REVIEW: Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Dinur Conducts Tchaikovsky 4

Bushnell, Belding Theater, Hartford, CT

www.hartfordsymphony.org
October 23-25, 2026

Photo by Jim Henkel

by Michael J. Moran

For the second Masterworks weekend in the HSO’s 2026-2027 season, guest conductor Yaniv Dinur led the orchestra in two standard repertory masterpieces and an HSO premiere by a contemporary composer.

That premiere was “Kauyumari,” a 7-minute 2021 showpiece by Gabriela Ortiz commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic to celebrate the return to live music after the Covid pandemic. The title means “blue deer” (or “spirit guide”), in the language of the Huichol people of Ortiz’s native Mexico. Featuring a large percussion battery, including tam-tam, glockenspiel and bongos, it received a vibrant, hypnotic reading from Dinur and the HSO.

Chinese pianist Ying Li was the soloist next in a knockout performance of Franz Liszt’s 1856 first piano concerto. Liszt was a rock-star composer-pianist, who wowed audiences with his virtuosity, a quality which Li has in abundance. The 20-minute concerto’s four short movements are played without pause. Li blazed through the opening “Allegro maestoso,” luxuriated with lyrical delicacy in the “Quasi adagio,” sparkled in the “Allegretto vivace” (accompanied by Christopher Smith’s shimmering solo triangle), and met head on the technical challenges of the closing “Allegro marziale animato.”      

A standing ovation by an enthusiastic full house brought Li back for an equally demanding encore, excerpts from Igor Stravinsky’s 1910 “Firebird” ballet arranged for solo piano by Guido Agosti, which she dispatched with dazzling aplomb.  

The concert closed with a towering account of Peter Tchaikovsky’s 1878 fourth symphony, which, in spoken remarks, Dinur called Tchaikovsky’s “most original” symphony. From a commanding brass fanfare (Tchaikovsky said it denotes “Fate”) and an alternately spacious and urgent “Andante sostenuto,” through a melancholy “Andantino in modo di canzona” (with a plaintive oboe solo by Stephen Wade) and a lively “Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato,” in which string players pluck their instruments, Dinur built momentum to a thrillingly fast and joyful  “Finale Allegro con fuoco,” based on a Russian folk dance.

Israeli-born Dinur is a finalist to succeed Carolyn Kuan next year as HSO Music Director. His fluid conducting style (including creative use of his shoulders) and respect for the musicians, self-deprecating manner (his remarks amusingly touched on his accent and the Milwaukee Brewers), and international experience (with leadership positions in New Bedford, Tallahassee, and Milwaukee) were well received by Hartford concertgoers.

The next HSO Masterworks program (November 20-22) will present Music Director finalist Jonathan Taylor Rush.

  

 

Review: “Lend Me a Tenor” Majestic Theater

Photo by Kait Rankins

Majestic Theater, West Springfield, MA

www.majestictheater.org
by Shera Cohen

Prolific playwright Ken Ludwig is the Neil Simon of the 21st century – at least so far. Simon’s primary light comedies about homespun folk populated Broadway and theatre houses throughout decades in the last part of the 20th century. The genre of the two writers is somewhat similar, with plots that do not tax the attention span of audience members. The key difference between Ludwig and Simon is each’s approach to comedy. For the most part, Ludwig goes for over-the-top contagious laughter.

 

“Lend Me a Tenor,” at Majestic Theater,” is one of Ludwig’s earliest, not to mention funniest plays. It features primarily highbrow characters all in the confines of a lush hotel suite in a Ritzy hotel. “Tenor” is the epitome of one of those comedies with repeated door slamming in and out of every room, usually simultaneously with unexpected characters behind each entry or exit. If for no other reason, the antics going on back and forth across the stage, and even the unseen backstage, are almost enough to make “Tenor” a hoot. Scenery by Pocket Scenic Studio succeeds exceptionally.

