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10/19/2023 05:14 AMInside Notes and Comments About Connecticut and New York Professional Theater
Private Jones: Goodspeed’s production at Chester of this new musical will feature deaf, hearing, and hard-of-hearing actors. It will also feature ASL and open captioning at certain performances. Private Jones is inspired by the story of a deaf soldier in WWI who is a skilled sniper but also hides his hearing loss. It runs through Sunday, Nov. 5. It was conceived at Goodspeed’s Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Grove in 2019 and presented at Goodspeed’s Festival of New Musicals in 2020. For tickets and information on the ASL and open captioning, visit Goodspeed.org.
Hollywood in Ridgefield: Sunset Boulevard will open Thursday, Oct. 26, at ACT-CT in Ridgefield. The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical adaptation of the classic film runs through Sunday, Nov. 19. The production stars Pearl Sun as the deranged silent film star. For information, visit ACTofCT.org
More Jane Austen: Hartford Stage is giving us another take on Jane Austen through Sunday, Nov. 5. Pride & Prejudice, adapted by Kate Hamill, is billed as a “fresh, funny adaptation.” While the costumes may be period, the attitude of the piece is definitely more rom-com. This is the first production in Hartford Stage’s 60th season. For tickets, visit HartfordStage.org. This Austen piece overlaps Jane Austen Abridged, playing at Playhouse on Park through Sunday, Oct. 22.
Looking Back: MTC in Norwalk is producing Clybourne Park from Friday, Nov. 3 through Sunday, Nov. 19. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner takes its inspiration from the classic A Raisin in the Sun. In two acts, it shows a white community trying to stop the sale of a home to a black family in 1959 and, in 2009, in the same neighborhood, now African-American home owners are trying to hold off gentrification. For tickets, visit MusicTheatreOfCt.com
In Concert: Aaron Tveit won a Tony for his work in Moulin Rouge! The Musical, and is well known for his appearances on TV, including in Grease: Live and Schmigadoon. The Bushnell will present An Evening with Aaron Tveit on Wednesday, Nov. 8. You will most likely hear songs from some of his Broadway roles, including Catch Me If You Can, Next to Normal, and Wicked. For tickets, visit Bushnell.org. It may be a coincidence, but the tour of Moulin Rouge will be at the Bushnell later in November.
Drama School Productions: The 2023-’24 season of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale will begin with Suzan-Lori Parks’ play About F****** A, billed as a radical take on The Scarlet Letter and a forceful protest against the suffering of innocent people. It runs from Saturday, Oct. 21 to Friday, Oct. 27. From Saturday, Dec. 9 to Friday, Dec. 15 is Uncle Vanya with apparently a new translation. The Drama School season closes with Cleansed from Jan. 20 to 26. For information or tickets, visit drana.yale.edu/productions.
Federal Help for Theatres? New York Senator Chuck Schumer has introduced legislation to provide grants for five years to nonprofit regional theaters. The bill is named “Support Theatre and Generating Economic Activity Act.” This is not the first attempt to provide assistance; an early attempt stalled in Congress.
NY Notes: Some Like It Hot, the absolutely delightful musical of the classic film, will close Dec. 30 after nearly 500 performances. I thought the show deserved bigger audiences and a longer run. Guilford native Nick Fradiani will take over the role of Neil Diamond in the Broadway musical A Beautiful Noise on Tuesday, Oct. 31, when Will Swenson, who originated the role, leaves the cast. Fradiani had been filling in at some performances.
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.