3 Redneck Tenors
Strand Theatre

Three singers you may have seen on TV in America’s Got Talent, came to Conn county and hit the stage for two crowd pleasing performances at the Strand Theatre on the square. Matthew Lord, Blake Davidson and Jonathan Fruge started off in a style that wasn’t what one might have expected.

If you thought it was going to be Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras; then you might have been taken aback. But, are they really rednecks? Not sure any of them actually grew up in the sticks. These three are come on like it’s Saturday Night Live, or the clowns have come to town. They belt out country, classical and gospel and anything else they feel like doing. And, not every song is exactly as you may have remembered it.

They enjoyed working the house and hearing the laughs as well as the applause. They perform to carefully canned numbers, and the sound levels are pretty high. I guess they want to make sure you don’t miss anything.

And referring to missing, these guys hit the road a lot. They told us they just finished a tour of 131 cities, of which they actually sang in two of them. Duh! But, in reality, they closed here on January 12, and on the 15th they play Savannah, 16th in Bainbridge, 17 in Americus, and then hit the road to Illinois. Not an easy job.

And next up at the Strand will be the musical you won’t want to miss. Middletown which runs February 18 -23, 2020. More info at EarlSmithStrand.org

Twelfth Night
Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse
through January 26, 2020

You have to really appreciate what Shakespeare was able to do when it came to bringing insanity and humor to the stage 400 years ago. The show takes place in Illyria, an area in the Balkans and Italy which was known for having been home to some piratical types. A British soldier and author, Barnaby Riche, had written about a confused situation there and it is suggested that it was from his work that The Bard drew the plot line to draft Twelfth Night.

A lot of Shakespear’s humor involved mistaken identities, and one also needs to know that in his days, all female roles were played by men, as acting was not considered appropriate for the fairer sex. And so we have a plot where a brother and sister are shipwrecked and wind up in Illyria but separated from one another and each takes on a false persona, and things start to get more confusing. Duke Orsino (Marlon Burnley) is in love with Olivia (India Tyree). The cast of 16 players includes David Weber as Sir Toby Belch who is Olivia’s uncle, and a bit of a sot. Avery Sharpe plays the sort of Marx brothers type clown, Sir Andrew. Jon Wierenga is Sebastian, brother to Viola (Rachel Frawley). Olivia’s lady in waiting is Maria (Megan Rose) who helps to facilitate the frauds that will be conceived. Malvolio (Jacob York) has a hard time working his way through things; and each and every one of the cast is spot-on, and some of the cast play more than one roll. But, it makes no difference; for the play’s the thing, and if you think you know where things are going, just know this isn’t like Romeo and Juliet or some of the Bard’s other works.

Directed by Jaclyn Hofmann, the show is well presented to a house where most of the folks are enjoying their meals and especially libations. There are a few musical numbers, but don’t worry if you can’t leave the house humming them. For this was years ago when life was allegedly simpler. Well, at least they didn’t have 400+ cable channels and people weren’t killed every day. If you drive down to the theatre, please know that you may park in the medical center garage across the street and you get a discount with your ticket stub. Beats the parking meter rodents who work the street except on Sundays.

And speaking of Romeo & Juliet, know that they’ll be next up, starting on January 31st. How these fine performers can keep all the lines to several shows in their head at one time is sooooo impressive. More info at ShakespeareTavern.com

She Rocks
Georgia Ensemble Theatre
through January 19, 2020

Tara Vaughan really loves to bring together a concert that reaches out the very hearts of those of us who were around during the 60’s and 70’s. But, while so many of the performers were men; she devotes her production to the women who created some of the music and belted it out. So the show is about women and for all of us.

The four piece band backing her up is Matthew McGuigan on bass, Ryan McGuigan on guitar and keys, Max Meyer on guitar and Adam Stoltenberg on the drums. In this performance her back up vocals were from Natalie Thomas who doubled on guitar. And all the performers, except Adam, got a chance to belt out some of the numbers.

She’s the present day hot number from Omaha; and she loves to put forth numbers you will recall from Janis Joplin, Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, Carole King and a host of others. There is no pre-show song-list, as Tara and the crew decide from day to day which of the hundreds of numbers they know, will be taken home by them.

This is one that works very well for the AARP crowd, and runs about 2 hours with an intermission. And if you love this one then know that on January 13, Georgia Ensemble brings back the one-night celebration of the Beatles, Yesterday and Today, where you even get to help decide which numbers they will play.

More info at GET.org