PREVIEW: TheaterWorks, "The Legend of Georgia McBridge"

March 16 – April 22, 2018

www.theaterworkshartford.org

Playwright Matthew Lopez’s latest play, “The Legend of Georgia McBridge,” will run as the third show of TheaterWorks 32nd season.

Meet Casey! He’s young, he’s broke, his landlord’s knocking at the door, and he’s just found out his wife is going to have a baby. When he crosses paths with Miss Tracy Mills, Casey is transformed from a washed up Elvis impersonator to a show stopping drag queen. This “feel-good,” music-filled comedy is about finding and celebrating your true voice.

At its core, "Georgia" is a gender-bending comedy with heart. But beneath the fun is an important message about tolerance framed around themes of identity and transformation. Lopez’s skill as a writer continues to impress, and with this particular play he reveals his agility as a writer of comedy. Besides a great story, he’s given the audience a funny and often glorious tribute to the art of drag.

Originally staged in New York in 2015, Hartford audiences are familiar with Matthew Lopez’ work at Hartford Stage including the world premiere of "Reverberation" as well as productions of "Somewhere" and "The Whipping Man."

PREVIEW: WAM Theatre Announces 2018 Season

WAM Theatre is a professional theatre company in the Berkshires of Massachusetts

www.wamtheatre.com

This Berkshire-based professional theatre company celebrates its ninth year with a main stage co-production with Dorset Theatre Festival (Dorset, VT) starring Jayne Atkinson, a thought-provoking series of play readings, a premiere presentation of comedienne Alison Larkin’s one-woman show, and various other special events. This season's plays showcase seven stories about inspiring women, all written and directed by women.

"Fresh Takes Play Reading Series" presents a series of ground-breaking plays that are imaginative and thoughtful explorations of complex issues affecting women and girls and feature local professional actors and directors.

The series kick off on April 15 at No. 6 Depot Roastery and Café in West Stockbridge with Swallow by Stef Smith, directed by Talya Kingston. On May 3 WAM will present a reading of The Virgin Trial by Kate Hennig, directed by Kelly Galvin, at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre at Shakespeare & Company. This sequel to The Last Wife will reunite the director and many of the cast members from WAM’s hit 2017 production of The Last Wife. On June 10 the troupe returns to West Stockbridge for a reading of Honor Killing by Sarah Bierstock, directed by Molly Merrihew.

WAM collaborates with the Clark Art Institute for the August 12 reading of Fresh Takes reading of Pipeline by Dominique Morrisseau, and wraps up on September 16 with Escaped Alone, the latest play by playwrights Caryl Churchill, directed by WAM Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven.

For detailed information about the series check the WAM website at www.wamtheatre.com

PREVIEW: Playhouse on Park: Final 2 Productions of Season #9

Playhouse on Park, Hartford, CT 

www.playhouseonpark.org

Playhouse on Park, Hartford, CT presents Jesse Eisenberg's “The Revisionist” for its New England premiere. In this comedic drama, a young science fiction writer named David journeys to Poland to stay with his 75-year-old second cousin, Maria, a widowed Holocaust survivor. While David is searching for a quiet space to unblock his creativitiy, the lonely Maria is thrilled for the chance to connect. As their bond grows, David learns a profound secret about Maria's past that challenges their relationship and teaches them both about the meaning of being a family. Opening night for "The Revisionist" is April 13 at 8pm.

 

Lin Manuel Miranda's “In The Heights” opens is June 15. This is perhaps our most anticipated show of the season. The musical tells the universal story of a vibrant community in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood. It's a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind.

For tickets and other information check the website at  www.playhouseonpark.org

PREVIEW: CAPITOL STEPS: Cheaper Than Therapy Tour

Friday, April 20, 2018 , 7:30PM

Academy of Music, Northampton, MA

www.capsteps.com

The Capitol Steps return to Hampshire County in their first performance since 2010. The political

musical satire troupe has been a national institution for over 35 years, providing a unique blend of musical and political comedy and satire to audiences coast-to-coast. Each show consists of tasteful lampooning guaranteed to leave both sides of the political spectrum laughing. The troupe started in 1981. Since then, they have appeared on “The Today Show,” “ABC News Nightline,” “CBS Evening News” and on specials for NPR.

The Capitol Steps works overtime to capture the new administrations’ antics in satire and song. And since The Capitol Steps find their laughs in materials ripped from today’s and tomorrow’s headlines you never know whether Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, or Kim Jong-un might appear from Mar-A-Lago or The White House.

Tickets: 413-584-9032 ext. 105 or www.aomtheatre.com

Murder on the Orient Express

Hartford Stage, Hartford, CT

www.hartfordstage.org

through March 25, 2018

by Shera Cohen

It’s difficult to think of a writing team of opposites whose work together (albeit, each from a different century) creates a near-perfect weaving of mystery and wit. Hartford Stage’s “Murder on the Orient Express” is a seamless script with elements of illusions and macabre from Queen of Crime author Agatha Christie placed in the hands of Ken Ludwig, one of the 21st century’s best playwrights whose forte is humor.

Hartford Stage’s production presents its audience with a gift – which on every level looks like the exact image of an authentic train called The Orient Express, complete with a cast of a dozen dazzling characters. Before any significant action, it is clear that a story of upper crust glamour is about to hit the rails. Equal to the talent of the play’s director and actors is the exquisite precision by set designer Beowulf Boritt, sound designer Darron L. West, and costume designer William Ivey Long. Spotlight’s reviews usually end with a short comment or two on the accomplishments of those backstage geniuses. In the case of “Orient Express,” this triumvirate of talent must be given special accolades. Boritt’s creation of the exterior and three-car interior of a decadent mid-20th century European train, West’s music and sound effects’ programming, and Long’s expensive fashions are nearly as important as the actors in telling Christie and Ludwig’s story.

