From ‘Cabaret’ to ‘Hamilton’
Our picks for the top 12 must-see spring theater shows in Connecticut
Theaters have sprung back from the pandemic, celebrating the end of the first full seasons since COVID shutdown stages throughout Connecticut.
Theatergoing has not gotten completely back to normal. Nearly all Connecticut theaters still require masks to worn indoors, regardless of the dictates of the towns in which the theaters reside. That’s largely due to ongoing concerns about new variants and surges, national theater union COVID guidelines which tend to be more stringent than governmental ones and surveys of audience members conducted by the theaters themselves regarding their patrons’ concerns and comfort.
What has changed is the sort of programming theaters feel they can do again. After a couple of springs and summers of small cast and/or outdoor entertainments, bigger and brassier indoor shows are back.
These are the Courant’s picks for the dozen most highly anticipated theater shows between now and the end of June.
‘Next to Normal’
April 5 -2 4 at Westport Country Playhouse, Westport. westportplayhouse. org/show/nexttonormal
Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s groundbreaking music explores tough topics like grief and loss, clinical depression, the difficulties of being a teenager, dysfunctional relationships and controversial mental health treatments. You might remember an exceptional production of the musical by TheaterWorks Hartford in 2017 (which the theater revisited in a virtual archived video form in 2020). The new Westport one is directed and choreographed by Marcos Santana, who helmed “In the Heights” for the playhouse two years ago. It stars Wilson Jermaine Heredia (who originated the role of Angel in “Rent” on Broadway) and Darlesia Cearcy (from the recent Broadway revival of “Once on This Island”). The theater is holding a series of mental health-themed events during the show’s run.
‘Bee Trapped Inside the Window’
April 2 2 through May 8 at HartBeat Ensemble, Hartford. hartbeat ensemble.org
Hartford’s politically and socially conscious small theater ensemble returns to its Carriage House stage on Farmington Avenue for the world premiere of a
new play it workshopped during the pandemic with a virtual reading. The director (Vernice Miller) and two of the three cast members are the same as in that reading, while the script has undergone rewrites and will now benefit from a set, lights and all the glories of live performances. Saviana Stanescu’s drama hits us where we live, examining slavery in present day through the eyes of an indentured immigrant servant.
‘Zoey’s Perfect Wedding’
April 30 through June 5 at TheaterWorks Hartford. twhartford.org
One of the most versatile theater writers of our time, Matthew Lopez can write heart-wrenching historical dramas (“The Whipping Man”), epic social chronicles (“The Inheritance”) and tender family stories (“Somewhere”). But Lopez also writes crowd-pleasing comedies such as “The Legend of Georgia McBride” (a hit for TheaterWorks in 2018) and the chaotic nuptials of “Zoey’s Perfect Wedding.”
‘Curlew River and Seven Deadly Sins’ May 12-15 at Madison Lyric Stage, Madison. madisonlyricstage.org
An inspired double feature of two short operas, kicking off the newly tent-bound Madison Lyric Stage season. “Curlew River” is a religious parable by William Plomer and Benjamin Britten, using a Japanese Noh theater format. “Seven Deadly Sins” is a satirical song cycle of sorts by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.
‘Between
Two Knees’
May 12-June 4 at Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven. yalerep.org
The 1491s are a Native American sketch comedy ensemble you may know from various comedy news shows, or from the many mentions of them in comedy historians Kliph Nesteroff ’s new book “We Had A Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans and Comedy.” The 1491s have now written a full-length play, which premiered two years ago at the Oregon Shakespeare
Festival and now comes to Connecticut. The director is Eric Ting, well-remembered as the ever-clever former associate artistic director of the Long Wharf Theatre.
‘She Kills Monsters’
May 13-28 at Hole in the Wall Theater, New Britain. hitw.org
In case you’ve missed it, “She Kills Monsters” is the teen drama sensation of the past few years. In Qui Nguyen’s masterful blend of broad comedy, science-fiction and psychological drama, a young woman named Agnes tries to bond with the memory of her late sister by disappearing into a Dungeons & Dragons netherworld.
‘Cabaret’
May 13 through July 3 at the Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam. goodspeed.org
What good is sitting alone in your room? The Goodspeed Opera House returns to large-cast, fullblown musical theater revivals with the 1965 Kander/Ebb classic based on John Van Druten’s play “I Am a Camera,” which in turn was based on the “Goodbye to Berlin” short stories of Christopher Isherwood. James Vásquez directs.
‘Queen’
May 17 through July 5 at the Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven. longwharf.org
Madhuri Shekar’s play, directed by Aneesha Kudtarkar, promises a provocative debate about climate change, academic principles and the world we live in, but “Queen” is also notable for being the last play scheduled to be performed at 222 Sargent Drive, which the Long Wharf Theatre has called home since 1965.
‘An American in Paris’
May 19-21 at the Shubert, New Haven. shubert.com
The national tour of the underrated Broadway musical is based on the Hollywood classic set in post-World War II France and features a slew of Gershwin tunes. The stage version, crafted eight years ago by Christopher Wheeldon with a script by Craig Lucas, keeps everything focused on great dancing and eternal romance but, unlike the film, shows us what the aftermath of a war can really feel like.
‘Rent’
May 2 6 through June 1 9 at ACT of CT, Ridgefield. actofct.org
With a national tour of the original Broadway rendition of “Rent” still crisscrossing the country through the end of this month — a tour which played Connecticut numerous times, on top of all the other tours that’ve happened since the late Jonathan Larson’s Puccini-tinged paean to late ‘80s New York City became an international hit in the mid-1990s — there simply haven’t been many regional productions of this modern classic. ACT of CT, which has a real feel for American musicals of the last quarter-century or so, offers its own “Rent,” directed by Michelle Tattenbaum. The timing couldn’t be better, given how well Lin-Manuel Miranda’s film based on Larson’s other wellknown work, “Tick... Tick... BOOM!,” turned out.
‘Kiss My Aztec’ June 1-26 at Hartford Stage, Hartford. hartfordstage.org
Esteemed film actor
John Leguizamo got his start on theater stages and comedy clubs, and he never left, still writing the occasional solo show for himself and now creating (but not performing in) this wild ensemble piece covering 500 years of Latin-American history. This manic history mix is also a musical. The book is by Leguizamo and the show’s director is Tony Taccone, with music by Benjamin Velez and lyrics by David Kamp.
‘Hamilton’
June 2 2 through July 1 0 at The Bushnell, Hartford. bushnell.org
Revolutions take time. “Hamilton” was supposed to return to The Bushnell two years ago, after first playing there just two years before. COVID put a damper on that, but a four-year turnaround is still pretty impressive, and the show is nearly as popular as ever. It also means that a show, which originated during the Barack Obama administration, and first played Hartford during the Trump administration, is now visiting during the Biden administration. A contemporary context can affect how the show is received, given its pell-mell multi-racial portrayal of political turmoil happening around 250 years ago.