All stories by Christopher Arnott on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

'Anastasia' Receives Two Tony Nominations by Christopher Arnott

Anastasia didn't get much recognition from the Tony Award nominating committees Tuesday morning. But her grandmother did all right. Mary Beth Peil was nominated for Best Featured Actress in …

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 11:11AM[SHARE]
Monday, May 1, 2017

Alan Alda Ready To Chat About Acting, Writing At CT Forum by Christopher Arnott

"The whole point of communication," Alan Alda muses, "is not about what you have to say. It's about how you say it." The celebrated actor, writer, director, science advocate and activist sha…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 11:57AM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 27, 2017

Goodspeed Finds A Real-Life 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' by Christopher Arnott

"It's kind of a crazy story." No, it's actually very much like the story of the musical you're starring in. "Thoroughly Modern Millie," which opens Goodspeed Musicals' 2017 season, is the st…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 05:11PM[SHARE]

'The Moth' Founder Part Of At Infinity Hall Storytelling Series by Christopher Arnott

Somebody left a light on at Infinity Hall in Hartford. Moths are circling. George Dawes Green, (pictured) who founded the groundbreaking live storytelling series "The Moth," is a special gue…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 12:58PM[SHARE]

Divine Tommy Tunes Coming To Foxwoods by Christopher Arnott

Tommy Tune walks among the gods. He's that tall. And he dances so well. I've watched Tommy Tune pace the back of theater on opening night of a show he worked on. I've seen him command the st…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 12:58PM[SHARE]

Alan Alda Replacing Rob Reiner In Connecticut Forum by Christopher Arnott

The May 6 Connecticut Forum event at The Bushnell will feature Alan Alda instead of the previously announced film director and producer Rob Reiner. The other scheduled guest in the forum, fi…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 12:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, April 24, 2017

Tweaked 'Anastasia' An Even Stronger Show On Broadway by Christopher Arnott

In its yearlong journey from Hartford to Broadway, "Anastasia" has found itself. When this sweet-natured musical of self-discovery premiered a year ago at Hartford Stage, it was just as lush…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 08:00PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 20, 2017

Stage Checklist: Shubert Gets 'Rent'; Yale Rep Premieres 'Mary Jane' by Christopher Arnott

Connecticut has welcomed some remarkable tours of the iconic 1990s New York starving-artist rock musical "Rent" over the years. When the first national tour played The Bushnell in 1998, it s…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 01:41PM[SHARE]

Two Circuses Converge On Hartford For A Weekend Of Saying Goodbye To The Old, Hello To The New by Christopher Arnott

Ladies and gentlemen, two circuses cross paths in Hartford the same week " one, a new, modern vision of what a circus must have been like 114 years ago; the other among the final performance…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 09:38AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 18, 2017

'Anastasia' Hits Broadway Just In Time for Tony Noms by Christopher Arnott

When the Tony Award nominations are announced May 3, Connecticut will rejoice. So many Broadway shows this season had world premieres, readings or workshops in the state that some warm refle…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 04:11PM[SHARE]

CT Rep Stages A Distinct 'Shrek' by Christopher Arnott

You think you know Shrek? Big green guy. Enchanted. Talks to a donkey. The musical theater version of the DreamWorks fairytale movie isn't all that ancient or distant " its Broadway producti…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 11:50AM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 13, 2017

'Annie' Makes Two Connecticut Stops by Christopher Arnott

The sun will come out the day after April 23, apparently, when the latest national tour of "Annie" has a single performance at the Garde Arts Center in New London, and the same tomorrow-lovi…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 09:03AM[SHARE]

'Shrek: The Musical' At CT Rep; 'Last Train...' At Playhouse by Christopher Arnott

It's Jeanine Tesori season in Connecticut. Three of the composer's musicals happen to be at local theaters this spring, offering a convenient career retrospective of a versatile artist that'…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 09:03AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 12, 2017

HartBeat Ensemble Celebrating Women Playwrights 'WTF!' Festival by Christopher Arnott

HartBeat Ensemble is holding a Women's Theater Festival, charmingly titled "WTF!," for three consecutive weekends April 21 through May 6. Of course, you could say that HartBeat Ensemble has …

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 12:47PM[SHARE]

Wesleyan Debuts 'Epic' Theater Piece 'Islands' by Christopher Arnott

Asked to describe "Islands: The Lost History of the Treaty That Changed the World" " a grand-scale, multidisciplinary project that's taken five years to create, taken him to Indonesia on res…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 12:46PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 6, 2017

TheaterWorks' 'Next To Normal' Extended Again by Christopher Arnott

What's next for "Next to Normal"? Yet another week of performances. TheaterWorks' production of modern pop/rock musical "Next to Normal" has extended its run a second time. The show, by Tom …

