‘WINTER WONDERETTES’ at the Ivoryton Playhouse

November 1, 2022November 29, 2022 michaelhobanLeave a comment

reviewed by Tony Annicone

Ivoryton Playhouse’s holiday show this year is “Winter Wonderettes” created by Roger Bean. It is 1968 and the audience is at the annual Christmas party at the Essex Hardware Store. The quartet of Missy, Suzy, Betty Jean and Cindy Lou, first introduced to us in “The Marvelous Wonderettes”, have decorated the hardware store and are now prepared to entertain the crowd. Some of their numbers include the 1960’s classics “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town”, “Jingle Bell Rock”, “Run Rudolph Run” and “Winter Wonderland” and these gals will knock your socks off all night long.

“THE QUEENS OF THE GOLDEN MASK” at Ivoryton Playhouse

October 15, 2018November 5, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

“The Queens of the Golden Mask”, a world premiere, is currently running at the historic Ivoryton Playhouse. Carole Lockwood’s new play pulls aside the Cotton Curtain to reveal a piece of history that tells a little known story and also raises a warning. It starts off in 1961 and moves two years later in Act 2. The normalizing of hate is dangerous and toxic, not only to the objects of the hatred but eventually destroying those who are caught up in its comfortable complacency. The play is based on the experiences of Elizabeth H. Cobbs written by Petric Smith who also wrote the autobiographical “Long Time Coming: An Insiders Story of the Birmingham Church Bombing That Rocked the World”. Smith’s work provides more than an insiders account of one of the most atrocious events of the civil rights era; it is also the personal journey of a woman inside the world of the most extreme opponents of racial justice. In the violent world of the Klan, women were subservient; men beat their wives with impunity in order to maintain white male supremacy But there were many who, quietly and with great moral courage, put their lives on the line. This is their story. They hide behind a religious facade while performing despicable actions, pretending they are only in a patriotic social club.

“A CHORUS LINE” at the Ivoryton Playhouse

August 12, 2017August 12, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Ivoryton Playhouse’s latest musical is “A Chorus Line”, the 1976 winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical, Best Book and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is a musical based on the lives and experiences of Broadway dancers. Original director/choreographer Michael Bennett wanted to do a show with the spotlight on the class of performers known as gypsies. The action takes place in an empty theatre, on a bare stage, where the casting for a new Broadway musical is almost complete. For 17 dancers, it is a chance of a lifetime. It’s the one opportunity to do what they always dreamed of, not only to be a star but to get a job, the chance to dance. Through a series of interviews from funny to heartbreaking, it ushers the audience into the lives of these dancers until the final 8 are chosen. The original show opened on April 15, 1975 and ran 6,137 performances, closing on April 28, 1990. Director/choreographer Todd Underwood directs and choreographs this show. Todd creates a topnotch version of this show with his talented cast and the fabulous musical direction of Michael Morris is the crowning touch to this show as they create a Broadway caliber musical in Ivoryton, CT.

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (Ivoryton Playhouse)

August 1, 2017August 13, 2017 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Ivoryton Playhouse’s summer musical is “Saturday Night Fever” based on Nik Cohn’s 1975 New York Magazine article

“Tribal Rituals for the New Saturday Night” and Norman Wexler’s 1977 screenplay it inspired. The stage version premiered in the West End back in 1998 at the London Palladium and then at the Minskoff Theatre October 21, 1999, playing 27 previews and 501 performances before closing on December 30, 2000. Put on your “Boogie Shoes” as we go back in time to 1979 that will leave you with “Night Fever!”

“BILOXI BLUES” at Ivoryton Playhouse, CT

April 12, 2017May 3, 2017 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

The current show at Ivoryton Playhouse is “Biloxi Blues” by Neil Simon. This show is the second play in the three play cycle of the Eugene Morris Jerome plays. The Broadway show opened on March 28, 1985, closed on June 28, 1986, ran for 524 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Play.