Sunday, July 1

Here’s the thing about “Radiant Baby” at New Stage Collective, and why you should see it – and see it today, when composer Debra Barsha is in from New York to lead a post-performance conversation. (If you have plans today, just see it before it closes July 15.)

Remember when “Tick...Tick…Boom!” put Know Theatre on the map a few seasons back? “Radiant Baby” is that kind of show. The Keith Haring musical bio feels like the best kind of theater lab in the hands of director Alan Patrick Kenny, who fills the stage with young talent who are celebrating their art on that stage, very much in the spirit of Haring’s jolly figures born in the NYC subways. The energy makes you grin from ear to ear and follow cast members from show to show.

Adam Standley (as Haring) has graduated from CCM Drama and is heading on. He’s done right by a lot of roles on a lot of small stages in Cincinnati and he’ll be missed.

You can still find the diva with the big pipes, Julie Conuel, of CCM musical theater. It’s great seeing Kera Halbersleben home from NYU for the summer and demonstrating how she’s honing her talent. Mikhail Roberts takes a real leap from Fancourt Babberly in CCM’s fab “Charley’s Aunt” to play Haring’s lover (and a brave try for a non-singer.)

Phillip Webster is terrific as Haring’s dad; hope the NKU grad is here for more than a brief visit home. Adienne Clark is another stand-out, especially as Andy Warhol, and talk about the legs on Joey Stone, doing a drag queen turn before returning to CCM musical theater.

Alyssa Foley is responsible for the so-bright choreo, the NKU grad is heaed for Middlesex University in autumn to study for a masters degree.

The point is, “Radiant Baby” is “Hey, kids, let’s put on a show” for the 21^st century and you shouldn’t be left behind. Find out everything you need to know about getting tickets by clicking “theaters” on the CinStages home page, clicking “N” and then New Stage Collective.

After “The Goat” and “Radiant Baby” as the first two outings in New Stage’s new home at Twelfth and Main – this young company is worth your time.

It’s time to make theater a habit in Cincinnati.

“Company” closes its Broadway run today. Yesterday’s performances of the Playhouse in the Park-born, 2007 Tony Award-winning Musical Revival, were taped for possible airing on PBS (The words “Great Performances” have been mentioned.) Stay tuned.

Monday, July 2

Playhouse associate artistic director Michael Haney is plotting his upcoming flight schedule, and clocking frequent flyer miles.

The biggest gig: Ensemble Theatre’s hit “Souvenir” is booked in Vienna in September and director Haney with cast Neva Rae Powers (Acclaim Award winner) and Scot Woolley will reprise their roles. Powers will again warble as Florence Foster Jenkins in an autumn run opening Sept. 3.

These days Haney is city-hopping with prep for “Bad Dates.” It will be a piece of cake in St. Louis, where Annie Fitzpatrick will star beginning in October. A Kansas City engagement opening in September is a little more problematic. The scheduling precludes Fitzpatrick doing both, so Haney is making casting jaunts to both coasts.

Tuesday, July 3

Dale Hodges takes a break from “Frozen” rehearsals, which has its Cincinnati premiere in September at Xavier University (also starring New Edgecliff’s Michael Shooner) to head for summer rep in New Hampshire.

Where in the world is talented Cincinnati Shakespeare co-founder Marni Penning? She opens tonight in thriller “Write Me a Murder” at Totem Pole Playhouse outside Gettysburg, Pa. At the end of the month she’s in Washington, D.C., starting work on Woolly Mammoth’s “The Unmentionables.”

Wednesday, July 4

Happy Fourth of July!

Thursday, July 5

Great casting for Theresa Rebeck’s “Mauritius” on Broadway. Academy Award-winner F. Murray Abraham (“Amadeus”) will lead a cast of big-name New York actors incuding Dylan Baker and Bobby Cannavale, Tony winner Katie Finneran and Tony nominee Alison Pill. Previews start Sept. 13, opening is Oct. 4 at the Biltmore Theatre, under the banner of Manhattan Theatre Club.

Friday, July 6

Take a drive down Madison road through Madisonville and admire the new electronic billboard up and functioning on the soon-to-be Madisonville Community Arts Center on Whetzel. The “jumbotron” will be featuring coming attractions, starting with CCM Prep and other classes set to start in autumn.

