CT theater in 2024 featured risks, rethinkings and rich revivals

When you think of Connecticut theater in 2024, you might first think of water.

Long Wharf Theatre staged an Arthur Miller drama in a building overlooking the New Haven waterfront. Playhouse on Park erected a gigantic pool of water to set the mood for a play about the making of “Jaws.” The Disney classic “Frozen” played The Bushnell. Oceans and beaches figured heavily in “Sandra” at TheaterWorks Hartford, “The Far Country” at Yale Rep and “South Pacific” at Goodspeed, while climate change was a focus of a different Yale Rep show, “Escaped Alone.”

We cheered for unfairly outcast teens in “The Prom” at Playhouse on Park and a new tour of “Hairspray” at the Waterbury Palace Theater. Troubled youth also ruled in “Maggie” at Goodspeed and “Annie” at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven. LGBTQIA themes pervaded “A Complicated Woman” at the Terris Theatre and “2.5 Minute Ride” at Hartford Stage.

Charles Dickens was represented not just by over a dozen versions of or variations on “A Christmas Carol,” but by Rupert Holmes’ musical “Drood” at Goodspeed. Biographical portraits of pop stars, all in national tours at The Bushnell, ranged from Cher to Neil Diamond to Fanny Brice to Michael Jackson.

Those were some familiar themes, but there were also risks, rethinkings and rich revivals. Two of the three Cirque du Soleil spectaculars in Connecticut this year had never played the state before.

This is not a “best of” list, these are genuinely the theater moments I couldn’t get out of my mind.

Here, in the order in which they happened, are the memories that keep coming back from the year in Connecticut theater.

The lab rat in ‘Simona’s Search’ at Hartford Stage

The glory of new plays is you may never know what’s coming next. Martín Zimmerman’s “Simona’s Search,” which had its world premiere at Hartford Stage in January, was an incisive father/daughter drama that also ventured into alarming dreamworlds, the weirdest of which was when Simona (Alejandra Escalante) had a probing conversation with rat in her science lab. New Haven native and seasoned experimental theater actor Christopher Bannow embodied the rat, one of numerous roles he played in the show, in a manner that provided much-needed comic relief without being goofy or stupid.

The ice in ‘Frozen’ at The Bushnell

When the national tour of the Broadway version of “Frozen” finally hit Hartford in February, it was just months away from its final stop. It started in 2019 but was suspended for nearly two years by the pandemic. The original Broadway production had a worse fate, closing due to COVID and never reopening. This was a costly, elaborate production and that quality was still fully evident at The Bushnell. It deserved a much longer life. “Frozen” was a marvel of technical theater, the kind of effects that dazzle because they don’t seem possible. It sounds like a cliche, but audiences actually go “Ooh!” and “Ahhh!” at Disney shows. At this one, when the kingdom of Arendelle magically and utterly convincingly transformed into an icy wasteland, I was the theater maven in the crowd who could be heard exclaiming not “Ooh!” or “Ahh!” but an awestruck “Holy (expletive)!”

The New Deal scene in ‘Annie’ at the Shubert Theatre

“Annie” is a special show in Connecticut. Its world premiere was at the Goodspeed Opera House in 1976, its 35th anniversary tour made national headlines when it anointed a new Annie during a pre-Broadway stop at the Oakdale Theatre and the dog trainer who’s coached countless Sandys, Bill Berloni, is based in Connecticut. Jenn Thompson, an Ivoryton resident who spent two years as Pepper in the original Broadway production of “Annie” and has since become a stage director who has worked locally at the Goodspeed and TheaterWorks, brought the show back to its roots. She made sure several scenes that were cut from previous tours and revivals were put back in to February’s performance at the Shubert, particularly the rousing scene in President Roosevelt’s cabinet room where Little Orphan Annie inspires the New Deal programs that help end the Great Depression. It’s a celebratory, historical, grown-up moment in a show that needs a few. Thompson’s tour was a triumph and is now the basis for the current New York run starring Whoopi Goldberg as Miss Hannigan.

The waterfront in Long Wharf Theatre’s ‘View from the Bridge’

The itinerant Long Wharf Theatre returned to its longtime stomping grounds near the shipping docks on the New Haven waterfront in February to present a bracing new production of “A View from the Bridge” by Arthur Miller, the Roxbury resident who’d had a decades-long relationship in the theater. The play is about dock workers and was staged inside the Canal Dock Boathouse overlooking the wharf. The moonlight added to the lighting design. Supporting players prowled the chilly balcony area outside the warm, comfortable performance space. Shouty fights took place out there, seen through the big windows of the building. The atmospheric background action (including seagulls flying by) underscored Miller’s fraught drama, directed by James Dean Palmer with scenic design by You-Shin Chen and lighting design by Kate McGee. You could feel the breeze.

