Connecticut Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 28

BWW Reviews: Parade Scene Highlights Seven Angel's MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET
by Lauren Yarger - December 03, 2012

The parade seen is terrifically stages with marching bands, entertaining acts and the famous Macy's balloons all depicted while Music Director Richard DeRosa and his five-man band play a score by Meredith "Music Man" Wilson that includes "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas." Alexander Butle...

BWW Reviews: Hartford Stage Showcases Ghosts in A CHRISTMAS CAROL
by Lauren Yarger - December 04, 2012

Right from the start, Michael Wilson's adaptation of Charles Dicken's A CHRISTMAS CAROL makes it clear that its subtitle, "A Ghost of a Christmas Story," should be taken seriously. Not only do the four ghosts we expect pay visits, but others dance, fly, float and slither across the stage in a satisf...

BWW Reviews: CT Rep's ROMEO & JULIET is Timeless Tale of Star-Crossed Lovers with a Few Twists
by Lauren Yarger - December 03, 2012

What stands out about this production is the really terrific fight choreography by Greg Webster. Steel clashes and extended sword battles rage in some of the most thrilling, realistic looking onstage battles you'll ever see. One battle breathtakingly stops, only to resume after intermission....

BWW Reviews: It’s a Good Show, CHARLIE BROWN, at Broad Brook Opera House
by Jacques Lamarre - November 12, 2012

Charles Schulz's 'Peanuts' characters return in a candy-coated confection at Broad Brook Opera House....

BWW Reviews: Yale Rep Takes a Revolutionary Look at MARIE ANTOINETTE
by Lauren Yarger - November 07, 2012

In this sumptuous, eye-pleasing version of the last days of Marie Antoinette, Adjmi interjects modern thoughts into history from France's bloody Revolution to create a remarkable, thought-provoking and witty theatrical experience. ...

BWW Reviews: The Warner Theatre Ventures Down an Ambitious SUNSET BOULEVARD
by Jacques Lamarre - November 06, 2012

Torrington's Warner Theatre's SUNSET BOULEVARD is big, it's the star that got small....

BWW Reviews: THE KITCHEN WITCHES Brew Up a Different Kind of Food Fight at Ivoryton
by Lauren Yarger - November 05, 2012

Insults, cooking competitions, family secrets bubbling to the surface and food fights are ingredients for a successful show....

BWW Reviews: New Britain Rep's DINNER WITH FRIENDS an Unsettling, Satisfying Meal
by Jacques Lamarre - October 28, 2012

The dissolution of a marriage leaves New Britain audiences with much to chew on....

BWW Reviews: Christie Brinkley-Led CHICAGO Tour Razzle Dazzles at The Bushnell
by Lauren Yarger - October 27, 2012

= Christie Brinkley, who played this role twice on Broadway, gives it a professional effort (adopting a speaking voice that sounds a lot like original Roxie Gwen Verdon), and she looks terrific, but singing and dancing don't come naturally to the former supermodel....

BWW Reviews: SOMETHING'S AFOOT at Goodspeed is a Whydunit Mystery
by Lauren Yarger - October 27, 2012

The biggest mystery surrounding SOMETHING'S AFOOT isn't who's murdering guests at a posh estate on a remote island. It's why Goodspeed would decide to present a revival of such a flawed musical when there are so many other more deserving shows out there. It's not a whodunit. It's a whydunit?...

BWW Reviews: Strong Performances Highlight CT Regional Premiere of NEXT TO NORMAL at MTC
by Lauren Yarger - October 24, 2012

It's compelling, moving, excellent theater and Pratt is a treat to watch....

BWW Reviews: Hartford Stage Offers Rare Musical with Comedic Romp, A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER
by Lauren Yarger - October 22, 2012

Offering its first musical premiere since the 1996-97 season, Hartford Stage presents a tongue-in-cheek, Edwardian romp among the royals in A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder starring Tony-Award-Winner and Connecticut native Jefferson Mays (I Am My Own Wife) as eight different characters....

BWW Reviews: Playhouse on Park Does Right by OF MICE AND MEN
by Jacques Lamarre - October 22, 2012

John Steinbeck's heartbreaking masterpiece is given a solid rendering at West Hartford's Playhouse on Park....

