‘Anastasia” is still on the move. The Broadway show, which continues to play at the Broadhurst Theatre, and is readying several international tours, premiered in 2016 at Hartford Stage.
Christy Altomare, who originated the role of “Anastasia” in Hartford and on Broadway, remains the show’s star, recently recorded the show’s signature song “Journey to the Past” with Liz Callaway, who sang it in the 1997 animated movie on which the musical is based. You can buy the song on iTunes, Amazon, or find it on various streaming services. You can also watch a YouTube video of them in the studio. Providing piano accompaniment is “Anastasia” composer Stephen Flaherty.
Altomare is one of just five “Anastasia” cast members who were with the show in Hartford and have been with it for its entire 19-months-and-counting Broadway run. The others are John Bolton (who plays Vlad and ensemble members/understudies Janet Dickinson, Ken Krugman and Lauren Blackman.
‘Stomp’ And ‘Spamalot’
“Stomp” will return to Connecticut early next year, with a single 8 p.m. show on Jan. 18 at the Garde Arts Center in New London. “Stomp” last played the Garde in 2015; the tour hit The Bushnell last season. One of the tour’s cast members, Kris Lee, is a New London native and a Hartt School grad.
Also recently announced for the Garde: “Monty Python’s Spamalot” Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. The new tour of the 2004 musical, based on the 1975 movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” is also visiting New Haven’s Shubert theater Feb. 21 to 24. (Connecticut Repertory Theatre did its own production of the show in 2016.)
‘Rock Of Ages’ And ‘Kinky Boots’
The Foxwoods Broadway Series, which isn’t a subscription series and announces its titles somewhat arbitrarily, will offer the new 10th anniversary tour of “Rock of Ages’ April 5 to 7 and the current national tour of “Kinky Boots” May 31 through June 2. Various “Kinky Boots” tours have already played The Bushnell, the Shubert, Waterbury Palace and the Oakdale, but this will be the first one that comes to Connecticut after the show’s Broadway production has closed. “Kinky Boots”’ last New York performance will be April 7.) The “Rock of Ages” tour is a different animal; it’s been years since the last tour ended, and the show has endured through small theater productions and an intriguing “Broadway’s Rock of Ages Band” music-only tour that played the Waterbury Palace last year.
Where Are They Now?
Tarell Alvin McCraney — the Yale School of Drama grad who now heads that illustrious school’s playwriting department — has a new play, “Choir Boy,” opening on Broadway in December. Among the nearly dozen people in the cast is the great Austin Pendleton — also a YSD grad, from nearly half a century before McCraney. Pendleton is in Connecticut this fall directing the premiere of Matthew Greene’s “Thousand Pines,” which runs Oct. 30 through Nov. 17 at Westport Country Playhouse. Who’s directing “Choir Boy”? Trip Cullman, a — oh, you guessed it, YSD class of ’02. Details at manhattantheatreclub.com.
Remember when comic actor Mike Birbiglia tried out material from his new solo show “The New One” at the Funny Bone in Manchester in January 2017, at Foxwoods a year ago and at College Street Music Hall in New Haven in May? Well, the show had a successful off-Broadway run over the summer and is now moving to a Broadway theater, the Cort Theatre. Performances begin Oct. 25. Details at birbigs.com.
Idina Menzel, the “Wicked” and “Rent” star (and “Frozen” movie voice) performed her concert act at The Bushnell in January as part of Hartford Hospital’s Black & Red Gala. Those who saw that show are in luck, since Menzel’s new album is a based on that concert tour, and titled “idina: live.” The release date is Oct. 5. Later in the month, on Oct. 29, Menzel will reunite with her “Wicked” co-star Kristin Chenoweth for an NBC-TV special, marking that musical’s 15th anniversary: “A Very Wicked Halloween,” airing Oct. 29 at 10 p.m. Chenoweth happens to be in Connecticut Oct. 20, performing her own concert act at UConn’s Jorgensen Center.
Theater Reading
The young adult novel version of “Dear Evan Hansen” is out Oct. 9. The nearly 400-page book was adapted by the hit Broadway show’s creators — Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Connecticut-raised composer Justin Paul — along with novelist Val Emmich.
Turning a musical into a novel is a lot rarer than vice versa, but not unheard of. “West Side Story” (novelized by Irving Shulman) and “Annie” (adapted by the show’s librettist Thomas Meehan) are among the shows that went from stage to page. The most notable thing about this version is that it’s written mostly in Evan Hansen’s voice with occasional insights (presented in italics) from the ill-fated Connor Murphy. The plot takes a different shape. Evan Hansen’s emails can be read, not heard. You barely notice how some of the lyrics are worked into prose sentences. There’s a lot of fleshing out of the story and deepening of characters.
There’s already a nice coffee table book out, “Dear Evan Hansen: Through the Window,” which contains the show’s script and lyrics plus behind-the-scenes revelations. This new novel version puts “Evan Hansen” into a new dimension.
Small Theater Spotlight
I spent a very pleasant evening Sept. 28 clapping along to “We Will Rock You,” presented by the community-based Landmark Theater Company at the Thomaston Opera House. Seeing the Queen musical in such a quaint hamlet was a kind of magic (to quote a Queen song), enhanced by a pre-show recital by Juan Cardona Jr. on the theater’s grand white pipe organ, of such reconfigured rock classics as “Light My Fire,” “Smoke on the Water,” “Pinball Wizard” and of course the No. 1 rock-organ anthem “Whiter Shade of Pale.”
I hadn’t seen “We Will Rock You” since its first (and only) U.S. tour played the Shubert in New Haven in 2014. The futuristic fantasy, which ran for 12 years in London, never caught on in the states. When scaled down to a trio of electronic projection screens (in lieu of sets and backdrops), basic space-opera costumes and a hardworking seven-piece band (with two keyboardists and two guitarists), “We Will Rock You” resembles a talent show made up of Queen tributes more than it does a wild theatrical adventure. But, you know, “anyway the wind blows…” Don’t stop me now; I was having a good time. The run ends with a 2 p.m. matinee Oct. 7. Details at landmarkcommunitytheatre.org.
Casting Call For Kids
This season the Goodspeed Opera House featured over a dozen children in its production of “Oliver!” Many of them were drawn from a new “Goodspeed Kids Company” summer program which offers training and performance opportunities at the theater in exchange for tuition and a commitment to months of rehearsals and performances.
Next season, all three Goodspeed Opera House shows have kids in them. The theater is holding local auditions in East Haddam Nov. 4 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for “The Music Man” (which opens the 2019 season at the theater from mid-March through mid-June), “Because of Winn Dixie” (which runs May 29 through Sept. 5) and Billy Elliot (Aug. 13 through Nov. 23). A press release says “candidates must be available for four weeks of rehearsal and a 12-week performance run.”
All three shows seek boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 16. For “Billy Elliot, the auditioners should have a “strong dance ability.” “Because of Winn Dixie” requires “strong singers with a contemporary voice.” For “The Music Man,” “ability to play a marching band instrument [is] a plus but not necessary.”
To further invoke the old adage that warns actors not to “work with animals or children,” the star of “Because of Winn Dixie” is a dog. That role has already been cast with a dog named Bowdie.
For details on the audition procedure, call 860-873-8664 ext. 721. For details of the 2019 Goodspeed season, go to goodspeed.org.
