Author Archives: Christopher Arnott
Fela! Follow-up
For Fela! fans who want to read beyond the Playbill notes yet aren’t up to the harrowing biography Fela: This Bitch of a Life by Carlos Moore can avail themselves of a no-nonsense six-page (with big photos) feature on the Afrobeat icon. There’s even an accompanying piece of Fela’s sons Femi and Seun and how … Continue reading
Water Works
The current issue of the Atlantic—the first annual “Culture Issue” for the 153-year-old magazine—features a short discussion with playwright Sarah Ruhl and set designer Scott Bradley about how she conceived, and he brought to vivid stage life, this stage direction from her mythic update Eurydice: The sound of an elevator ding. An elevator door opens. … Continue reading
Staged Readings of Storied Connecticut Scripts on Sunday at 2 p.m.
I still think of as Connecticut Heritage Productions as being Middletown-based but this vital, decades-old company has brought a whole bunch of shows to New Haven over the years. CHP’s Peter Loffredo has taught and directed at the Educational Center for the Arts magnet high school in New Haven since the ‘90s. The ECA Arts … Continue reading
Go Westport! The 2011 season, according to Mark Lamos
A week before the beginning of his second full season as artistic director of the Westport country playhouse, does Mark Lamos feel back in the swing of things, or did his programming instincts never leave him? Lamos returned to the art-dir racket in early 2009 after nearly a decade as a freelance director of … Continue reading
The Musical Chairs Review
Musical Chairs—An Evening of Short Plays and Music Through April 14 at Lyric Hall, 827 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Plays: “In a Manner of Speaking” by Robin Rothstein, directed by Keely Knudsen, performed by Rebecka Jones and Aleta Staton; “Seeing the Light” by Robert McKay, directed by Jeff Stanley, performed by Kelly DiMauro, George Kulp … Continue reading
The tigertigertiger Review
Closed. April 9 at the Long Wharf Theatre mainstage. Directed by Maryna Harrison. Musical Director/Technical Director/Production Manager: Lydia Pustell. Set/Props: Katrina Frances. Costumes: Caitlin Headley. Lighting: Samuel Hewett. Sound: Nicole Rheaume. Stage manager: Alex Hajjar. Dramaturg: Mallory Morris. Graphics: Claire Zoghb. Music advisor: Carol Taubl. Performed by Sam Taubl (First Kid), Rick Bean (Uncle Celery), … Continue reading
The Theater of Relativity
Last Friday I saw New Haven Theatre Co. romp through Steve Martin’s intellectually silly Picasso at the Lapin Agile. On Sunday I went to Yale’s Peabody Museum with my daughters to see the high-tech multi-media Black Hole exhibit there. This was the umpteenth time I’d entered the Black Hole, but the first time I’d really … Continue reading
Born Not Burned
Broadway’s Born Yesterday revival is directed by Doug Hughes, who directed nothing remotely like it during the five years that he was Artistic Director of the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven. Even on Broadway, he’s better know for dramas (Wit, Doubt, Frozen, Oleanna, and even a few plays with more than one word in … Continue reading
Now what about the Long Wharf?
As I exhaustively mused-upon in an earlier post, the Yale Rep announced its 2011 season back on March 10, on the early side for regional theaters these days. The Long Wharf Theatre’s season announcement, which I was told was close to finalized last month (it came up in relation to which business was finished or … Continue reading
The Picasso in the Lapin Agile review
Remaining performances April 10 at 7 p.m. and April 9, 14, 15 & 16 at 8 p.m. at 118 Court St., New Haven. By Steve Martin. Produced by New Haven Theatre Co. Directed by Hilary Brown. Performed by Steve Scarpa (Freddy), John Watson (Gaston), Hallie Martensen (Germaine), Jeremy Funke (Einstein), Megan Chenot (Suzanne, Countess, Admirer), … Continue reading