The Bushnell Blog

Dr. Maya Angelou: Living Legend

2012-05-11T15:40:04Z

The Bushnell was incredibly honored to host Dr. Maya Angelou last evening. Her words and life's teachings have been inspiration for so many.. and at 84 years old, she is continuing to teach daily and live what she teaches. Amazing. Inspiring. Humbling.

And she's funny! In her signature deep, powerful yet poetic voice, Dr. Angelou offered the advice, 'I never trust anybody who doesn't laugh,' and emphasized that life is fun, and funny, and unexpected. Regardless of the sorrow she has known, this amazing woman has achieved an incredible level of hope and optimism.

Dr. Angelou's theme of the evening was 'be a rainbow in someone else's cloud.' Words to live by, as each of us cannot foresee how our lives will directly influence the lives of others. So it is important to be kind and appreciate each of our unique lives, because 'nobody can live your life but you.'

Thank you Dr. Angelou, your legacy is no question.

Some of the poetry read by Dr. Angelou:
"Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
"Invictus" by William Ernest Henley
"Little Brown Baby" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
"The Health Food Diner" by Maya Angelou
"Harlem Sweeties" by Langston Hughes

Connecticut Ballet, Razzle Dazzle at The Bushnell

2012-04-19T18:46:40Z

Connecticut Ballet is up to some pretty cool and interesting things... In case you missed it, last week eight company dancers performed a piece entitled ‘Babble’ in the lobby of 99 Pratt Street, each in a window space meant for... mannequins? window dressings? Who knows.. but one thing is for sure, the space was PERFECT for this dance piece. Audience members roamed freely around the lobby to gaze at the entrapped dancers, four on each side. The piece was innovative and artsy and, most of all, super intimate. When has any 'normal' person been a foot away from a ballerina? Seeing dance, particularly ballet from such a close proximity was astounding.. to see the leg muscles in action.. facial expressions that would have gone missed from afar.. and from the right angle, the dancers communicating. All in all, not a bad way to spend a mid-week lunch break! This Saturday, April 21, the Connecticut Ballet is hosting their 30th Anniversary Gala Celebration. The great part about this event are the different ticket options, so anyone can choose how they want to celebrate with the ballet, whether it be just the performance, add getting down with the Glamour Girls and company dancers at the after party, or the whole she-bang and adding dinner. Regardless of the type of ticket, anyone going to this event is guaranteed to have a spectacular time! Tickets for the performance only ($63.00 Orchestra, $43.00 Mezzanine) are available exclusively through The Bushnell Box Office over the phone at 860-987-5900 or in person. Ticket packages for the performance plus onstage after party ($78.00 per person) are available at The Bushnell Box Office online, over the phone at 860-987-5900 or in person, and through Connecticut Ballet at 860-293-1039 or 203-964-1211. Ticket packages to the patron’s dinner, performance and onstage after party ($175.00 per person, $1400.00 for a table of eight) are available exclusively through Connecticut Ballet at 860-293-1039 or 203-964-1211.

OVATIONS GALA 2012: Through the Looking Glass

2012-02-27T20:46:13Z

The Bushnell's annual Ovations gala, benefiting our award-winning arts-in-education programs, is just days away! The ticketed event will be held this Saturday, March 3 at The Bushnell. Themed 'Through the Looking Glass,' the event is based on the beloved Alice in Wonderland stories by Lewis Carroll. Guests are invited to come dressed as Alice, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, or wear their most elegant tea party ensemble. Prizes will be awarded for best costumes! All proceeds support The Bushnell’s award-winning arts-in-education programs, specifically, PARTNERS® (Partners in Arts Revitalizing Schools) which infuses art into education to improve literacy skills and increase intercultural competencies of students who have had difficulty learning through traditional teaching methods. The evening will consist of Cocktails and Silent Auction, Dinner, Program and Live Auction, Dessert and Dancing. Ticket prices begin at $200 per person. For tickets and sponsorship opportunities please contact Stephanie McMullon at (860) 987-6087 or Stephanie.mcmullon@bushnell.org. The Bushnell is Grateful for the Support of Our Sponsors: Stanley Black & Decker, Lead Sponsor Travelers, After-Party Sponsor First Niagara, Dinner Sponsor Hoffman Audi, Auction Sponsor Flower Boutique, Floral Sponsor Onyx Spirits, Spirits Sponsor

