Theaters Hosting A Welcoming Lineup From ‘A Wonderful Life’ To ‘Newsies’

Two of the hottest Broadway touring shows, a star turn by Kevin Bacon and and a world premiere from a Pulitzer Prize winner — not to mention the return of the epic six-hour “Nicholas Nickelby” — are among the highlights for the Connecticut fall theater season.

“A Wonderful Life” at East Haddam’s Goodspeed Opera House (Sept. 18 to Nov. 29). After the theater got stiffed when a Broadway-bound show pulled out of the fall slot, you could say it looked to an angel named Clarence to find a divine replacement. And it booked “A Wonderful Life,” a feel-good musical — but aren’t they all at Goodspeed? The musical is based on the Frank Capra film classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” that starred James Stewart as a man who realizes the effect his life has had on so many people. Music is by Joe Raposo (“Sesame Street”) and book and lyrics are by Sheldon Harnick, now 91, and still tweaking the script. Information: goodspeed.org.

“Third” at Hartford’s TheaterWorks (Oct. 2 to Nov. 8). To celebrate the theater’s 30th year, artistic producing director Rob Ruggiero has dipped back into the play catalogue and chosen Wendy Wasserstein’s 2005 final work, “Third,” to open the season. Kate Levy, who won the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for best actress for TheaterWorks’ “The Other Place,” and recent Hartt grad Conor Hamill star as a college professor and student at terrible odds. Information: theaterworkshartford.org.

“Indecent” at New Haven’s Yale Repertory Theatre (Oct. 2 to Oct. 24 at the University Theatre). It’s always big news when Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel has a new play and so it is with the Yale Rep premiere of “Indecent,” which Vogel and director Rebecca Taichman created. The new play with music is inspired by true events surrounding the controversial 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch’s seminal and incendiary work of Jewish culture, “The God of Vengeance.” Taichman also directs the play, which is a co-production with La Jolla (Calif.) Playhouse, where the show will play later in the fall. Information: yalerep.org.

“The Book of Mormon” at New Haven’s Shubert Theatre (Oct. 13 to Oct. 18). Connecticut theatergoers will have another chance to say a cheery “hello” to one of the best musicals of this or any other decade when it returns to the state for another tour stop, this time in the more intimate Shubert. It might be too comically rude for some but even Mormons have embraced the larger sweet message. It was a hit when it recently played Salt Lake City. Information: shubert.com

“Newsies” at Hartford’s Bushnell (Oct. 13 to Oct. 18 at Mortensen Hall). Not since “Oliver!” has there been such a boy-friendly musical. And what’s not for a kid to like: athletic dancing, buoyant singing and an inspirational story (at least for me) about how union organizing got these young newspaper workers a raise. Information: bushnell.org.

“Disgraced” at New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre (Oct. 14 to Nov. 8). It’s a play that begins with a seemingly perfect couple having a few conflicts but things begin to head south as issues of cultural identity challenge everyone’s assumptions and nature. The play that won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony nomination makes its Connecticut debut in a co-production with Boston’s Huntington Theater Company staged by Gordon Edelstein. Information: longwharf.org.

“Rear Window” at Hartford Stage (Oct. 22 to Nov. 15). When it was announced that Kevin Bacon would star in this stage adaptation of the story that was the basis for the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock film, the box office hit a new record with ticket sales. Bacon takes on the role (in the film played by, you guessed it, James Stewart) of a man who thinks he witnessed a murder across the courtyard from his apartment. But for those who feel they know what happens, think again. The original story is quite different. And though there’s no Grace Kelly role, the story hits contemporary notes about surveillance and privacy issues. Information: hartfordstage.org.

“Broken Glass” at Westport Country Playhouse (Oct. 6 to 24). As part of the centennial marking playwright Arthur Miller’s birth, Westport Country Playhouse decided not to go with a “greatest hits” selection and instead is presenting a later-Miller work, “Broken Glass,” ripe for re-appreciation. The play by the long-time Connecticut resident (Miller had a home in Roxbury) had its world premiere at New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre in 1994, and although it flopped on Broadway, subsequent productions in London and elsewhere showed the work’s power. Maybe here, too. Artistic director Mark Lamos stages the production. Information: westportplayhouse.org.

“Anon(ymous)” at UConn’s Connecticut Repertory Theatre (Oct. 29 to Nov. 8 at the Studio Theatre). The issue of immigration is the center of Naomi Iizuka’s drama of a young immigrant called Anon who takes a Homer-like odyssey through the United States, encountering a wide variety of people — some kind, some dangerous and cruel — as he searches for his family. Information: crt.uconn.edu.

“Nicholas Nickleby” at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School (Nov. 3 to Nov. 8 at Alfred C. Fuller Music Center, Millard Auditorium). When the Royal Shakespeare Company’s stage adaptation of Charles Dickens’ epic novel played on Broadway in 1981, it ran eight hours and became the theatrical event of the season. The Hartt production runs in two parts, too, but stage time now clocks in for a mere six hours — and it promises to be no less of an event. The production features the Theatre Division’s third- and fourth-year actor-training students, faculty and guest appearances by members of the University of Hartford community (including President Emeritus Humphrey Tonkin and President Walter Harrison). Information: hartford.edu/hartt.