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A New Comedy, A Tragedy, Our Constitution, and More

New Comedy: Hartford Stage starts the new year with Angry, Raucous & Shamelessly Gorgeous a new comedy by Pearl Cleage. The show is about a pioneering actress who returns to the United States after 25 years to find that her ground-breaking theater piece is to be performed by a younger actress who is also an adult entertainer. The show runs Thursday, Jan. 13 to Sunday, Feb. 6. For tickets, visit HartfordStage.org.

Remembering a Tragedy: ACT of Connecticut in Ridgefield is kicking off the new year with Nickel Mines. The show combines music dialogue, movement, to explore multiple viewpoints and perspectives about the day in 2006 when a gunman killed or injured 10 girls at an Amish school. The show runs Thursday, Jan. 20 to Sunday, Jan. 30. For tickets, visit ActofCt.org.

Our Constitution: New York was taken by surprise by the brilliance of What the Constitution Means to Me, a play that tells the story of young woman who financed her college education by winning debates on our Constitution and in the process connecting that document to her and her family’s life. The show is now at the Bushnell from Wednesday, Jan. 26 to Sunday, Jan. 30. This might sound dry, but it isn’t. And which one of us couldn’t learn more about the document that established our democracy? For tickets, visit Bushnell.org.

Those We Lost: Each year we look back at the theater luminaries and the supporting players we lost during the year. The period between November and December was particularly painful with the death of Steven Sondheim and then on Dec. 22 Sally Ann Howes, who among other roles was in the film Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang. We lost such outstanding stage performers as Christopher Plummer, Hal Holbrook, Cicely Tyson, Olympia Dukakis, Ed Asner, Peter Scolari, and Antony Sher as well as dancer/actor Jacque d’Amboise. In addition, we said goodbye to producer Elizabeth I McCann, playwright Arthur Kopit, choreographer Bob Avian, and lyricist Leslie Bricusse.

Welcome to 2022, The Year of the Understudy/Standby: 2021 ended with many Broadway shows either canceling performances because of COVID or depending on understudies to make sure the shows went on. Come from Away may have set a record when almost the entire cast was out. Should you be worried if an understudy is announced? No. Understudies are truly Broadway-caliber talent. Unless you are seeing a big star like Hugh Jackman or Patti Lupone or a friend who’s in the cast, you won’t be disappointed. Actually many understudies go on to star in the national tour or take over the role later in the run. By the way, when Jackman got COVID, the production canceled performances.

NYC Closings: January is usually a time for shows to close as the post-holiday tourism lags and the weather is cold and snowy. But this year, several shows closed before New Year’s. Jagged Little Pill, the Alanis Morissette musical was hit with COVID and the producers decided to close the show. Sarah Bareilles’s Waitress also closed because of COVID and is not reopening. This was a return to Broadway of the show; it reopened in September and was scheduled to close in early January. Another early casualty was Thoughts of a Colored Man. The show had tried to continue with even the author stepping into a role. Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of the Temptations will close Sunday, Jan. 16.

Hiatus: The producers of the new musical Mrs. Doubtfire have decided to take a nine-week hiatus to deal with breakthrough cases of COVID. The show will reopen on March 15.

Karen Isaacs is an East Haven resident. To check out her reviews for New York and Connecticut shows, visit 2ontheaisle.wordpress.com. She’s a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle, New York’s Outer Critics Circle, the League of Professional Theater Women and the American Theatre Critics Association.