Theater Review: Satchmo at the Waldorf -- Long Wharf

John Douglas Thompson. Photo: T. Charles Erickson

Satchmo Blows in to Long Wharf for a High-Note-Hitting Backstage Chat
By Lauren Yarger
It’s 1971, Louis Armstrong has just finished a performance at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria and we all are invited backstage as the great trumpet player takes a few minutes to record some of his memoirs for his autobiography. 

Thanks to a masterful performance by John Douglas Thompson, directed by Gordon Edelstein, the years – and any questions we might have about the man behind the mask of the legend – soon fall away as we are drawn in to Satchmo at the Waldorf, a new play by Terry Teachout, at Long Wharf Theatre’s Stage II.

The intimate setting of Armstrong’s dressing room (Lee Savage, design) makes us feel right at home, while revealing things about the star his audience doesn’t get to see when he’s performing on stage: there’s the oxygen tank from which he immediately inhales after his performance, and the prescription meds that tell us Satchmo’s health is failing, for example.

“How did I get so old,” he wonders.

He changes clothes (Ilona Somogyi, costume design) and reflects on the career that finally landed him at the hotel’s famed Empire Room.

The story is a harmony of biography, history and character – lots of that – peppered with humor and language – lots of that too (the show posts a warning that it is for mature audiences).

Satchmo shares details about his beginings and manager, Joe Glaser, who rescued him from Chicago’s Al Capone mob, made him a star, then in Armstrong’s eyes, betrayed him. There also are thoughts about three failed marriages and a fourth success with current wife, Lucille. Along the way there is a long uphill fight as Armstrong builds a career in racially segregated America and criticism from other black celebrities, like Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, who call him a “Tom” for smiling and dancing around to please the white man.

Satchmo tells a different story, however, of surviving in a world where he wasn’t allowed to stay at hotels where he entertained because of Jim Crow laws, where the blacks who worked in the kitchen often were the ones who made sure he got a meal and where even bathrooms weren’t available to the non-white who is considered the greatest jazz musician of the 20th century. 

Besides embodying Armstrong, Thompson also expertly steps into the characters of Glaser and Davis, aided by lighting changes (Stephen Strawbridge, design), to give their perspectives on events. It keeps the 90 minutes brisk and engaging.
Adding to the atmosphere are some snippets of music (John Gromada, sound design) to give a sense of the high-note piercing trumpet playing and scat singing that made Armstrong so popular and took hits like “What a Wonderful World” and “Hello Dolly” to the top of the charts (the latter passing the Beatles for the number-one slot).

Thompson gives one of the most complete portrayals of a character you will ever see on stage. The performance is enhanced by a very good script by Teachout, who wrote the play following the completion of his biography about Satchmo: “Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong.” Teachout skillfully avoids the pitfalls that often make these biographical pieces sound like someone repeating a bunch of facts. He knows what those are like and how to avoid them since he is the theater critic for the Wall Street Journal.

This one is a don’t miss. Go get jazzed in the wonderful world of John Douglas Thompson at the Long Wharf through Nov. 4 on Stage II; Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 pm; Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 pm; Matinees Wednesday and Sunday at 2 pm, Saturday at 3 pm. Tickets are $45-$65 www.longwharf.orgor 203-787-4282.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Quiara Hudes on Tap at O'Neill Event Tonight

The National Playwrights Conference and the National Music Theater Conference, programs of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, will be the focus of an evening at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at the City University of New York. The event, on Monday, October 15th, is free and open to the public and begins at 6:30 pm at the Martin E. Segal Theater Center at 365 Fifth Ave., New York.

The evening, “The O’Neill Center: A Safe Haven for Playwrights,” will welcome Pulitzer Prize-winner Quiara Hudes (Water by the Spoonful, In the Heights), Tony Award nominee Barbara Walsh (Company, Falsettos), and other artists associated with the O’Neill. The event will feature readings from plays and musicals recently developed there and reflections on the O’Neill’s storied past. Wendy C. Goldberg, Artistic Director of the O’Neill’s National Playwrights Conference, and Paulette Haupt, Artistic Director of the O’Neill’s National Music Theater Conference, will discuss upcoming programs, submission information, and the O’Neill’s plans for the future. Moderated by Helen Shaw.

The O’Neill is currently accepting scripts for development during the 2013 National Playwrights Conference. Applicants may submit works to the O’Neill’s Open Submissions Process through Friday, Oct. 26, 2012. The 2013 National Music Theater Conference will be accepting applications from Nov.1 through Dec., 2012.