 

Act I features Maggie (Raya Malcolm), a bored but swell-dressed 20-something; her father Saunders (Sam Samuels), a harried career entrepreneur; and Max (Christopher Marcus), Maggie’s unassertive, ersatz boyfriend aka Saunder’s unassertive lacky. Each seeks a life change: Maggie wants a fling with anyone, Saunders needs a box office success, and Max wants Maggie.

 

How to make this happen in Act I, scene 1 and Act II? Enter opera tenor Tito (Peter Evangelista) – several hours late for rehearsal and sick as a proverbial dog! This is where the plot’s shenanigans escalate, the doors shut just as loudly as the operatic rehearsal sounds, and the audience uproar rarely ceases.

 

Evangelista, an actor familiar with the Majestic, Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theatres, can match his sense of comedy with a fine tenor voice. His many scenes with Sarah Keyes, portraying his shrill but loving wife, are explosive. The actors and their characters are an even match at bringing out the best skills of the other; particularly the physical comedy.

 

On the other hand, Christopher Marcus is a newcomer to the Majestic whose experience is in regional musicals and education. He is a wonderful new find for the Majestic. Marcus portrays Max as somewhat hesitant about his own talent as a singer, seeking coaching from Tito.

 

Others in the cast include John Pagliarulo, as a wannabe opera composure and a lot of comedic gusto; Dorine Tayts, another wannabe, this time a professional opera singer; and Mona Tiglio, a rich patron of the arts.

Maybe the one flaw is a result of the play’s fast pace; too fast? A few times, characters stand with nothing to do. More obvious are characters, looking at a telephone that has yet to rung.

Myka Plunkett, whose director credits are limited, excellently throws herself into a difficult play – piecing the two main set sections as well as the five implied areas as a complete puzzle. A farce like “Tenor” with eight actors oftentimes running here and there or jumping on and over tables, deserves huge kudos.

 

REVIEW: “Little Bear Ridge Road”

Photo: Curtis Brown Photography

TheaterWorks, Hartford, CT

Through November 8, 2026 

https://twhartford.org/

By Jarice Hanson 

  

In director Rob Ruggiero’s program notes, he says: “Sometimes, the people who drive us crazy may also be the ones we need the most.” That provocative comment is at the heart of this moving, emotional character study of the reclusive Aunt Sarah, played brilliantly by Denise Cormier, and her troubled nephew Ethan, boldly portrayed by Mishka Yarovoy. 

  

Set in a small town in northern Idaho during the Covid-19 pandemic, Ethan comes to town to settle the estate of his late father, an abusive parent responsible for many of Ethan’s troubles, and reconnects with his Aunt who has her own challenges. Can these two overcome the painful obstacles in their lives, or will they aggravate each other so much that they become estranged?  

  

The script, penned by Samuel D. Hunter, is painfully honest, but the play is so full of heart it involves the audience by forcing them to remember the pain of isolation during a time of fear and social distancing. The dialog unfolds like a beautiful dance around the issues that make us human. 

The play is an “actor’s play” in that it gives the actors a chance to use their physicality to overcome the words they cannot speak. This technique allows each character to develop an inner drive that takes the audience on a journey of feeling and compassion. 

  

Two additional characters help this “family drama” by offering solace, joy,and wisdom. Travis Anderson as James, a lonely gay man hoping for his own connection, and Janelle Anne Robinson playing the dual roles of Paulette and Vickie brings humor and comfort at the moments when they are most needed.  

  

The set, designed by Michael Schweikardt and lighting by Matthew Richards, do more than create a mood. They work together to suggest the majesty of the universe and the solitary beauty of a place where the topography dictates how “close” or “far” the characters are from others. The beautiful backdrop plays against a simple couch where most of the action takes place, giving a televisual feel to the 95-minute drama. In fact, it’s easy to see why the show was originally written for Laurie Metcalf, known to many as Roseanne Barr’s wacky sister, Jackie, to play Aunt Sarah at the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago, her “home” theatre company. She also reprised the role when the show opened on Broadway in 2025. Cormier has moments when she looks and sounds a little like Metcalf, but her performance is original and highly effective.    

