“Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” has undergone a complete change of cast since the show played The Bushnell in Hartford last winter. (No, the actors did not turn into mice and lizards.) The national tour of the reconstituted “Cinderella” has two Connecticut stops this season, Nov. 11 to 13 at the Shubert in New Haven and Feb. 24 to 26 at the Waterbury Palace.
The show, originally created for TV in the 1950s, had its book rewritten a few years ago by playwright Douglas Carter Beane. The show was directed by Mark Brokaw, whom Connecticut theatergoers know from his work at the Yale School of Drama, including the summer Yale Institute of Music Theater. Though other productions had been found elsewhere in New York, over the past several decades, this “Cinderella” marked the musical’s Broadway debut.
It’s a frisky, colorful retelling of the fairy tale, even adding some political commentary about how hard it can be for charming princes to govern sensibly. Songs include “In My Own Little Corner,” “It’s Possible” and “The Prince is Giving a Ball.” Tickets for “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” at the Shubert, 247 College St., New Haven, are $30 to $130. 203-562-5666 and shubert.com.
The Paris Revue
“An American in Paris” is one of a long line of George Gershwin works that have been refashioned for Broadway. Usually, the concern is that a musical’s book has to be rewritten, or some of Gershwin’s best-known melodies have to be shoehorned into the score.
In this case, the original was a well-thought-through 1951 Hollywood musical, created more than a dozen years after the composer’s death (but with the full cooperation of his lyricist brother Ira). The main issue was, where are you going to find another Gene Kelly? Choreographer and director Christopher Wheeldon has maintained the reputation of “An American in Paris” as an all-out dance spectacle, a love story between an artist and a ballerina, and a love letter to the city of Paris.
The first national tour, starring Garen Scribner and Sara Esty, visits The Bushnell, 160 Capitol Ave., Hartford, from Nov. 15 to 20. Performances are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $36.50 to $119.50. 860-987-5900 and bushnell.org.
They’re Dancing And They Can’t Be Bothered Now
“Carefree” was a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie in 1938. Now it’s also the title of a live theater show that pays tribute to those Hollywood dance icons. The national tour of “Carefree: Dancin’ With
Fred and Ginger,” directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle (a Tony winner for “After Midnight”), stars Jared Grimes and Hayley Podschun. It also features an appearance by Broadway diva Donna McKechnie (the original Cassie in “A Chorus Line”). The performers share the stage with film clips from classic Fred and Ginger musicals. “Carefree” hoofs it into the Garde Arts Center in New London Nov. 12 at 8 p.m. $40 to $64. 860-444-7373 and gardearts.org.
Metal Show
“The Aluminum Show” is a big, bendy, clanking, pinging industrial entertainment. This touring roll of tinfoil, which slinks into the Garde Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16, is described as “a multisensory experience” combining “visual theater, dance and humor.” Whatever it is, “The Aluminum Show” is certainly shiny. $32 to $50. 860-444-7373 and gardearts.org.
Miranda Sings Bigger
“Miranda Sings” no longer just gets branded a “YouTube sensation.” The off-putting, off-key songstress, a comic creation of actor Colleen
Ballinger-Evans, is now a full-fledged sitcom star thanks to her new Netflix series “Haters Back Off!”
Miranda’s just as funny in longform as in short, as those who’ve seen her live tours can attest. The Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury, welcomes “Miranda Sings” Nov. 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $51. 203-346-2000 and palacetheaterct.org
