by Mark G. Auerbach
Liz Larsen stars in Sweeney Todd at CT. Rep’s Nutmeg Summer Series
Terrence Mann plays the title role in Sweeney Todd at CT. Rep’s Nutmeg Summer Series.
Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd Storrs-Bound
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim’s Tony-Award-winning tale of love, murder and revenge set against the backdrop of 19th century London, will be staged concert-style by Peter Flynn, at Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s Nutmeg Summer Theatre, June 21-July 1 in Storrs, CT. The cast includes Broadway stars Terrence Mann (Beauty and the Beast, Les Misérables), Liz Larsen (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Hairspray), Andréa Burns (On Your Feet!, In the Heights) and Ed Dixon (Sunday in the Park with George, Mary Poppins).
Sweeney Todd, an unjustly exiled barber, returns to London seeking vengeance against the lecherous Judge Turpin who framed him and ravaged his young wife. The road to revenge leads Todd to Mrs. Lovett, the resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop, above which he opens a new barber practice. Mrs. Lovett’s luck sharply shifts when Todd’s thirst for blood inspires a new ingredient for her meat pies that has the people of London lining up…and the carnage has only just begun!
For details: 860.486.2113 or www.crt.uconn.edu
Of Note
Mfoniso Udoha
Mfoniso Udofia has been named as as the 2018 Aetna New Voices Fellow at Hartford Stage. A first-generation Nigerian-American storyteller and educator, Udofia is the author of The Ufot Cycle, an ambitious nine-play saga examining the history of Nigerian immigration in America through the eyes of one family. Two plays in the cycle, Sojourners and Her Portmanteau, ran in repertory at the New York Theater Workshop last year. For details: https://www.hartfordstage.org/
The Connecticut Critics Circle Awards will be presented at Westport County Playhouse in Westport, CT on June 11. Jenn Harris and Matthew Wilkas, stars of TheaterWorks holiday comedy perennial Christmas on the Rocks, will be masters of ceremony for the 28th annual event which is free and open to the public. Hartford Stage’s The Age of Innocence earned eight nominations, including outstanding play, director and lead actor and three featured actresses, costumes and lighting while Goodspeed’s Oklahoma! received a total of seven nods, including best musical, director, lead actress and actor and featured actress and actor and choreography. Receiving the annual Tom Killen Award for lifetime achievement in Connecticut theater will be Michael O’Flaherty, longtime music director at Goodspeed Musicals. For details and nominees: http://ctcritics.org/ct-
Keep in Mind
Arts Beat Radio airs every Friday at 8AM, on 89.5fm/WSKB. On June 22, Mark G. Auerbach chats with actor, director, teacher, and playwright Eric Hill. He’s back from a fascinating theatre project halfway around the world in Armenia, and he’s getting ready to direct Pirandello’s Naked At Berkshire Theatre Group. Start your weekend with ArtsBeat Radio. Tune in live on the airwaves, on Comcast ch. 15, or www.wskb.org
Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley bring Broadway to the Mahaiwe.
Ani DiFranco will perform at The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington on June 17. With the release of her latest album Binary, DiFranco returns to the road backed by her band mates Todd Sickafoose (bass) and Terence Higgins (drums) on the “Rise Up” tour. She is a songwriter, vocalist and guitarist perpetually on the move. From the raw “folk punk” of her early albums through the jazz/funk grooves she created during her years touring with a five-piece band to the twists and turns of her current work as a solo artist, DiFranco’s restless creativity continually leads her and her listeners into ever more exciting territory. Folk rock singer-songwriter Haley Heynderickx will be the opening act. For details: 413-528-0100 or www.mahaiwe.org
The Road to Mecca, Athol Fugard’s study of the role of an artist in society, is playing Silverthorne Theatre in Greenfield, MA, June 21-30. The play is based on the true story of an aging Afrikaaner woman, Helen Martins, whose evocative sculptures transformed the yard of her house in her isolated community into “a visionary environment”, assaulting the sensibilities of her conservative Dutch Reformed neighbors and causing them to doubt her sanity. For details: 413-768-7514 or http://www.
Tight Pants, a new play by Springfield’s Betel Arnold that grew out of a writing workshop taught by Majestic Producing Director Danny Eaton, will be performed June 22-23 at The Majestic Theater in West Springfield. . The story focuses on the friendship of two women in the barrio in the Dominican Republic whose bond is powerful enough to change the course of their lives and the attitudes they hold about themselves and the men in their lives. For details: 413-747-7797. or http://www.majestictheater.
Ellen Barry brings Shakespeare’s women to North Hall, Huntington.
Shakespeare’s Women. Veteran actor Ellen Barry presents her solo performance of The Bard’s portraits of women, from ingénues to leading ladies to character women and finally crones, at The North Gall Arts Festival in Huntington, MA. on June 24. Barry has performed in productions in New York City, and theaters across the country, including numerous productions at the New Century Theatre in Northampton. For details: 413 667-5543 or www.northhallhuntington.org
Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley,Broadway’s golden couple, have delighted audiences with their glorious voices, moving interpretations, and comic timing. They will perform Broadway and Beyond on June 24. a the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, performing songs they introduced on Broadway, in roles they originated, in Ragtime, Passion, Kiss Me Kate (revival, of course), The Full Monty, Curtains, and The Visit, as well as popular standards from the Great American Songbook. In addition to their theater work, the duo have made many TV appearances and performed in cabarets, concert halls, and with symphonies around the world. They are part-time Berkshire region residents. Tickets are $39 to $69. For details: 413-528-0100 or www.mahaiwe.org
Berkshire Theatre Group will offer “talkbacks” following every performance of Emmy Award-nominated Jason Odell Williams’ provocative Church & State. Directed by Charlotte Cohn, Church & State runs June 14-June 30 at the Unicorn Theatre on the Stockbridge, MA campus. Graham Rowat and Keira Naughton head the cast. For details and a list of talkback speakers: https://www.
—
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. Mark produces and hosts ArtsBeat Radio for 89.5fm/WSKB.