  

Original music was written by Billy Bivona, who not only wrote original music for the memorable TheaterWorks production of “Constellations,” has toured the country as a guitarist for the hauntingly powerful “Come From Away.”  

  

This is a show that grabs the audience and takes them on a journey of self-reflection and empathy. It’s about as perfect a production as one can be.

Review: “Summer, 1976” Berkshire Theatre Group

Berkshire Theatre Group, Stockbridge, MA 
www.berkshiretheatregroup.org
through October 31, 2026 
by Jarice Hanson 

Photo: Caelan Carlough

Have you ever known someone briefly but loose contact with them, despite the feeling that you’ve shared some extraordinarily meaningful moments? Most people have experienced that all-too-common reality in our fast-paced society.  

In “Summer, 1976” Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright David Auburn has crafted a multi-layered, heart-felt 90-minute dramedy that touches the heart and reminds us that the people, places, and events of our lives make up a mosaic of experiences that contribute to who we become.

Berkshire Theatre Group has chosen to stage “Summer, 1976” as their last play of the season and how wonderfully appropriate, as the leaves begin to fall, and the U.S. looks at the memory of the summer of our year, juxtaposed with the year’s 250th anniversary. 

In this memory play, the audience sees a simpler time that becomes more intense with the passage of time, but what remains is the longing for the good memories and the people who have helped us find our way along life’s journey. 

The show focuses on two characters who grow and change over a period of approximately 25 years. For the audience, the play is an opportunity to look back at a simpler time when perhaps they too, were negotiating lives with small children, changes in the expectation of what women could or should do, and gender stereotypes that often seemed to prescribe what options were available to women. 

For younger audience members, there may be choices as to how to view the characters through a contemporary lens. While not specifically articulated in the play, today’s decision for women to choose being a “tradwife” contrasting with those who have the chutzpah to “go it alone” each have consequences.

Two wonderful actors deliver the subtle comedy, and the deep meaning of friendship. Kate Baldwin and Jennifer van Dyck are perfectly paired as Alice (Baldwin), the ditsy Ohio housewife who gives up her own aspirations for her husband, an academic in pursuit of tenure; and Diane (van Dyck), a single mom who seems to have everything under control. The two come together because their daughters are the same age and are in some ways, mini-Alice and mini-Diane, or at least that is what we are led to believe. Like the girls, Alice’s husband is never seen, but in an excellent projection of character, van Dyck gives the audience a clear sense of who he is. 

One clever element to the plot (no spoiler here) is that the husband, an economist, has come up with a baby-sitting cooperative that people in the community share, until it faulters. This small, but important feature is an example of one of the many layers that initiates the friendship between Alice and Diane and shows Auburn’s uncanny ability to ground his situations in reality while offering just enough specificity to make the plot believable.

The other “star” of this play is the script itself. Auburn’s work is meticulously crafted.  Other plays of his, like “Proof” (Pulitzer Prize winner), and “Lost Lake” explore relationships with depth and intensity. “Summer, 1976” is in that same vein, and what stands out is his ability to find good qualities in flawed people.

The audience knows people like Alice and Diane and undoubtedly left the theatre remembering people who mattered in their own lives. When audience members sigh and subtly respond to a line or a plot twist, the genius of a playwright who understands humanity so well is apparent. When a wonderful director and talented, capable actors are able to translate those words to the stage for a metaphorical “group hug” with the audience, something special is taking place.

Director Isadora Wolfe keeps the action focused but the pacing quick. The audience becomes an extension of the friends on stage and empathy is cleverly built between audience members and the actors. Scenic Designer Jason Simms’ spare set is reminiscent of the décor of 1976 but shows how limited each of the characters’ lives are, until their trust in each other begins to grow. Only then do the characters begin to explore the depth of the stage, as they explore the depth of who they are. Lindsey Eifert’s costumes lend an appropriate interpretation of the characters’ inner lives. 

