Connecticut’s 2023 fall theater lineup brings literary classics, new works and real-life drama to the stage

The culture-loving Greater Hartford Arts Council has decided that Hartford needs a designated Theater Week to remind folks how wondrous, enlightening and entertaining live theater can be. Here’s the rub: There is so much exciting and important theater in Connecticut that the Theater Week actually lasts two weeks from Oct. 1-14.

Connecticut is one of the most vibrant theater communities in the country. A lot of states are lucky to have one nationally recognized major regional theater, Connecticut has at least half a dozen, including Hartford Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre and Goodspeed Musicals. Connecticut theaters create new works, send shows to Broadway and off-Broadway and host local premieres of shows that have already succeeded in New York or elsewhere. There are also grand venues like The Bushnell Performing Arts Center in Harford, the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, the Palace Theater in Waterbury and the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford which bring big national tours of Broadway musicals to the state.

Here’s a breakdown of the exhilarating 2023 fall theater season anchored by such stalwart genres as the literary adaptation, the jukebox musical, the one-person show, the one-act festival and, of course, musicals based on hit movies.

Literary delights

Great books beget great plays. Jane Austen is prominent this fall, inspiring the comic compendium “Complete Works of Jane Austen Abridged” from Sept. 27 through Oct. 22 at Playhouse on Park in West Hartford. Hartford Stage is also hot on Austen, doing Kate Hamill’s popular version of “Pride & Prejudice” (already staged in the state by Playhouse on Park and the Long Wharf in recent years) with a racially diverse cast Oct. 12 through Nov. 5. Hamill is also responsible for the adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” Nov. 9-12 at Sacred Heart University’s Edgerton Center in Fairfield.

The musical based on Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” is at Ivoryton Playhouse from Sept. 28 through Oct. 22. Robert Louis Stevenson’s psychological thriller “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” is at New Britain’s Hole in the Wall Theater Oct. 6-21, while UConn’s Connecticut Repertory Theatre in Storrs takes a fresh, comical and Connecticut look at an H.G. Wells classic with “War of the Worlds 2023” Nov. 30 through Dec. 10. The Agatha Christie craze of last season continues with “Murder on the Orient Express” (the Ken Ludwig version that was done by Hartford Stage a few years ago) at Torrington’s Warner Theatre Nov. 4-19.

One of the most popular book-to-play adaptations in the history of American theater, Aaron Sorkin’s rendition of “Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird,” is still on its first national tour and is returning to Connecticut Nov. 3-5 at the Waterbury Palace with the same star, Richard Thomas, who played Atticus Finch when the show played The Bushnell this year.

Finally, a different sort of book – a collection of correspondence between a peeved writer and their exasperated editor – inspired the comic drama “Lifespan of a Fact”; the hit Broadway play had its Connecticut premiere a few years back at TheaterWorks Hartford and is being done Sept. 29 through Oct. 15 at the Sharon Playhouse.

The thrill of the new

The development of new plays and musicals has also been a Connecticut thing. Shows from “Death Takes a Holiday” in the 1930s to “Fences” in the ‘80s had their world premieres in Connecticut, not to mention all the musicals whose workshops at the O’Neill Center in Waterford or tryouts at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven readied them for Broadway success, among them “Avenue Q” and “My Fair Lady.”

The Long Wharf Theatre, now an itinerant theater working in a variety of spaces, is holding its fourth annual virtual Black Trans Women at the Center festival from Sept. 28 through Oct. 1. Westport Country Playhouse, which last season jettisoned half of its proposed mainstage season and is transitioning to a new artistic director, is maintaining its New Works Initiative with an Oct. 2 reading of a new work yet to be announced. The small local theater companies HerStory Theatre and Playland Productions have commissioned some new spooky one-acts for the Halloween-themed “Howl of a Night” Oct. 5-8 at Manchester’s Cheney Hall.

Then there are the plays that aren’t brand new but are still new to Connecticut like Tatty Hennessy’s Arctic trek “A Hundred Words for Snow” Oct 5-15 at UConn’s Connecticut Repertory Theatre or “Wish You Were Here” by Sanaz Toossi (winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for “English”), which had a New York run in 2022 and can be seen at the Yale Repertory Theatre Oct. 5-28. Yale Rep also has a bonafide world premiere Oct. 24 through Nov. 11 with the relationship drama “The Salvagers” by Harrison David Rivers, whose “This Bitter Earth” and “Proximity” were both seen at TheaterWorks Hartford in recent years.