2012-13 Broadway Season Announcement

2012-02-09T16:55:59Z

On Tuesday, February 7, The Bushnell hosted a free event in Mortensen Hall at which we officially unveiled the 2012-2013 BROADWAY SEASON! The presentation included a video clips from this year’s remaining Broadway shows (The Addams Family, Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof and Come Fly Away), video clips from next year’s shows, and some updates and a few words from our own Scott Galbraith, Vice-President, Programs. Our Ensign Darling Vocal Fellows performed in the Promenade Gallery as guests arrived and, as a special surprise, we brought in the New York cast of MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET to perform. And, in order to include EVERYONE in the event, we tweeted the highlights in real time. If you missed the event, check out The Bushnell Twitter for the play-by-play. The diverse 2012-13 Broadway Season includes touring productions of hits MARY POPPINS (Sept. 14-23, 2012), MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (Jan. 8-13, 2013), Green Day’s AMERICAN IDIOT (Feb. 26 – March 3, 2013), SISTER ACT (April 16-21, 2013), CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (May 28 – June 3, 2013) and BILLY ELLIOT (June 18-23, 2013), and one additional production still to be chosen. Also announced was the off-subscription offering of the live stage version of the beloved holiday classic DR. SEUSS’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (Nov. 20-25, 2012). MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET's JOHNNY CASH shows us his best Man in Black A great turn out for the Season Announcement & reception The wonderfully talented Ensign-Darling Vocal Fellows

100 YEARS OF BROADWAY COMPETITION

2012-01-26T15:38:53Z

We're just a few short weeks away from Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Broadway Song and Dance on February 19, which will feature a 7p.m. evening performance with Broadway stars (!!!) David Elder, Ted Louis Levy, Meredith Patterson, Natalie Toro and Rob Evan. Earlier in the day there will be a STUDENT SHOWCASE featuring four of Hartford's premier dance schools all competing to be featured in the grand finale of the evening show! Videos of the competing dance studios are up on our YouTube, check them out here and tell us who is your favorite! http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE621DCEBB4C63E61&feature=edit_ok STAGE LEFT DANCE APRILLE'S DANCEPRINTS THE DANCER'S IMAGE DANCE ACADEMY DANCE 10 STUDIOS About the evening show: Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Broadway Song and Dance features the best-loved song-and-dance numbers from shows like Chicago, A Chorus Line and 42nd Street. Prepare to be dazzled by Broadway veterans David Elder (Curtains, 42nd Street, Kiss Me Kate), Ted Louis Levy (Black & Blue, Bring In ‘Da Noise! Bring In ‘Da Funk!), Meredith Patterson (White Christmas, 42nd Street, The Green Bird), Natalie Toro (A Tale of Two Cities, Les Misérables) and Rob Evan (Jekyll & Hyde, Les Misérables, Little Shop of Horrors). For more information visit Neil Berg's website: www.neilberg.com. About the student showcase: Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Broadway Song and Dance Student Showcase will feature some of Greater Hartford’s most talented student dancers, all vying to be voted to appear in the evening performance’s grand finale! Dancers will appear from four local studios, including Stage Left Dance, Aprille’s Danceprints, The Dancer’s Image Dance Academy and Dance 10 Studios. Ticket Info: Tickets for Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Broadway Song and Dance are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting The Bushnell Box Office at 166 Capitol Avenue in Hartford or by calling (860) 987-5900. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.bushnell.org. Tickets to the 7:00 p.m. performance are $35.00 - $45.00. Tickets to the 2:00 p.m. Student Showcase are $15.00 or only $10.00 with the purchase of a ticket to the 7:00 performance. Ticket prices do not include all applicable fees.

