Local theaters kick off year with a wide range of shows
“Queen of Basel” opens at TheaterWorks Hartford this week, but much of the theater action this week comes from the state’s hardy community theaters.
Little Theater of Manchester and the Warner Stage Company are among the amateur companies doing their first shows of the new year, with the Suffield Players and Milford Eastbound Theatre ready to open next week. The community theaters offer a wide range of offerings, from a Sherlock Holmes mystery to a Stephen King thriller to a 1960s romance and a non-fiction-based drama about factory workers with radium poisoning.
The musical concerts in clubs this week are no less diverse, ranging from New World’s classical “Final Fantasy” tribute at Infinity Hall to punk guitar great Jon Spencer at the Space Ballroom.
Here are some of the top things to do and see this week in Connecticut arts.
Jon Spencer & the Hitmakers Space Ballroom, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden
Every era and genre of music has its guitar hero. For 1990s punk-blues aficionados, that guitarist is Jon Spencer. He retired his best-known band, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, just last year but has formed a new band, Jon Spencer & the Hitmakers, which features drummer Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney and Quasi and is touring again. The Hitmakers hit the Space Ballroom on Feb. 1. Dance-punk trio Perennial opens the 8 p.m. show. spaceballroom. com.
BalletX
Jorgensen Center, 2132 Hillside Road, Storrs
The Philadelphia-based BalletX, founded in 2005, is not just one of the most important modern dance companies in the country, it’s also one of the most original, due to the large number of new works by exciting choreographers it has commissioned and premiered. Back on tour, BalletX dances on Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m. at UConn’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts in Storrs. $15-$37. jorgensen.uconn.edu.
Rob Schneider
The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford
Rob Schneider went from being a catchphrase king on “Saturday Night Live” (“Making copies!”) to a slew of feature films and sitcoms. He’s been in the news most often recently for some of his outspoken views on vaccines, politics and certain “SNL” stars, but he’s still being funny in films like “The Wrong Missy,” in which he plays a gnarly drunken sea captain. Schneider does his stand-up act on Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. at The Bushnell’s Belding Theater. bushnell.org.
Anthrax and Black Label Society
Mohegan Sun Arena, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville
Thrash metal pioneers Anthrax have
been around since 1981 and haven’t put out a new studio album since 2016, but don’t count them out. Their 40th anniversary world tour yielded a powerful live album, and they’ve remained on the road for most of the past two years, bringing along opening acts who bear an Anthrax influence. On Feb. 3 at 6:30 p.m. it’s Anthrax with Black Label Society and Exodus at Mohegan Sun Arena. $25-$45. mohegansun.com.
Mystic Bowie’s Birthday Bash Fairfield Theatre Company, 70 Sanford St., Fairfield
Connecticut-based reggae legend Mystic Bowie, best known as the former vocalist for Tom Tom Club and who, more recently, has straddled the same new wave/ reggae turf with his band Talking Dreads, is marking his birthday with a reggae party on Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. at the FTC Warehouse in Fairfield. The opening act is Nerry. $32. fairfieldtheatre.org.
Jesse Hameen II and Elevation Morse Recital Hall,
470 College St., New Haven
The Ellington Jazz series at the Yale School of Music welcomes a Connecticut icon, jazz drummer Jesse Hameen II and his band Elevation for a concert in Yale’s austere Morse Recital Hall on Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. Besides the mesmerizing Hameen, the band includes Rodney Jones on guitar, T.K. Blue on saxophone , Nat Reeves on bass and Zaccai Curtis on piano. $10-$33. music-tickets.yale. edu/events.
‘Baskerville’ Cheney Hall, 177 Hartford Road, Manchester.
Ken Ludwig is the playwright who gave us “Lend Me a Tenor,” “Moon Over Buffalo” and the musical “Crazy for You.” Some big theaters have done his plays, including both the Long Wharf and Hartford Stage in 2018. But sometimes the best places to see goofy mysteries are community theaters. The Little Theater of Manchester, which did Ludwig’s Connecticut-set mystery “The Game’s Afoot” (set at Gillette Castle) in 2019, is now doing his “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery.” It’s funny, but also a real mystery if you haven’t happened to have read the original Arthur Conan Doyle story. Shane Kegler directs. Feb. 3-19 at Manchester’s Cheney Hall. $17-29; discounts for seniors, students, military and groups. cheneyhall. org/ baskerville.
A New World: Intimate Music from ‘Final Fantasy’
Infinity Music Hall, 32 Front St., Hartford The role-playing game “Final Fantasy” debuted 35 years ago, and the classical ensemble New World is celebrating with a live concert of “intimate music” from numerous eras of the franchise. Due to popular demand, there are two shows on Feb. 4 at 6 and 9 p.m. at Hartford’s Infinity Music Hall. $48-$85. infinityhall.com.
‘I Hate Hamlet’ Music Theatre of Connecticut, 509 Westport Ave., Norwalk
Paul Rudnick’s “I Hate Hamlet” is about a New York actor who gets a chance to play the coveted role in all of Shakespeare’s plays and finds himself being coached by the mischievous ghost of one of the all-time great Hamlets, John Barrymore. It’s not a musical but is as bright and frisky as one. Music Theatre of Connecticut in Norwalk is staging it Feb. 3-19. Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. $40-$65. musictheatreofct. com/i-hate-hamlet.
‘Misery’
Warner Theatre, 84 Main St., Torrington
“Misery” is a play based on the intense Stephen King novel about a novelist who’s held hostage by one of his fans. The script is by the great screenwriter William Goldman (“Princess Bride,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”), who also adapted the novel for its 1990 movie version. The community-based Stage Company at the Warner Theatre in Torrington stages “Misery” Feb. 4-12 at Warner’s Nancy Marine Studio Theatre. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. $32. warnertheatre.org.