Jack Mehler News

There's just one final week to submit votes for the 2019 BroadwayWorld Connecticut Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! Vote today to make sure your favorite local theatre's achievements and performers are recognized!

We're heading into the final week of voting for the 2019 BroadwayWorld Connecticut Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! Vote today to make sure your favorite local theatre's achievements and performers are recognized!

There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2019 BroadwayWorld Connecticut Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! The people have spoken nominations are set, and now you can vote to make sure your favorite local theatre's achievements and performers are recognized!

There's just a few weeks left to make your voice heard and submit your votes for the 2019 BroadwayWorld Connecticut Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! The people have spoken nominations are set, and now you can vote to make sure your favorite local theatre's achievements and performers are recognized!

It's December! Voting is now underway for the 2019 BroadwayWorld Connecticut Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! Now you can vote to make sure your favorite local theatres and performers are recognized. Check out the first set of stats below.

Bill Hanney's North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) will once again present the area's most beloved production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL sponsored by MarketStreet Lynnfield. This award-winning, original musical adaptation was created solely for North Shore Music Theatre in 1989 and cannot be seen anywhere else. A CHRISTMAS CAROL will play 14 performances from Friday, December 6 thru Sunday, December 22, 2019. 

On Saturday, October 5, I had the pleasure of seeing yet another stellar performance at the ACT of Connecticut, in Ridgefield, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS.  Having never seen this show or the movie before, I was not familiar with the story, and had no idea how intense the horror side of this show would be, as I was under the impression that comedy was the primary genre.  This musical, with music by Alan Menken, captured the attention of the entire audience, generating laughs from the comedic moments, impressing us with the powerful singing, and shocking with the horror, all of which was brilliantly performed by this first-rate cast, under the brilliant direction and choreography of Jason A. Sparks.

With an excellent cast, THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE is highly entertaining, at ACT of Connecticut, in Ridgefield, CT. This show has the audience laughing throughout, while finding ways to inject strong messages of truth among the musical comedy. If you want to spell a wonderful time, come see the show!

Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tells the story of farm girl Laurey Williams and her courtship by two rival suitors, cowboy Curly McLaine and the sinister and frightening farmhand Jud Fry. A secondary romance concerns cowboy Will Parker and his flirtatious fiancee, Ado Annie.

Legally Blonde: The Musical is a perfect season ender and summer kick-off party.  It's got a sweet blend of fluff and integrity all while standing up for women's rights.

Walnut Street Theatre concludes its thrilling 210th season with the award-winning Broadway hit, LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL. Directed and choreographed by Richard Stafford, the high-energy musical begins previews on May 14, opens May 22, and continues through July 14.

Bill Hanney's award-winning North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) kicks off the 64th Annual Season with Rodgers and Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA!, one of the greatest classic musicals of all time, playing for two-weeks only from Tuesday, June 4 thru Sunday, June 16, 2019. OKLAHOMA! is sponsored by Beverly Bank.

Walnut Street Theatre concludes its thrilling 210th season with the award-winning Broadway hit, LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL. Directed and choreographed by Richard Stafford, the high-energy musical begins previews on May 14, opens May 22, and continues through July 14.

Riverside Theatre present the effervescent award-winning musical, Legally Blonde. Sponsored by The O'Haire Group-Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and Riverside Theatre's Patron Producers Group, Legally Blonde performs on the Stark Stage from April 16 - May 5, 2019. Legally Blonde is a co-production between Riverside Theatre and the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.  

The Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) today announced the nominees for the 23rd Annual IRNE Awards, which honor the best of the previous year's actors, directors, choreographers, designers and companies across the full spectrum of large, mid-size and fringe theater companies. Moulin Rouge!, a new musical produced by Global Creatures, and An American in Paris, produced by the Ogunquit Playhouse, led with 12 and 11 nominations, respectively, in the Large Stage Musical Category. The Huntington Theatre led all companies with 31 nominations across seven productions, including 11 for Man in the Ring, the story of six-time world champion prizefighter Emile Griffith.

Ashley Wheater, The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, proudly announces an impressive 2019-2020 season featuring a Chicago premiere from Northern Ballet Artistic Director Cathy Marston, along with a Chicago premiere from Tony Award-winning choreographer and New York City Ballet Resident Choreographer Justin Peck, plus the return of an audience favorite by choreographer Yuri Possokhov, and Christopher Wheeldon's holiday classic The Nutcracker. The Joffrey Ballet begins its 64th season with Marston's modern re-telling of Jane Eyre, October 16-27, 2019, followed by Wheeldon's magical holiday classic The Nutcracker, November 30-December 29, 2019. For its winter engagement, the Joffrey presents a mixed repertory program that includes the Chicago premiere of Peck's acclaimed The Times Are Racing, the Chicago premieres of Mono Lisa and The Sofa by Israeli choreographer Itzik Galili, Wheeldon's Commedia, and Bliss!, a new work from Stephanie Martinez, winner of the Joffrey's 2015 Winning Works choreographic competition, February 12-23, 2020. Closing the season is the return of Possokhov's Don Quixote, April 22- May 3, 2020, which received its world premiere in Chicago in 2011.

We are pleased to announce the winners for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Connecticut Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Nominations were reader-submitted and voted on by you - the local theatergoers!

It's the last week to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Connecticut Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Connecticut Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

On Sunday, December 9th, Bill Hanney's North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) honored two cast members, David Coffee (Ebenezer Scrooge) and Cheryl McMahon (Mrs. Dilber), both celebrating their 25th appearance in the holiday show, A CHRISTMAS CAROL playing thru Sunday, December 23, 2018.