Review: The Bushnell “& Juliet”

The Bushnell, Hartford, CT

www.bushnell.org

through May 10, 2026 

By Geoff and Linda O’Connell

Early in the bold musical “& Juliet,” the character William Shakespeare declares he can navigate his wife Anne’s demand that she rewrite his classic love story. “Where there’s a Will, there’s a way,” he says, emphasizing the pun. That assertion emerges as the theme as all the characters find the will to redefine themselves and chart their destinies. 

Perhaps the greatest will of all was exerted by the book’s writer David West Read, who disrupted the plot – and even subplots – of “Romeo & Juliet,” using a bucketful of the Bard’s tricks: surprise, slapstick, word play, genderbending. Read did all this while improbably, but dazzlingly, interweaving the dialogue to connect 30 of the biggest selling pop songs of the 1990's composed by Max Martin, who has produced more #1 hits for the American market than all comers except Paul McCartney.

Some critics have dismissed this kind of mash-up of dialogue with pre-existing songs as a “jukebox” musical. Director Luke Sheppard and his team acknowledge the criticism from the get-go, placing a glitzy jukebox near center stage. Then, the real fun begins.

Cast members appear one by one, smiling, dancing, waving at audience members and “breaking the fourth wall” by sitting on the edge of the stage and interacting with patrons, not as characters but as friendly actors. 

The fourth wall stays permeable with the arrival of real-life boy-band superstar Joey Fantone of ‘NSync. Fantone is there to play a character in the musical, who is welcomed loudly by adoring fans of his previous incarnation. Fantone portrays his character Lance with Falstaffian verve and sly nods to his status as a former teenage sex symbol. Fantone still has his signature moves but can parody them deftly as well.

CJ Eldred slides in and out of this “fourth wall” while playing Shakespeare; and Crystal Kellogg, as his wife, courses over multiple planes of reality.

More lines cross with Costume Designer Paloma Young’s mixing Elizabethan wear with 1990's concertgoer aesthetic. Scenic Designer Soutra Gilmour smushes eras – a DJ booth at a Renaissance ball! Lighting Designer Howard Hudson and Video Designer Andrzej Goulding join the team with clever scrims and other devices to conjure up Verona and Paris, boudoir and ballroom. Confetti bombs and pyrotechnics make it a party.

And what a party it is when Fantone’s character gets the family band back together. The Elizabethans break into “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” as the fourth wall comes tumbling down. Jennifer Webber’s high voltage, pulse-pounding choreography surges around the stage captivating audience members to dance, sing, and ecstatically scream along.

The musical is a remarkable ensemble cast with strong belting voices all around. High, sustained notes have particularly become a key benchmark in ranking pop divas. 

The scenic design features a three-dimensional logo that morphs from “Romeo & Juliet” to “& Juliet.” It raises and answers the question that Anne put to her playwright husband: “Are you a strong enough man to write a stronger woman?” Read channels the Bard of Avon to tell a complex, often funny, sometimes bittersweet tale of humans struggling to see who they are. All the world’s a stage.

Review: WAM Theatre, "Rooted"

Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA 
www.wamtheatre.com
through May 16, 2026
by Jarice Hanson 
  
When walking into the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre at Shakespeare & Company, audiences may wonder whether a show can live up to a scenic design so intricate and so creatively rendered. 
 
There are plenty of clues to what this enigmatically named play, Rooted, could possibly mean. Branches hang from the theatre ceiling and living plants onstage all establish that this production is set in a well-loved treehouse, somewhere in a rural area. When meeting Emery, talking into her laptop and demonstrating her experiments by dropping plants, the mystery of the play’s name begins to unfold. 
  
Rooted, by the highly original playwright, Deborah Zoe Laufer, works by creating metaphors that don’t provide answers—but they do raise possibilities.  Emery (Marcy McGuigan) looks like a seasoned gardener. It takes a few minutes to realize she’s talking to her fans on her YouTube channel. She considers herself a scientist, but her fans consider her a cult-like personality who holds the secret to life itself. 
 

Photo Credit: WAM Theatre

Her sister, a waitress at the only restaurant in town, Hazel (Jennie M. Jadow) climbs up through a trap door to deliver food, and the necessities Emery needs while squirreled away in her tree house with her plants. Soon it becomes apparent that Emery’s followers have come to the treehouse to hear her words of wisdom, but Hazel thinks it would be much better if Emery abandoned her “science” and came back to the real world below. 
 
When they are joined by the third character, Luanne (Mei MacQuarrie), a new set of circumstances begin to unfold and the audience is left to figure out how these women connect, and how their different beliefs influence how they make sense of the world inside the treehouse and outside in the rest of the world.  
  