Warriors Don't Cry

2012-01-12T15:21:24Z

The Bushnell® is very proud of the one-woman play Warriors Don't Cry, showing tonight at 7:30 p.m. Not to be missed, this is a play depicting the Little Rock Nine memoirs by Melba Pattillo Beals, who integrated Central High School in 1957. The inspiring performance chronicles the arduous and violent year in which nine black students risked their lives for a good education. In the post-show Q&A, audience members explore themes of bullying, hate speech, and other issues of contemporary relevance.

PETER PAN

2011-11-23T14:23:48Z

How amazing is Cathy Rigby as Peter Pan?? We're dying to know what you thought of Pan, Hook, Wendy and all of your favorites. Let us know what moment made you believe in the magic!

Traces, a new take on cirque

2011-09-29T15:03:23Z

Traces... WOW!! How exciting to have such a spectacular show here for two weeks, running now through October 9. We want to know what you think of the show! Post your review in comments-- let us know your favorite parts and what absolutely blew you away!!

WICKED is here! Let us know what you think of the show!

2011-08-25T22:01:26Z

We are thrilled that WICKED is here for the third time, running now through September 11 - and we want to know what you think of the show! Post your review in comments!

WICKED DVR alert!

2011-08-18T19:55:02Z

DVR ALERT! Get an exclusive sneak-peak behind the curtain of WICKED this Sunday, August 21, at noon when NBC Connecticut airs a 30-minute special on Broadway’s biggest blockbuster! The special presentation reveals never before seen back stage footage including actor interviews and a detailed look on how the Broadway spectacular came to be. WICKED’s creative team, including Academy and Grammy Award-winning Composer/Lyricist Stephen Schwartz, explains how the best-selling 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire was brought to the Broadway stage. WICKED opens at The Bushnell next Wednesday, August 24, and runs through September 11! Good seats still available!

Check out this interview with WICKED composer/lyricist, Stephen Schwartz!