Visit http://www.theoneill.org/summer-conferences for application and guidelines. Direct any questions about the conferences to Anne G. Morgan, Literary Manager at (860) 443-5378 ext. 227 or email litoffice@theoneill.org.

CT Arts Connections Week of October 15

Wesleyan University’s Graduate Liberal Studies Program presents an open reading of the new play An Eye for an Eye, Friday, Oct. 19 at 7 pm in the Wesleyan University Memorial Chapel, 221 High St., Middletown

The play was written by Wesleyan MPhil ’12 alumna and former Glastonbury High School English teacher Linda Napoletano. The play follows the life of Rais Bhuiyan, who was targeted in the wake of the 9/11 attacks by a white supremacist. Shot in the face and left for dead, Bhuiyan survived and fought to save his attacker, Mark Stroman, from Death Row in Texas. Although Stroman was ultimately executed, Bhuiyan continues to spread the message of forgiveness and peace through his organization, World Without Hate.The reading will be followed by a brief Q&A with Bhuiyan, Napoletano, and Wesleyan Professors Indira Karamcheti and Peter Gottschalk. More information can be obtained online at http://www.wesleyan.edu/masters/studentservices/homecoming.html or by calling 860-685-3345.

This event is free and open to the public. It is the second in a series of five events celebrating 60 years of Graduate Liberal Studies at Wesleyan University, and takes place during Homecoming/Family Weekend at Wesleyan University.

 

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HSO MASTERWORKS SERIES: APPALACHIAN SPRING
with Carolyn Kuan, Music Director & conductor; Tony Spada, electric guitar
Thursday, November 8, 2012 │ 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 9, 2012 │ 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 10, 2012 │ 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 11, 2012 │ 3:00 p.m.
Belding Theater │ The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
Program: Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring; Michael Daugherty: Gee’s Bend for Electric Guitar and Orchestra; Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88
Ticket Information: Subscriptions to the 2012-2013 Masterworks Series range in price from $283.50-$560.50; single tickets range in price from $35.50-$70.50. Student tickets are $10. On Saturday, November 10, $25 tickets are available for patrons age 40 and under. To purchase tickets or for more information, please contact HSO ticket services at (860) 244-2999 or visit www.hartfordsymphony.org.

 

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The Fairfield University Glee Club continues a Fairfield tradition when it presents its annual Alumni & Family Weekend Concert at 12:30 pm Sunday, Oct.21at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The concert, which is open to the public, features musical performances by The Fairfield University Glee Club and the Fairfield University Chamber Singers conducted by Carole Ann Maxwell, D.S.M., with accompanist Beth Palmer, and the Reverend Charles H. Allen S.J., Chaplain. Also performing are Sweet Harmony, an all-female ensemble of chamber singers directed by Lindsey Gorgol, Nicole Raposo, and Diana Lordi, and the Bensonians, an all-male a cappella group directed by Robert Preli.Individual tickets to the Alumni & Family Weekend Concert taking place at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 21, 2011, at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, are $10 General Admission , $6 Students. Tickets are available through the Quick Center Box Office: 203-254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-278-7396.

Léon Bonnat (French, 1833-1922)Jacob Wrestling the Angel, 1876
Pencil and black chalk on paper, 20 3/4 x 14 ½.
Collection of the Dahesh Museum of Art, New York (2003.30)

Fairfield University’s Bellarmine Museum of Art partners with the Dahesh Museum of Art in a new exhibition, “The Essential Line: Drawings from the Dahesh Museum of Art,” which opens at the Bellarmine Museum of Art with a free public reception on Thursday, October 11, 2012, 5 – 7 p.m. The works remain on view through January 18, 2013. This exhibition, which features world-class European drawings, marks the first ever in-depth exhibition of the Dahesh Museum of Art’s important drawing collection in Connecticut. Its opening also coincides with the Bellarmine Museum of Art’s second anniversary. “The Essential Line: Drawings from the Dahesh Museum of Art” comprises 25 works by famed masters of 19^th-century European art, on loan from the Dahesh Museum of Art, which describes itself as “the only institution in the United States devoted to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting works by Europe's academically trained artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries.”  The Bellarmine Museum of Art is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on select Saturdays. Admission is free. For more information, call the Bellarmine Museum of Art at (203) 254-4046, or visit www.fairfield.edu/museum, or www.daheshmuseum.org. The Bellarmine Museum of Art is located in Bellarmine Hall on the campus of Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. For directions, visit http://www.fairfield.edu/arts/bell_info.html#directions

Casting Set for Yale's Marie Antoinette

Casting is set for Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi,  getting its world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre in a co-production with American Repertory Theater Oct. 26 through Nov. 17.