Sarah Gancher’s dire historical family drama “Seder” had its world premiere at Hartford Stage in 2017. You can see it again when the Dionysus Theatre Company stages it in Tolland Oct. 6-22.

As for new musicals, Goodspeed Musicals has nurtured “Private Jones” about a deaf Welsh army sniper in World War I from its earliest drafts at the Goodspeed’s Johnny Mercer Writers Colony through a public reading at its Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals to a full workshop production Oct. 13 through Nov. 5 at the Norma Terris Theater in Chester.

You can also find new works at a couple of playwright festivals, including the Celebration of Short Plays on Oct. 7-8 at Norwich Arts Center, and the International Playwright Festival on Oct. 13-14 at the Warner Theatre in Torrington.

Real life

Truth is stranger than fiction, and many great theater experiences have been based on real-life circumstances.

TheaterWorks Hartford opens its 2023-24 season Sept. 29 through Oct. 22 with a new pop musical, “Lizzie,” based on the infamous Massachusetts parent-slayer Lizzie Borden. “Joan Joyce! A New Musical,” about the Connecticut softball superstar, premiered at Branford’s Legacy Theatre in 2021 and is being done anew Oct. 5-22 at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury.

Two well-known reality-based Broadway musicals of recent years are still around. “Come From Away,” the feel-good show about U.S. airplanes diverted to a small Canadian town during the turmoil of 9/11, is still touring and coming to New Haven’s Shubert Nov. 8-11. Brookfield Theatre is the latest Connecticut theater to produce “Fun Home,” based on Alison Bechdel’s coming-of-age/coming-out graphic novel/memoir, Dec. 1-16.

One-person shows

One-person shows can be intensely personal, intimate and riveting. Nearly all of the ones on Connecticut stages this fall are based on real people. “Tru,” about the writer Truman Capote, is Oct. 6-8 at Brookfield Theatre. New York’s Keen Theater production of “The Year of Magical Thinking” about the writer Joan Didion, starring Kathleen Chalfant and presented in private homes and other locations around New Haven will take place Nov. 8 through Dec. 3 by the Long Wharf Theatre group. Film actor Chazz Palminteri continues to tour with “A Bronx Tale,” the autobiographical one-man show about New York mobsters that launched his career. He brings it to Ridgefield Playhouse on Dec. 1. Pro golfer Chris Fuller tells tales of his sports adventures and personal growth in “Cheese Fries and Chili Dips” Nov. 2-19 at Seven Angels in Waterbury, and Douglas Taurel brings to life the written letters of military veterans in “American Soldier” on Nov. 16 at Woodstock Academy’s Loos Center.

The sole not-based-on-a-real-person exception in this list of one-person shows is Irish writer Enda Walsh’s religion-themed “Misterman” at Brookfield Theater Oct. 20-22.

The Black experience

August Wilson, often deemed the greatest Black playwright in the history of America (and most of whose plays had their world premieres in Connecticut), is well represented this fall. Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean” is already playing at the Woodstock Academy’s Loos Center through Oct. 1. “The Piano Lesson” is being staged by James E. Hinton Jr. at the Bijou in Bridgeport Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 and a rare local production of Wilson’s monologue “How I Learned What I Learned,” which the playwright originally wrote for himself to perform, is being performed by Jeramie Gladman at Brookfield Theatre Oct. 13-15.

Kyle Bass’ “Possessing Harriet,” about a woman who flees slavery in the 1830s, is at HartBeat Ensemble’s Carriage House Theater Oct. 5-15, with numerous related talks and events. “Dreamgirls,” the Broadway musical about the travails of a Black pop vocal group in the 1960s, is at the Goodspeed Opera House from Nov. 10 through Dec. 30, one of very few shows in the Goodspeed’s history to feature a predominantly Black cast.

Nothing but the hits

The French chanteuse “Piaf!” is celebrated Nov. 8 at Ridgefield Playhouse. “Girls Night! The Musical,” studded with hits from the ‘80s and ‘90s, is at The Kate in Old Saybrook on Nov. 10. “The Pin-Up Girls” is scored with World War II songs by the Andrews Sisters and others is Nov. 29 through Dec. 23 at Playhouse on Park. The rock star saga “All Shook Up,” containing oodles of Elvis hits, happens Dec. 1-10 at Center Stage in Shelton, and the salsa-happy “On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan” is still touring and coming to the Waterbury Palace Dec. 15-16.