This is a talky play—but audiences will find themselves becoming more involved with the characters as they explore themselves and life’s twists and turns.

The Unicorn Theatre, an intimate space, has audience members seated in a quasi-semi-circle, and is the perfect venue for this type of show, but at times, the actors’ voices were lost when they turned away from certain sections of the audience. If every word were enunciated a bit more and the breath support matched the intensity of the dialogue, the show’s delivery would be near-perfect.  

 

Mamma Mia!” The Bushnell

"Mamma Mia!” The Bushnell

The Bushnell, Hartford, CT

www.bushnell.com

By Suzanne Wells

Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, The Bushnell’s production of “Mamma Mia!” is a festive, high-energy musical comedy that balances romantic intrigue with broad humor and lively spectacle, all driven by ABBA’s irresistible songs.

Set on a small Greek island as a wedding approaches, the story follows a daughter whose mischievous attempt to uncover her father’s identity brings three men from her mother’s past back into their lives.

As Sophie Sheridan, Juliette Ojeda opens the production with a melodic rendition of “I Have a Dream” that draws the audience into the show’s sunlit Grecian setting. Jessica Crouch brings emotional force to Donna Sheridan, delivering a stirring performance of “The Winner Takes It All.” Victor Wallace, as Sam Carmichael, conveys the character’s lingering love and regret in “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and in his duet with Crouch, “S.O.S.”

Jalynn Steele is a comic standout as Tanya, pairing strong vocals in “Does Your Mother Know” with impeccable timing and a delightfully larger-than-life performance. Kayla Ryan Walsh (Rosie), Leland Burnett (Bill Austin), and Rob Hancock (Harry Bright) also make the most of the musical’s humor, bringing warmth and well-judged comic timing to their roles.

Choreographer Anthony Van Laast keeps the ensemble numbers in constant motion, filling the stage with buoyant energy and memorable visual comedy. Highlights include the scuba-fin routine in “Lay All Your Love on Me,” the clownish nightmare of “Under Attack,” and the playful battle of the sexes that animates “Does Your Mother Know.”

Production designer Mark Thompson creates a versatile set, using two movable pieces to transform the stage seamlessly from a taverna courtyard to an inn bedroom and, finally, a church, allowing the story to maintain its momentum from scene to scene.

Taken together, the emotionally grounded lead performances, sharply timed comedy, inventive ensemble work, and fluid staging make this “Mamma Mia!” an exuberant celebration of love, friendship, and second chances—one that earns its audience’s enthusiasm rather than merely trading on familiar songs.

REVIEW: “Gypsy”

 Theatre Guild of Hampden, Hampden, MA 

www.theatreguildofhampden.org

through October 25, 2026 

by Michael J. Moran 

With music by veteran composer Jule Styne, lyrics by a young Stephen Sondheim, and a book by seasoned writer Arthur Laurents, “Gypsy” was called “what might be the greatest of all American musicals” by former NY Times theatre critic Ben Brantley. Based loosely on the 1957 memoir by stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, the original 1959 Broadway production starred Ethel Merman as Gypsy’s mother Rose, the prototype of the overbearing stage mother. 

Act I follows Rose as she tries to build a career for her young daughters June (the actress June Havoc) and Louise (Gypsy) on the fading vaudeville circuit of the 1920/30's, from which June eventually elopes with a dancer named Tulsa. In Act II, Rose gets Louise booked into what turns out to be a burlesque theatre that features striptease acts. Terrified at first, Louise soon finds her new niche. The show climaxes in Rose’s solo reflection on her daughters’ fortunes and her own.  

Every “Gypsy” hinges on a compelling Rose (the lead role, despite the show’s title) and TGH’s stirring production has a formidable Rose in Anna Giza. From her opening “Sing out, Louise” as she enters from the audience, this is a no-nonsense Rose who will never take “no” for an answer. But the breakout star is Aubrey Vargas, whose sensitive acting makes Louise’s growth from awkward, shy adolescent to glamorous, self-confident woman not just believable but inevitable. 

