Rent is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson. It is inspired by the 1896 opera La Boheme by Puccini. Rent tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in the East Village of New York city , in the days of before gentrification and when HIV/Aids was still raging.
The young artists live in a rundown loft in Alphabet City and are months behind on their rent. They band together to feed each other, stay warm and keep a roof over their head even when the electricity it turned off. A former friend who now owns the building with his wealthy wife wants to evict them. It is this pending eviction, the knowledge some of their friends are HIV positive, strengthen their bonds and their friendship to stay in the only home they have. The story and music is both emotional and moving and you cannot leave the production without being touched by this story.
Rent stars Jacob Heimer (B’way- Beautiful) as Roger, Joe Tolentino (Regional- Rent w/ director Adam Pascal) as Mark, Cedric Leiba JR. (Tour- Rent, Miss Saigon) as Angel, Darrick Penny (Regional- Rent w/ director Adam Pascal) as Tom, LaDonna Burns (Nat’l Tour- Rent, MTC- Ghost (CT Critics Circle Award Winner)) as Joanne, Olivia Fenton (Ivoryton- Hank Williams: Lost Highway, MTC- Moon Over Buffalo) as Maureen, Gabriela Gomez (Disney Cruise- Aladdin) as Mimi, Matt Mancuso (Valley Shakespeare- As You Like It, MTC- Ghost) as Benny, and Ensemble cast includes Sadie Seelert (B’way- Mary Poppins), Leeanna Rubin (Nat’l Tour- Annie), Carlos Pérez (SToNC- The Little Mermaid), Charles Romano (Legacy- Sweeney Todd). Rent is directed & choreographed by Chris McNiff with music direction by David Wolfson. The production team also includes stage management by Theresa Stark, fight & intimacy direction by Dan O’Driscoll, scenic design by Marty Marchitto, lighting design by Scott Borowka, prop design by Claudia Ruck, costume design by Diane Vanderkroef, and sound design by Jon Damast. Ticket prices range from $45-$60 plus fees and can be purchased online.
We all need a night of laughter and great entertainment. Now on stage at The Ridgefield Theater Barn is the hilarious comedy “Moon Over Buffalo”. The comedy will be presented starting May 30th through June 21, 2025. The play by Ken Ludwig was staged on Broadway in 1995 starring Carol Burnett and ran for over 300 performances.
The play takes place in Buffalo New York in the early 1950s where we meet George and his wife Charlotte who are both actors and are presenting two plays in their small repartory theatre, Cyrano De Bergerac and Private Lives. We meet the characters as they have a sword fight to and fro across the Theatre Barn stage. The sword fight is only a hint of the highly physical comedy that is to come during the two act, two hour performance.
George and Charlotte love the theater, but they crave one last fading hope at starring in a Hollywood feature film. Such a chance happens when the leading actor in a Frank Capra film is injured and the legendary director is coming to see George and Charlotte perform in person with the possibility of casting them in the film.
Chaos breaks out in the preparation for the performance. Joining the cast is Eileen one of the company actors who announces she is pregnant with George’s child. Also arriving is Roz (the daughter of George and Charlotte) and her fiancé, a television weatherman. When Charlotte discovers that George has fathered a child she plans to run off with her own lover, Richard. George starts drinking and runs off. As Capra will be arriving soon for their performance, the players make a crazy physical chase through the elaborate stage in search of George and aided by Charlotte’s half deaf mother, Ethel.
The pace of comedy becomes frantic, fast and physical. The Theatre Barn set has numerous doors and a staircase which becomes the backdrop for a desperate search to find George and somehow stage the play in time before Capra’s arrival. The laughs are nonstop with wonderful performances from the cast.
The cast is George Hay – Fred Rueck, Charlotte Hay – Gillian Holt, Ethel – Elayne Gordon. Rosalind – Julia Preis, Howard – Seth von Schmidt, Eileen – Clara Sussmann, Paul – Matthew Donovan, and Richard – Timothy Huber.
Directed by Diana Canova who expertly guides this hilarious and over the top comedy by using every square foot of the stage and directing the actors to deliver their lines with hysterical result. An evening of laughs not to be missed. The set design was very impressive and really was an important part of the play.
The Ridgefield Theater Barn is a great experience. The audience in the small intimate space can bring in their own food and drink to enjoy prior to the performance. It is a very special venue and the productions are always of high quality.
