224 stories from ShowRiz
RGoing (or not going) to the big dance has been an irresistible storyline for musicals from "Oklahoma!" to "The Prom." The set-up inherently inspires social stress, romantic anxiety, comic p…
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 stage in a…
Sad 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…
Long 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…
Mark 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 …
Holiday 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 are…
By 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 Departmen…
Yogi 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 extensions to …
As 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 Broadway. T…
All photos by Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
The show: "Here Lies Love" at the Broadway Theatre in New Y…
The 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 Broadway. Comed…
Post-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 Haven.
…
The 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 around the cou…
Yogi 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 extensions to …
The show: "Summer Stock" at Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Ct.
…
Amid 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…
The show: "Days of Wine and Roses" at the Atlantic Theater Company
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Godrey 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 …
Here 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…
Photo by Frank Rizzo
In 2015, I again interviewed Taylor Mac when he performed just one part of his legendary 24-hour maratho…
Sheldon 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 "Fiddle…
"To Kill a Mockingbird"
For 65 years Richard Thomas has been a working actor, first making his Broadway debut when he was a se…
Enter 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 ed…
The 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 theater " whic…
There 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, trying to…