Be sure to keep track up the ArtWorks mural project on the building wall facing Madison. The mural will take shape over the next six weeks. Madisonville co-mastermind Ed Cohen says the image itself is hard to describe, but calls it “aggressive” and “intense” and says it will “generate conversation.”

The mural will be topped by metal sculpture. Between the irridescent paint and the back-lighting planned by the Madisonville gang, it’s going to be impossible to miss, Cohen promises.

Saturday, July 7

Falcon Players announces its 2007-2008 season: Oct. 5-20, “The Diary of Anne Frank”; Dec. 7-16, the return of “The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge”; Feb. 8-23, “The House of Blue Leaves”; April 4-12, “Art” and May 2-17, “Hair.”

Ticket information and reservations 513-479-6783 and watch for more details of this and other season announcements in Sunday’s Enquirer.

Jackie Demaline

posted by CinStages Buzz  # PermaLink 2:45 PM 0 Comments

Kirsten Haglund will take time out from her Broadway dreams as a student in the musical theater program at CCM to compete for the Miss America crown this year – and perform duties as the reigning Miss Michigan.

Haglund won the Michigan title Saturday. If she takes her state talent to national competition, you’ll be able to see her perform Adele’s Laughing Song from “Die Fledermaus.”

Jackie Demaline

posted by CinStages Buzz  # PermaLink 4:49 PM 0 Comments

Is on vacation until July 1!

posted by CinStages Buzz  # PermaLink 5:18 PM 0 Comments

And you know I mean Raul Esparza in “Company.” When David Hyde Pierce’s name was called out for this year’s Tony for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, I thought he looked stunned (and so did today’s New York Times.)

Nothing against Pierce, who’s a charmer in “Curtains,” but his performance is in no way a reach. What happened? The likeliest answer is that Tony voters never saw “Company” and voted for Pierce, endeared to the world thanks to primetime hit “Frasier” and who has recent New York stage cred thanks to a turn in the original company of “Spamalot.”

Too, Tony voters checked more of a straight ticket than anyone expected for “Spring Awakening,” which slightly surprised with eight awards at the end of the night. It could be that there was a thought to give some kind of tip of the hat to the final show by legendary Broadway musical writing team Kander and Ebb and Pierce was the only option.  

When Pierce accepted his Tony, he noted Esparza’s performance was “amazing.” True, as we saw again in Esparza’s show-stopping rendition of “Being Alive” on last night’s telecast.

Esparza’s loss made the winning night for “Company” “bittersweet,” says Playhouse producing artistic director Ed Stern, calling in from New York. Stern raves about Esparza’s Tony performance, “He sang a brilliant song brilliantly.”

Stern is pondering where to put the Playhouse’s second Tony (the first was the 2004 nod for Regional Theatre). “There are worse things to do on your birthday,” Stern laughs, than standing on stage at Radio City Music Hall with the rest of the producers.

Stern expects producers to wait a few days to see if there’s box office bounce from Esparza’s Tonycast performance. If there isn’t, closing notices could be posted soon.

Stern and the Playhouse’s new Tony Award will be in town next week. He’s staying on in New York to cast 2007-2008 season-opener “Dracula.”

Jackie Demaline

posted by CinStages Buzz  # PermaLink 2:33 PM 0 Comments

A man, a spotlight.

“Company” used its Tony Award broadcast minutes well, putting Raul Esparza’s explosive performance of “Being Alive” front and center to maybe sell some tickets and buy the slow-selling show a few more weeks of life. (This year’s two best Broadway revivals, musical “Company” and drama “Journey’s End” – CONGRATS ON THOSE TONY AWARDS! -- couldn’t give away tickets.)

No actor/musicians to confuse folks, just a star turn that brought down the house at the Tonys the same way it does at every performance.

CCM was front and center, too, with Ashley Brown performing in the title role in medley from “Mary Poppins” and, on film, Aaron Lazar leading the doomed uprising in the revival of “Les Miz.” (Leslie Kritzer was also in the pre-taped segment in “Legally Blonde,” but she was a blink here and there and you had to know who you were looking for.) 

Jackie Demaline

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Monday, June 11

Cincinnati Fringe Festival officially closed its fourth edition last night by announcing – to absolutely no one’s surprise – that the 2007 Audience Pick is the cheery “Calculus: The Musical!”

