Perfect for Mother’s Day, Wedding Nightmares, Moving On, and More
A Lasting Marriage: Branford’s Legacy Theater is opening its second season with the Tom Jones/Harvey Schmidt musical I Do! I Do! from Thursday, April 28 to Sunday, May 14. It might be a perfect show for Mother’s Day. The musical follows a couple during their 50 year marriage, which begins in 1890. The original Broadway production starred Robert Preston and Mary Martin. The song “My Cup Runneth Over with Love” became a hit in the period. For tickets, visit LegacyTheatreCT.org.
Wedding Nightmares: Playwright Matthew Lopez’s Zoey’s PERFECT Wedding is at TheaterWorks in Hartford from Saturday, April 30 through Sunday, June 5. Let’s just say that Zoey’s wedding is far from perfect as the wedding planner is incompetent, the toasts are inappropriate, and the friends less than supportive. You might remember that Lopez wrote The Legend of Georgia McBride that played TheaterWorks, pre-pandemic. For tickets, visit TWHartford.org
Moving On: Last fall, Ivoryton premiered the new musical The Porch on Windy Hill. Now the show has a production in Chicago scheduled. It had been scheduled for a two night run off-Broadway this past February, but it was changed to a streaming production.
Another Movie to Musical: Pretty Woman: The Musical based on the Richard Gere–Julia Roberts film will play Hartford’s Bushnell Theater from Tuesday, April 26 to Sunday, May 1. The national tour stars Adam Pascal, a Tony-award nominee, in the Gere role. Olivia Valli plays Vivian, the Roberts role. For tickets, visit Bushnell.org.
Next at Long Wharf: Following the very good production of Dream Hou$e, Long Wharf will launch its partnership project with the National Asian American Theatre Company with a production of Queen from Tuesday, May 17 to Sunday, June 5. The play follows two PhD candidates who are close friends and what happens when just before publishing one of them discovers a significant error. For tickets, visit LongWharf.org.
New Holiday Offering: Goodspeed has announced details about its promised original holiday production. Christmas in Connecticut–A New Musical is based on the film that starred Barbara Stanwyck. Though not in the same category as other Hollywood Christmas films, Christmas in Connecticut plays each holiday season. The music is by Jason Howland, lyrics by Amanda Yesnowitz, and book by Patrick Pacheco and Erik Forrest Jackson. It will run mid-November through December.
Broadway Canceled Performances: Broadway producer and Branford native Greg Nobile was quoted in The New York Times about what is becoming a “new normal” this spring: canceled performances due to positive COVID tests among cast members. Nobile’s new show POTUS, now in previews, had four of its seven actresses test positive. New shows are less likely to have standbys or understudies ready to go on. Some of the other shows affected were Plaza Suite after Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker tested positive and Macbeth after Daniel Craig was positive.
Karen Isaacs of East Haven is 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. To check out her reviews for New York and Connecticut shows, visit 2ontheaisle.wordpress.com.