Now on stage at the historic Westport Country Playhouse is “Native Gardens”. A comedy about new neighbors who quickly turn on each other. The show is playing February 18 through March 8. The iconic Playhouse is presenting this play as part of it’s 2024-25 “Season of Laughter”
Upon entering the theater on opening night we were struck by the amazing and complex stage décor. The play is set in a historic Washington D.C, neighborhood and the set presents two houses side by side. One house is brick and stone, with a beautiful rear deck of stone and a garden worthy of a layout in Home and Gardens magazine. The other house is clad in wood with steps to the yard made of construction lumber. The yard is devoid of landscaping with the exception of a large old oak tree which drops its leaves, acorns and branches onto the two yards. The contrasts will continue to the owners themselves.
The fine brick home is occupied by long time residents Frank and Virginia Butley. Frank works for the federal government, and Virginia reminds us more than once she is an aerospace engineer working in a predominately male field. They keep their home and yard immaculate and abide by the traditions of this historic neighborhood. The new neighbors, Pablo and Tania Del Valle are millenials and their idea for their new yard is to bring in native plants in sharp contrast to the well manicured plantings of the Butley’s.
The well intentioned friendliness of the new neighbors meeting quickly dissolves into a comedic back and forth between the neighbors about a disputed property line. The dispute over property rights the play quickly reveals the clash of taste, and issues of race, ageism, sexism, colonialism and class distinction. Despite handling all these thorny topics, the play keeps the audience engaged with a light hearted and rapid fire comedy from start to finish. The underlying tensions may be serious, but the lighthearted way in which they are approached reveals in the end these are good people with good intentions that have gone astray. It is a very clever written and meaningful play.
Native Gardens is the kind of relevant comedy we need today. From the brilliant set design and relevant soundtrack, the play delivers a delightful comedic evening with wonderful performances. The opening night attendees approved with a rousing standing ovation. A play that exposes the issues that divide us but wrapped in comedic brilliance which lifts the spirit and lightens your evening.
The play is written by Karen Zacarías, who was recently hailed by American Theatre magazine as one of the 10 most-produced playwrights in the U.S. Director is JoAnn M. Hunter. “Native Gardens” is the fourth production in the Playhouse’s 2024-25 “Season of Laughter.
The cast includes Paula Leggett Chase as Virginia Butley (Broadway: “Tootsie,” “On the 20th Century,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Curtains,” “The Pajama Game,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” “Kiss Me, Kate,” “Damn Yankees,” “Crazy for You,” “A Chorus Line”; 2020 Drama Desk Featured Actress nominee for “The Unsinkable Molly Brown”; Tours: “A Chorus Line,” “Cabaret”; TV/Film: “The Sound of Music, Live”;
Linedy Genao as Tania De Valle (Native of Hamden, CT; first Latina performer to originate the leading role in an Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway musical; named to Variety’s “Broadway Actors to Watch List”; Broadway: “Bad Cinderella” as Cinderella, “On Your Feet!,” “Dear Evan Hansen”; Off Broadway: “Women on Fire”; Tours: “Dear Evan Hansen”; Regional: “Passing Through,” “West Side Story,” “In the Heights”; TV/Film: “Death Saved My Life.
Adam Heller as Frank Butley (Westport Country Playhouse: Script in Hand playreading “The Outsider”; Broadway’s “Some Like it Hot,” “It Shoulda Been You,” “Elf,” “Caroline, or Change,” “Victor/Victoria,” “Les Misérables”; Off-Broadway’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” and others; Goodspeed’s “Fiddler on the Roof” – Connecticut Critics Circle Award/Best Actor), “Rags”; other regional theatre includes “Chicago”- St. Louis Theater Circle Award, “1776,” “Gypsy,” “Falsettos,” “The Chosen”; NYU/Tisch).
Anthony Michael Martinez as Pablo Del Valle (Off-Broadway: Classic Stage Co., 59E59, Vineyard Theatre, New Ohio, The Flea, Theatre Row. Regional: Great Lakes Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare, more; Film/TV: “After Forever” Amazon Prime series; MFA: Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting in DC; resident teaching artist for Red Bull Theater.
Cynthia Nixon, the Tony , Grammy and Primetime Emmy award winning actress in now on stage in “ The Seven Year Disappear”. The actress who is known for her iconic roles in “Sex and the City”, “Just Like That”, various plays both on and off Broadway and recently starred in the HBO hit series “The Gilded Age”. The versatile actress now brings her enormous talent to The New Group production of this intriguing drama.