Show creator Marc Gutman and actress Sadie Bowman had a really, really, really good time here. Bowman says “Cincinnati math fans are by far the best singers we’ve ever had at our show.”

And I had to ask – which do you like more? Calculus or ice cream? Gutman: “Calculus. I’m lactose intolerant.” Bowman: “Ice cream for me, definitely. Any kind. Just as I’m an actor who can sing about math, I can diversify and embrace many flavors.”

Next up for “Calculus” is the Boulder Fringe in August, and for a look at what other ideas are in the works, scroll down to the June 5 entry in This Week in Cincy Theater.

Fringe Critics Pick was the smart, multi-media “True + False,” all about perception and our ability to identify what’s true and what isn’t.

Producers Pick came after a mighty battle with a lot of titles in play including “The Kid in the Dark,” “MAD,”  “Lusthaus,” “How to Fake Clinical Depression” and “girlfight” by Performance Gallery, which has been with the Fringe since its debut.

So many possible picks speaks to just how good the best of this year’s Fringe was.

And the winner – “iLove,” the very cool re-consideration of a Charles Mee play by Sartori Group, mostly CCM Drama grads and most of whom can be found over the next couple of months involved with New Stage Collective’s summer season. (The gang is headed west to Seattle in near-single file.)

Tuesday, June 12

Congrats to Cincinnati’s favorite homegrown playwright Theresa Rebeck. Rebeck gets her first Broadway production with “Mauritius,” opening the Manhattan Theatre Club season in September and directed by Doug Hughes, Tony Award-winning director of “Doubt.”

Rebeck scored on Off-Broadway early this year with Humana Festival of New American Plays hit “The Scene.” Her “Bad Dates” was an audience favorite at Playhouse in the Park, where she’s currently working on a commission.

“Mauritius” is another of Rebeck’s dark comedies, this one about half-sisters and a valuable stamp collection (hence the title.) 

Wednesday, June 13

Fresh from Sibiu International Theatre Festival in Romania, Northern Kentucky University opens its summer dinner theater season with “Man of La Mancha.”  The experience was amazing, says director Ken Jones, even hauling an electric keyboard and all the props up a moutainside to the church/fortress at the summit where the musical was performed. (Read the full story this coming Friday in the Enquirer’s Weekend section.)

Mark Hardy plays the title role, other local favorites in the cast include Denise Devlin, Roderick Justice, Ken Early, Daryl Harris and Deondra Means.

Many performances of “La Mancha” and the valentine of a musical about antagonistic shop clerks who don’t know they’re loving anonymous pen pals, are already down to single-ticket availability. Call the box office now: 859-572-5464. 

Thursday, June 14

If you’re in Prague between today and June 24 be sure to mosey over to the Industrial Palace at the Vystaviste Exhibitions Grounds, home to the 11^th quadrennial International Competitive Exhibition of Scenography and Theatre.

Among the entries from almost 60 countries shocasing the latest trends and the best in scenic design (as we call it in the States) are a pair of Playhouse in the Park entries by Joseph Tilford: his 2003 set design for “One” and the watery dream of 2004’s “Twelfth Night.” 

Friday, June 15

By my recollection, Cincinnati has never seen a production of “Take Me Out,” the lockerroom drama about a gay baseball player coming out. It’s onstage at Human Race in Dayton through June 24 and tonight there’s a post-performance pizza and dessert party. Check CinStages listings for all the details.

Saturday, June 16

Where in the world is Terry LaBolt? Everywhere. The musical man about town and his Covedale “South Pacific” cast (and their costumes) have been tapped by Kentucky Symphony Orchestra’s J.R. Cassidy for a free sing-along “Sound of Music” with the orchestra in Devou Park on Aug 4. LaBolt staged the Coevedale show and Cassidy steps aside to let him take the podium at Devou Park. This marks LaBolt’s first conducting gig since his liver transplant several years ago. Welcome back! (For more infor visit www.kyso.org.)

More immediately, find LaBolt in Rising Sun, Indiana, where Rising Sun Opera (risingstarsingers.org) is presenting a fully staged version of “The Music Man” July 6-8. LaBolt directs, Scot Woolley, last seen playing the piano and acting the accompanist in “Souvenir” at Ensemble, is music director.

