BWW Connecticut Theater Top Picks for March 2017

By Lauren Yarger
March brings many offerings, as always in Connecticut theaters. There are a few top picks that really having me looking forward to getting in my theater seat.

NEXT TO NORMAL
TheaterWorks, Hartford

This Pulitzer-Prize winning show is a favorite and always makes my top-pick list because the score by Tom Kitt (with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey) is so dynamic and the story, about a mother struggling with bi-polar disorder and depression, is so gripping. Making this production, which runs March 23 through April 30 even more attractive is the casting of Christiane Noll (RAGTIME, JEKYL AND HYDE) as Diana. Rob Ruggiero directs. www.theaterworkshartford.org

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
Seven Angels Theatre, Waterbury

The iconic Andrew Lloyd Webber rock musical, based on the 1971 original production, gets a run March 23-April 23. When it comes to Sir Andrew, I Don't Know How to Love Him enough.... sevenangelstheatre.org

ASSASSINS
Yale Repertory, New Haven

This is a top pick because it is a musical I never have seen before. I am familiar with the score, but for some reason, haven't ever made it to a production of Stephen Sondheim's unlikely story about nine men and women who have attempted to assassinate the president of the United States. I missed both the Off-Broadway original production and the 2004 Tony-Award-winning revival so I am looking forward to this production, which runs March 17-April 8 as part of the 50th anniversary season at Yale. James Bundy directs. yalerep.org

SMART PEOPLE
Long Wharf Theatre

This play by Lydia Diamond (STICK FLY), directed by Desdemona Chiang, explores hot topics in today's culture with humor. On the eve of President Obama's first election, four "smart people" - a doctor, an actress, a psychologist, and a neurobiologist studying the human brain's response to racial differences - find themselves entangled in a complex web of social and sexual politics. It runs March 15 through April 9. Longwharf.org

CLOUD 9
Hartford Stage

Associate Artistic Director ElizaBeth Williamson helms this production of Caryl Churchill's first international hit, first performed in the late '70s. The play, which runs through March 19, does some time travelling with the first act taking place in Victorian England and the second in 1979 suggesting what might happen if Victorian restrictions in Act 1 were relaxed. hartfordstage.org

MY WAY: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO Frank Sinatra
Ivoryton Playhouse

This musical tribute, conceived by David Grapes and Todd Olson, features favorites like "Fly Me to the Moon," "I've Got the World on a String," "New York, New York" and, of course, "my Way." Expect a lot of audience members to be singing or humming along at this one which runs March 22-April 9. ivorytonplayhouse.org

Lauren Yarger is an award-winning editor who reviews theater in New York and Connecticut. She is Second Vice President of The Drama Desk, a Voting Member of The Outer Critics Circle and The American Theater Critics Association, a member of the League of Professional Theatre Women (co-founder of its Connecticut Chapter), a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle and The Episcopal Actors' Guild and a Contributing Editor for BroadwayWorld.com.

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