Marie Antoinette, directed by Rebecca Taichman, features choreography by Karole Armitage, sets by Riccardo Hernandez, costumes by Gabriel Berry, lighting by Christopher Akerlind, sound by Matt Hubbs, puppet design by Matt Acheson.

Marie Antoinette was commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre. The young queen  (Marin Ireland) delights and inspires her French subjects with her three-foot tall wigs and extravagant haute couture. But times change and even the most fashionable queens go out of style. In Adjmi’s humorous and haunting take, idle gossip turns more insidious as the country revolts, demanding liberté, égalité, fraternité!

The cast includes Fred Arsenault, Hannah Cabell, David Greenspan, Vin Knight, Jo Lampert, Polly Lee, Steven Rattazzi, Jake Silbermann, Teale Sperling, Brian Wiles, and Ashton Woerz.

Tockets and information:  www.yalerep.org, 203-432-1234, Box Office (1120 Chapel Street). 

It's All Brand New at Hartford Stage Play Fest

Hartford Stage has announced the lineup for Brand:NEW FallFestival of New Works, scheduled Oct. 25 - 28. The Festival will include readings of five new plays by Octavio Solis, Bess Wohl, Dan O'Brien, Matthew Lopez and Janine Nabers, as well as a playwrights' panel on Oct. 28 at 4:30 pm.

Brand:NEW readings will be at Hartford Stage's Rehearsal Studio 2 at 942 Main Street (the Residence Inn building). See all five readings for $25 ($20 for Hartford Stage subscribers) or individual readings for $10 each. Tickets are available by calling the Hartford Stage box office at 860-527-5151 or by visiting www.hartfordstage.org.

This year, Brand:NEW will feature a reading of a new playby Matthew Lopez, Reverberation. Lopez is the 2012-2013 Aetna New Voices Fellow at Hartford Stage and his play The Whipping Man was featured here at Hartford Stage last season.

The schedule of events for Brand:NEW is as follows:

Thursday, October 25, 7:30 p.m.
Se Llama Cristina
By Octavio Solis
Directed by Loretta Greco

In this evocative and haunting play, a man and woman wake up strung out and hung over, and must piece together what's happened to them and why they find themselves in an unknown room with an empty cradle.

Based in San Francisco, playwright Octavio Solis' plays included John Steinbeck's The Pastures of Heaven, Ghosts of the River, The Ballad of Pancho and Lucy, and Lydia at theatres across the country, including Yale Rep, Mark Taper Forum, and Denver Center for the Performing Arts.


Friday, October 26, 7:30 p.m.
American Hero
By Bess Wohl
Directed by Darko Tresnjak

American Hero is a comedy about three employees of a new sandwich franchise, and the lengths they'll go to to hold on to their jobs and to keep the world safe for democracy, and open for lunch.

Works by Bess Wohl, also a highly-regarded actress, have been produced or developed nationally at venues such as the Williamstown Theatre Festival; The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles; The Pioneer Theatre in Utah; and at The Vineyard Theatre and Fringe Festival (Best Overall Production Award), both in New York City.


Saturday, October 27, 2 p.m.
Oak Dale
By Dan O'Brien
Directed by Elizabeth Williamson

After being inexplicably cut off from his family, Dan sets out to investigate the secrets of his childhood with the help of long-lost relatives, a private eye, and a couple of psychics in this new theatrical memoir.

Dan O'Brien, writer of many acclaimed productions, including Moving Picture and Williamstown Theatre Festival, directed by Darko Tresnjak, and co-writer of the chamber opera Theotokia/The War Reporter, featuring Dawn Upshaw, at the Spoleto Festival USA. O'Brien's most recent project is The Body of an American, a play about the haunting of war reporter Paul Watson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of a fallen U.S. soldier in Mogadishu.


Saturday, October 27, 7:30 p.m.
Reverberation
By Matthew Lopez
Directed by Maxwell Williams

In the wake of personal tragedy, Jonathan has retreated from the world, but his upstairs neighbor Claire is determined to pull him into the whirlwind of her life. They build a tenuous connection, but the past reverberates into the present, threatening to destroy the fragile happiness they've found.