“Music Man” is the first time the summer opera theater and summer program for opera students shifts from opera and operetta to musical, says LaBolt. Artistic directors Thomas Baresel and Barbara Honn, both members of the voice faculty at CCM (and residents of Rising Sun co-incidentally) promise  costumes, orchestra, the whole kitchen sink.

LaBolt directs musical satire “Ruthless,” all about a child star from hell and shamelessly referencing Gypsy, All About Eve and The Bad Seed, aboard the Showboat Majestic. Aug. 6-26.  One of our favorite performers, 2007 Acclaim Awards Rising Star Roderick Justice, stars. Call the box office at 241-6550.

Sunday, June 17

“Broadway Bares XVII: Myth Behavior” includes a couple of CCM grads/Broadway stars among the annual Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefit performance.

Ashley Brown, unpopping starchy Mary Poppins, and Leslie Kritzer (currently in “Legally Blonde,” and signed on as lead in Broadway-bound “A Catered Affair”) will both take the stage at the Roseland Ballroom.

Jackie Demaline

posted by CinStages Buzz  # PermaLink 2:30 PM 0 Comments

From GoldDerby.com, The Envelope’s racetrack odds and critics picks for Tony wins. Hope they’re right for Playhouse in the Park-born revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” and it’s star, Raul Esparza.

The Envelope's official racetrack odds on who'll win the Tonys

Here's the inside track on who'll claim Tony Awards this Sunday night. Odds were set by David Scott of America's Line based upon the views of our pundits. Odds are issued for entertainment purposes only and should not be used for gambling.

BEST PLAY
The Coast of Utopia - 3/5
Frost/Nixon - 5/2
Radio Golf - 7/2
The Little Dog Laughed - 50/1

BEST MUSICAL
Spring Awakening - 1/2

Grey Gardens - 7/5
Curtains - 30/1
Mary Poppins - 40/1

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Jouney's End - 2/3
Inherit the Wind - 5/2
Talk Radio - 3/1
Translations - 100/1

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Company - 2/5
110 in the Shade - 4/1
A Chorus Line - 9/2
The Apple Tree - 75/1

BEST LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon - 1/2
BrÃan F. O’Byrne, The Coast of Utopia - 8/5
Christopher Plummer, Inherit the Wind - 20/1
Liev Schreiber, Talk Radio - 30/1
Boyd Gaines, Journey's End - 40/1

BEST LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Eve Best, A Moon for the Misbegotten - 7/5
Angela Lansbury, Deuce - 8/5
Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed - 5/2
Vanessa Redgrave, The Year of Magical Thinking - 50/1
Swoozie Kurtz, Heartbreak House - 100/1

BEST LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Raúl Esparza, Company - 2/5
David Hyde Pierce, Curtains - 4/1
Jonathan Groff, Spring Awakening - 5/1
Michael Cerveris, LoveMusik - 50/1
Gavin Lee, Mary Poppins - 75/1

BEST LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens - 4/7
Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade - 3/2
Debra Monk, Curtains - 60/1
Donna Murphy, LoveMusik - 80/1
Laura Bell Bundy, Legally Blonde The Musical - 100/1

Pundits' scorecard: Breakdown of Tonys predix

There's consensus among most Tonys gurus about the top races. Nearly all are picking "Spring Awakening" to win best musical, for example. (All except that daredevil guru Susan Haskins — you go, girl!) But there's much mayhem over the race for best lead actress in a play where there's also much on the line: If Angela Lansbury wins again, she'll tie Julie Harris as the biggest winner in the Tony Awards' history.

More predix are coming soon. Meantime, here's the input of Melissa Bernardo (Entertainment Weekly), Martin Denton (NYTheatre.com), Joe Dziemianowicz (NY Daily News), Andrew Gans (Playbill), Elysa Gardner (USA Today), Susan Haskins (Theater Talk), Andy Humm (Gay U.S.A.), Charles McNulty (L.A. Times), Tom O'Neil (TheEnvelope.com), Patrick Pacheco (L.A. Times), Paul Sheehan (TheEnvelope.com), David Sheward (Back Stage), Linda Winer (Newsday)

Best Play
The Coast of Utopia - Denton, Dziemianowicz, Gans, Gardner, Humm, McNulty, O'Neil, Pacheco, Sheehan, Sheward, Winer
Frost/Nixon - Bernardo
The Little Dog Laughed
Radio Golf - Haskins