There is much to praise in this highly original production. The three actresses are outstanding and have done the playwright proud by demonstrating these complex characters.
 
Director Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill has a wonderful eye for bringing out the comedy in the script and she keeps the pacing lively and visually interesting (a major accomplishment since the playing space inside the treehouse is limited). Nora Marlow Smith’s scenic design is outstanding and should be nominated for a Berkie Award this year, and David Lane’s use of puppetry adds to the wonders raised by the details of the set. Madeleine Hebert’s lighting design is subtle and effective, and Jane Shaw’s sound design adds whimsy and a contemporary feeling that helps create the total environment. Stella Schwartz’s costumes are perfect for an audience looking for clues to a character’s backstory.   
  
This is the type of play in which the audience participates (silently) to find the meaning. There are moments of wonder about the kind of celebrity a YouTube Content Creator cultivates, what brings people together at certain times in social life, and the role of nature as having healing power. Many more contemporary issues are hinted at, and the audience is free to interpret at their will.   
  
As WAM’s first mainstage production of the season, Rooted anchors a season of powerful plays by-and-with powerful women, that have meaning for all.  
  
 

REVIEW: Jacob’s Pillow,

Preview: Jacob's Pillow 2026

www.jacobspillow.org
May 3, 2026
By Suzanne Wells


Jacob’s Pillow has wrapped up its vibrant second annual spring session, which featured the rhythms of Soles of Duende and romance of ROWDIES IN LOVE. With the echoes of these performances still resonating, the organization is now eagerly preparing for its much-anticipated Summer Festival.

Nestled in the scenic foothills of the Berkshires, Jacob’s Pillow blends rustic charm and contemporary innovation. Its campus features a harmonious mix of historic barns and state-of-the-art buildings, all designed to foster the creation and appreciation of bold, diverse, and captivating choreography.
 
Among its most unique spaces are the indigenous garden and fire pit honoring the Mohawk people, an outdoor stage boasting breathtaking views, and an archive dedicated to preserving and sharing the vibrant legacy of dance.

In addition to its diverse performance spaces, Jacob’s Pillow offers enriching educational opportunities. Many are unaware that in addition to dance performances, the Pillow presents a wide range of lectures, workshops, and classes tailored for all ages and skill levels, inviting participants to deepen their understanding of dance. Public tours and engaging exhibits further encourage visitors to connect with the art form and each other.

Photo Credit: Theik Smith

The archive at Blake’s Barn stands as a vibrant center for exploration, currently showcasing “Connecting Through Time: 50 Seasons with Norton Owen”—a tribute to dance heritage and curatorial excellence.
 
Looking ahead, upcoming exhibits are poised to inspire and inform, including “The Legacy of Martha Graham,” which highlights the profound influence of this modern dance pioneer, emphasizing her political and social activism. Also featured is “Parable or Portals: The Acorn Archives,” an immersive, multisensory journey into Black thought and Afrofuturism. Rounding out the future offerings is “Illuminating the American Experience: Groundbreaking U.S. Women in Dance,” which honors the pioneering women whose contributions have transformed the American dance landscape.

Opening on June 20th and running through August 30th, the summer lineup features Shamel Pitts with “Touch of RED,” a powerful exploration of identity and resilience; Akram Khan Company’s “Thikra: Night of Remembering,” an evocative tribute to ancestral traditions through tribal dance; Circa Contemporary Circuit’s “Wolf,” an acrobatic spectacle; and Ilya Vidrin’s “Proxies,” which links technology and movement. These performances represent a small glimpse of the artistry on the Pillow's calendar.

Whether you are a longtime dance lover or a newcomer to the festival, Jacob’s Pillow invites you to experience its welcoming spaces, inspiring performances, and vibrant sense of community this season.

Review: TheatreWorks, “Circus Fire”

TheatreWorks, Hartford, CT
https://twhartford.org/
through May 31, 2026

By Shera Cohen

On a hotter-than-usual July 4th weekend approximately 80-years ago the circus came to town, specifically Hartford, CT. Families, especially children, cheer and laugh at the hire-wire acts, horses, clowns, et al.

Theater Works takes on the daunting task of mounting "Circus Fire" for the first large-scale professional production about one of the most horrific dates in CT history and likely circus history. Not coincidentally, the drama is set at a location near where the actual fire took place on July 6, 1944. 

 The count of those who perished is still a bit uncertain at 167 with more than half children.

It takes an amazing, intelligent, and sensitive triumvirate, along with dozens of actors and crew under their helm, to establish the facts with an oh-so-human touch to the 12 actors, in at least the roles of four characters each.

