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I was pleased to see longtime local arts honoree Christopher Plummer get the major prize he’s long deserved, on last night’s Oscars. Connecticut theatergoers know how Plummer acted in John Houseman’s legendary Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Ct., was involved in one of the ill-fated plans for its rebirth in the 1990s, and has had homes … Continue reading »

Clutch Yr Amplified Heart Tightly and Pretend Through Feb. 25 at the Yale Cabaret, 217 Park St., New Haven. Created and performed by Chris Henry, Jillian Taylor, Jabari Brisport, Hallie Cooper-Novack, Merlin Huff, Michael Place, Mickey Theis, Solomon Weisbard and Dustin Wills. Set by Kristin Robinson. Lights by Solomon Weisbard. Costumes by Hunter Kaczorowski. Sound … Continue reading »

February House World premiere production. Through March 18 at Long Wharf Stage II, 222 Sargent Dr., New Haven. (203) 787-4282. Book by Seth Bockley. Music & lyrics by Gabriel Kahane. Directed by Davis McCallum. Choreographed by Danny Mefford. Musical Direction by Andy Broson. Orchestrations by Gabriel Kahane. Set Design by Riccardo Hernandez. Costume Design by … Continue reading »

I’m off right now to stage another of my singular Play in a Day projects at Never Ending Books TODAY (Thursday, Feb. 23) from 2-5 p.m., 810 State St., New Haven. Fee is $5 a child. No need to pre-register. Just show up. The word has gone out to kids all over town. I see … Continue reading »

I love sharing these, and am indebted to gocomics.com for making comics scholarship so easy and shareable. This time, enjoy Cory Thomas’ Watch Your Head takes on Tyler Perry (who, lest we forget, created Madea as a stage character), a couple of episodes from a longer storyline in Preteena mocking school pageants and high school … Continue reading »

Through Feb. 25 at the Yale Repertory Theatre. By Christina Anderson. Directed by Tina Landau. Scenic Designer: James Schuette. Costume designer: Toni-Leslie James. Lighting Designer: Scott Zielinski. Sound Designer: Junghoon Pi. Production Dramaturgs: Amy Boratko, Alexandra Ripp. Vocal and Dialect Coach: Jane Guyer Fujita. Fight Director: Rick Sordelet. Stage Manager: Maria Cantin. We’ve got ourselves … Continue reading »

Long Wharf Theatre and Hartford Stage have has announced who’s going to be in their co-production of Bell, Book and Candle, which comes to New Haven first, March 7-April 1, and hits Hartford just days later, April 5-29. Should be a comfortable cast. Nearly all of them have worked with director Darko Tresnjak before, one … Continue reading »

The Bushnell in Hartford has announced six of the seven titles in its 2012-13 Broadway series, and there’s not a revival in the lot. None of the shows dates back more than a few years, though the oldest of them—Mary Poppins, which opened five years ago on Broadway and premiered in London’s West End two … Continue reading »

Earlier this month Goodspeed Musicals announced the third of the three shows planned for its 2011-12 season at its Goodspeed Opera House home base. Yesterday they announced the second of the three shows which will play its smaller and more progressive space, the Norma Terris Theatre in Chester. The show is Amazing Grace, based on … Continue reading »

My reaction to Macbeth 1969—which has its final few performances this week, closing after the Sunday matinee Feb. 12—was strongly visceral: blinding lights, frantic movement, throbbing drumbeats and heartbeats as harbingers of gunshots. Most of my critical brethren, I notice, overlooked the visual impact of this production and instead took it as an opportunity to … Continue reading »