Best Musical
Curtains
Grey Gardens - Haskins
Mary Poppins
Spring Awakening - Bernardo, Denton, Dziemianowicz, Gans, Gardner, Humm, McNulty , O'Neil, Pacheco, Sheehan, Sheward, Winer

Best Revival of a Play
Inherit the Wind
Jouney's End - Bernardo, Denton, Dziemianowicz, Gans, Gardner, Haskins, Humm, McNulty, O'Neil, Sheehan, Sheward, Winer
Talk Radio - Gardner
Translations

Best Revival of a Musical
The Apple Tree
A Chorus Line - Dziemianowicz
Company - Bernardo, Denton, Gans, Gardner, Haskins, Humm, McNulty, O'Neil, Sheehan, Sheward, Winer
110 in the Shade - Pacheco

Best Performance By a Leading Actor in a Play
Boyd Gaines, Journey's End
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon - Bernardo, Denton, Dziemianowicz, Gans, Gardner, Haskins, Humm, McNulty, O'Neil, Pacheco, Sheehan, Sheward, Winer
Brían F. O’Byrne, The Coast of Utopia
Christopher Plummer, Inherit the Wind
Liev Schreiber, Talk Radio

Best Performance By a Leading Actress in a Play
Eve Best, A Moon for the Misbegotten - Dziemianowicz, McNulty, Pacheco, Sheward, Winer
Swoozie Kurtz, Heartbreak House
Angela Lansbury, Deuce - Denton, Haskins, O'Neil, Sheehan
Vanessa Redgrave, The Year of Magical Thinking
Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed - Bernardo, Gans, Gardner, Humm

Best Performance By a Leading Actor in a Musical
Michael Cerveris, LoveMusik
Raúl Esparza, Company - Bernardo, Denton, Dziemianowicz, Gans, Gardner, Haskins, Humm, McNulty, O'Neil, Pacheco, Sheehan, Sheward, Winer
Jonathan Groff, Spring Awakening
Gavin Lee, Mary Poppins
David Hyde Pierce, Curtains

Best Performance By a Leading Actress in a Musical
Laura Bell Bundy, Legally Blonde The Musical
Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens - Bernardo, Denton, Dziemianowicz, Gans, Gardner, Haskins, Humm, McNulty, O'Neil, Pacheco, Sheehan, Sheward, Winer
Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade
Debra Monk, Curtains
Donna Murphy, LoveMusik

posted by CinStages Buzz  # PermaLink 1:25 PM 0 Comments

We’ve been waiting for CCM musical theater grad Leslie Kritzer to get her deserved shot at stardom, and, capping a season where the spotlight’s been focusing in, she’s been cast in her first leading role in a Broadway musical. She plays the bride in “A Catered Affair,”  one of next season’s already buzzing musicals adapted from a Paddy Chayefsky teleplay (and a TV film by Gore Vidal) by Harvey “Torch Song Trilogy” Fierstein and John Bucchino. Word is that Fierstein has written himself a “sensational” role.

Cincinnati can start rooting for “A Catered Affair” right now – it’s directed by “Company” man John Doyle (and this time the cast won’t be the orchestra) and CCM grad and Broadway star Faith Prince is mother of the bride.

Kritzer’s good year includes a MAC (Manhattan cabaret) Award for solo show “Leslie Kritzer Is Patti LuPone at Les Mouches,” and just won Actors Equity’s Clarence Derwent Award for her work in “Legally Blonde.” (We last saw Kritzer locally stealing the national tour of “Urinetown.”)

“A Catered Affair” debuts at the Old Globe in San Diego in September and is due on Broadway next spring.

Jackie Demaline

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Monday, June 4

Get tagged! New Stage Collective preps for its regional premiere of Keith Haring musical “Radiant Baby” by chalking entrances to Fringe shows (yeah, that’s what those chalk babies are about), and don’t be amazed if you find yourself wearing one of 3,000 “Chalk Dust Man” stickers.

New Stage chief and show director Alan Patrick Kenny says the guerilla- and grafitti-style is to get folks into the spirit of the show and invite people to go online to chalkdustman.com to “find out what Keith was about.” And of course to buy tickets to the follow-up to acclaimed “The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?” You’ll also find a blog where everybody invlolved with the show is entering like crazy.

“Radiant Baby” plays June 21-July 15, for reservations and information call the box office at 513-621-3700 (and don’t panic if it takes a little time to get a call back) or go online at www.newstagecollective.com.

