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Halloween Celebration, New Works, And More

Big Season Ahead: Goodspeed’s 2025 season looks like a blockbuster. The Tony-winning Ragtime opens the season (April 25 to June 15); this is one of my favorite musicals. Though it is a “big” show, I’ve seen it very effectively done on a smaller stage. From June 27 to Aug. 17 is All Shook Up, which combines the songs of Elvis Presley with a romantic story set in the ‘50s that draws inspiration from Shakespeare’sTwelfth Night. Goodspeed will celebrate the 50th anniversary of A Chorus Line with a production that runs Sept. 5 to Oct. 26. For the holidays, it will be Jerry Herman’s Mrs. Santa Claus from Nov. 14 to Dec. 28. The world premiere stage show is based on the television film. Information on subscription purchases will be announced later.

Plan Early: I suspect that the Goodspeed production of A Christmas Story – The Musical will be a very popular show. Everyone knows the film and the musical is terrific. The show runs from Friday, Nov. 1 to Sunday, Dec. 29. The music and lyrics are by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen). John Scherer will play the Jean Shepherd character; Scherer is a frequent Goodspeed performer. Jenn Gambatese will play Mother, with Jim Stanek as The Old Man and Christopher Riley as Ralphie. Visit Goodspeed.org for tickets. Special matinees are scheduled for Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks.

Halloween Celebration: Madison Lyric Stage is celebrating the season with a musical Halloween Celebration on Saturday, Oct. 26. It is described as a spooky and spectacular evening of music, food, drink, and dancing. The Shoreline Jazz Quintet will provide the music. Also featured is an autumn harvest-inspired buffet and performances by some Madison Lyric Stage favorites. For further information, contact MadisonLyricStage.org.

Coming to Long Wharf: Long Wharf will present the romantic musical She Loves Me in what it describes as a “new interpretation [that] strips away the layers of traditional staging to reveal the raw emotional core of the story.” The press material promises that the Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock will be as lush as ever. It will run from Saturday, Nov. 30 to Sunday, Dec. 15 at The Lab at ConnCORP on Newhall St.  For information and tickets, visit LongWharfTheatre.org

New Works Commissioned:  Yale Rep will commission new works by award-winning playwright Kia Corthron, Grammy Award-winner Ty Defoe, and playwright/director/actor Charise Castro Smith. The commissions are made possible by Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre, which was established in 2008 and received an endowment in 2012 from the Robina Foundation and others.

A Very Sad Month: September was an unusually sad month. Early in the month, the theater world lost James Earl Jones. Towards the end of the month, the theater world saw the loss of Ken Page, who originated the role of Deuteronomy in Cats and starred in Ain’t Misbehavin’.  Then, Dame Maggie Smith who is recalled for her role in the Harry Potter films and Downton Abbey, passed away at 89. Theater lovers know she had a long and illustrious stage career in London and New York. Finally, Broadway was shocked by the death of Gavin Creel, just 48, of an aggressive cancer. Creel, who won acclaim in Hair, was nominated for a Tony for Thoroughly Modern Millie and won a Tony for Hello, Dolly. We will miss his magnificent voice.

Robert Downey, Jr.: McNeal marks Downey’s Broadway debut. While he gives a fine performance, I wish that the play were better. Downey plays a novelist who wins the Nobel Prize for Literature but is a man with some secrets and less-than-endearing qualities. The issues that playwright Ayad Akhtar wants to address include the ethics of an author using things told to them in confidence or as part of a personal relationship, as well as the use of Artificial Intelligence in writing. Interesting subjects, but the first has been done on stage in a more compelling way and the second needs much more examination. The ending, while definitive, is also less than satisfying. The play is at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre through Sunday, Nov. 24.

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.