In recent years, Matthew Lopez's The Whipping Man has become one of the more regularly-produced new American plays (including a critically lauded run here at Hartford Stage last season). Its New York production garnered Lopez the John Gassner Playwriting Award by the Outer Critics Circle. His most recent projects include the world premiere of Somewhere at The Old Globe in San Diego and his adaptation of the film Mad Hot Ballroom.

Sunday, October 28, 2 p.m.
A Swell in the Ground
By Janine Nabers
Directed by Hana Sharif

Over the span of seventeen years, A Swell in the Ground takes Liv and Nate (with their college friends Abigail and Charles) from their first meeting on the eve of college graduation through the trials of early adulthood, as they lose parents and think about changing partners.

Author of Welcome to Jesus and Series.Black.Face, Janine Nabers is a member of some of New York City's most prominent playwriting groups, including MCC Playwrights Coalition, New American Writer's Group at Primary Stages, Ars Nova, Soho rep Writer/Director Lab, and The Dramatist Guild Fellows.

Sunday, October 28, 4:30 p.m.
Playwrights' Panel
Meet the playwrights and engage with the creative process, discuss their inspiration, and learn about each individual journey to developing new work. The Playwrights' Panel will be moderated by Hartford Stage Senior Dramaturg and Director of New Play Development Elizabeth Williamson.

CT Arts Connections You Should Know!

Carol Channing Appearance at Sacred Heart University scheduled for Oct. 20 has been cancelled due to an injury that prevents her from traveling. Tickets holders should contact the Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts Box Office at 203-371-7908 weekdays noon to 4 pm.

Author, MSNBC political analyst and Salon editor-at-large Joan Walsh comes to the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center October 24 at 7 pm to discuss her new book, "What’s the Matter with White People: Why We Long for a Golden Age That Never Was." www.HarrietBeecherStowe.org.

The Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, in conjunction with the Connecticut Lyric Opera, kicks-off its fifteenth anniversary season with composer G. Bizet’s ever popular opera “Carmen,” at Naugatuck Valley Community College Fine Arts Center on Saturday, October 20, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $50, $35, and $20 and can be purchased by calling 203-346-2000, online atwww.palacetheaterct.org, or in person at the Palace Theater Box Office, 100 East Main Street in Waterbury.

If you saw the blockbuster movie The Amazing Spiderman, you may remember Michael Barra as the thuggish T-Bone; if you saw the blockbuster musical Hairspray at the Ivoryton Playhouse this summer then you certainly won’t forget his performance as the larger than life mother, Edna Turnblad. Well, Edna is back with a few friends for a night of big laughs to support the Ivoryton Village Alliance Holiday Celebration – the Ivoryton Illuminations – on Saturday, Oct. 20 at the Ivoryton Playhouse. Barra will be joined by several local comics including Billy Winn, 17-year host of WPLR morning show, and a regular at many comedy nightspots across the northeast. Cash bar – bring your own snacks! Admission is $20. For more information or tickets, contact the Ivoryton Playhouse at (860) 767-7318. The Playhouse is located at 103 Main Street in Ivoryton.

Theater Review: O Beautiful -- CT Rep

The cast of O Beautiful. Photo by Gerry Goodstein.

Agreeing That We All Don't Always Agree to Disagree
By Lauren Yarger
Bullying, gun control and abortion rights are just a few issues that get a town hall hearing in the regional premiere of Theresa Rebeck’s O Beautiful at CT Rep. What sets this one apart from other political plays is that some of the founding fathers themselves and other historic figures stop by to weigh in on some of today’s hottest topics.

In this New York area suburban community created by Rebeck (Dead Accounts, The Understudy, creator of TV’s “Smash.”), housewives gather for bake sales and share recipes, husbands collect guns and everyone watches “The Simon West Show,” a sort of Glenn Beck-type (Laurence Lau) who preaches about protecting the right to bear arms in the face of a government that he sees as an enemy.

Ty Janaleris (Thomas Brazzle), an African-American teacher in the overwhelmingly white school, upsets parents and Principal Loomis (Kit Flannagan) when he supplements the approved text book with handouts to teach the kids high school history. Even a handout containing the thoughts of Thomas Jefferson is suspect because it hasn’t been approved.