Tuesday, June 5

Only three more performances, tonight through Thursday, of Fringe charmer “Calculus: The Musical!” You can always download the lyrics, but it just won’t be the same without show creator Marc Gutman and musician/singer/actress Sadie Bowman performing them.

I bumped into Gutman at Know, where he was handing out programs for “I Take It Back.” As I suspected, he did do his song lyrics while he was teaching math but says the kids didn’t all ace math, which is hard to believe.

I’m happy to report that Gutman and Bowman are working on three other projects: a prequel, “Pre-Calculus: The Musical!” (which will also cover basic trig); a show about algebra; and one about a Danish astronomer whose name I didn’t catch.

I went online and figured out that it was Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) who sounds like he deserves a musical: Brahe found a super nova, spotted a comet and figured out it was in space not Earth’s atmosphere and made seminal calculations of the orbits of the planets – without a telescope.

What makes Brahe even more cool is that he had a nose made of gold because he lost most of his real nose in a duel about mathematics. I SO hope this show is ready for next year’s Fringe.

Wednesday, June 6

Countdown to Tony: “Company” actress Kristin Huffman (she plays Sarah) has been writing a series at BroadwayWorld.com about the experience of making the musical, starting at Playhouse in the Park.

Let’s join her on Valentine’s Day, 2006: “I decided that my character, "Sarah," is really the hostess of the bunch of personalities on stage and so throwing a Valentine's Day party in my hotel suite for the cast seemed a natural. 

Everyone brought a Valentine's treat and my mom helped me make a cute cake to share and we all wore red or pink. This is truly a wonderful 'company' of people and the party seemed to be a very bonding event.  At the end, after almost everyone had left, John Doyle answered a big question of mine that I know had been on everyone else's mind too. Not one to hold back when I need to know something, I asked him about the future plans for this show and how it might all work out.  Not one to hold back from answering a question honestly, he gave me the scoop. There are many Broadway producers coming to see our show here in Cincinnati.”

You can read all Huffman’s entries at BroadwayWorld.com. 

Thursday, June 7

Countdown to Tony: There’s a terrific interview with Raul Esparza by Tom Nondorf at Playbill Online. A front runner for Lead Male Performance in a Musical for his bravura turn as alone-to-alive Bobby in “Company,” you can find the entire interview under “Leading Men.”  

Here’s a bit of it:

Q: Prior to Company, you said your favorite roles were in tick, tick…BOOM! and The Normal Heart. Where does Company now fit in?

Esparza: I would say this is the best work I've ever done because I think I am a better actor through this process than I've been before, and I'm also learning to sing better than I've ever sung and taking it really seriously. I've applied myself to learning stuff. tick, tick…BOOM! and The Normal Heart were such immediate experiences that nothing is going to take the place of that. That's because they were plays for and about the people we were performing them for.

Company is similar….personally, it is really challenging, and I feel like I am getting better, and that's really rewarding to me….when I hear people crying at the end or laughing — there's a moment of laughter after "Being Alive" that happens every night. It's a relief and it releases something in the audience where you hear everyone kind of happy for Bobby and happy for themselves. I think it's really hopeful, and I love telling that story. I keep having moments every night where I go, "I can't believe I'm doing this." So I would say that so far I feel like this is the top of something. Now, I don't know what the hell I'm going to do [next]! [Laughs.]

Friday, June 8

Cincinnati has Shakespeare in the Park(s)! Cincinnati Shakespeare Company sends a free mini-“Much Ado About Nothing” to parks around the region – from Middletown to Williamstown – for your picnicking pleasure. It starts ronight with a weekend of performances at Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park. Check the CinStages calendar for upcoming dates.

Saturday, June 9

The fourth annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival wraps. Where did the time go? Fifteen shows to choose among on this final day, starting at 2 p.m.

Where in the world is Joe Kovacs? The fabulous Cincinnati-born puppeteer joins Madame (crotchety, bejeweled and potty-mouthed rod puppet who had her own TV show a few decades back) aboard the Tylenol PM float in the L.A. Pride parade this weekend. (Madame making Tylenol jokes, the mind boggles.) Kovacs is spending the month on the West Coast with dates for “A Comeback from Abroad” starring Madame in El-lay before heading up to San Francisco and an engagement at the Empire Plush Room.