BWW Top Picks for Connecticut Theater May 2017

By Lauren Yarger
Connecticut is enjoying a great run on Broadway this season with shows that got their start in the Nutmeg State receiving Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics award nominations.

ANASTASIA and INDECENT, both winners at last year's Connecticut Critics Circle Awards for best musical and play, are up for those honors again with nominations for Outstanding Play from the Outer Critics and Drama Desk. INDECENT, by Paula Vogel, also is nominated for a Tony, for the play, which premiered at Yale Repertory. Also nominated for Tonys are Director Rebecca Taichman and Lighting Designer Christopher Akerlind

ANASTASIA, which debuted at Hartford Stage, is directed by Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak (who won OCC, Drama Desk and Tony awards for his direction of A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER, which also premiered at Hartford Stage) and has a score by and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. It has received eight OCC and nine Drama Desk nominations. Costume Designer Linda Cho and featured actress Mary Beth Peil have received Tony nominations.

Christy Altomare, who won the 2016 CT Critics Circle Award for her role as Anastasia, also is nominated for Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards in her Broadway debut.

Meanwhile, Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway production of Holiday Inn, the Irving Berlin musical which got its start at Goodspeed, is nominated for Outstanding New Broadway Musical by the Outer Critics. It also snagged Tony, OCC and Drama Desk nomination for outstanding choreography for Denis Jones.as well an additional OCC nomination for orchestrations.

With these types of top-notch shows coming out of Connecticut, there almost is no need to hop the train to Manhattan!

Top Picks on Connecticut stages this month:

HARTFORD STAGE

HEARTBREAK HOUSE
May 11-June 11

George Bernard Shaw's comedy, directed by Tresnjak, features Captain Shotover (Miles Anderson ), his daughters - one liberal, the other conservative - and a household full of bickering guests in a home that's like a ship, or a country, charting uncertain waters. The cast includes Tessa as Lady Utterword; Dani de Waal as Ellie Dunn; Grant as Randall Utterword; Andrew as Boss Mangan; Charlotte as Hesione Hushabye; Keith Reddin

as Mazzini Dunn; Stephen Barker Turner as Hector Hushabye and Mary as Nurse Guinness. www.hartfordstage.org.

YALE REPERTORY

Mary Jane
Through May 20

The world premiere of Amy Herzog's play about a community of women concludes the 50th-anniversary season. Anne Kauffman directs.

As Mary Jane (Emily Donahue) navigates both the mundane and the unfathomable realities of caring for Alex, her chronically ill young son, she finds herself building a community of women from many walks of life. Mary Jane is Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog's remarkably powerful and compassionate portrait of a contemporary American woman striving for grace. The play was commissioned by Yale Rep. yalerep.org

LONG WHARF

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ROOM IN NEW YORK
May 3-28

Another world premiere - this one with a new title (originally called TABLE) with music by David Shire and book and lyrics Adam Gopnik directed by Gordon Edelstein and choreography by John Carrafa. The cast includes Krystina Alabado (Anna), Anastasia Barzee (Claire), Joe Cassidy (David), Darlesia Cearcy (Phoebe), Ryan Duncan (Gio), Danielle Ferland (Gloria), Anne Horak (Natasha/Franca), Tyler Jones (Bix), Constantine Maroulis (Sergio), Mark Nelson (Carlo), Sawyer Niehaus (Kate), Allan Washington (Irwin/Gabe).

David Kaplan (Cassidy) is a chef's chef, making beautiful, simple food of uncompromising quality in his lovely Union Square restaurant. But in the crowded, cutthroat and expensive Manhattan food scene, is that enough to survive and compete with the next big thing? Enter Sergio (Maroulis), an old friend, rival, and possible savior. This hotshot celebrity chef has offered David the opportunity to makeover his restaurant. Will David sacrifice his pride to save his beloved restaurant? longwharf.org

PLAYHOUSE ON PARK

THE LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC
Through May 14

Sean Harris directs Arlene Hutton's drama.

In December 1940, an eastbound cross-country train carries the bodies of the great American writers Nathanael West and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Also on board is May, who shares her seat with a charming young flyer, Raleigh. Religious and bookish, May plans to be a missionary. Raleigh has been given a medical discharge and, inspired by West and Fitzgerald, is heading to New York to be a writer. Discovering they are from neighboring Appalachian towns, Raleigh decides to change trains for Kentucky, promising to take May to the next Nibroc Festival.

Starring in this production are Lilly Wilton as May and making his Playhouse on Park debut, Joshua as Raleigh.

Harris and Hutton collaborated on her script for KISSED THE GIRLS AND MADE THEM CRY Hall High which won Broadway World's Best New Work and was performed in New York City and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. www.playhouseonpark.org.

SEVEN ANGELS

TRAV'LIN, THE 1930s HARLEM MUSICAL
May 11-June 11

Seven Angels wraps up the mainstage series with the Connecticut premiere of this jazzy musical with music and lyrics by J. C. Johnson and book by Gary Holmes and Allan Shapiro. Travel back to Harlem in the 1930s and follow the romantic escapades of three couples of different ages.

Johnson wrote Bessie Smiths' signature song "Empty Bed Blues" and collaborated with such artists as Fats Waller, Chick Webb, and George Whiting. His songs were recorded by such icons as Billie Holliday, Ethel Waters, Ella Fitzgerald, Louie Armstrong, Fred Astaire, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. The Broadway musicals BESSIE and ME, and AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' reprised his music for a new generation.

There are no performances Memorial Day weekend. SevenAngelsTheatre.org

DOWNTOWN CABARET

IN THE HEIGHTS
Through May 21

From the creators of the Broadway phenomenon HAMILTON, the multi-Tony Award-winning IN THE HEIGHTS, tells the universal story of a vibrant community in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood.

Director: Christy McIntosh-Newsom; Musical Director: Eli Newsom; Choreographer: Emily Frangipane. dtcab.com

THE BUSHNELL

THE KING AND I
May 30-June 4

This is a personal favorite (ask me some time about my theatrical debut as a Siamese child.....) but this particular production is definitely a Top Pick. Winner of the 2015 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, it is directed by Bartlett Sher who helmed the stunning staging at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater. Whether you are a lover of this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic or have never seen it, this is the production to see. It's Something Wonderful.

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