What the parents don’t know is that their ideal world already doesn’t exist for their kids. Alice Fletcher (Hannah Kaplan) is pregnant following a date rape by Luke Simpson (Ryan Marcone) who abandons her for new girlfriend Gwen Turner (Kate Mavis Zulauf). Unable to turn to parents (Darius Burkowski and Sarah Wintermeyer) who won’t understand her desire for an abortion, she finds a friend in Jesus (Will Haden).

Meanwhile, Alice is so caught up in her own problems, she isn’t able to help classmate Lennie Ryan (Coles Prince) who is being bullied by the students. Lennie had participated in the school’s talent show where he flubbed the words to “O Beautiful.” Ever since, he has been taunted and tortured by the other kids who post horrible things about him on the internet, barrage him with hateful text messages and beat him up. 

When tragedy ensues, Alice finally speaks up, but the parents of the kids involved in the bullying turn on her. After all, she called Thomas Jefferson a rapist after reading one of the unapproved handouts and lied about having an abortion. Janaleris tries to help – against the advice of his wise sister, Sondra (a very engaging Whitney Andrews) – who warns him that he could lose his job.

Meanwhile, the themes of parental rights vs. women’s rights, the Second Amendment and the intent of the Constitution, who should control the classroom curriculum and the place of religion in all of that, play out against the television program and various guests including Patrick Henry (Burkowski), Jefferson (Anthony J. Goes), John Adams (Michael John Improta), Alexander Hamilton (James Jelkin) and Benjamin Franklin (David McCann). Also dropping by during the action are Joan of Arc (Maggie Sulka) and St. Paul (McCann). Costume Designer Tiffany Delligatti and McCann really outdo themselves to create one of the most realistic Franklins I ever have seen.

Jesus hangs out too throughout the show (making some rather offensive statements along the way) becoming whatever each person desires him and believes him to be. Haden does a nice job of making Jesus likable, however, and when he springs in with a smiling, “Yes?” to answer someone’s curse of “oh, God,” or “Jesus!” it is very funny. Rebeck does manage to cover a lot of controversial and divisive topics with silly humor.

Director Joseph Hanreddy does a nice job keeping a massive cast (there are more than 30 in the ensemble) from getting out of control on Tim Golebiewski’s set that impressively changes from a high school gym to the TV studio to heaven, aided by music (Michael Freyer, sound design) and projections (Greg Purnell, design). 

Some “split-screen” scenes where West is interviewing a guest while a family is interacting as they watch the show don’t work well, however. The timing is off and we get a sense of actors waiting to be able to insert their lines into the overlapping dialogue. Lau also appears awkward – maybe he doesn’t like Beck and that’s coming through? He doesn’t seem comfortable in the talk show host’s skin. 

Overall, it’s a far-reaching, well timed exploration of what separates and polarizes society and a plea for everyone to agree to disagree.

O Beautiful runs through Oct. 14; Wednesday, Thursday at 7:30 pm; Friday, Saturday at 8 pm; Sunday at 2 pm; Tickets $6-$30; Box Office at the Knafe Katter Theatre, 820 Bolton Rd; 860-486-2113; www.crt.uconn.edu.

Jubilant Sykes to Star in Hartford Stage Production of Beaty's Breath & Imagination

Internationally-celebrated classical and gospel vocalist Jubilant Sykes, Broadway veteran Kecia Lewis-Evans, and two-time Tony Award nominee Bob Stillman will star in the world premiere of Daniel Beaty's Breath & Imagination - The Story of Roland Hayes, directed by Darko Tresnjak, Jan. 11-Feb. 3.

A classically-trained American baritone, Jubilant Sykes will portray Hayes, considered to be the first African-American male concert artist to garner wide international acclaim. Californian Sykes' career includes acclaim in classical, pop, and gospel music (Sacred Music USA's Vocalist of the Year). He performed the role of Celebrant in the 2009 Grammy Award-nominated recording of Leonard Bernstein's Mass, in addition to soloing on tour with orchestras, such as The Boston Pops and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Sykes' career includes recordings with classical guitarist Christopher Parkening; jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard; and classical conductors Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, and Marin Alsop. 

He has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, London's Barbican Centre, Apollo Theater, Hollywood Bowl, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, among many others.

Tickets for Breath & Imagination - The Story of Roland Hayes are available by calling the Hartford Stage box office at 860-527-5151 or by visiting www.hartfordstage.org.   

