Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Archive

Sharon Playhouse launches “season of joy”

Advertisement

SHARON—In a world of strife, Sharon Playhouse is bringing a “season of joy” to the stage in 2024. 

The Sharon Playhouse has launched its 2024 “season of joy.” Photo contributed

Artistic Director Carl Andress, who lives in Kent, said this week, “We want to offer patrons a chance to come, to laugh, to enjoy the performances and really have fun. There is a lot going on in the world and up here, we want everyone come to a place where they can have a great time with some great performances. There will be nothing but smiles at the Sharon Playhouse.” 

“We’ve brought in some fun titles,” he continued. “We just opened “Rock of Ages,” which is fantastic. It’s a story about big bands in the MTV days. The cast is really singing their faces off with a live rock band on stage. It’s a real party in there.”

“Rock of Ages” runs through July 7 and is directed by Tony Award Nominee Hunter Foster and choreographed by Sharron Lewis. It stars Danny Drewes, who appeared in “Something Rotten” last season.

Andress will make his directorial debut during his tenure as artistic director at Sharon Playhouse with the next selection, “The Prom.” It is choreographed by Krystyna Resavy and runs from July 26 to Aug. 11.

“It’s a wonderful, heartwarming story about four eccentric Broadway stars in need of image makeovers,” he recounted. The stars descend on the conservative town of Edgewater, Ind., to help a a lesbian student banned from bringing her girlfriend to high school prom. 

“We have an extraordinary cast of 28 on the stage,” said Andress, “including eight local teenagers playing teens at the prom. The show stars Kate Baldwin, who is a two-time Tony Award nominee playing a two-time Tony winner.”

The Playhouse season continues with “an all-time favorite,” according to Andress. “Steel Magnolias,” brought to the screen in 1989 by the likes of Julia Roberts, Sally Fields, Olympia Dukakis and Dolly Parton, is all about female friendship. “There is a group that meets in a small-town beauty salon and their interactions reveal the strength of community that underlies all the funny banter,” said Andress. “We have a wonderful cast with Jen Cody returning this year. We’re so happy about that.”

Directed by Jackson Gay, it runs Aug. 30 through Sept. 8 in the Olsen Theater.

“Then, we go full-tilt nostalgia with ‘You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,’ an adorable show with adults performing as four-year-old children,” said Andress. “It is based on Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip, “Peanuts,” and Kristin Chenoweth won a Tony for her performance of ‘Sally’  in it on Broadway.”

In Sharon, the show will be directed by Julia Murney and choreographed by Michelle Lemon. It will run from Sept. 20 though 29. 

There will be six youth performances, with the youngest performers (starting at age 5) taking to the stage Saturday in “Where Sharon Playhouse Stars are Born.”

An adaptation of “As You Like it,’ with its emphasis on horses, will be performed at Equus Effect, 37 Drum Road, an agency that helps veterans and first responders deal with stress through their relationship with horses. Performances are scheduled for July 12 and 13.

Carl Andress, artistic drector at Sharon Playhouse, is a Kent resident.

“It’s a new partnership for us and it is so exciting,” said Andress. “We went to an event last year and immediately said, ‘Can we do a show here?’ They have a beautiful outdoor ring, so 16 teens will be performing in the round. It is so exciting it to have young kids discovering Shakespeare, learning to speak it.”

The youth season carries on with a production of “Willy Wonka Kids on July 20 and a musical review, “Let your Voice be Heard, on Aug. 3”

See the Sharon Playhouse website for details.

“We just want to give the community a lot of variety, from Broadway stars to up-and-coming performers, form local performers and young people,” said Andress. “We spend so much of our time on screens, it’s really wonderful to come out and connect with other people. And you can’t beat the experience of live theater—it’s so invigorating.” 

Advertisement
Kathryn Boughton
Written By

Kathryn Boughton, a native of Canaan, Conn., has been a regional journalist for more than 50 years, having been employed by both the Lakeville Journal and Litchfield County Times as managing editor. While with the LCT, she was also editor of the former Kent Good Times Dispatch from 2005 until 2009. She has been editor of the Kent Dispatch since its digital reincarnation in October 2023 as a nonprofit online publication.

Subscribe

Sign up to receive email updates including a “Dispatch Digest” each week.

*

Upcoming Events

You May Also Like

Featured

KENT—The Inland Wetlands Commission last week quickly approved an application from Victoria Hughes, 23 Kane Mountain Road, to repair a portion of culvert that...

Opinions

Trivia Question What is the importance of the date December 15?  A) The Constitution was signed on that date B) It is when the...

News From Nearby Towns

TORRINGTON—Winter Festival 2025 will be held at Burr Pond State Park, 384 Burr Mountain Road, on Saturday, Feb. 1, from 10 a.m. to 3...

Local

KENT—Kent Memorial Library will again present the Safe Sitter Essential Course Sunday, Jan. 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  This course is designed to...

Local

KENT—A winter gear tag sale is planned for Saturday, Jan. 11, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the large meeting room at Town...

Local

KENT—The Kent Memorial Library will present “Refinance your Retirement” with CPA Katrina Luca Saturday, Jan. 11, at 11 a.m.  In this seminar, Luca will...

Arts & Entertainment

KENT—Local artist Susan Grisell will exhibit a “Visual Diary” at the Kent Memorial Library, 32 North Main St., during January and February. Grisell, a...

Featured

KENT—Decades of military service gave First Selectman Martin Lindenmayer plenty of experience in command. But assuming the town’s top leadership position last year required...