 

The threesome includes Rob Ruggiero, Artistic Director of the theatre for some 30 years, who often takes on risks and new works. He is the man at the core. Oftentimes, TW does not receive attention and accolades that it deserves alongside some of the other, larger theatre venues in and around Hartford. A suggestion is to pay attention to TW, especially “Circus Fire”.

 

The second of the three talents is Jacques LaMarre, playwright. Well-known in CT, primarily as a writer of comedic plays, his “Circus Fire” exposes his chops at drama at its most raw and extreme, all the time true to this account in history. He develops a somewhat linear flow – individual families eager to attend the circus, then tragedy and its aftermath, next inquiry. There is not a solitary word of dialogue that is unnecessary. The last section, the investigation, intersperses though the latter half of the play. The audience participates in the entire event including the prosecution. LaMarre presents this story of shock, helplessness, and comradery with depth and compassion. 

 

Director Jared Mezzocchi moves his players into a circus-like tent setting in the middle of the theatre with audience seats on raised levels along the perimeter. Directing in-the-round is not an easy task with a large cast. Adding a very limited number of props, centerstage also turns into settings for homes, offices, and back to the circus.

 

What makes Mezzocchi’s skills extraordinary are his multimedia show primarily appearing in black and white on the tent’s ceiling and as a circle on the inside of the entire tent/theatre. From the play’s start (names of those who died are scattered above audience's seats) to its conclusion (moving images of the actual fire), these pictures (both still and moving) indicate circus atmosphere. With projection, the play's circular center stage becomes that of the circus. Mezzocchi's work is beyond clever; it is extraordinary. "Circus Fire" is extraordinary. 

 

NOTE: This play takes place at the First Company Governor’s Foot Guard, 159 High Street, downtown Hartford. The venue proves ideal and historically fitting. Check with the box office if seats remain; it's that wonderful a play.

Review: “Jesus Christ Superstar”

Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, CT
www.goodspeed.org
April 17 – June 7, 2026
By Geoffrey and Linda O’Connell

In the late 1960’s, young composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice tried their hand at songwriting with the pop-music cantata “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” The piece was a minor success and led them to something grander, their rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar,” which has been produced worldwide for more than half a century. Goodspeed Opera House brings a new production that is as fresh as today’s headlines while paying homage to the original work.

The musical conveys a modern interpretation of the last days of Jesus. The music and lyrics were and still are bold, brash, questioning and genre-bending; a cultural cauldron boiling over with the tensions of the times.

Playing Jesus of Nazareth, Justin Matthew Sargent, commands the lead vocals, bringing back the heavy-metal style belting grit of the original album’s Jesus. Judas Iscariot, Austin Lesch, matches Sargent’s range and grit, lifting the Jesus-Judas, love-hate relationship to dizzying, emotionally fraught heights. The ensemble is strong throughout. Gender-blind casting as Nicolette Antonia Shin plays King Herod is a showstopper.

Director Tatiana Pandiani deftly manages the relationship between Jesus and his betrayer Judas, who wanted Jesus to lead the zealots’ revolt against the Roman occupiers and who questioned his divinity.

Both Pandiani and Scenic Designer Riccardo Hernandez use their spare tools wisely. The sand-filled stage serves as a prop for cast members to sift through the sand of time. Spare-looking small tables add depth to the otherwise empty stage, morphing into raised walkways, thrones, and temple terraces on which Herod and Pilate, Caiaphas and his high priests lord over the Jewish rabble below.

Pandiani never lets the secular, political themes that Rice explored in his lyrics be overshadowed by the theological gauntlet or the deeply personal psychology of Jesus and Judas. With echoes of the protests of 50 years ago morphing into today’s headlines, Pandiani makes the politics explicit with the zealots carrying signs saying: “Rome Lies, People Die” and “No Justice, No Peace, No Ceasar.”

Goodspeed’s stage extends with the pit musicians now set three floors below to vastly increase the space for dancers to spread their wings. Choreographer Amy Campbell has the talented full cast fill the space with energetic pop dancing movements.

Cha See’s heavenly-turned-hellish lighting, Adam Souza’s spare, rock band instrumentation, and Pandiani’s gifted direction conjure up the violence of the story – Judas’ suicide, Christ’s torture and crucifixion – in a way that live theatre rarely can these days.

The company successfully embraces the complexity of the creators’ narrative, balancing the intimate setting with arena-rock energy and music festival zeal.

