by Mark G. Auerbach
“How to Succeed” Kicks Off Summer Theatre in Storrs
Fred Grandy, “Gopher” on TV’s The Love Boat, who gave up showbiz to become an Iowa Congressman, will replace The Nanny’s Charles 
Shaughnessy, as corporate tycoon J..B. Biggley in the Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s summer opener, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (June 2-12) in Storrs, CT.
Grandy, currently seen on The Mindy Project, began his career off-Broadway working at the Public Theater, and then initiated his career in television and film with appearances in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blind Ambition, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Welcome Back, Kotter and Law & Order. He has appeared on stage at regional theatres including Arena Stage and The Folger Theatre. Grandy served four terms as a congressman for Iowa’s Sixth District.
Riley Costello plays the fast-rising executive J. Pierpont Finch. The cast also includes Sarah Schenkkan as Rosemary, Ariana Shore as Hedy LaRue, and Tina Fabrique as Miss Jones. Vincent J. Cardinal directs, John Pike is music director, and Cassie Abate choreographs.
For details: 860-486-2113 or www.crt.uconn.edu
Yiddish Fight Club: Jewish Boxers and Wrestlers Fron the Early 20th Century
The visiting exhibit Yiddish Fight Club is now open at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA through September 30.
Yiddish Fight Club examines an often-overlooked side of Jewish culture: the bare-knuckled, rough-and-tumble world of the Jewish boxers and wrestlers of the early 20th century. Those figures included Martin “Blimp” Levy, a Boston native and one-time sideshow “fat man” who proved a nimble wrestler despite weighing as much as 700 pounds. Another wrestler, Rafael Halperin, was born to a religious family in Vienna and had to get permission from his rabbi to pursue bodybuilding; he went on to become Mr. Israel 1949 and enjoyed an international wrestling career, never competing on the Sabbath, before eventually becoming a rabbi.
Alongside larger-than-life images of the fighters, the exhibit looks at the colorful Yiddish fighting terms that curator Eddy Portnoy discovered in a 1926 linguistic study published by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, where he works as a senior researcher. “They’d sent linguists to the streets of Warsaw and Vilna to collect fighting terms from Yiddish-speaking street gangs,” Portnoy explains. The resulting study included words such as shmir, “an open-handed smack to the face”; barne, “a closed-fisted hit on the head with the knuckle of the middle finger raised” (a noogie, to English speakers); and der gubernator, “the governer,” a move that entails jamming your thumb under your opponent’s ribcage.
Although many are no longer remembered, in the 1920s and ’30s, Portnoy notes, a third of professional boxers were Jewish. “These were popular sports among the working class,” he says. “A lot of kids were fighting in their neighborhoods anyway, so why not direct that energy into making a little bit of money if you can? These boxers, in their heyday, were local heroes.”
Portnoy will speak about Yiddish Fight Club at a free gallery talk at the Yiddish Book Center on June 19. For details: 413-256-4900 or www.yiddishbookcenter.org.
Newsmakers
Justin Townsend, the UMass grad who is a two-time Tony nominee this season, won the Outer Critics Circle Award (given by out-of-town theatre reporters who cover New York theatre) for his American Psycho lighting design.
James Lecesne, Outer Critics Circle Award winner or his solo performance in The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, brings that play to Hartford Stage next season.
Darko Tresnjak, Hartford Stage’s Artistic Director, will direct George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan at Hartford Stage next season. Written in 1923, Saint Joan is the powerful story of Joan of Arc, and the title role has challenged actresses for decades. Uta Hagen, Lynn Redgrave, Judi Dench, Jane Alexander, and Imelda Staunton have risen to the challenge. For details on Hartford Stage’s upcoming season: www.hartfordstage.org.
Of Note…
Le Vent du Nord, the Quebec folk music quartet, perform on May 26 at The Volonial Theatre in Pittsfield,, presented by the Berkshire Theatre Group’ On The Stage Series. Considered a driving force in progressive folk, Quebec’s Le Vent du Nord is blazing a path that connects their roots to the wider world. Winning critical acclaim and audience adoration across the country, the quartet has earned several prestigious awards including two Juno’s and a Canadian Folk Music Award. For details: 413-997-4444 or www.berkshiretheatregroup.org.
The Michael Dessen Trio, featuring Michael Dessen, trombone, live electronics, compositions; Chris Tordini, bass and Dan Weiss, drums, perform on the Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares on June 3, at at Gateway City Arts, Holyoke. For details: www.jazzshares.org
The Hartford Gay Men’s Chorus presents its fourth annual spring concert, Why We Sing, on June 3-4 at the Aetna Theater at The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford. A newly-commissioned piece will be unveiled during the concert. The concert will also feature special guest vocalist J’zeida Ortega from Connecticut River Academy. Hartford Stage is providing ticketing for the event. For details: 860-527-5151 or www.jartfordstage.org.
The Taming, Lauren Gunderson’s outlandish and politically-charged comedy, gets its regional premiere as the opening show at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA (through July 30). “Miss Georgia” wants something more from The Miss America Pageant–she wants to rewrite the Constitution. Nicole Ricciardi directs. For details: 413-637-3353 or www.shakespeare.org.
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Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio.
