Entertainment in Connecticut
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City Steam Brewery Café
This big and boisterous place has plenty of yummy beers on tap. The Naughty Nurse Pale Ale is a bestseller, but be sure to check out their seasonals. The café is also home to the Brew Ha Ha Comedy Club, where you can yuk it up with comedians seen on Conan O’Brien and at the Improv. Shows are $15 on Friday and Saturday nights and $5 on Thursdays. You must pay for tickets with your credit card.
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Ivoryton Playhouse
A mile west of Essex, on the west side of CT 9, lies sleepy Ivoryton, named for the African elephant tusks imported during the 19th century to make combs and piano keys. Today the ivory industry is long gone, and most people visit Ivoryton to stay or dine at the Copper Beech Inn or take in a show at the 1908 Ivoryton Playhouse, America’s oldest self-supporting summer theater.
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Bushnell
Bushnell, hosting over 500 events a year, plays a major role in the state’s cultural life. Its historic building is where you go for most ballet, symphony, opera and chamber music performances. For current shows contact the Greater Hartford Arts Council. The well-respected Hartford Symphony stages performances year-round.
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Partner’s Café
An anything-goes crowd packs it into the three floors at Partner’s. There are pool tables, quiet alcoves for conversation, and thumping house music upstairs. M&M Fridays sees male dancers and midnight pizza. Every Sunday is karaoke night and the boys get the run of the place each Tuesday. Happy hour, which knocks $1 off cocktails and beer, is 5pm to 8pm.
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BAR
This club encompasses the Bru Room (New Haven’s first brew pub), the Front Room, the video-oriented BARtropolis Room and various other enclaves. Taken in toto, you’re set for artisinal beer and brick-oven pizza, a free pool table and excellent live music or DJs spinning almost every night of the week. Check the Haven Advocate for specifics.
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Anchor
Sure, you can score the standard pub-grub burgers here, but you’re much better off strolling in later in the evening. The clientele represents a real cross-section of folks. Throw some tunes on the jazz-heavy jukebox, get a drink from the full bar and settle into your black-leather banquette booth. No plastic accepted.
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Real Art Ways
Contemporary works in all kinds of media find an outlet at this consistently offbeat and adventurous gallery/cinema/performance space/lounge. Evening events at RAW usually cost between $5 and $12. You can sip wine or beer while watching the new drag-queen documentary or the latest export from the new Brazilian cinema.
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Frank’s Place
For a quarter-century, Frank’s has provided the area’s gay community with a comfortable place to eat, drink, play pool and sing karaoke. No matter what the evening’s entertainment may turn out to be, there’s never a cover charge. Its birdcage room is not something you see every day.
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Dutch Tavern
Raise a cold one to Eugene O’Neill at the Dutch, the only surviving bar in town that the playwright frequented (though back in the day it was known as the Oak). It’s a good honest throwback to an earlier age, from the tin ceiling to the century-old potato salad recipe.
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Black-Eyed Sally’s BBQ & Blues
This blues palace drags in local and national acts. The walls are covered with graffiti, some penned by visiting bands. There’s live music Wednesday through Saturday, and Sunday and Monday are all-you-can-eat BBQ nights (meals cost $17 to $20).
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168 York St Cafe
This bar-restaurant isn’t too far off its own billing as a gay Cheers. Sunday and Thursday nights will get you $1 domestic beers, while daily happy hours between 4pm and 7pm knock a dollar off all drink prices.
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Polo Club
While this place seems to cater more to curious straight couples who come to watch the drag-queen shows than to gay men themselves, it’s a fun place to lounge around with a martini in hand, feeling fabulous.
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Chamber Music Society at Yale
This Yale society sponsors concerts from such eminent ensembles as the Guarneri String Quartet at 8pm Tuesday evenings from September through April in the Morse Recital Hall of Sprague Memorial Hall.
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Shubert Theater
Catch a hit before it happens at the venerable Shubert, which has been hosting Broadway musicals on their trial runs since 1914.
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Elm City Java
This café hosts local acts every Thursday evening, and all the bands you hear over the stereo system are New Haven–based. Better yet, the coffee is fair-trade organic.
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Harp Hound
This pub, in a historic building on the west side of the drawbridge, is the late-night place to grab a pint of Irish ale; decent pub grub and English football on the telly too.
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Hartford Stage
Contemporary as well as classic dramas play from September to June. Venturi & Rauch designed the striking theater building of red brick with darker red zigzag details.
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Backroom @ Bottega
With live acts on Thursday, local DJs on weekends, cheap martinis ($7) and Italian small plates, this spot draws a mix of college kids, locals and assorted nighthawks.
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New Haven Symphony Orchestra
Yale’s Woolsey Hall is home to most performances by this orchestra, whose season runs from October through April. The Pops series performs on Friday evenings.
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Hartford Children’s Theater
This theater puts on several productions a year, like Charlotte’s Web and the Wizard of Oz. Both children and adults make up the casts.
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Toad's Place
The hottest music scene this side of New York City. Everyone from Count Basie to Bob Dylan and U2 have taken the stage at this legendary venue.
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Chez Est
South of Colt Park, Chez Est has a cozy, mixed crowd. On Mondays, there’s no cover and free pool after 8pm; Wednesday means karaoke.
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Yale Repertory Theatre
New Haven has an award-winning repertory theater Yale Repertory Theatre.
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Hartford Symphony
The well-respected Hartford Symphony stages performances in the Bushnell all year-round.
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Long Wharf Theatre
Long Wharf Theatre is a award winning theater in New Haven.
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