REVIEW: Hartford Stage, "Native Gardens"

Hartford Stage, Hartford, CT 

www.HartfordStage.org 

April 17 – May 10, 2026 

by Nechama Katan

In a cultural moment when conversations about race, class, and identity too often flatten into competing slogans, Karen Zacarías' "Native Gardens" arrives at Hartford Stage like a breath of fresh air from an overgrown garden.

 

T. Charles Erikson (photo credit)

Directed by Nicole A. Watson, this sharp contemporary comedy follows two neighboring couples in Washington, DC whose shared dream of replacing an old chain-link fence spirals into something far more revealing than a property dispute. What looks like a comedy of manners turns out to be one of the most layered, humane, and deeply funny explorations of how those with diverse backgrounds relate, especially in recent years.  

 

At the heart of the conflict are young couple Tania and Pablo, newly arrived in the neighborhood, and their established neighbors Virginia and Frank, guardians of an aspiring to be prize-winning English garden. When a fence replacement on a tight deadline goes wrong, the audience watches in anticipation to see what happens between the two couples. 

 

Playwright Karen Zacarías is too skilled to let this remain a simple, unfriendly neighborhood issue. Race, class, age, gender, and entitlement all take root in the soil of this story, and what grows is a portrait of four complicated, fully realized people. Nobody here is entirely right, and nobody is entirely wrong, and that recognition alone makes the play remarkable.

Alina Collins Maldonado is deeply authentic as Tania, a very educated woman of firm conviction still tethered to her roots. Bradley Tejeda's Pablo radiates the polished confidence of a man building his future in a new country by any means necessary. Judith Lightfoot Clarke's Virginia is a revelation, every chip on her shoulder earned and visible, yet softened by unexpected depth. Greg Wood's Frank, old school and garden-devoted, anchors the production with quiet wit and a love for his garden, sprinkled with a lot of old-fashioned competition. Lawrence E. Moten III's split-yard scenic design is a delight, and there is not a bad seat in the house.

What sets "Native Gardens" apart is its refusal to take sides. Every scene carries layers beneath layers, and when you are not laughing you may find yourself crying, sometimes both at the same time. In a world that has largely forgotten how to let neighbors be complicated, this play insists on exactly that. The insistence feels necessary and deeply hopeful.

Hartford Stage follows with "Sweeney Todd," a historic partnership with Theater Works Hartford.

Review: Majestic Theater, “Come From Away”

Majestic Theater, West Springfield, MA
https://www.majestictheater.com/
by Shera Cohen

Canadians are the nicest people in the world. Everyone knows this. The musical “Come from Away” proves it.

Photo by Kait Rankins

Imagine 7,000 uninvited visitors arriving, all at the same time, in your tiny town whose own population numbers are nearly the same. The initial response might be, “Get the heck outa’ here.” Yet the folk of Gander, Newfoundland emerge as an ensemble of 12 amazingly talented actors/singers who not only open their doors wide, set up dormitories, cook up meals, pour on the beer, and install as many phones as Gander can find.

The plot starts on 9/11/2001 and the days that follow when 38 planes were diverted to Canada. With horrific challenges in the world beginning on that fateful day, these passengers were not initially aware of the terror in the U.S.

The stirring opening number, “Welcome to the Rock,” features the full cast singing, hooting, ‘n foot-stompin’. While there are no hummable tunes for the drive home, most of the music is atypical from musicals “back in the day”—here we have country meets ballad meets sea-shanty.

Director Russell Garrett doubles an already immense role with that of choreographer. Movement is seamless from one vignette to another. There is purpose in every encounter between characters. Each actor’s role is essential to create the relationships among passengers, and more importantly between the homespun Canadians and the strangers embarking on Gander.

Garrett creates an atmosphere of hope and camaraderie and gifts the audience a piece of humanity, made more poignant because it depicts an honest point in human history.

The actors take on at least two roles; one as a townie and the other as an airplane passenger. Each actor changes his or her character instantly. A hat, a small prop, a gesture transforms one distinct personality into another. Never for a moment is the audience confused. Canadian accents also trade off with Texan, British, or Middle Eastern, and then back again.

For the most part the set, too, transposes from numerous locations as actors essentially play musical chairs in the townies’ café “where everybody knows your name” and then to seats on the plane where no one knows you, or care.

Throughout the performance, many of the musicians are visible onstage, blending within the action. They are a fun, talented group, playing on an eclectic collection of instruments: pipes, mandolins, and bouzouki, and bodhran (a stringed instrument and a drum, by the way).

Many theatergoers have never heard of "Come From Away”. These two-hours at the Majestic are joyful. What is special about this show is that; it is incredibly inventive in style, music, and staging, it manages to be deeply affecting and moving -- true account of people simply being nice to each other when needed most.