Bring on the new musicals!
January tends to be a slow time in the entertainment world, but Goodspeed Musicals comes to the rescue every year with the always-entertaining Festival of New Musicals, which provides a full weekend of shows, talks and more in East Haddam.
This year is the 14th annual festival, and it once again features a trio of musicals that will be given public staged readings. They are: • “The Peculiar Tale of the Prince of Bohemia and the Society of Desperate Victorians,” 7:30 p.m. Friday; book and lyrics by Becca Anderson and Dan Marshall, music by Julian Blackmore
When Prince Florizel learns that his father, the King of Bohemia, is dead, he tries to escape the throne. He joins a secret society where club members play a deadly card game nightly.
• “The Proxy Marriage,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday; books and lyrics by Michele Lowe, music and lyrics by Adam Gwon
In Montana, a lawyer performs proxy marriages, primarily of military couples in which both parties aren’t physically present. The lawyer’s teen daughter and her awkward male friend stand in for the bride and groom, and the show follows their lives.
• “Devotion,” 1 p.m. Sunday; music, lyrics and book by Mark Sonnenblick
Wanda Lee feels lost. Paul, a football star addicted to painkillers, feels the same. When her young brother tells them he’s been recruited for a divine mission, Wanda Lee and Paul must decide whether to bring him to his senses or join him on his journey.
In addition to these performances, there will be cabaret performances after the staged readings on Friday and Saturday nights. On Saturday during the day, a variety of seminars will be offered, along with symposiums “The Art of Adaptation: Truth to Fiction” with Goodspeed Artistic Associated Anika Chapin and “Rise Up! Broadway and American Society” with theater critic Chris Jones. On Sunday afternoon, there will be a “Meet the Writers Q&A.”
Tickets are available for each staged reading. There are also ticket packages that include the cabarets, seminars, symposiums and Writers Q&A. Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals, Friday-Sunday, Goodspeed Opera House and other venues, East Haddam; tickets are $25 for each staged reading, $15 each for students; festival packages that also include events beyond the readings are $80 and $149; (860) 873-8668, goodspeed.org. The Great Believers
Rebecca Makkai
“The Great Believers” can feel sweeping and epic, as it shifts between two stories about human connection, loss and death — one set in 1985 Chicago, as the just-starting AIDS epidemic is attacking gay men, and the other in 2015 Paris, where a mother is searching for her adult daughter, who disappeared after joining what appeared to be a cult. Really, though, what gives this tome its force is how author Makkai creates complex individual characters we want to follow. Yale is a gallery development director, a young gay man who is dealing with his friends dying from AIDS. Fiona — pictured as a carefree young thing who loses her brother to AIDS in the 1980s section of the book — returns as a 50-something parent desperate to find her estranged daughter. “The Great Believers” was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction, and, if you read it, you’ll understand why. The Jayhawks
Sunday at The Warehouse, Fairfield
The Jayhawks will always be included as one of the founding and iconic “alt-country” acts along with the likes of Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt. But over time, with remaining original member/genius tunesmith/ vocalist Gary Louris in charge, the ’hawks have become a tremendous pop band. Louris seemingly channels great, old-style “radio” choruses as though his big brothers had been Pete Ham and Alex Chilton. The Jayhawks are on the road behind the typically hooky “Back Roads and Abandoned Motels” album and hit the Warehouse in Fairfield for an 8 p.m. show Sunday. It’s only 94 miles, so you can comfortably watch the Saints win and still get to the gig in plenty of time. The venue’s at 70 Sanford St. Tickets are $43-$48; (203) 259-1036, fairfieldtheatre.org.