The Bushnell announced the eight musicals that will comprise its 2025-2026 Broadway Series season. Beginning this fall, The Bushnell will bring these exciting Broadway hits to Hartford as part of the series: a musical love story based on the bestselling novel “The Notebook;” the riotous revival of “Spamalot;” the empowering hit “Suffs;” the Tony Award-winner “Shucked;” the sparkling and uplifting “Kinky Boots;” the timeless tale Disney’s "Beauty and the Beast;" the fresh, pop-fueled “& Juliet;” and the captivating “Water for Elephants.” Also, returning to Hartford is “Hamilton!” For details: bushnell.org.
Some Like It Hot, the award-winning musical based on the movie of the same name, taps its way into The Bushnell on April 29-May 4. With book by Matthew Lopez (many of his plays have been seen in Hartford) and Amber Ruffin, and music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the folks who did the score for “Hairspray,” "Some Like It Hot" features Tony-winning choreography by Casey Nicholaw, who also directs. Leading the tour are Matt Loehr as Joe/Josephine, Tavis Kordell as Jerry/Daphne, Leandra Ellis-Gaston as Sugar, Edward Juvier as Osgood, Tarra Conner Jones as Sweet Sue, Jamie LaVerdiere as Mulligan, Devon Goffman as Spats, and Devon Hadsell, who was a member of the original Broadway company, as Minnie. For details: bushnell.org.
Berkshire Opera Festival is pleased to announce a spring recital, "Young Verdi in Love,“ on April 27 at Saint James Place, in Great Barrington. This program focuses on the music of Giuseppe Verdi, in anticipation of BOF’s upcoming production of ”La Traviata" in August. The program features soprano Kathleen O’Mara, tenor Lawrence Barasa, bass-baritone Alan Williams, and pianist Francesco Barfoed. William E. Briggs Artistic Director and BOF co-founder Brian Garman will host the recital. For details: berkshireoperafestival.org.
Ali Louis Bourzgui, the Pittsfield actor who starred in the recent Broadway revival of “The Who’s Tommy,” takes on the role of Orpheous in “Hadestown,” beginning May 6. For details: hadestown.com.
Dear Edvard, a music-theatre piece by Steven Schoenberg and Richard Michelson, two well-known Western Massachusetts artists, will have its world premiere, June 20-July 6 at The Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse. Kevin Newbury will direct, and David Sytkowski is music director. Schoenberg, a Longmeadow native, is a pianist, and composer. Michelson, a poet and children’s book author, has been the poet laureate of Northampton. For performance details: https://tinyurl.com/ya2z4sem.
Broadway With Strings Attached, featuring The Springfield Chamber Players’ Quartetto Mosso, narrators Marty Kluger and Mark Auerbach, and vocalists Sarah Vincelett Dredge and Spencer Reese, celebrates the American Musical Theatre songbook, from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Sondheim. On April 26, at 52 Sumner, the ensemble considers the musicals with strings attached from the fiddler in “Fiddler on The Roof,” to “1776: He Plays The Violin.” They also perform a medley from musicals that originated in area theatres, from Goodspeed (“Man of LaMancha”) to Hartford Stage (“Anastasia”) to Barrington Stage (“On The Town.”) For details: www.springfieldsymphonymusicians.com.
Late Nite Catechism plays The Belding at The Bushnell on April 19. “Late Nite Catechism” written by Vicki Quade and Maripat Donovan, made its debut in 1993 at the Live Bait Theatre in Chicago, and since then has been presented in over 410 cities around the world. For details: bushnell.org
The Art of Foraging brings participants into the woods, on The Clark’s monthly foraging walks, led by naturalist and wild edibles enthusiast Arianna Alexsandra Collins of the Hoosic River Watershed Association beginning April 22. For details: clarkart.edu.
Connecticut Ballet has two programs at The Bushnell on May 3. In the morning, they perform their family matinee at the ballet, for youngsters ages 3-10. At night, they offer “Inspiring Women,” featuring choreography from four women. For details: bushnell.org.
The 2025 Bach Festival and Symposium, a signature event at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Music and Dance, returns April 25-27 at various locations in Amherst. Programming includes The “Goldberg Variations” with pianist Steven Beck, on April 25; performances of Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto and the Christmas Oratorio parts 1-3 with maestro Richard Sparks conducting on April 26-27, and a rollicking, period instrument performance of the Coffee Cantata in English, at Amherst Coffee. There are also lectures and symposiums. For details: websites.umass.edu/bach.
Xanadu, the silly musical hit inspired by the Olivia Newton John movie, will be performed by the UMass Theatre, May 2-10, at the Rand Theatre on the UMass Amherst campus. Rose Schwartz Malla directs the music, which features a book by Douglas Carter Beane and music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar. For details: 222.fineartscenter.com.
Big Yellow Taxi, the Joni Mitchell Tribute Band, plays The Shea in Turners Falls on April 19. For details: https://tinyurl.com/3h3n8yjn.
Considering Matthew Shepard, Craig Hella Johnson’s powerful oratorio will be performed by the Williams Concert Choir and the Williams Chamber Choir conducted by Anna Lenti, on May 9-10, at Williams College. Considering Matthew Shepardis a musical response to the 1998 murder of a young gay man in Wyoming, the brutality of which captured nationwide attention. This three-part fusion oratorio incorporates a variety of musical styles seamlessly woven into a unified whole. Johnson relies on texts by various poets including Hildegard of Bingen, Lesléa Newman, Michael Dennis Browne, and Rumi, interspersed with passages from Matt’s personal journal, interviews and writings from his parents Judy and Dennis Shepard, newspaper reports, and additional texts by the composer. For details: williams.edu.
Tony Montanaro: A Love Story, performed by Karen Montanaro and Jack Golden, will be performed May 3, at The Shea in Turners Falls. Eggtooth Productions presents Montanaro’s one-woman, multi-media show, a comical, profound, intimate, and breathtaking account of the personal and professional relationship between Tony, a world-famous mime, and Karen Montanaro. For details: sheatheater.org.
Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and The Yale School of Drama. He has worked for arts organizations nationwide, and reported on the arts for print and broadcast. Mark produces and hosts Arts Beat, Survivor Stories, and On The Mark for WCPC15 and 89.5fm/WSKB. He’s a regular contributor to Berkshire onstage and a member of the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association.
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