spectacularly. Dress up in your favorite duds, your most fashionable garb, for a glamorous statement as if Bob Mackie were your personal dresser and strut your stuff with vivacious verve.

For the 15th year, the Kate will host this benefit event with proceeds supporting the Katharine Hepburn Museum and its educational programs in this most delightful way. Whether you walk the red carpet, take a photograph with a replica of one of your favorite stars, dine on a savory selection of delicious hors d’oeuvres and desserts provided by the award-winning Fresh Salt of Saybrook Point Resort and Marina, bid on a fascinating array of silent auction items to win, buy tickets to a host of raffle prizes, fill a box of pop corn and chocolate and gummy candy delights, and watch a big screen surround sound presentation of the 97th Academy Awards ceremony. you will feel like a cherished participant of a one of a kind ceremony.

Emceeing the event will be State Representative Devin Carney, a Kate trustee and grandson of Academy Award winning actor Act Carney. He will emcee the event with the Kate’s Executive Director Brett Elliott. The party which will begin at 6 p.m. will be hosted by the Kate's Volunteer Guild with Jaguar North Haven and Land Rover North Haven as the main presenters. The event is sponsored by H & R Block of Old Saybrook, Hamilton Point Investments, Comcast, FromYou’Flowers.com, WMNR Fine Arts Radio, the Old Saybrook Lions Club, Arctic Pure Advanced Water Purification of East Lyme, and Saybrook Point Resort & Marina.

For information and tickets, visit www.thekate.org or call 860-510-0453.

If you need an excuse to dress up and honor the stars of Hollywood, look no further than the outstanding and one of a kind Oscar night offered by the Kate as the perfect opportunity to party heavenly and heartily.

WATERBURY'S SEVEN ANGELS THEATRE ABOUNDS WITH GREAT SHOWS

Seven Angels Theatre is going overboard to make your winter stuffed with great events, none of which involve snow shoes or skis or building showmen. Just give a gander at what is coming this weekend alone. In honor of Valentine’s Day, treat yourself and your sweetie or a good friend or even a family member to such first rate comedy this Friday, right on Valentine’s Day, February 14 at 8 p.m. when New York City send some of its finest to entertain with jokes, gaffs and humor galore. Come hear Johnny Rizzo, Headliner Nancy Parker, and Featuring Davin Rosenblatt as Emcee. As if the mountain and hearts of laughter are not enough, your ticket for $37 entitles you to complimentary champagne and chocolates. How sweet it is!

For a totally different slice of entertainment, come back to the theatre on Saturday night at 8 p.m. when messages from the great beyond are on the agenda as Psychic Medium Patricia Griffin appears to deliver spiritual thoughts from Loved Ones that can no longer remain silent. Come make connections of love and meaningful communications as only this incredible woman can deliver. Be attentively listening in the audience and discover if you will be lucky enough to receive a personal connection from another world. Patricia Griffin is known for her accuracy, humor, love and integrity. Tickets are $37.

Come back Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. for a trip to the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s when Rock and Roll and Doo Wop were king for a rockin’ reunion with Tommy, Warren, Phil and Dennis known as The Accords. With incredible harmonies, they will escort you back in time, paying tribute to the original artists of the past with energy and verve. Be prepared to be bowled over by their talents and tempo, their style and spectacle. They don’t call them Fabulous for nothing. Tickets to this song fest from the past are $37.

Long before Dennis the Menace came to town there was a wily rascal named Tom Sawyer and his best bud Huckleberry Finn who commandeered all the mischief, thanks to their creator Mark Twain. Their usual level of trouble notches a few range up the ladder when Tom witnesses a murder and has to decide whether he should run for his life. Come grab a seat for “The Adventure of Tom Sawyer” on the Kid’s Stage at only $10 a ticket on Saturday February 15 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Sunday, February 16 at 11 a.m. and Saturday, February 22 at 11 a.m. and Sunday, February 23 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Catch this fun adaptation of a classic!

The fun in February continues with an Acoustic Tribute of the Eagles - 7 BRIDGES ROAD -on Friday, February 21 at 8 p.m., with tickets $35. Stay tuned for a Neil Young tribute -SUGAR MOUNTAIN- on Saturday, February 22 at 8 p.m., tickets $37. Patricia Griffin reappears for a second spirited session on Sunday, February 23 at 4 p.m. for some more psychic magic, with tickets $37.

