Choose your mood with big laughs and a bit of the blues
Some funny people can be found in Connecticut this week, including Jo Koy, Fortune Feimster, “Your Mom’s House” podcaster Christina P. and the latest Playhouse on Park Comedy Nite double bill.
It’s also a good week for the blues, sad country songs and emotive Southern rock, with Robert Cray playing both the Garde Arts Center and Infinity Hall Norfolk, Hailey Whitters at Toad’s Place, the “Roots & Boots” tour with Sammy Kershaw, Aaron Tippin and Collin Raye at Foxwoods and the Allman Brothers tribute Band of Brothers at Infinity Hall Hartford.
Choose your mood; if you get too happy or gloomy, you know you can easily change that mood elsewhere.
Here are some of the top things to do this week in Connecticut arts
ROBERT CRAY
Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London Infinity Hall, 20 Greenwoods Road West, Norfolk
One of the great modern blues guitarists has been “modern” for half a century now. Robert Cray’s “Groovin’ 50 Years” tour, with opening act Vance Gilbert, brings his soaring guitar to two venues this week. March 24 at 7 p.m. ($39$95. gardearts.org). Also March 29 at 8 p.m. at Infinity Hall Norfolk, where the seated areas are sold out by standing room is available for $85. (infinityhall.com).
CHRISTINA P. Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge, Ridgefield
The popular “Your Mom’s House” podcaster Christina P., who co-hosts the parenting-themed program with her husband Tom Segura, will do a stand-up style performance on March 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Ridgefield Playhouse. $50-$60. ridgefieldplayhouse.org.
JO KOY
Mohegan Sun Arena, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville
Did Jo Koy deserve all the scorn piled on him when he hosted the Golden Globes this year? Judge his comedy talents for yourself by watching his half-dozen Comedy Central specials and see him perform live on March 24 at 7:30 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena. $81.20-$92.45. mohegansun.com.
BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL
The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford
The Banff Mountain
Film Festival is special showcase of a certain type of filmmaking, the kind that astonishes with its gorgeous depictions of hard-to-get-to parts of the world. The short adventures are shot by cyclists, cave explorers, paragliders and mountain climbers. The Bushnell welcomes the latest touring version of the festival, which originates in Colorado. March 28 at 7 p.m. $31-$46. bushnell.org.
‘CHITRANGADA’ YALE Off Broadway Theater, 42 Broadway, New Haven
The Yale Bengali Student Association is staging a rare American production of a classic 1892 Nritya-Nātya (dance-based drama) play by Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. It’s based on the myth of the Indian princess Chitrangada, a story also found in the Mahabharata. The performance contains some English language and subtitles. March 28-30 at 8 p.m. Free. yaleconnect.yale. edu.
FORTUNE FEIMSTER The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford
Comedian Fortune Feimster makes her latest of many trips to Connecticut, this time to The Bushnell’s Belding Theater. You may know her from the podcast “What a Joke with Papa and Fortune” or the TV
series “The Mindy Project” or “The L Word: Generation Q.” March 29 at 7 p.m. $39-$79. bushnell.org.
HAILEY WHITTERS Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven
Nashville-based country singer Hailey Whitters, who’s originally from Iowa, has frequently collaborated with Lori McKenna and has released three solo albums of her own, including “Black Sheep,” “The Dream” and “Raised.” She plays Toad’s Place, not known for its country
music bookings, on March 29 at 7:30 p.m. Lauren Watkins opens. $25, $20 in advance. toadsplace.com/.
ROOTS & BOOTS TOUR
Foxwoods Resort Casino, 350 Shoreline Trolley Blvd., Mashantucket
Three key country music artists of the 1990s — Sammy Kershaw, Aaron Tippin and Collin Raye — join together for a tour. Among them, they had dozens of hits on the country charts. Tippin’s include “There Ain’t
Nothin’ Wrong with the Radio,” “That’s as Close as I’ll Get to Loving You,” “Kiss This” and “You’ve Got to Stand for Something”, Kershaw’s known for “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful,” “Cadillac Style”, “Anywhere but Here” and “National Working Woman’s Holiday” and Raye gave us “Love, Me,” “In This Life”, “My Kind of Girl” and “I Can Still
Feel You.” March 29 at 8 p.m. at Foxwoods’ Premier Theater. $55.75-$96.75. foxwoods.com.
COMEDY NITE Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, West Hartford
The latest stand-up comedy night at Playhouse on Park offers the witty insights of Chris Tabb and Mike Hanley. The playhouse sets up some seats on the stage right near the comedians. March 30 at 8 p.m. $20. playhouseonpark. org.
SCAR LIP
The Webster, 31 Webster St., Hartford
The young female rapper and TikTok sensation Scar Lip, of “Glizzy Gobbler” and “This is New York” fame, performs March 30 at 8 p.m. at the Webster Underground. $25, $35
early entrance, $85 VIP package with meet and greet, $400 VIP booth for up to five people. thewebsterct.com.
BAND OF BROTHERS Infinity Hall, 32 Front St., Hartford
If you saw “The Cher Show” Broadway musical tour this month at
The Bushnell, you saw an actor impersonating Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers and singing a couple of his hits. A much fuller and more credible representation of the Allman Brothers style comes to Infinity Hall Hartford this week courtesy of Band of Brothers, an ensemble steeped in Southern rock sounds. Band of Brothers features members of North Mississippi Allstars, Pink Talking Fish, Neighbor, Dub Apocalypse, Peter Wolf ’s Midnight Travelers, Dickey Betts & Great Southern, Slightly Stoopid, Sonya Rae Taylor and A Band of Killers. Specifically, the players are guitarists Johnny Trama and Ryan Taylor, bassist Jesse Williams, drummer Tom Arey, percussionist Brendan Tommaney and keyboardist/vocalist Matt Zeiner. $25. infinityhall. com.