BWW Reviews: VENUS IN FUR at TheaterWorks - Dark, Stormy, '50-Shades-of-Grey' Night
by Lauren Yarger - October 20, 2012

It was a dark and stormy -- and 50-Shades-of-Grey-kind-of -- night. If that opening sentence piques your interest, you're going to love David Ives' play VENUS IN FUR opening the 2012-2013 season over at TheaterWorks Hartford. If not, you might want to stay home. ...

BWW Reviews: Theresa Rebeck's O BEAUTIFUL at CT Rep is About Agreeing That We Don't Always Agree to Disagree
by Lauren Yarger - October 06, 2012

Bullying, gun control and abortion rights are just a few issues that get a town hall hearing in the regional premiere of Theresa Rebeck's O BEAUTIFUL at CT Rep. What sets this one apart from other political plays is that some of the founding fathers themselves and other historic figures stop by to w...

BWW Reviews: BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO, As is Creating a Plausible Jukebox Musical Book
by Lauren Yarger - October 01, 2012

If you are a fan of the songs of Neil Sedaka, BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO, featuring 19 tunes performed by an enthusiastic ensemble at Ivoryton Playhouse, then love will keep you together. The implausible book concocted to link the songs together in Broadway-show fashion, however, might cause a little...

BWW Reviews: AMERICAN NIGHT's American Dream Nearly Turns into a Nightmare at Yale Rep
by Lauren Yarger - October 01, 2012

Montoya's writing is impassioned, witty and insightful and we can't help but come away knowing that we and our family history are part of the Night too. The play disappoints, however, when it allows leftist politics a soapbox....

BWW Reviews: A Jolly, and Not-So-Jolly, Holiday with MARY POPPINS
by Lauren Yarger - September 17, 2012

In this touring rendition of the P.L. Travers story (on which the 1964 Disney musical starring Julie Andrew and Dick Van Dyke was based), some of the telling in Julian Fellowes book is more "British" - darker -- than we might expect....

BWW Reviews: Chad Beguelin's Character-Driven HARBOR Premiere at Westport Country Playhouse
by Sherry Shameer Cohen - October 01, 2012

Meet the family! The theme of what makes a family is at the heart of Harbor, the world premiere of Chad Beguelin's first non-musical play. The strength of the play is that the character-driven plot keeps the audience members on their toes....

BWW Reviews: Jon Robin Baitz Creates a HEDDA for All the Ages at Hartford Stage
by Lauren Yarger - September 08, 2012

Times have changed, but Hedda's frustration still rings true in a contemporary society where political headlines about a "war on women" and protests that decisions on women's reproductive rights are made predominantly by men dominate today's headlines....

BWW Reviews: Chad Beguelin's Character-Driven HARBOR Premiere at Westport Country Playhouse
by Sherry Shameer Cohen - September 03, 2012

Meet the family! The theme of what makes a family is at the heart of Harbor, the world premiere of Chad Beguelin's first non-musical play. The strength of the play is that the character-driven plot keeps the audience members on their toes....

BWW Reviews: OLIVER Audiences at Ivoryton Can Consider Themselves Very Entertained
by Lauren Yarger - August 17, 2012

The dark and dingy streets of Victorian London and the hard life that faces those without the benefit of family pedigree or fortune are splendidly recreated in Ivoryton Playhouse's entertaining production of Oliver!, Lionel Bart's musical adaptation of Charles Dickens classic "Oliver Twist."...

BWW Reviews: Taut Thriller TRYST Teases with Tension, Twists
by Lauren Yarger - August 13, 2012

When dowdy, painfully shy Adelaide Pinchin (Andrea Maulella) meets dashing, smooth-talking, George Love (Mark Shanahan) it's love at first sight -- for him! Or is it? All is not what it seems in Karoline Leach's play Tryst, a taut, brooding, romance thriller full of creepy twists and turns that make...

BWW Reviews: LTM MUSIC REVUE Floats Along on Choppy Seas
by Jacques Lamarre - August 06, 2012

Little Theatre of Manchester's Musical Revue proves that the third time's not always the charm....

BWW Reviews: Colorful Backdrop, Soothing Music Soften Carousel's Harsh Tale
by Lauren Yarger - August 03, 2012

Director Rob Ruggierio's production of the classic, like the ups and downs experienced while riding a carousel horse (the carousel is wonderfully recreated for the prologue on the restrictive Goodspeed stage), has moments of delight and some disappointments....