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06/02/2022 12:01 AMSondheim’s Sweeney: Madison Lyric Stage is presenting Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street from Thursday, June 8 through Sunday, June 19 in the new deluxe tent on the grounds of Madison’s Deacon John Grave House. Marc Deaton stars as Sweeney, who seeks revenge against the system that destroyed him. For tickets, visit MadisonLyricStage.org
Added Production: The Bushnell in Hartford is presenting the national tour of the off-Broadway hit Emojiland from Friday, June 10 to Sunday, June 12. The characters in this new musical are emojis and the show promises spectacle and a pop/rock score. It garnered raves off-Broadway as well as awards. For tickets, visit Bushnell.org
Sequel Coming: TheaterWorks is presenting the sequel to the one woman show, I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti, which is based on the stories by Giulia Melucci. The new show, Secondo, has Giulia (played by Antoinette LaVecchia) on her 10th wedding anniversary, preparing a special dinner. The world premiere runs from Friday, July 29 to Sunday, Aug. 28. For tickets, visit TWHartford.org
Girls and Sports: Thrown Stone Theater in Ridgefield is presenting two plays focusing on the same issue: girls in sports. The plays Athena and Hysterical! take different approaches to the subject. Athena deals with two fencers who practice and compete together but aren’t really friends. In Hysterical! a cheer-leading team is upended by the mysterious death of a member. The two plays run in repertory from Thursday, July 14 through Sunday, Aug. 7. For tickets, visit ThrownStone.org.
Also in Ridgefield: ACT-CT (A Contemporary Theater) based in Ridgefield has announced its 2022-’23 season. The classic musical Guys & Dolls runs from Oct. 27 to Nov. 20 followed by Rock of Ages from Feb. 23 to March 19. The Tony-winning musical The Secret Garden runs May 18 to June 11. Subscriptions are available at ACTofCT.org
It Was Bound to Happen: The Broadway revival of Take Me Out features a lot of male nudity (it is a locker room and the showers after all) plus some well-known actors. So it was only a matter of time that despite the theater’s precautions, a video of one of the shower scenes hit social media. It’s too bad that audience members feel so entitled and disrespectful of the performers. While performers do nude scenes, they would prefer not to.
Will They Learn? Broadway producers seem to ignore the obvious. Turning hit comedy films into musicals is not the path to financial success. Mrs. Doubtfire is the latest to prove the point; the show closed at the end of May. This follows the less than successful runs of Tootsie, Groundhog Day, and Pretty Woman in recent years. Both Tootsie and Pretty Women are doing tours. Let’s see if some of the expected 2022-’23 shows have a better track record. Among those expected are The Devil Wore Prada and Some Like It Hot. Also in the works are musicals of Sleepless in Seattle and Back to the Future.
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.