You are invited to a new comedy by Jacques Lamarre from March 14 to April 6 when orange blossoms welcome you to “The Wedding Binder” when dream weddings may or may not appear. Tom Sawyer isn’t the only one to witness a murder. Disco diva Delores Van Cartier shares the honor and is forced to become a nun to save her life. Come to church for “Sister Act The Musical” from April 24 to May 18. Amern, amen.

Mark your calendars for June 6 at 8 p.m. when The Sixties Show roars into Waterbury to recreate all the sensational sounds of the era that you can’t wait to love again, even more this time around. All the hits are waiting to rock your world all over again at $50 a ticket.

Finally it’s time to say a heartfelt farewell to the theatre’s Artistic Director and Queen on June 12 at 6 pm with a gala and well deserved Semina-bration as Semina DeLaurentis retires after 35 years at the helm of this amazing theatre. Your ticket includes appetizers, beer, wine, soda, water and speciality drinks, with a cash bar available. Tickets are now on sale.

For tickets, call Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Road, Hamilton Park, Waterbury at 203-757-4676 or online at sevenangelstheatre.org. Please check the website in case of inclement weather. Please consider a donation to honor Semina and support the educational and community programs promoted by the theatre.

Be sure to select from this tremendous menu of entertainment offerings that are sure to make your winter and spring alive with pleasure.

"KING JAMES," NOT SHAKESPEARE BUT SPORTS AT THEATERWORKS HARTFORD

Medieval English kings, like Harold Godwinson and Harold the Tall, King of Norway, often compared their relative heights, regarding anyone beneath them as short. Even their stature was viewed with superiority. For example, don’t for a moment think that Shakespeare wrote "King James." Don’t confuse it with “King Lear” or " Richard III” Case in point, a basketball player who has held sway over his kingdom in Cleveland, Ohio is pridefully known as King James, one six foot eight inch monarch LeBron James.

Against great odds in a troubled childhood, LeBron James rose to triumph as a high school basketball star who reigned supreme. Playwright Rajiv Joseph has captured some of the magic and mystery of this great athlete at TheaterWorks Hartford until Sunday, March 2. Being a fan of the King, worshiping at LeBron’s sneakered feet, is a joyful task happily adopted by two Ohio men Shawn’s George Anthony Richardson and Matt’s Gregory Perri. The years from 2004-2016 in Cleveland Heights watching their royal leader soar to spectacular stardom on the Cavalier's basketball court are the highlights of their young life as they watch their number 23 reach the heavens. Will the Cavalier's end the curse that has been dooming them for decades?

Matt finds himself in financial difficulty and must sell his prized package of tickets to pay his debt. Shawn wants to purchase the tickets but can’t afford the $5600 that Matt is demanding. The pair negotiate in the wine bar that Matt is running, hoping to agree on a price that Shawn can afford and Matt can accept to solve his financial problems. The two young men, who start out as strangers, eventually bond as close friends, with Shawn getting closer to Matt’s mother than he could believe possible. Meanwhile Shawn pursues his writing career, traveling from New York City to Los Angeles and back again, wanting to be a successful screen writer.

What happens when King James is pitted against Michael Jordan as the greatest player of all time? Can the two pals survive when LeBron abandons the Cavs and leaves for the Miami Heat and then returns to Cleveland? Will Cleveland welcome back their hero or hold a grunge? Rob Ruggiero directs this saga of sports and friendship, that unites their personal and special bonding.

For tickets ($25-70), call TheaterWorks Hartford, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford at 860-527-7838 or online at twhartford.org. Performances are Tuesday-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.

If you are a sports fan, you are sure to embrace the 50 year sports curse when the Cleveland Cavaliers finally won a victory, led by LeBron James, one of the majestic stars on basketball's royal court.

"MOON OVER BUFFALO" OFFERS CONFUSION, CHAOS AND COMEDY AT MTC

Playwright Ken Ludwig is known for writing comedies, farces if you will, stuffed with slapstick, silliness, slamming doors and mistaken identities. To help you laugh, Music Theatre of Connecticut has a juicy situation play fraught with humor all ready for your entertainment. Come brighten your winter gloom by visiting with George and Charlotte Hay, two married thespians who have very different views on how their acting careers should progress. Join them in Buffalo in 1953, as they perform in repertory in two plays, “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “Private Lives” in “Moon Over Buffalo” weekends until February 23. These aging actors find their personal dilemmas and marriage views conflict head on with their stage personas. Watch out!