Heath Verrill is winning and sympathetic as Herbie, Rose’s love interest and the manager of her act. Ashley Barnes excels as “Dainty June,” as does Austin Kopp as Tulsa. 

For all the dark turns in this story, there are many lighter moments, and musical highlights abound: an exhilarating “Together, Wherever We Go,” by Giza, Vargas, and Verrill; a hilarious “You Gotta Get a Gimmick,” by Jami Wilson, Becca Greene-Van Horn, and Andrea Stolar as hapless strippers Tessi Tura, Mazeppa, and Electra; and Giza’s shattering finale, “Rose’s Turn.”

Music Director Dan Mashia’s six-member band offers spirited backing. 

Astute direction and staging by Mark Giza draws skilled performances from the large cast and features seamless scene transitions with minimal props. Fanciful choreography by Dina Lynn Del Buono and period-appropriate costume design by Ester of Sturbridge add further attractions.    

  

This entertaining and powerful take on a musical theatre classic, complete with a surprise ending, is enthusiastically recommended for mature audiences.

Review: “Dracula”

Hartford Stage, Hartford, CT

www.hartfordstage.org

through November 1, 2026
review by Shera Cohen

What better way to open Hartford Stage’s current season than with an American premiere? The selection of “Dracula” is certainly appropriate to the Halloween season, as the production’s dates overlap with those of the holiday which brings out the proverbial ghosts and goblins, especially to children.*

Nearly everyone knows the image of Dracula – both man and winged bat. Yet, this version has another take, primarily focusing on the victims in the plot. While so many aspects of Hartford Stage’s production are exceptional, the adaptation of the original novel and/or other theatres’ versions are somewhat of a stretch for audience members to fully understand.

Extraordinary are the backstage crew, giving “Dracula” the mood, atmosphere, and jump scares to make the play all about fear. In fact, the opening line refers to fear, motivating the show’s progression. Director Jackson Gay’s triumvirate of uber-talented backstage creators include Riw Rakkulchon (set design), Paul Whitaker (lighting), and Carolyn Eng (sound effects). From hidden rooms beneath stage level to unexpected lighting design to deafening clashes, the play becomes even more than what is anticipated.

Essentially, this rewrite of Bram Stoker’s classic, instead of being linear and story-driven, the structure puts the onus on one character as the narrator, retelling the story in the past tense. The action has already taken place, and the audience is only hearing about it now. This reduces the tension and conflict between characters in actual on-stage time.

At some points the structure of this version calls for actors to break character. In one instance, victim Lucy stands center, alone and still, for what awkwardly feels like an eternity as Mina (narrator) stands backstage composing herself. Neither have dialog. In addition, this version is meant to be a play-within-a-play, which make some scenes that should have been very tense, lack gusto.

Sara Gutierrez gives Mina her unwavering interpretation, directing stage traffic all the time as the director of the other actors. She appears fetching in black. The actress rarely leaves the stage from start to finish; a huge task for any single actor. This is Mina’s story – not Dracula’s or even Stoker’s. She is the leader of the troupe. Yet, she runs her show (within the show) with a voice that is much too loud. The audience hears her clearly without the emphasis.

Heard at intermission were comments from patrons who found it odd that only one cast member was male. Whether the two lead characters portrayed by women was meant to infer any particular relationship is unclear. Perhaps there is no ulterior meaning other than Dracula is not particular who he puts in jeopardy.

Hartford Stage never fails to tell its stories with exemplary actors and designers, even if patrons might not like an occasional script. “Dracula,” however, may be the near miss thus far. Miss does not pertain to the above-mentioned polished cast and crew member, but to the story. Why mess with what is tried ‘n true?

Note: Hartford Stage makes it clear in its advertising that “Dracula” isn’t necessarily a play geared toward children.The choice is that of the parents.