2011-08-08T17:51:44Z

How long did it take you to bring Wicked to life? Stephen Schwartz: We actually were working on the show about four years, which is pretty fast for a big Broadway musical…Once I had heard about [Wicked] from [my friend] Holly Near, it took awhile to secure the rights, because Universal had them – actually Demi Moore’s production company had them. I had to follow a trail through her production company to Universal to [producer] Marc Platt (who was in charge of the studio at that time). And then persuade him to consider doing it as a stage musical as opposed to a film. We spent a lot of time before starting to really write at all. We spent about a year at least – Winnie [Holzman, who wrote the musical’s book] Marc Platt and I – working on an outline. We went through several drafts of the outline, until we really felt we had the story telling right. It's a very complicated story to work out; there's a lot of plot, there are a lot of relationships between the characters that either had to be used or dropped, there are a lot of surprises and twists and turns to the plot that needed to be figured out so everything worked logically. It was almost like plotting a mystery novel. I remember reading an interview with J.K. Rowling who of course wrote the “Harry Potter” books and how she had spent a year working out the world – for example, the rules of Quidditch – before she wrote anything. We did a similar amount of work. Once we started writing, even though things have changed and will continue to change, songs get dropped or re-written, or scenes get combined, the essence of the show and the structure of it hasn't changed. When Joe Mantello came in as director, he of course had several ideas and suggestions, many of which we are doing because we thought they were terrific, but nothing of which I would call really substantially changing the structure. What actually attracted you to the project? SS: First, I’m often attracted to an idea that takes a familiar story and spins it, looking at it from another direction, like Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. For whatever reason, I like it when I see things like that, and I like to write them. For me, if you take a familiar story – whether it be the Book of Genesis or The Wizard of Oz – and you come at it from another point of view, the tension between the audience’s preconception and the approach you’re taking to the story adds an extra level of response, plus it helps to clarify the points you’re trying to make. Second, the idea of taking what is one of the iconic villains of American culture, the Wicked Witch of the West – so much “the villain” that we don’t even know her name – and looking at the story from her point of view, that seemed to me a brilliant concept. It was clear a show about her could explore some of my favorite themes: the difference between surface appearances and what’s really going on underneath, how life is more complex and has more ambiguity than we tend to be comfortable with and, certainly, than our public discourse admits to. When I thought I wouldn’t get the rights to Wicked, I started making lists of other famous villains whose stories I could spin – Iago, Judas, the wicked queen in Snow White – but none of them seemed as colorful to me, pardon the pun. There is something so ingrained in our consciousness about the Wicked Witch of the West that she was already beloved, in a strange way. Thirdly, the character and her world were obviously inherently musical. Oz is a fantastical, larger-than-life setting full of characters who almost demand to sing, and the witch herself is so full of big emotions – rage and ambition and longing – I just thought the idea was screaming to be a musical. Your score is very varied. SS: Actually, I hoped and meant for it – with the exception of “Wonderful,” which is obviously a deliberate pastiche number because it’s sung by the Wizard, who is not from Oz and therefore is meant to sound American. But for the rest of the score, I really did try to come up with a sound that you couldn’t quite place where it was from, that there was nothing that suggested a specific either American or sort of “Earth” genre. There were songs that were featured in the San Francisco tryout of Wicked that were subsequently cut from the Broadway production. Is there any chance of hearing them? SS: I’m actually thinking of doing a CD that’s called “Murdered Darlings.” I’m not kidding. I have this plan. I’ve put out a couple of CDs of just me singing and thought “Maybe I’ll do a CD with a bunch of people singing (like my friend John Bucchino’s ‘Grateful’ CD).” I thought, “What could I do?” and then I thought, “You know what? People are always asking me about this cut song or that cut song and between the shows and the Disney films, I have about a dozen cut songs that I think are worthy of hearing.” I don’t know that I’ll do that right away but I know for sure of two songs from Wicked that will show up.

Tickets for the 2011-2012 season go on sale August 1!

2011-07-15T14:11:09Z

We have an fantastic season of shows lined up for the 2011-2012 season - and they all go on sale Monday, August 1 at 10 a.m.! (Tickets for Wicked and Jersey Boys are on sale now.) Click here to see what's in store for this amazing season!

Get THE BOOK OF MORMON soundtrack for $1.99 for a limited time!

2011-06-10T15:38:37Z

As a special thank you to fans everywhere, Amazon.com and the producers of Broadway’s THE BOOK OF MORMON are offering a digital download of the entire Original Broadway Cast Recording, released by Ghostlight Records, for only $1.99. This limited time offer will be available on Friday, June 10 at 12:00 AM PDT through Monday, June 13 at 11:59PM PDT at www.Amazon.com/BookOfMormon so don’t miss your opportunity to own the Original Cast Recording of the show Ben Brantley of The New York Times calls, “The best musical of this century.”

What was your favorite show in the 2010-2011 season?

2011-05-31T14:35:55Z

After a successful week of West Side Story, we are happy to wrap up the 2010-2011 season! Before you start celebrating summer, we'd like to know - what was your favorite show in the 2010-2011 season here at The Bushnell? Was it one of our Broadway hits, like Blue Man Group, Hair or Next to Normal? Or maybe a Ha! Ha! Hartford! performance? Perhaps it was Warriors Don't Cry or Pilobolus? Whatever the case, we want to know! Let us know in comments. Happy Summer!

WEST SIDE STORY opens tonight at The Bushnell!

2011-05-24T18:55:10Z

Are you ready for a rumble? The greatest love story of all time, WEST SIDE STORY, opens tonight at The Bushnell and runs through Sunday. This new Broadway revival is as powerful, poignant and timely as ever, and the new Broadway cast album of WEST SIDE STORY recently won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. Will you be at the show? Let us know what you think in comments!