Anna Holbrook’s Charlotte has dreamed for decades of starring in Hollywood, glamorously in the movies, while Rod Brogan’s George is quite content on the stage where live theater is his happy realm performing. When a famous film director Frank Capra suddenly calls George and informs him he is coming to see the couple perform that afternoon, George realizes this is their last best chance to become the stars Charlotte has always desired. Capra has a giant current movie and injury has sidelined the lead. Will George and Charlotte be tapped for the replacements?

Unfortunately back in Buffalo, the Hays have problems of their own. Charlotte has just discovered George has been unfaithful and impregnanted a fellow actress Eileen, Olivia Fenton, their daughter Rosalind, Allie Seibold, has surprised them with a new fiancé Howard, Ted Gibson, when they thought she was going to marry Paul, Matt Mancuso, a member of the theater company. To add to the confusion, Charlotte’s mother Ethel, Jo Anne Parady, is deaf and misunderstands who is whom and the company lawyer Jim Schilling’s Richard fancies himself in love with Charlotte and wants to run away with her. While doors continuously slam, George continues to disappear and get drunk, costumes are exchanged, plays are confused, Frank Capra is temporarily lost and chaos ensues. Clint Hromsco directs this crazy and zany comic confusion that runs wildly off the rails with laughter.

For tickets ($50-60), call MTC, 509 Westport Avenue, Norwalk on route 1 at 203-454-3883 or online at www.musictheatreofct.com. Performances are Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Come visit the lunatics in the asylum as the theater company struggles to pay its bills, death threats are issued, marriages are in jeopardy, break a leg is no longer a sign of good luck, and you might find yourself overcome with laughter and forgetting your troubles along your merry way.

COME MEET "FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE" FOR MUSICAL MAGIC AT WATERBURY'S PALACE THEATER

Come celebrate Black History Month with a healthy dose of jazz, swing, and rhythm and blues in the intimate Poli Club in the Palace Theater in Waterbury for one night only, Saturday, February 15 at 7 p.m.with a visit with the City Youth Theater/City Stage Company.

You might mistakenly think a musical concert about a guy who has just lost his gal, sweet Lorraine, after six years of cultivating a relationship, a fellow with no money, stuck in sadness in the darkest hours of the night, would be a downer. Yet when our sorry hero Nomax, a convincingly desperate guy admits his abject despair, his radio from the 1930's offers him an amazing parade of hope. Enter Big Moe, Four-Eyed Moe, Eat Moe, No Moe and Little Moe to literally save his soul and his day. Get ready for the snappy and snazzy jazzy and blues stuffed magic of “Five Guys Named Moe” by Clarke Peters, featuring the greatest hits by saxophonist Louis Jordan shining brightly for your enjoyment.

In the midst of a cold and dreary winter in New England, you owe yourself this sunny and special musical delight. Come make the acquaintance of these talented guys who deliver a fully packed suitcase of more than two dozen hits that will have you singing and dancing along with glee. Tunes like “I Like ‘Em Fat Like That,” “Messy Bessy,” "Safe, Sane & Single,” "Saturday Night Fish Fry,” “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens,” "Choo Choo Ch’boogie” and "Is You Or Is You Ain’t My Baby?” jump and jive across this inviting stage.

A spectacular favorite will be the sing and dance along hit “Push Ka Pi She Pie” that invites the audience in for the fun. Along the way Nomax is forced to see the errors of his way, smoking and drinking too much, failing to remember Lorraine’s birthday and, in general, not being a stand up kind of guy. Eventually the lessons sink in and Nomax pledges to reform and start anew. Hallelujah!

This African-American tribute to jazz and the blues is pure honeyed delight. For tickets ($25), call the Palace, 100 East Main Street, Waterbury at 203-346-2000 or online at www.palacetheaterct.org. Bop on over to the Palace for a painless and spirited injection of pure rhythm and joy in this concert version of jumping,joy and jive.