Nixon stars along with Taylor Trensch (Broadway-Camelot) and they are the only two actors in the play. Nixon however has the task of portraying seven different characters . She delivers a powerful and convincing performance. Trensch plays Naphtali, the son of a famous performance artist. Suddenly and without warning his mother disappears without a trace. Naphtali sees his mother everywhere in the faces of co workers, friends and strangers. Finally and without notice, his mother returns. Naturally he has many concerns and questions but few answers.
Finally and without notice, his mother returns. Naturally he has many concerns and questions but few answers.
Nixon weaves in an out of the many characters she performs and the audience is riveted to the performance of the two actors. The stage is simple and is more akin to a performance art installation than a stage play. It is both engaging and intriguing. The performances of both actors are nothing short of brilliant.
The play has no intermission. This is a must see production that will have you discussing among yourselves the depth and meaning of the play. Written by Jordan Seavey, directed by Scott Elliot and is onstage now through March 30th 2024.
A hilarious zany comedy is now on stage at the Music Theater of Connecticut. Lend me a Tenor was first produced on the West End (London) in 1986 and on Broadway in 1989. The play was nominated for nine Tony awards, and won two. It also was nominated for six Drama Desk awards and won four. Now this comedy is on stage until November 20th. It is truly in the style of modern British comedy with exaggerated acting, physical comedy, over the top characters and a clever set that is a vital part of the story.
Hold on to your armrests as you may just fall out of your seat from laughing too hard! The play is set in a hotel suite in Cleveland Ohio in 1934. An internationally famous opera tenor, Tito Merelli is coming to Cleveland to perform the famous role of Pagliacci the clown. His anticipated arrival is a huge event for the local theater which is betting their season on this performance. Merelli is quite the ladies man and when he arrives we discover that all the women in the play are all trying to seduce him with the exception of his wife who storms out of the hotel after she suspects him of an affair. Act One soon gets turned on his head as Merelli mixes too many sleeping pills and wine. The theater manager fearing that his star is dead asks his assistant Max to don the make up and costume of Pagliacci and assume his role that very evening on stage. If the play is cancelled it could spell disaster for the theater.
The stage design is an integral and very important part of the comedy. The stage is one large hotel suite with a partial wall that divides the bedroom from the sitting area. The audience can see all the action in both rooms but the characters cannot. There are also 5 doors that exit the room, two to closets, one to the bathroom and two to the corridor. These doors are part of this very over the top physical comedy as the actors race in and out of the doors. Act Two turns the whole story on its head. Is Merelli the word famous tenor really dead? Or just in a deep sleep? Is there room for two operatic clowns in this comedy? Will Max overcome his fears and appear on stage as Pagliacci and save the day? You will have to see to find out.
Direction of this witty, fast moving comedy is essential for its success. Timing in comedy is everything and director Pamela Hill brings out the comedic best in this ensemble of fine actors. From rapid fire delivery to exaggerated facial expressions, the delivery is right on target.
Lend Me A Tenorstars Frank Mastrone (B’way- Phantom, Jekyll & Hyde, BIG) as Tito Merelli, Jeff Gurner(B’way- The Lion King, MTC- Sunset Boulevard) as The Bellboy, Michael Damian Fasano (Tour of Jersey Boys, Summer Theatre of New Canaan- West Side Story) as Max, Cynthia Hannah (TV- The Guiding Light, All My Children) as Maria, Jim Schilling(Hamlet with Tony Roberts, South Pacific with Jamie Farr) as Henry Saunders, Jo Anne Parady (Players Club- The Life of Shakespeare, Stratford Shakespeare Festival– Othello) as Julia, Emily Solo (Charlottesville Opera- Sound of Music, New Camerata Opera- Infinite Energy) as Diana, andAlexandra Fortin (Red Monkey Group- HeddaGabler, Gallery Players- Steel Magnolias) as Maggie Saunders.
Lend Me A Tenor is stage managed by Abbey Murray. The creative team includes fight and intimacy choreography by Dan O’Driscoll, scenic and prop design by Sean Sanford, lighting design by RJ Romeo, costume design by Diane Vanderkroef, and sound design by Will Atkin.
Ticket prices range from $40-$65 plus fees and can be purchased online. Support local theater!
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