Paul Giamatti Leads Hamlet, Sing Along with Phantom & More Cross Country Highlights

In this week’s Countrywide Guide, we shine the spotlight on a multitude of exciting regional theater productions; from an Oscar nominee taking on the Bard in Connecticut to a Tennessee Williams-inspired concert in New Orleans, get the inside scoop on the most captivating offerings of the week below.


NEW HAVEN, CT
Paul Giamatti Headlines Yale Rep’s Hamlet
Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Cinderella Man) takes on the troubled Prince of Denmark in Yale Rep’s staging of Hamlet. Directed by James Bundy and co-starring Broadway vets Marc Kudisch as Claudius and Lisa Emery as Gertrude, the Shakespeare tragedy runs through April 13 at the University Theatre. Forget “to be or not to be,” the biggest question here is how to score tickets.


NEW ORLEANS, LA
Alison Fraser Brings Tennesse Williams to the Big Easy
Two-time Tony nominee Alison Fraser performs her unique concert Only a Paper Moon in New Orleans for three shows only from March 21 through 24. This standout hit from the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown features Fraser backed by a seven-piece swing band performing numbers inspired by the playwright's life and work. Think Mississippi blues and pop songs from the '30s and '40s. Directed by David Kaplan, Only a Paper Moon plays the Hotel Monteleone.


LOWELL, MA
Kiera Keeley Shows Off Her Math Skills in Proof
The Merrimack Repertory Theatre presents Kiera Keeley (off-Broadway’s The Glass Menagerie and Angels in America) as Catherine, a brilliant woman with a secret, in David Auburn’s Tony Award-winning play Proof. Directed by Christian Parker, the Massachusetts production co-stars Broadway vet Michael Pemberton as her ailing father, Megan Byrne as her pushy sister Claire and off-Broadway alum Colby Chambers as her determined love interest Hal. Flex your own genius and solve the mystery of Proof, running March 21 through April 14.


SAN DIEGO, CA
A Doll’s House Receives an Intimate Staging
Get an intimate and refreshing look at Henrik Ibsen’s classic A Doll’s House at San Diego’s Old Globe. Translator Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey teams up with director Kirsten Brandt for this world premiere adaptation starring real-life husband and wife (and Broadway veterans) Fred Arsenault as Torvald and Gretchen Hall as Nora Helmer. See this explosive masterpiece at close range inside the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre March 23 through April 21.


BREMERTON, WA
Fans Infuse the Music of the Night at Phantom Sing-Along
Think you can do better than Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler? Well, now’s your chance! The Admiral Theatre outside Seattle is hosting a one-night-only Phantom of the Opera movie sing-along on March 22. And as if that weren’t enough to get you there, the movie theater is also throwing a costume contest with prizes going to the best Phantom-inspired attire. Dust off your mask and head to this campy opportunity to show off your inner “Prima Donna.”