TAKE A MAGICAL FLYING ADVENTURE AT THE BUSHNELL WITH "PETER PAN"

What child can’t wait to grow up, to stretch their abilities to adulthood, to age through puberty to reach new milestones to achievements? Well, if you look long and hard enough, one reluctant child does come to mind, one who has no desire to leave the fun of childhood or ambition to grow up: Peter Pan.

Put on your magic flying shoes, sprinkle yourself with fairy dust and take off for the wondrous world called Neverland, where a select group of boys choose not to grow up. Come meet and share an adventurous visit with that eternal youth, Peter Pan, who professes to dislike grown ups so much he vows never to be one.

The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford has assembled a truly superb production of J. M. Barrie‘s almost seventy year old classic tale “Peter Pan The Musical” set to delight children and adults alike from Tuesday to Sunday, until February 9. You are guaranteed to love everyone from Tinker Bell and the Darling children, Tiger Lily and her Indian tribe, Peter and his band of Lost Boys, ostriches and crocodiles, and all the residents of the island of Neverland except for the crochety and controlling devil of a ship captain, Captain Hook.

When Peter Pan, the exceptional and talented Jonah Barricklo and his luminous pal Tinker Bell fly through the bedroom window of the Darling children, Wendy (Hawa Kamara), Michael (Camden Kwok) and John (Levi Chrisopulos), all their lives are changed forever. Peter persuades them to join him and he flies with his new friends to Neverland to meet the Lost Boys. There Wendy becomes “mother,” telling bedtime stories and sewing socks and pockets. On this island, they encounter a tribe of friendly Indians led by Tiger Lily (Bailey Frankenberg) and a band of mean spirited pirates, including the ever smiling Smee (Kurt Perry) led by Captain Hook (Cody Garcia).

Both Tinker Bell and Peter prove their courage, as the young audience gets to decide that fairies really exist by shouting and clapping their belief. Lonny Price directs and Lorin Latarro choreographs this charming story of one boy who defied the ordinary rules of childhood, with wonderful songs like “I’m Flying,” “I Gotta Crow,” “I Won’t Grow Up.” and “Neverland.” This new adaptation is by Larissa Fasthorse.

For tickets ($36-174) call The Bushnell, 166 Capital Avenue, Hartford, at 860-987-5900 or online at bushnell.org. Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 1 p.m.and 6:30 p.m.

Every dance from the tango to the tarantella to the waltz are deliciously lively and the songs composed by Carolyn Leigh, Morris Charlap, Betty Comden and Jule Styne are tempting you for some sing-along fun. As always, the scenery including projections are great and the clever costumes are colorfully creative.

Take a child by the hand and fly off on a magical adventure, where crocodiles tell time and big fluffy sheep dogs serve as nursemaids and innocence abounds as we all think of lovely things.

JOURNEY TO "EDEN" TO DISCOVER A PERSONAL MONARCHY AT YALE REP UNTIL SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8

What happens when a monarch considers himself king of his realm with all the rights and privilegesof his domain. He commands and controls all those in his immediate country, issuing what he needs done, everything in his purview, everyone bowing to his needs and wants. This dictator rules the roost and no one questions his authority. Disobedience is forbidded and severely punished. How impossible would it be to survive under this reign of terror? Would you simply obey or would you eventually rebel? What if this man were your father and you were terrified to question his authority?

Let the Yale Repertory Theatre introduce you to the titular hero of Steve Carter’s play set in 1927, “Eden,” in the San Juan Hill section of Manhattan where Mr. Joseph Barton, a steel shouldered Russell G. Jones, rules his family with an iron fist, brooking no dissent, allowing no deviation from his control. Joseph’s wife Florie, Christina Acosta Robinson, and their four children Agnes, Alicia Pilgrim, Annetta, Lauren F, Walker, Nimrod, Juice Machines and Solomon, Prentiss Patrick-Carter, obey their patriarch without question and have been doing so since birth. Joseph is a proud Black Carribbean from the islands who considers American Blacks inferior and beneath him. The father is the supreme head of the family and all must accept his rules and obey his authority. When a neighbor Eustace, Chandra Hall-Broomfield, has the gall to shower affection on his daughter Annetta, Jospeh explodes with anger. Only Eustace’s Aunt Lizzie, Heather Alicia Simms, has the gumption to encourage him to seize his dreams.