The glitter in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at Waterbury Palace

The national tour of British director Tim Sheader’s production of the Biblical rock musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” was launched during the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice opus’ 50th anniversary year, took a hiatus due to COVID and was back up well in time for the 55th anniversary. It played Connecticut three times: At The Bushnell in early 2020, at the Shubert in 2023 and at Waterbury Palace in April of this year. When it was in Hartford, “Jesus Christ Superstar” was clean and shiny and slick, spread across a big stage and impressively lit so it glittered like gold. By the time it hit Waterbury, it seemed shabbier and grittier yet hadn’t lost its luster. It still worked, but instead of the glistening gold hues and militaristic sentries and politicians, this leg of the tour was more defined by the street-tough ensemble and its energetic hip-hop dancing, and Christ’s death was more brutal and less ceremonial.

The portrait of William Howard Taft in ‘The Far Country’ at Yale Rep

Kim Zhou’s scenic design for Lloyd Suh’s weighty drama “The Far Country,” about Chinese immigrants trying to settle in California in the early 20th century, had two main locations: An immigration office in San Francisco and a farmhouse in China. The immigration office was distinguished by a gigantic portrait of William Howard Taft, who was President of the United States at the time the play begins in 1909. It’s his face you saw when entering the theater and waiting for the show to begin. The stranger sitting next to me casually mentioned that Taft had gone to Yale, which led to me mentioning the double-wide seat designated for him in the university’s Woolsey Hall auditorium, which led to discussion about New Haven’s Taft Hotel, favorite Yale Rep shows and more. A clever set design can be a great conversation piece. This one also helped focus attention on a delicate, text-heavy piece of writing.

The lights go on in ‘Sandra’ at TheaterWorks Hartford

There’s an overused theater design cliche that has really gotten out of hand in recent years, where a scene starts with a big flash of lights going on, often accompanied by a thunderous sound. It’s a largely cinematic effect that can sometimes be effective for rapid transitions between scenes, but just as often doesn’t add anything at all to a production and in fact detracts from it. Liz Diamond’s production of Caryl Churchill’s “Escape Alone” at Yale Rep was completely structured around this flash/bang effect, which has become quite common. But just when I thought that the technique had lost its power for good, tech-savvy director Jared Mezzocchi used it superbly to kick off David Cale’s one-woman drama “Sandra” at TheaterWorks in May. The jarring nature of that opening moment was then sustained with other technical effects (projections, sounds, abstract lighting) that enhanced the play’s sedentary storytelling style and gave it a consistent, fluid artistic framework. The show starred Felicia Curry, whose role it was to stay human, sit in a chair and tell Sandra’s shocking story while sights and sounds whirled around her.

The running in ‘A Complicated Woman’ at the Terris Theatre

“A Complicated Woman” was based on the real life experiences of John Kenley, a major midwestern theater producer of the 1950s and ‘60s who presented as a man in his professional life and as a woman when at his other home in Florida. The world premiere of the musical at Goodspeed’s Terris Theatre in May, directed by Broadway veteran Jeff Calhoun was a perfect match of style and substance, using the snappy, peppy, colorful elements of old-school “straw hat” summer theater to enliven a show with themes of artifice versus reality and showing one’s true self. This was most effective in an early routine where John/Jean (beautifully played by Nora Brigid Monahan) ran in place onstage. She was running from the police in a comic chase sequence, sure, but she was also metaphorically running away from some issues she finally faced later in the musical. The bit was both amusing and illuminating.

‘King Lear’ at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas

This extraordinary deconstruction of Shakespeare’s tragedy “King Lear,” adapted and directed by Karin Coonrod for her Compagnia de’ Colombari troupe, played for just a few nights at the Arts & Ideas festival in New Haven. This was a stunning ensemble workout. Every member of the cast played Lear at one point or another and they all remained onstage for the entire performance, which took place more in the auditorium than on any stage area. Celese Sena got her own brief turn as Lear, but the main character she was playing, the king’s youngest daughter Cordelia, only appears at the beginning and the end of the play. Sena wasn’t gone, however. She sat in the auditorium calmly observing her castmates go through all their dysfunctional family and fallen ruler gyrations. Watching her watching added an extra layer of intensity and introspection to this awesome analytical exercise in modern Shakespeare.

