It’s been a busy month or so with much of my attention in New York doing interviews there and catching shows such as “Purlie Victorious” (one of the best productions I’ve seen on st…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 06:53PMSad news about the death of the great Norman Lear at 101, a New Haven native who never forgot his roots. I first interviewed him in the mid-'70s and here's a piece I wrote the last time we t…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 10:01AMLong before the utopian rom-com "Fire Island," there was a movie that told a far darker and disturbing story, set principally on that LGBTQ+ sunny enclave at a perilous time: the 1989 landma…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 03:52PMMark Lamos and husband Jerry Jones sit on the stone wall in the backyard of their colonial home on a rolling green lawn off a winding countryside road in Litchfield County. Bella, their En…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 03:34PMHoliday shows have traditionally provided a major financial boost to Connecticut theaters, but this year — with audiences still not returning to pre-pandemic levels — industry executives…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 03:13PMBy FRANK RIZZO “There is intense interest in art, architecture and their colonial histories in India right now,” says Tim Barringer, the Paul Mellon Professor in the History of Art Depar…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 06:54PMYogi Berra said the future ain’t what it used to be. We know how he feels. The Broadway arrival of the West End hit “Back to the Future” continues the march of Hollywood brand extensio…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 04:02PMAs backers’ auditions go, “Gutenberg! The Musical!” — a wildly delusional conceit so full of itself that it boasts two exclamation points — doesn’t stand a chance of making it to…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 03:44PMAll photos by Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman The show: “Here Lies Love” at the Broadway Theatre in N…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 05:39PMThe show: “The Cottage” at the Hayes Theatre (formerly the Helen Hayes Theatre) on Broadway What makes it special?: It’s a new comedy and that’s been a too-rare occurance on Broadwa…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 01:46PMPost-pandemic audiences are returning in various degrees to Connecticut’s largest presenting houses — The Bushnell in Hartford, Palace Theater in Waterbury and Shubert Theatre in New Hav…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 07:14PMThe show: “Here You Come Again” at the Goodspeed Musicals’ Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, CT. What makes it special?: It’s a presentation of a show that’s played a few times arou…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 06:01PMYogi Berra said the future ain’t what it used to be. We know how he feels. The Broadway arrival of the West End hit “Back to the Future” continues the march of Hollywood brand extensio…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 10:13PMThe show: “Summer Stock” at Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Ct. …
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 02:40PMAmid the chaos of our great political and cultural divides, there is still one event that manages to unite people with the Ambien of sweet nostalgia, the calming embrace of family heritage a…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 02:25PMThe show: “Days of Wine and Roses” at the Atlantic Theater Company …
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 03:38PMGodrey Simmons, Artistic Director of Hartbeat Ensemble. and Bowdie. Simmons introduced Michael Price who then introduced animal; trrainer Bill Berloni who received the Tom Killen Award. All …
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 02:08PMHere is my first interview with performance artist Taylor Mac. We talked in 2015 at The Study hotel in New Haven just prior to his show at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas that…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 08:33AMPhoto by Frank Rizzo In 2015, I again interviewed Taylor Mac when he performed just one part of his legendary 24-hour maratho…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 07:39AMSheldon Harnick, the great Broadway lyricist died earlier this month at the age of 99. Here is an interview I did with him from his Manhattan home in 2014 to advance a production off “Fidd…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 12:02AM“To Kill a Mockingbird” For 65 years Richard Thomas has been a working actor, first making his Broadway debut when he was …
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 11:53PMEnter Connecticut’s waterfall wonderland and let your dreams take over. Take in the blurring cascades, the glistening moss, the summer leaves dotting the waters, the hypnotic swirls of an …
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 11:25PMThe show: “Gypsy” at Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam What makes it special?: It’s the first time the classic musical from Broadway’s Golden Age is being presented at the theate…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 10:15AMThere was Amethyst killing it on her first Lip Synch-For-Your-Life—and triumphing—after making the ultimate faux pas of wearing sneakers on the runway. Then there was Robin Fierce, tryin…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 03:42AMLook into their eyes, these tender young men of a century or two ago. In haunting vintage tintypes from the 1840s, secret snapshots taken in mirrors, clandestine shoots in bedrooms, narrow s…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 03:22AMThe show: “White Girl in Danger” at the Tony Kiser Theater (305 West 43rd St.) in New York What makes it special?: The follow-up musical by Michael R. Jackson who won a Tony Award and a…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 06:23PMDrag performances have been around the state for decades, but in the past few years the scene has flourished into a thriving business for performers, promoters and venues. For years the show…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 09:36AMAfter seeing nearly the full slate off Broadway shows this season, some thoughts on the Tony Award nominations that were announced on Tuesday: — She was robbed. I am shocked that Laura Lin…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 09:56AMThe show: The Broadway musical "New York, New York" What makes it special?: Very loosely inspired from the 1977 Martin Scorsese film that starred Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro , this time…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 09:53PMFriends come and go. Some stay throughout our lives while others, however significant for a time, fade into the haze of memory yet always linger within us. In “Summer, 1976,” the new Bro…
SOURCE: ShowRiz at 10:02PMAll photos by Chelcie Parry The show: “Regretfully, So the Bird Are” at Playwrights Horizons by Julia Izumi, directed by Jenn…
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