Joseph is a believer in the philosophy of Marcus Garvey, a Back to Africa advocate who considered Black Americans inferior racially to Blacks from the West Indians. Therefore, Eustace was unsuitable for Annetta. Annetta wants love and freedom and rebels causing a rift in the family solidarity that causes the members to choose sides. Can Joseph hold tight to the reins or will he lose control forever? Will the next generation win the battle? Brandon J. Dirden directs this powerful family drama with a firm hand.

For tickets ($15-65), call the Yale Rep, 1120 Chapel Street, New Haven at 203-432-1234 or online at www.yalerep.org. Performances are Tuesday-Saturday at 2 pm and Saturday at 2 pm.

Will Joseph carry out his threat to kill Eustace if he comes near Annetta? Will Eustace seize her love even if his life is at risk? Will Florie have the courage to defy her husband for the first time and defend her daughter so she will have the love she never had herself?

"THE TIN WOMAN" REVEALS THE MAGICAL AND MIRACULOUS GIFT OF LIFE

What can be more central to life than your heart? This vital organ works 24/7/365 to pump blood through your body, delivering oxygen and nutrients to the heart and carrying away waste products. The right side of your heart receives blood and pumps it on to the lungs where it is freshly oxygenated and rid of carbon dioxide. It then returns to the heart and is pumped to the rest of the body.

In 1967 the first operation in the country of a heart transplant occurred. The operation is no longer an experimental procedure and today is the third most common transplant operation in the country. Organs that can be donated also include kidneys and livers (both cadaver and living), lungs, pancreas, eye corneas, intestines, skin, bone and tissue or donation of the body to medical schools for education. Donations only occur when you are declared brain dead and you cannot be resuscitated. Only three people of any age out of 1000 are suitable of this life saving gift, a profound gift, to save the life of a stranger. Thousands die waiting.

For playwright Sean Grennan, the idea for this touching story grew out of a true incident. In this emotionally poignant tale “The ’Tin Woman," one is reminded of "The Wizard of Oz” when the tin man desires the gift of a heart above all else. Here Joy, portrayed by a passionate Maggie Anne Gillette receives a second chance at life. The Kate in Old Saybrook will be unveiling her story, courtesy of the Saybrook Stage Company, from Thursday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, January 24 and 25 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, January 26 at 2 p.m.

Director Terri Corigliano was searching for a new, contemporary relatable play with a real meaningful story and was taken by Joy's journey from near death to restored life. Terri loved the balance of drama and comedy, its heartwarming strength and great message of love and courage. What more generous gift can one family give another person than in the midst of their own tragedy to create life with a selfless present.

After Joy receives a new heart from Jack’s donor family, she feels a compelling desire to connect with them to express her gratitude. Normally the two parts of a new whole have no direct contact in the circle. The recipient is encouraged to send a letter -anonymously- to the donor’s kin. How emotionally tender can the giving family be? Will they welcome the transplant's entrance, especially if they are still actively grieving? Will Joy’s presence be an intrusion or an act of healing? The remainder of this talented cast includes Terri Corigliano, Mary Corigliano, Mark Gilchrist, Abby Malczcon, James Van Nostrand and Charles Rusciano.

According to the director Terri Coligliano, “THE TIN WOMAN reminds us that we are all connected to each other and if we embrace that connection, we can make the most of our time on earth and appreciate every moment we have with the ones we love. It brings a message of life and hope to the audience. It’s wonderful when live theater can inspire an audience to learn more about something as important as organ donation. Anyone can be an organ donor. It's incredible that we all have the power to save someone else’s life through this miracle of modern medicine!”

For tickets ($15-25), call the Kate, 300 Main Street, Old Saybrook at 860- 510-0453 or online at www.thekate.org.

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How can one possibly put a price tag on the gift of life? Experience, with Joy, what that second chance can truly mean.

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OPEN THE SACRED SCRIPT TO "GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!" AND LAUGH

Have you ever stayed up nights pondering the life and fate of one Johannes Gutenberg? You know or may not know, he’s the guy who invented the printing press and produced the first copy of the Bible. This all happened way, way back in 1454 and, according to records, only 180 copies were engraved and stamped, with color added by the purchasers. Just 49 remain of this first large-format typographic book printed in Mainz, Germany, with just 42 lines on a page. Moveable type in Korea accounts for the first printed book nearly a century before.