Nellie Forbush washing her hair in ‘South Pacific’ at Goodspeed Opera House

When the perky Danielle Wade, as Ensign Nellie Forbush, sang “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair” in Chay Yew’s bracing reconsideration of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “South Pacific” at the Goodspeed Opera House starting in June, she actually washed her hair. The water flowed through a bucket-based contraption behind a rickety wooden fence shower stall. The effect was magical: The glistening droplets created a soft aura around Wade’s face. But such aquatechnics also come with risk, and in the case of “South Pacific,” Nellie Forbush has another big song, “I’m in Love With a Wonderful Guy,” immediately after “Wash That Man,” without an opportunity to leave the stage and towel off. Wade and Yew took the gamble and cleaned up.

The dark corners of ‘No Love Songs’ at Goodspeed’s Terris Theatre

September’s U.S. premiere of the two-character (plus one onstage musician) musical “No Love Songs” by Kyle Falconer, Laura Wilde and Johnny McKnight was about depression, separation and the real-life relationship struggle that occurs when one half of the couple is a touring musician whose career is taking off and the other half is at home raising kids and suffering severe depression. The stage at the Terris Theatre in Chester resembled a club stage before a show or a cluttered rehearsal room with amps and other equipment spread around the room serving as seats or platforms for the performers. When things got really bleak for the young lovers Lana and Jessie (Anna Russell Martin and John McLarnon), the already dark stage got even darker and the actors became shadows. A bold choice for any show, especially a romantic one, but particularly striking for something done by the Goodspeed, which is largely known for bright splashy colorful entertainments. Credit goes to “No Love Songs”’ artful lighting designer Grant Anderson.

The trap door in ‘Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde’ at Hartford Stage

Psychology overwhelmed sensationalism in this tricky ensemble-based adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” at Hartford Stage in October. There were a lot of verbose non-physical scenes, but when dead bodies had to be gotten rid of quickly the show roared to life, whisking them out of sight through trap doors. This disposal method really helped Melia Bensussen’s directorial concept, which kept the cast close at hand and practically on top of each other in a tight stage area. Jettisoning the corpses quickly meant we were spared the sight of dead people awkwardly rising and walking offstage during the blackouts between scenes. It also added a “Where did the body go?” element to the mystery.

The chair in ‘Fever Dreams’ at TheaterWorks Hartford

“Fever Dreams (of animals on the verge of extinction)” was a relationship drama and a bloody thriller all at once at TheaterWorks Hartford beginning in October. Trenchant talks about trust, love and parental obligation were interpolated with shocking surprises. The best one was at the beginning of act one when the lead character, Zachary (Doug Savant) was settling into his deserted get-away cabin in the woods and you suddenly realized that a woman (Lana Young) was sitting in a chair right near the front of the stage in the dark and was pointing a gun at him. A great example of theatrical distraction techniques by director Rob Ruggiero, who was so good at it he pulled the same stunt with the same chair in the same place at the beginning of Act 2.

Looking through a window in ‘The 39 Steps’at Westport Country Playhouse

“The 39 Steps” is a fast-paced ensemble comedy based on the slightly more serious 1935 Alfred Hitchcock movie thriller. Mark Shanahan, who directed the play as the season opener of his first full season as artistic director of Westport Country Playhouse, is a Hitchcock fanatic, and some of his references to the original film were Easter eggs for the faithful. I rewatched the movie the day before we saw the play and was hooting loudly at seemingly innocuous images that the rest of the audience apparently didn’t recognize as parodies, like the way Evan Zes (who played a townful of supporting characters in the show) arched his eyebrow while staring through a window at the Scottish countryside beyond. This was a hardcore Hitchcock tribute but also as humorous as it ought to be.

The earplugs in ‘The Wolfman’ at Wesleyan World Music Hall

Earlier this month, Lea Bertucci presented a new immersive vision of composer Robert Ashley’s historic 1964 feedback-infused composition “The Wolfman.” Audience members were allowed to prowl through the concert hall, where they could find Bertucci singing on a stool dressed like a chanteuse, breathing into a microphone already flooded with sounds from other sources. The entire building seemed to throb with earsplitting yet rhythmic and layered noise. This abrasive, exhilarating yet downbeat atmosphere was symbolized by a courtesy to the audience members: The management left a tub of bright orange earplugs near the door to prepare you for the emotional electric onslaught.