Movies to musicals

You’ve seen the movie, now enjoy the musical. The Bushnell’s 2023-24 Broadway series begins Oct. 3-8 with “Mrs. Doubtfire,” starring Rob McClure in the Robin Williams role. Southern Connecticut State University’s Crescent Players dance through “Footloose” Oct. 6-14. The umpteenth local production of “The Addams Family” (which was of course a series of New Yorker cartoons and a TV sitcom before it became a series of hit movies) is Oct. 6-22 at the Bradley Playhouse in Putnam. “The Rocky Horror Show,” the musical that led to the cult movie “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” does the Time Warp Oct. 6-28 at the Landmark Community Theatre in Thomaston. The national tour of “Pretty Woman the Musical” returns to Connecticut with a new cast, Oct. 10-12 at the Waterbury Palace. The latest stage version of “Dirty Dancing,” “Dirty Dancing in Concert,” comes to The Bushnell for a single performance on Oct. 17. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical version of Billy Wilder’s “Sunset Boulevard” hits ACT of CT in Ridgefield Oct. 26 through Nov. 19, and “Moulin Rouge the Musical” is at The Bushnell Nov. 21 through Dec. 3.

The classics

The Suffield Players perform the creepy comedy classic “Arsenic and Old Lace” on Oct. 5-21. Neil Simon’s “Rumors,” a longtime staple of community theaters, is at Center Stage in Shelton Oct. 13-22. The Ayn Rand thriller “Night of January 16th” is given an immersive production Oct. 13-29 by Castle Craig Players in Meriden. “The Diary of Anne Frank” is at Curtain Call in Stamford from Oct. 26 through Nov. 12. Part One of Tony Kushner’s epic “Angels in America” is being done by students at Western Connecticut State University Nov. 3-12. WCSU is also doing Chekhov’s masterpiece “Three Sisters” on Dec. 1-3. Bruce Norris’ Pulitzer-winning neighborhood squabble “Clybourne Park” is at Norwalk’s Music Theatre of Connecticut Nov. 3-19 (musictheatreofct.com). “Jesus Christ Superstar” has a local production Nov. 10-26 at the Opera House Players in Enfield, while the current national tour of that musical will return to Connecticut next year. John Patrick’s exploration of social norms and the definition of sanity, “The Curious Savage,” is being revived by Hole in the Wall in New Britain Dec. 1-16, and the Kander/Ebb/Fosse musical “Chicago” (based on a classic non-musical play from the 1930s) comes to New Haven’s Shubert on its latest tour Dec. 7-10.

The wacky ones

Comedy tonight! The Broadway-skewering revue “Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation” tours through the Shubert in New Haven on Oct. 7. The Bijou in Bridgeport hosts the improv murder mystery “Death of a Gangster” on Oct. 13. Once of the wildest original musical comedies of the last 15 years or so, “Something Rotten,” makes an omelet Oct. 13-22 at WCSU (wcsu.edu). Another arch satire of theater, “The Drowsy Chaperone,” is at Connecticut Theatre Company in New Britain Dec. 1-17.

Pantochino Productions’ “Panto of the Opera” parodies a certain horrific romance yarn Oct. 13-29 at the Milford Arts Council, while “Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience” mocks the whole Harry Potter canon Oct. 27-29 at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket. The cult hit Uranium City funhouse musical “Ride the Cyclone” is at Sacred Heart University’s Edgeton Center Oct. 26-Nov. 5. Playhouse on Park’s latest burlesque variety show “Mama D’s Outrageous Halloween Romp: Boos and Booze” is Oct. 27-31. And don’t forget Hartford’s home of improv, Sea Tea Comedy Theater, which has multiple different shows weekly, all unique.

One-of-a-kind events

We cap this fall theater preview with a few shows that defy categorization. The season-shifting variety show and pageant “Night Fall” returns to Elizabeth Park on Oct. 7. The annual UConn Fall Puppet Slam held by UConn’s Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is on Oct. 13 in UConn’s Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre. Finally, a rarely seen theater piece, “Blood on a Cat’s Neck,” originally devised by German experimental theater icon Rainer Werner Fassbinder with choreographer Pina Bausch, can be seen Oct. 12-15 at Eastern Connecticut State University.