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 01:24PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 5, 2017

'Cirkopolis' At Foxwoods; 'Circling The Drain' At Yale Cabaret by Christopher Arnott

The Canadian circus theater troupe Cirque Eloize brought its freewheeling Wild West-themed show "Saloon" to Foxwoods Resort Casino last year and has returned with something much more moderni…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 10:28AM[SHARE]
Monday, April 3, 2017

One-Man 'Leonard Pelkey' Brightens Hartford Stage by Christopher Arnott

There's nothing "absolute" about "The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey." James Lecesne's one-man show makes a series of interesting choices. It tells a tragic story, but in broad comic …

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 03:04PM[SHARE]
Friday, March 31, 2017

TheaterWorks 'Next To Normal' A Mind-Blowing Production by Christopher Arnott

Rob Ruggiero regularly directs musicals at the Goodspeed and The Muny in St. Louis. Why would he see the need to bring one to the small-staged, low-ceiling, acoustically complicated TheaterW…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 03:24PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 30, 2017

Carol Burnett Wants Your Questions (And To Make You Happy) At The Bushnell by Christopher Arnott

Carol Burnett is all ears. Including the one she liked to tug at the end of her popular TV variety show. The legendary comedian shares stories and video clips from her six decades on stage a…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 10:05AM[SHARE]

Musical 'Once' Returns To CT For Show At The Palace by Christopher Arnott

It sings "Leave, Leave" but happily it doesn't. "Once " The Musical" has been in Connecticut four times, and here comes a fifth. The show is based on the 2007 John Carney film that won a bes…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 09:34AM[SHARE]

Sea Tea Improv Hosts 4th Hartford Improv Fest by Christopher Arnott

The host: "For this next routine, we'll need a location, a style of performance and, hmmm, the name of an established Hartford comedy ensemble." The crowd: "Spotlight Cinemas! Improv Comedy!…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 09:30AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 29, 2017

International Festival Of Arts & Ideas Announces 2017 Lineup by Christopher Arnott

New Haven's International Festival of Arts & Ideas welcomes The Wailers, Wu Man, "Whitman, Melville, Dickinson"The Passions of Bloom," "We Are Citizens" and "The War Room" this summer. And t…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 01:30PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Hartford Stage Announces 2017-18 Season: Agatha Christie, Shakespeare, Fugard by Christopher Arnott

Trains. A coal furnace. Apartheid. The lunatic, the lover and the poet. Hartford Stage's wide-ranging, multistyled 2017-18 season was announced today. It follows some familiar patterns for t…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 06:09PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 27, 2017

TheaterWorks Takes On Ambitious 'Next To Normal' by Christopher Arnott

"Next to Normal" may be the new normal at TheaterWorks. Once this would have seemed a highly ambitious project for such an intimate, small theater to take on. But in a season that began with…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 02:39PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Hartford Stage's 'Absolute Brightness' Highlights Sexual Identity, Bullying by Christopher Arnott

He has a warm, gentle voice. A sharp wit. A sense of history coupled with an interest in the here and now. An interest in where the world is going and a concern about how to live in it now. …

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 02:29PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 20, 2017

Yale Rep Tackles Sondheim's Dark Musical 'Assassins' by Christopher Arnott

Stephen Sondheim has given us the warm nostalgia of "Follies," the contemporary relationship foibles of "Company," the summer magic of "A Little Night Music" and the passion of "Passion." He…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 12:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, March 17, 2017

'Next To Normal' At TheaterWorks,' 'Eurydice' At CT Rep by Christopher Arnott

Sarah Ruhl's feminist reworking of the ancient Greek myth "Eurydice" is set in the present day and gives its heroine a firmer hand in deciding her own fate " something she's been denied for …

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 12:00AM[SHARE]

'My Way' Sinatra Tribute Opens Ivoryton Season by Christopher Arnott

From the 1930s into the 1970s, you could find stars such as Groucho Marx, Carol Channing, Bob Fosse, Eartha Kitt, James Mason, Mae West and Ethel Waters at the intimate Ivoryton Playhouse on…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 12:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Topical 'Smart People' Brings Political, Lively Drama To Long Wharf by Christopher Arnott

Desdemona Chiang says she knew that directing Lydia Diamond's hit drama "Smart People" was going to be challenging. But she also knew that this was the best time to do it. With "Smart People…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 02:16PM[SHARE]

Bushnell 2017-18 Season Includes 'Les Miserables,' 'School Of Rock' by Christopher Arnott

Pledge allegiance to the band. Get on your feet. Own the night. Welcome to the Renaissance. That's what is being asked of Bushnell audiences this fall and next year. The Bushnell announced i…

SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 11:13AM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off