I have always maintained one can write a musical on any topic, from giant ships that hit icebergs to people who successfully and/or fail to assassinate presidents, from ears of corn that like to be shucked to green skinned ogres who live in a swamp. Nothing is beyond immortalization. So why not a musical about Johannes Gutenberg, a literary marvel living and working in 1454?

Thanks to the Ty and Tay Theatre at Cabaret on Main, 597 Main Street, East Haven, from Friday, January 26 at 7 p.m. for four performances to Sunday, January 26 at 2 p.m., you are comically invited to the theatre’s debut performance (as in first ever), to the mostly imaginative journey to the world of Johannes Gutenberg, without benefit of Wikipedia or Google or any historical documents of “Gutenberg! The Musical!” Originally written in 2005 by Scott Brown and Anthony King, it centers on Bud Davenport and Doug Simon who deliberately and determinately want to create a play about this guy named Gutenberg who is the only one in his depressing German town named Schlimmer who can read. One night this inventive lad decides to turn his wine press into a printing press and Bud and Doug find themselves off and running making stuff up, from A to Z, to create a highly fictional version that may or may not have a page or fact of truth.

Bud and Doug want to become producers on Broadway and set about “selling” their concept to any one with money enough to fund it. They stretch their talent and their truth, overlooking the facts as minor in significance. With a limited amount of talent, the pair are forced to play all the cast, using a series of hats with their characters’ names on them and switch the caps like Dr. Seuss’s story about Bartholomew’s 500 hats.

Aiding Gutenberg is his less than brainy but beautiful assistant Helvetica (note the pun on a printing type) and Monk, the villain of the piece, who is determined to foil Johannes in his quest by distorting the Bible verses and destroying the printing press. The new theaters founders Tyler Gay (Ty) and Devont’e Campbell (Tay) will star as Bud and Doug in this musical spoof, singing all the songs and enthusiastically playing all the parts. Their hope and dream is to persuade the producers to fund their crazy project straight to stardom.

These new founders Tay and Ty who have been acting for years are, incredibly, still teenagers in high school and are each working on second playa, “Seussical the Musical” and "The Addams Family.” Fortuitously Ty’s father has aided with financial advice and his mom has experience fashioning dozens of caps. Hats off to Phyllis the amazing pianist and Patrick for artwork.

For tickets ($20 adults, $18 students and seniors)go online at cabaret-on-main.com.

A hearty Bravo and Hats Off to Tay and Ty for their exciting new adventure, and hope they break a leg or three along the way.

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COME MEET THE QUIRKY AND UNUSUAL "THE ADDAMS FAMILY" AT WATERBURY'S PALACE THEATER

Cartoonist Charles Addams is known for his weird and wild sense of humor. One wonders who and what his own creepy family might be hiding in its closet if it is anything like his creative mind has imagined in the third iteration of "The Addams Family.” Give thanks to the Waterbury's Palace Theater, from Friday, January 17 to Saturday, January 18 for three performances as you have been cordially and comically invited to a special meet-the-family dinner This musical treat was written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elise, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and with direction and choreography by Antoinette DiPletropole.

The princess of the family, Wednesday, who presides under a crown of darkness, has a new beau, one who knows nothing about her unusual and cemetery-stained history. She has arranged a dinner for his straight laced and incredibly normal folks and has warned her father Gomez not to tell her mother Morticia anything about the proposed meeting.

Can Gomez keep a secret from his beloved wife for the first time? Will the two families learn to break bread together and bless the bread and the new union? Will the weirdness and the commonest blend or backfire?

The Broadway National Tour will be arriving early at the Palace on January 6 for preparation or "teching,” to rehearse the show, for lighting, sound, scenery and cast run throughs. The Waterbury audience will be the first to view the initial product before it travels to the rest of the country.

Can a responsible and respectable young gentleman, Lucas, from a far distance from dysfunctional be able to reconcile his differences from a clan that embraces the macabre and oh-so-different? Is Wednesday doomed to be disappointed in love, much like Juliet was with her Romeo?

For tickets ($47-87, save 25% on 8 pm tickets with code KOOKY until January 10), call the Palace, 100 East Main Street, Waterbury at 203-346-2000 or online at palacetheaterct.org. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday matinee at 2 p.m.

Let this maniacal musical thrill your heartstrings as you root for true love to triumph against tremendous odds.