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09/09/2021 12:01 AMRosemary Clooney: Tenderly, The Rosemary Clooney Musical will be at MTC in Norwalk from Friday, Sept. 17 to Sunday, Oct. 3. The show features the songs associated with Clooney as it tells incidents from her life. Yes, she is the aunt of George Clooney, but was originally a band singer, recording star, movie star (White Christmas), and later a respected jazz singer. Susan Haefner stars as Clooney with John Treacy Egan as the Doctor. Both have extensive Broadway credits. For tickets, visit musictheatreofct.com.
Eclectic Music: The Porch on Windy Hill, next at Ivoryton, offers music that includes the sources of Appalachian music, blue grass, country blues fiddle, and more. This new show is about two musicians, she a classical violinist and he and folk-song collector, who leave New York City during the pandemic to visit western North Carolina. It runs Thursday, Sept. 23 to Sunday, Oct. 17. Call the box office at 860-767-7318 for information or tickets. Seats are socially distanced.
Limited Audiences: The Connecticut Repertory Theater this fall will perform for extremely limited live audiences; others will be able to view some of the shows via Zoom. The season opens with She Kills Monsters, which will be performed outdoors in October for members of the UConn family. Next up is the comedy The 39 Steps and the fall ends with Food for the Gods, which will stream. For information and tickets, visit CRT.uconn.edu.
Connecticut Regional Guidelines: Six major Connecticut theaters have agreed on vaccination and mask mandates for the theaters. These six will have similar protocols: the O’Neill Center, Goodspeed, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf, Westport Country Playhouse, and Yale. Patrons must be masked and fully vaccinated to attend indoor performances and must show proof of vaccination. This applies to audiences, staff, backstage crew, and artists. Some of the theaters will allow for certain exemptions; these should be checked on the specific theater’s website. Of course, as condition change, these guidelines may change.
Workshops & Classes: Slowly the Connecticut theaters are returning to programming for kids and teen classes. Goodspeed in now enrolling children and teens for both the Private Studio and Ensembles. This fall the individual (private studio) and group classes (ensembles) will be virtual. Enrollment is no going one with classes starting the week of Sept. 13. For information, visit goodspeed.org. The new Legacy Theater in Branford is also offering a variety of Saturday classes for children, teens, and adults. Most begin in early October. Visit LegacyTheatreCT.org for information.
New Leader: Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT), which is part of UConn, has a new artistic director. Megan Monaghan Rivas will serve as both head of the Department of Dramatic Arts and artistic director of CRT. She last has been at Carnegie Mellon University. She is also a playwright and director who has worked at the O’Neill Center among other regional theaters.
From Broadway to the Screen: Several major Broadway musicals are hitting the screen this fall. The first to open is Dear Evan Hansen, released on Friday, Sept. 24. It stars Tony-winner Ben Platt. In November, Tick, Tick…Boom! will be both in theaters and on Netflix. Lin-Manuel Miranda is directing the piece by composer Jonathan Larson (Rent). The Steven Spielberg remake of West Side Story will be released Dec. 10. Also scheduled for December is Cyrano with Peter Dinklage, which began live at Godspeed’s Terris Theatre.
NYC Notes: Chicago is bringing Tony-winner Paulo Szot to again play lawyer Billy Flynn when the show reopens. Laura Osnes confirmed that she is unvaccinated and is thus out of the Disney Princess-The Concert Tour. She is being replaced by Christy Altomare, who starred in Anastasia in Hartford and Broadway.
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.