OPEN THE SACRED SCRIPT TO "GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!” LAUGH and LEARN

Are you familiar with that inventive man from Germany Johannes Gutenberg who long ago created 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.

If you are naturally curious and want to know more about Johannes, then Playhouse on Park in West Hartford has just the answer for you. Before Sunday, February 8, plan to visit "Gutenberg! The Musical” created by Anthony King and Scott Brown for a history lesson courtesy of two energetic and enthusiastic men Jeremiah Michael Ginn and John Wascavage as Bud Davenport and Doug Simon with Miles Messier on piano as Charles and Jimmy Donohue as swing.

You are comically invited to the mostly imaginative journey to the world of Johannes Gutenberg, without benefit of Wikipedia or Google or any historical documents. “Gutenberg! The Musical!” originally written in 2005, centers on Bud and Doug 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. In this musical spoof, they sing all the songs and enthusiastically play all the parts. Their hope and dream is to persuade the producers to fund their crazy project straight to stardom.

For tickets ($ 55 adults, $52 students and seniors,$25 10:30 a.m.), call Playhouse on Park, 244 Park, West Hartford at 860-523-5900 ext. 10 or online at http://www.playhouseonpark.org. Performances are Tuesday at 2 p.m., Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.,Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 pm., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. followed by a talkback.

Show your ticket for a 10% discount at Gather 55, a theater dining partner.

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

A ROMP WITH ROMANCE OR INCIDENTS WITH INFIDELITY; YOUR CHOICE

For playwright Sandy Rustin, a beautiful 1920’s English cottage is the perfect setting to plant tulips, daisies and secrets. She is focusing her sense of humor on affairs, extra marital relationships and infidelity and manages to create a charming and hysterical comic farce. Husbands, wives and lovers run amok as partners exchange keys, reveal and confess intimacies, and question their choices in marriage and in cheating. Get your scorecard ready or dance card if you prefer as Hartford Stage, until Sunday, February 8, lets Cupid’s arrows fly hither and yon, striking wherever and whomever they may in “The Cottage.”

Sylvia (Mary Cavett) and Beau (Jordan Sobel), her husband's brother, have been rendezvousing once a year, for seven years, and now she has determined all by herself that they really should have married each other long ago. To that end she has determined to make that happen, without discussing it with Beau, by sending her husband Clarke (Craig Wesley Divino) and Beau’s wife Marjorie (Kate MacCluggage) telegrams confessing that divorces are in their future. Needless to say, the spouses in question, one nine months pregnant arrive at the cottage door.

Not to worry, the second couple are carrying on an affair of their own and Clarke is the father of Marjorie's baby, in case you’re worried. Next in the door is Dierdre (Jetta Juriansz), there to surprise Beau but is the unknown prize package to Sylvia. Last to arrive is Sylvia’s long lost, supposedly dead, teen lover Richard (Matthew J. Harris) who is currently married to Dierdre and has a reputation for murdering all of her illicit suiters. With the twists and turns of the plot, you will have fun matching all the partners as they hop on and off the merry-go-round of beds.

Enjoy playing the games, hide and seek, it, spin the bottle, charades, here comes the bride, dueling with feather dusters as Hunter Kaczorowski’s elegant costumes flit and flounce up and down the stairs of Tim Mackabee’s countryside romantic retreat, with the fine timing of Zoe Golub-Sass’s direction.

For tickets ($20-115), call Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street, Hartford at 860-527-5151 or online at HartfordStage.org. Performance areTuesday to Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.

No guilt required as you laugh at the antics of these deliciously decadent participants in indecent peccadillos where these entangled sexual games are hysterically afoot.

STUPENDOUS AND SPIRITED "SUFFS" AT THE BUSHNELL

For women, the right to vote was a sacred privilege, one that was fought for and significant to win. The 19th Amendment was passed by Congress on June 4, 1919, hard battled after decades of struggle for suffragettes. Not all women, particularly Black and native American. won this fight immediately. This milestone was achieved after generations of protest during which women wrote, lectured, marched and even practiced civil disobedience to achieve a permanent change in the Constitution. Their victory, that began in the 1800’s, took decades to achieve. Women worked tirelessly to pass specific legislation state by state, went to court to challenge men over voting laws, picketed, held silent vigils, suffered hunger strikes, and even went to jail to show their resistance.

