Top Picks for Connecticut Theater June 2017

By Lauren Yarger

June is busting out all over and so are the selections on Connecticut stages this month.

Before we get into what is ahead, however, let's talk about marking the calendar to honor top performances in the past. The CT Critics Circle Awards, celebrating the season that has just come to a close, takes place Monday, June 26 at Sacred Heart University's Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts in Fairfield. The 7:30 pm performance is free to the public. Terrence Mann, artistic director for CT Repertory's Summer Nutmeg Festival, will be master of ceremonies.

At the ceremony, Paulette Haupt, founding artistic director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Music Theater Conference in Waterford, will be honored with the Connecticut Critics Circle's Tom Killen Award, given in recognition of her 40 years of extraordinary achievement and service to Connecticut theater. Nominations for the year's competitive awards should be out next week.

Now, here are the top picks for June:

1. THEATERWORKS presents Fade, a Hollywood satire, penned by someone in the know: Tanya Saracho (MALA HIERBA, writer, co-producer of ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder," HBO's "Girls"). Elizabeth Ramos stars as Lucia, a talented and ambitious young screenwriter, who gets some inspiration for her plots - and life - from janitor Abel (Eddie Martinez). June 1-30 theaterworkshartford.org/
2. Rock out with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for an the imaginary jam session MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET through June 25 at IVORYTON PLAYHOUSE The musical was nominated for three 2010 Tony Awards including Best Musical. ivorytonplayhouse.org
3. At Westport Country Playhouse, Kandis Chappell is a late cast replacement in the role of Miss Lettice Douffet in LETTICE AND LOVAGE, beginning today. The play, written by Peter Shaffer (AMADEUS) tells the story of Miss Lettice Douffet, a tour guide for one of Britain's stately homes, who creates outrageous, exaggerated stories to make the stuffy house's historic past more fascinating. Through June 17 westportplayhouse.org
4. The Sherman Edwards musical 1776 opens the Nutmeg Summer Series at CT Repertory. It features Broadway's veterans Jamie LaVerdiere and Gaelen Gilliland as John and AbiGail Adams in the days leading up to the vote for American Independence. The show runs through June 10 at the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre is located on the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut. crt.uconn.edu
5. If you are enjoying the music of Jeanine Tesori featured in the delightful musical THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE continuing its run this month at GOODSPEED, you can get a taste for her variety of composition when a tour of the Tony-Award winner FUN HOME stops at the Bushnell June 20-25. Tesori and Lyricist Lisa Kron were the first female team to take home the Tony for Best Original Score with this show, based on the memoirs of graphic cartoonist Alison Bechdel about growing in a funeral home run by her disturbed and closeted father. Don't miss "Ring of Keys," which is one of the most brilliant songs you ever will see on stage. bushnell.org/
6. And last, but certainly not least, is the terrific International Festival of Arts and Ideas taking place in New Haven June 3-24.The collection of arts includes presentations from theater, dance, circus and music, many of them free. For a full schedule, visit www.artidea.org.