Hook Up With Janis Joplin, Savor Good News at the Goodspeed & More Cross-Country Highlights

Broadway.com’s Countrywide Guide is your destination for the best in theatrical offerings around the country. This week, we go from Connecticut to Colorado to California and more with five fantastic theater picks, including an imaginative re-telling of Good News, a one-night-stand with Janis Joplin and the southeast premiere of Leslye Headland’s newest comedy.


SEATLLE, WA
Assisted Living Takes on Aging in America
To quote the unrivalled Bette Davis: “Getting old is not for sissies.” Assisted Living, a world premiere comedy by Seattle writer Katie Forgette, is the story of a retired actor in a post-Medicare eldercare facility who joins other residents in a plot to take over a dehumanizing system. Staged by actor-director (and Forgette's husband) R. Hamilton Wright, Assisted Living is a timely comedy with bite, playing April 19 through May 12 at the ACT Theatre.


DENVER, CO
So Many Ladies Take to the Mile High City
Get ready for your fair share of crazy ladies! Britt Swenson’s So Many Ladies is a one-woman show written by and starring the stand-up comic and Groundlings vet. Swenson takes on the eccentric personalities of 15 women—from a sexy temp flirting to save her job to a tap dancing Broadway has-been to Laura Bush—in this quirky SNL-style sketch comedy. So Many Ladies plays the Bovine Metropolis Theater for one night only on April 21.


ATLANTA, GA
See Headland’s Assistance Before It’s a Pilot
Leslye Headland’s comedy Assistance, playing the Pinch ‘N’ Ouch Theatre through May 4, wants you to sympathize with the plight of beleaguered workers who spend their days (and nights) placing calls and making travel arrangements for a harsh, arrogant boss. Headland, who penned and directed the film Bachelorette, worked as an assistant for film mogul Harvey Weinstein before making it as a playwright and screenwriter. Next up: an NBC-TV pilot of Assistance, starring Krysten Ritter.


EAST HADDAM, CT
Good News for Those Who Like Good News
The dance-tastic musical Good News, about the romantic hijinks that ensue when a female tutor helps a college football star pass a major academic exam, is playing the Goodspeed Opera House through June 22. Good News opened on Broadway in 1927, and is filled with roaring 1920s nostalgia, laughter and rousing dance numbers, including songs like “You're the Cream in My Coffee,” “The Varsity Drag,” and “Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries.” A re-imagined, old-fashioned musical comedy? Now that’s some good news.


PASADENA, CA
Last Chance to Spend One Night With Janis Joplin
As the ultimate in wish fulfillment, One Night with Janis Joplin, now playing at the Pasadena Playhouse, gives fans of the tragically short-lived singer a chance to experience what it was like to see her in concert. Written and directed by Randy Johnson, One Night puts Joplin’s music front and center, including “Piece of My Heart,” “Try” and “Summertime.” Starring Mary Bridget Davies as the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, the smash-hit show ends its run on April 21.