When President Wilson finally changed his position in 1918 to support this amendment, the political balance shifted its support. It was not until long into the 20th century, in 1965 , that minority groups finally gained the right to equal voting rights. Come patriotically join the parade of fearless women at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts when “Suffs”, with book, music and lyrics by Shaina Taub, unfolds its dramatic story from now until Sunday, February 1. Follow this powerful story as women from all walks of life risked their personal well being to gain the right to vote, even it meant the sacrifice of their lives.

A musical with a heartfelt message that mobilized females to fight for a captivating cause will excite and entertain and revolutionize. In the United States, these women followed the lead of their sisters in Britain, New Zealand and Australia to unite. With a motto "deeds, not words” they battled politicians and police, were attacked and sexually assaulted, smashed windows, and some, like 14 year old Emmeline Pankhurst began their dedicated campaign when only 14 years of age.

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With triumphant tunes like “Let Mother Vote,” “Wait My Turn,” “Show Them Who You Are,” “I Was Here,” “Finish the Fight,” and "Keep Fighting,” we meet heroines like Alice Paul (Maya Keleher), Inez Milholland (Monica Tulia Ramirez), Ida B. Wells (Danyel Fulton) and Carrie Chapman Catt (Marya Grandy) in this glorious all female cast, in this dedicated love letter to daughters, mothers, sisters and wives of history.

For tickets ($48.50-167.50), call the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford at 860-987-5900 or online at bushnell.org. Performances are at Wednesday 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. Visit the tables in the lobby dedicated to women and girls and voting.

Join the sisterhood and proudly carry the flag and march passionately for democracy, admiring and applauding the devoted women who dedicated their lives making the women’s right to vote a reality.

STOP AND APPRECIATE THE ROSES

The New Year 2026 is an open slate for beginnings and resolutions and opportunities. Appreciate and treasure life… Like the fragile beauty of a colorful butterfly flitting on a blazing star plant's petals. The glorious majesty of a single or double rainbow after a sunshower. The wagging of a velvet puppy dog’s tail symbolizing extreme affection. The sunshine of daffodils broadcasting a golden triumph of flowering perfection. The melodious tuffed titmouse announcing its presence sweetly in the New England branches. The joy of growing up in a neighborhood or community that embraces front porches and next door folks. Experiencing the togetherness of family and friends on holidays, happy and sad times, joys and sorrows. To recognize the pleasure of hugs, kisses and embraces, cherishing that you are never alone. To experience Christmas any month of the year thanks to Hallmark Movies,like Christmas in July, no snow. To pray for the day when peace will reign and everyone will enjoy enough to eat, clean water to drink, a sturdy roof over your head, worthy work earning enough money to pay bills and health insurance to cover medical needs. May no one suffer from need or want. To sustain education to guarantee learning across the playing field with equality for the world. May the world encourage learning and curiosity all the years of your life, for girls and boys. May everyone leave the world a little better than they found it. You have only to save one person to be credited with saving the whole world. May you be privileged to explore all the arts, hobbies, games, and sports that your heart desires…and never be picked last. May democracy reign peacefully across the globe with honest politician never being an oxymoron. VOTE. May freedom of religion rule supreme, and never be an excuse to wage war or to kill. May the immigrants who built countries be honored and valued for their contributions to our betterment. Let us all share the blessings we are able to enjoy and let no one suffer the wickedness of others. May everyone on earth know the glory of being loved, of earning a good name, of contributing to making this world a little better for having lived here, for enjoying good health and a long life. Whether you love nature’s magnificent sunsets or marshmallow frosted ice cream sundaes, glorious sunrises or intricate spider webs, may you imagine the beauty of nature bringing joy to your life. When you play the game of what the clouds look like- either elephant or egg or eagle- you have fun. May you perform random acts of kindness -anonymously- and never waste your days FOMO, with Fear of Missing Out. And, most of all, may you Never Postpone Joy!

FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS IN GOODSPEED'S SPOTLIGHT JANUARY 16-18

If skiing, ice skating, sledding and ice fishing are not at the top of your idea of winter fun, then maybe you can be tempted to head indoors to Goodspeed’s innovative Festival of New Musicals. For the twentieth year, Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam is presenting musical theater in a grand style, Martin Luther King weekend, January 16-18, 2026 and there is no need to bundle up in scarves, mittens, ear muffs and winter boots to partake in the entertaining fun.

