A Lot of Openings, a Lot of Shows

For avid theater-goers, there are a host of choices in the offing over the next three or four weeks.

 

Here’s the menu:

Motherhood Out Loud opens at Stratford’s Square One Theatre on May 12. It’s a series of monologues and vignettes dealing with the joys, sorrows and confusions inherent in being Mom. It runs on weekends through May 29. Tickets can be purchased by going to squareonetheatre.com or calling 203-375-8778.

Out at Ivoryton at the Playhouse, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks opens May 4 and runs through May 22. It deals with a lady of a certain age who hires a private dance instructor. She’s formidable, he’s acerbic and their personalities immediately clash, but over lessons in swing, tango foxtrot and the waltz they eventually learn from each other things of greater importance that proficiency in terpsichore. Tickets are available by calling the Playhouse box office at 860-767-7318 or by visiting our website at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org 

For those willing to drive a bit, New Milford’s TheatreWorks will be offering The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife starting May 6 and running for three weeks. This dramedy offers playgoers entry into the life of a lady who structures her life around trips to the Whitney, MOMA and BAM until a mid-life crisis and a childhood friend appear at the same time to shake up her life. For tickets go online at theatreworks.us or call the box office at (860) 350-6863.

And for those who thrive on star power, two-time Oscar winner Dianne Wiest will be at the Yale Rep in New Haven, starring in Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days. Wiest will play Winnie, a lady of unbridled optimism who must face a marriage that is calcifying and a world that seems eager to swallow her whole. It’s Beckett, so you can expect just a touch of the absurd to liven up the evening. It opens April 29 and runs through May 21. Tickets for Happy Days range from $20 -- 99 and are available online at yalerep.org or by phone at (203) 432-1234.

Long Wharf Theatre, also in New Haven, wraps up its current season with My Paris (May 4 – 29), an imaginative retelling of the life of the artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, directed by Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall, with music from the legendary French performer Charles Aznavour, and a book by Pulitzer Prize-winner Alfred Uhry. If you wish to visit Montmartre, the can can, and the world of Le Moulin Rouge, tickets can be purchased at longwharf.org or by calling 203-787-4282.

And then there’s “Porn!” which we all know is what the Internet is for, or so Trekkie Monster would have us think. You’ll learn more about porn plus prejudice and Schadenfreude when you travel to Norwich for Avenue Q, which runs through May 1 at the Chestnut Street Playhouse. Tickets: $25 and available online or by calling the box office at 860.886.2378

On April 29, The Sherman Playhouse will open its 2016 Season with its premiere of Noël Coward's classic comedy, Blithe Spirit, a comic masterpiece that playwright Noël Coward described as an "improbable farce." It concerns Charles Condomine, country gentleman and author, who invites the spiritualist Madame Arcati to his home for a séance. Madame Arcati unwittingly brings Elvira, Charles' first wife, back from "beyond." Elvira cannot be seen or heard by anyone except Charles and wreaks havoc with Ruth, Charles' present wife. And, of course, mayhem ensues. The show runs weekends through May 22. Reservations can be made online at shermanplayers.org or by calling the box office at (860) 354-3622.

Finally, the Suffield players are offering up a madcap mix of murder and mayhem with The 39 Steps, a tongue-in-cheek adaptation of the Hitchcock classic with a dash of film noir and just a touch of Monty Python. It opens May 5 and runs weekends through May 21. For reservations, call 800-289-6148 or 860-668-0837 or visit www.suffieldplayers.org