DiPietro, Barry Plays in Hand at Westport Playhouse

Anne Keefe. Photo: Kerry Long

Westport Country Playhouse will present two Script in Hand play readings this autumn with the family comedy, “Over the River and Through the Woods” by Joe DiPietro, on Monday, Nov. 12 at 7 pm and the romantic comedy, “The Philadelphia Story” by Philip Barry on Monday, Dec. 10 at 7 pm. Anne Keefe, Playhouse artistic advisor, will direct both readings. Casting will be announced soon. 

Tickets to the one-night-only Script in Hand readings are $15. Tickets for reading and post-performance dessert reception with the cast in the Playhouse’s Sheffer Studio are $50 ($15 for reading plus a $35 donation for reception). Receptions will include Italian desserts and Prosecco for “Over the River and Through the Woods,” and champagne and strawberries for “The Philadelphia Story.” 

In “Over the River and Through the Woods,” Nick is a single, Italian-American guy from New Jersey. He sees his four grandparents every Sunday for dinner. When he is offered his dream job in Seattle he has to tell his beloved, though annoying, grandparents that the tradition must end. The news doesn’t sit too well and the grandparents scheme to keep Nick around.

“As we head into the chaos of the holidays, getting close to Thanksgiving, I wanted a play about family that would keep us laughing, but pull on our heartstrings as well,” said Keefe. “I feel like I know these people. Heck – I’m one of them!”

Playwright Joe DiPietro won two Tony Awards for co-writing “Memphis,” which also received the 2010 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for Best Musical. His other plays and musicals include “I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change” (the longest-running musical revue in off-Broadway history); “The Toxic Avenger” and “The Thing About Men” (both winners of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway musical); the much-produced comedy “Over the River and Through the Woods; “The Art of Murder” (Edgar Award winner for Best Mystery Play); and the Broadway musical “All Shook Up.” His drama “Creating Claire” debuted at George Street Playhouse in 2010. His work has received thousands of productions across the country and around the world. 

In “The Philadelphia Story” Tracy Lord, of the Philadelphia Lords, is a spoiled daughter of the privileged. She’s about to marry for the second time. Just days before the wedding, a reporter and a camera woman arrive to document the event for a gossip magazine as part of a deal to cover up Tracy’s father’s affair with a Broadway dancer. Coincidentally her ex-husband turns up as well. The result is comedy, drama, and suspense as Tracy confronts the four men in her life: the very appealing reporter, her ex-husband, her fiancé, and her father. “The Philadelphia Story” has been a play, a film, and, as “High Society” with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, a Broadway and movie musical as well. 

“When I think of classic plays, ‘The Philadelphia Story’ is always on the top of my short list,” said Keefe. “It has everything---laughs, glamour, sentiment, and great roles for lots of good actors.”
Playwright Philip Barry graduated from Yale University and went on to Harvard University. He is primarily known for his satirical, somewhat unconventional comedies of manners, such as “Holiday” (1928), “The Animal Kingdom” (1932), and “The Philadelphia Story” (1939).

Illusion Aids Magical Evening of HSO Pops!



Lyn Dilles

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra will bring out all its musical tricks for a magical evening of Halloween family fun at Magic at the Symphony, the opening concert of the 2012-2013 Pops Series, 7 pm Saturday, Oct. 20 at Mortensen Hall in The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts.

Master illusionist Lyn Dillies will choreograph her award winning illusions with classical music selections performed by the HSO and led by music director Carolyn Kuan.

Magic at the Symphony will combine breathtaking magic with the beauty and drama of symphonic classics, including movie music from The Wizard of Oz and Pirates of the Caribbean, classical excerpts from Pictures at an Exhibition and The Planets, and spooky selections such as Danse Macabre and A Night on Bald Mountain. Lyn Dillies says, "I want audiences, especially children, to discover the magic of classical music as well as my illusions.” Student and children tickets are only $10 and children are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes.

With more than 20 years of experience up her sleeve, Dillies has mesmerized audiences throughout the United States and Canada. She has made frequent appearances on television and has shared the stage with such notable entertainers as Marvin Hamlisch, Crystal Gayle, and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Dilles produced “Learn Magic with Lyn,” the first in a line of DVDs aimed at empowering children to perform their own illusions for friends and families. In 2009, Lyn was honored to receive the prestigious Merlin Award for Female Illusionist of the Year from the International Magicians' Society. Former recipients of this award have included Doug Henning, David Copperfield, and Siegfried and Roy.