The temperature will be toasty and the offerings HOT! You are invited to experience a trio of brand new musicals, cabarets, seminars on educational theatrical topics and a special 20th Anniversary Festival Concert. The weekend will support the development of musical theater artists, coordinated by the Goodspeed’s Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre. If you are a lover of new creations, with a spotlight on discovering new writers and performers, this is the “testing ground" with your name in lights.

If you want to be an insider, an influencer, a front runner on the newest and the best, the excitement begins Friday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m.with “Miss Hysteria,” a true tale of a young 19th century actress, Louise Gleizes, who agrees to perform acts of hysteria, only to discover her bid for freedom comes with restraints she never anticipated. This powerful and passionate story has book and lyrics by Laura Schein and Ben Zeadman and music by Zeadman. A cabaret of Rona Siddiqui music will follow at 10 p.m.

Be sure to take your multi-vitamins on Saturday for a full day starting at 1 p.m. and night of treasures, including theatrical themed seminars, a Festival Concert, the second staged reading “F Word” by Alyssa Payne for music and lyrics with book by Sara Matin, followed by a Concert at 9:30 p.m.. Come meet Tessa, a teenager who encounters a future and a family as she ages out of the foster care system.

Sunday afternoon introduces a belly full of laughter with "Foolproof” at 1 p.m., a musical about a trio of sisters, Mo, Mary and Curly (think the Three Stooges Meet Sherlock Holmes) who need to solve a mystery and earn a reward to save the family business. With a book by Megan Loughran and Sonya Hayden and lyrics by Loughren and music by Hayden, you will become toe-tapping fools all the way to the festival's final event, a Q and A with all three sets of composers.

A variety of tickets are available by calling 860-873-8668 with single tickets for each reading ($30, students $15), cabaret ($20), and Festival Concert ($30). The Gold Package ($156) includes all three musicals, several seminars, the Concert and Meet the Writers Q and A. The Silver Package ($81) includes all three staged readings. Package can add the Friday cabaret($18) and the concert ($35), as well as the pre-show dinner at the Gelston House ($36) by going online to www.goodspeed.org. You are also invited to become a “Friend” of the Festival and take part at a special level of participation.

Musical theater students from the Hartt School and Western Connecticut State University will perform the readings and help develop the musicals. Indulge your passion for musical theater by grabbing the coat tails of this outstanding opportunity and learning first hand the latest and best insider knowledge available. Enjoy!

WATERBURY'S PALACE THEATER HAS A MYSTERY "CLUE" JUST FOR YOU

Have you dreamed of being Sherlock Holmes , a mastermind who can interpret clues, examine evidence and discover who committed the crime? Maybe you just enjoy playing parlor games at parties and being declared the winner? Perhaps you enjoy reading mystery stories and identifying the “whodunit” first and the how and the why?

If any of these clues intrigue you, then grab your magnifying glass and fingerprint powder and run over to Waterbury’s Palace Theater tonight, tomorrow and Thursday, December 16, 17 and 18 for a rousing production of “CLUE” at 7:30 p.m. each night.

Once a favorite Hasbro game, based on a 1985 Paramount motion picture, “CLUE” will excite and delight you as you try to discover whether it's Mrs. White, Miss Scarlet, Mrs.Peacock, Yvette or the Cook with a candlestick, or a rope, or revolver or maybe it's Colonel Mustard, Mr. Boddy, Mr. Green, Professor Plum or even the Cop with a knife, lead pipe, or wrench. Surely the game is afoot.

Six murders, ten suspects, one spooky mansion, an invitation to a dinner party, bodies galore, accusers and victims, oh, my! Any idea who will be next? Does confusion or clarity reign supreme? Where will the crimes take place? In the library or the study? With a revolver or a rope? You may just die laughing.

For tickets ($63-105), call the Palace Theater, 100 East Main Street, Waterbury at 203-346-2000 or online at palacetheaterct.org.,?p>

Come play the game, mingle over dinner, beware of the blackmailer. solve the crimes and just keep your head on your shoulders. Experience ”CLUE!"

WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE DELIGHTS AGAIN WITH "A SHERLOCK CAROL"

If you are a lover of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and of your favorite curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge as well as a fervent fan of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective Sherlock Holmes, then Mark Shanahan has just the perfect Christmas present for you! For the third year in a row, Shanahan, the Artistic Director of the Westport Country Playhouse is offering up a new look at your favorite holiday characters in “A Sherlock Carol,” until Sunday, December 21 billed as a "Dickens of a Holiday Mystery!” You are invited to follow the intriguing clues and help a complicated and confused Holmes attempt to solve who killed Ebenezer Scrooge! Grab your magnifying glass and deerstalker cap and follow Holmes to the intriguing solution... if you dare.

Mark Shanahan has penned a tall tale of Sherlock Holmes, detective extraordinaire, and the mean and greedy Scrooge, into one delightful production. What a coincidence… Holmes and Scrooge's stories both begin with a death in the first line: “Marley was dead to begin with” and “Moriarty was dead to begin with.” Both men are clearly dead as a doornail and will stay so until Sunday, December 21.

The similarities don’t end there. No Sir! The major figures in “A Christmas Carol” and the volumes starring Holmes like Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Dr. Watson, Cratchit, The Fezziwigs, Mrs. Dilber and a few others pay visits to Sherlock Holmes and continue their journeys in a new place, a place where dastardly deeds may just happen.

Kudos to Mr. Shanahan and Westport Country Playhouse who opened this novel literary door to 221B Baker Street, London where a skeptical and doubting Sherlock (James Taylor Odom) finds himself in a most haunting of ghost tales, especially when he firmly believes there are no such creatures as spirits. Once again it’s Christmas Eve and our old friend Tiny Tim, now all grown up, shows up at Sherlock Holmes’s house to beg the great detective to solve a peculiar murder: the death of Ebenezer Scrooge (Byron St. Cyr). Will the ghosts of past, present and future appear? Of course!

What do you get when you combine a mystery with some ghosts and a heartwarming family holiday story? Just ask writer and director Mark Shanahan. To Shanahan, Charles Dickens wrote the best ghost story ever, calling it "astounding.” He combined that love with an admiration for the old Basil Rathbone movies starring that great detective Sherlock Holmes that his dad took him to when he was a child growing up in New York’s East Village.

Fortuitiousely, he has mixed these two favorite characters together into a holiday play for the whole family to enjoy, ages 7 and up. He likens it to "a dinner party, inviting friends from different social circles…and hoping like heck they’d get along.” To that end, he has placed these iconic characters by Doyle and Dickens in a new inventive stage mystery.

Come see such unique innovations as a talking door knocker, the spooky elements that resonate throughout, a reimagined holiday classic, a murder mystery set in London in 1894, the deaths of two famous characters like Holmes’ great enemy Professor James Moriarty and, unexpectedly, Ebenezer Scrooge. Can Holmes follow the clues to find the dastardly perpetrator or is he doomed to become the town's new miser himself? How will a grown-up Tiny Tim, now a doctor and Scrooge’s benefactor, influence the outcome? Come meet Joe Delafield as Dr. Watson and others, Dan Domingues as Cratchit and others, Alexandra Kopek as the Countess and others and Anissa Felix as Emma Wiggins and others.

Also playing a huge part in writing the play, Shanahan was intrigued by the mission of Paul Newman’s The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp created in Ashford, Connecticut in 1988 to serve children with serious illnesses. Newman established a special place, a wonderful and free camping experience that is now in many places around the world. Donations to the camp and to the Westport Home with Hope food pantry drive will be benefactors from the production. Patrons are also encouraged to take a photo in the lobby at Sherlock Holmes' house, 221B Baker Street, London.

Shanahan was inspired to envision Tiny Tim as “someone with a little help from a certain benefactor, who battled illness and went on to help others do the same. Just like Scrooge did, we can all keep Christmas in our hearts throughout the year by donating to these remarkable organizations.”

For tickets ($50 and up, students call the box office for discounted tickets $20), call the Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport, off route 1 at 203-227-4177 or online at www.westportplayhouse.org. Performances are Wednesday-Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.and Sunday at 3 p.m.

Bring the family to the Westport Country Playhouse for a novel look at two classic tales with all the mystery and magic that the Christmas holiday demands.