Over the years, many Hercule Poirots have taken to the movie screens and television, conjuring up various personal images of this private investigator extraordinaire. Actor David Pittu, creates our over-dressed, well-spoken, intellectual hero. With Ludwig’s dialogue and emphasis on merriment more than mystery, Poirot reminds us of a dignified Inspector Colombo. Pittu is a slight man, yet in his own quiet way presents a Poirot whose presence shadows all other actors, as he well should. Pittu does, however, have competition from Julie Halston, an excellent actress playing a poor actress – that must be difficult. Emily Mann has directed her cadre of actors to play over-the-top, befitting their characters, aka suspects.

Perhaps, oddly, the question of “who the murderer is” wasn’t that important to me. Watching the wheels in Pittu’s brain lead Poirot to deduce the events leading up to the disastrous deed, was fascinating. Not that I’m a genius or that I had seen the movie, but I did guess the culprit shortly into Act II. It was Ludwig’s deft hand at comedy that was paramount over mystery, and that was perfectly fine

HSO: The Keys to Romance

Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Hartford, CT

www.hartfordsymphony.org

February 16–18, 2018

by Michael J. Moran

For the fifth “Masterworks Series” program of the HSO’s 74th season, Music Director Carolyn Kuan presented what the orchestra’s web site billed as “a night of epic love” in music for Valentine’s Day weekend.

The concert began with a ravishing performance of the tender “Intermezzo” from Pietro Mascagni’s beloved 1890 one-act opera of tragic, doomed love, Cavalleria Rusticana. This was followed by an affectionate account of Haydn’s last symphony, the fruit of a mutual love affair between the Austro-Hungarian master and his British admirers. Nicknamed the “London” for its rapturous reception there in 1795, this 104th symphony features a spacious opening “Adagio-Allegro,” a gripping theme-and-variations “Andante,” a courtly “Menuet,” and a sparkling “Spiritoso” finale. It glowed in the warmth of a classically reduced HSO.  

Anderson & Roe

The second half of the evening belonged to the Anderson and Roe piano duo, formed in 2002 by Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe as students at the Juilliard School with the mission, in their words, “to make classical music a relevant and powerful force around the world.” Their first two selections included full orchestral backing. The mercurial opening movement of Poulenc’s “Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra,” reflecting his love of Parisian popular music, was humorous and unpredictable. Anderson’s imaginative “Fantasy on Bizet’s Carmen for Two Pianos and Orchestra” showcased even more virtuosity by all the musicians, especially the soloists, in another story of love and death.

But they came into their own when the orchestra left the stage. After a lush “Night of Love” movement from Rachmaninoff’s first suite for two pianos, the duo moved into livelier territory with four excerpts from Bernstein’s Romeo-and-Juliet update, West Side Story. By their finale, a tempestuous “Tango” by Astor Piazzolla, they had switched seats several times at one piano, reached across each other’s hands at the keyboard, and plumbed the piano strings in a full-on display of the high spirits that have made them a YouTube sensation.

Alongside Kuan in Oprah mode, Anderson and Roe introduced each piece with engaging commentary, earning extra kudos from an enthusiastic audience that would welcome their early return to Hartford.

10X10 New Play Festival

Barrington Stage, Pittsfield, MA

www.barringtonstageco.org

through March 4, 2018

by Shera Cohen

The numbers add up well for the 7th annual “10X10 New Play Festival” as 6 actors portray over 20 roles in 10 plays (each 10 minutes in length) penned by 10 playwrights under the astute direction of 2 creative professionals. Although I don’t know the number of seats at Barrington’s St. Germain Stage, the plays hosted a full house for its opening performance.

While the plays are short, each is a complete full story with a beginning and end. Other common denominators include: small casts, very little staging, few props, and costumes pretty much off the rack (except for one). Judiciously connecting these “playettes” (it’s fun to coin a word) are music and sound effects. Segues are filled with ideally selected and arranged well-known songs or improv jazz. In other words, it’s a fast afternoon at the theatre.

Given one week to rehearse these 10 plays, the result is perfectly charming. Most stories are comic, featuring only two characters. Each actor depicts roles in four or five plays. These skilled actors seem to turn on an internal switch as they change from a precocious middle-schooler to the Virgin Mary, in one example. Kudos to the playwrights who add elements of poignancy into the comedies and humor into the tragedies. In the mix is one laugh-out-loud slapstick, with no dialogue, titled “The Fly.”

Isn’t it wonderful for Barrington Stage to highlight the works of so many writers? Some playettes work better than others, but remember than none are destined for Tony Awards, and are only 10 minutes long. My favorites include: “Seven Minutes in Heaven,” depicting the awkwardness of a young teen couple wannabe; “Perspective,” taking the subjects off a Michelangelo-type canvas, giving them New York accents and contemporary swagger, and dissing Mona Lisa’s obviously fake smile; and “The Secret to a Healthy Relationship,” demonstrating how a romance can go awry in a matter of minutes.

This exciting and hugely successful Barrington Stage program is a significant component of Pittsfield’s 10X10 Upstreet Arts Festival which also features art exhibits, films, museum activities, poetry, and dance. Pittsfield, like many middle-sized somewhat snow-covered New England cities is “open” to visitors seeking arts and culture in the off-season.