by Mara Dresner

With the New Year, it’s time for the Ninth Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals, produced by Goodspeed Musicals’ Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre in East Haddam, Jan. 17-19. The three-day festival includes staged readings of brand-new musicals and lots of special events.

“The Ninth Annual Goodspeed Festival of Musicals, with its expanded programs and wonderful new talents, highlights our commitment to developing new musicals,” said Michael P. Price, executive director, Goodspeed Musicals. “It’s thrilling for us to see the Goodspeed campus bustling in wintertime. Our community comes alive when hundreds of musical theater fans from around the country join the best and brightest writers and performers as they work together to create the future of musical theater.”

Get tix and all the info for this one-of-a-kind weekend at goodspeed.org or (860) 873-8668.

Brighton Beach Memoirs, part one of Neil Simon’s autobiographical trilogy, opens the 2014 season at the Farmington Valley Stage Company. It’s the portrait of the writer as a young teen in 1937 living with his family in a crowded, lower middle-class Brooklyn walk-up. This bittersweet memoir captures the life of a struggling Jewish household where, as his father states, “If you didn’t have a problem, you wouldn’t be living here.”

The show runs Feb. 7-22 at Canton Town Hall. Details and tickets at fvstage.org or (860) 404-3081.

If you enjoyed Becoming Dr. Ruth, mark your calendar for Freud’s Last Session, by the same playwright, Jan. 17 – Feb. 23 at TheaterWorks in Hartford. Just weeks before his death, legendary psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud invites the young academic rising star C. S. Lewis to his London study. Lewis, expecting to be called on the carpet for satirizing Freud in a recent book, soon realizes Freud has a more significant agenda in mind. On the eve of England’s entry into World War II, the two brilliant men have a battle of the minds over God, love, sex, music and the meaning of life. Wow! Info/tix at theaterworkshartford.org or (860) 527-7838.

Fun family events at Westport Country Playhouse. On Jan. 19 at 1 and 4 p.m., check out Dino-Light, in which glowing electroluminescent creatures will light up the darkness in a heart-rending original tale. The cutting-edge blend of puppetry, technology, and dance is produced by CORBIAN Visual Arts and Dance, in collaboration with Lightwire Theater, semi-finalists on America’s Got Talent. Sounds so cool!

On Feb. 9, at 1 and 4 p.m., it’s Sleeping Beauty Dreams, a reimagining of the famous princess as an overprotected daughter looking for a way to break free of her castle walls. The contemporary take on the classic tale using hand-crafted puppets is a U.S. premiere, co-commissioned with the Kennedy Center and Marionetas de la Esquina.

The next Script in Hand Play reading is the romantic comedy Mary, Mary on Feb. 10 at 7 p.m.

For info or tickets, call (203) 227-4177, or go to  westportplayhouse.org.

The Palace Theater in Waterbury is also featuring a show for the kids: Four Score And Seven Years Ago, Jan, 14 at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Info and tickets at (203) 346-2000 or palacetheaterct.org.

Next up at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven is The Consultant by Heidi Schreck, Jan. 8 – Feb. 9. After a series of brutal layoffs at Sutton, Feingold and McGrath, a precocious young consultant is brought in to save a middle-aged adman’s job, and maybe his life. This hilarious and keenly observed world premiere takes an intimate look at how money and work shape the human heart. Sounds super-timely. Tix at (203) 787-4282 or longwharf.org.

War Horse is coming to The Bushnell in Hartford Jan. 28 – Feb. 2. Set at the outbreak of World War I in the English countryside and also the fields of battle in France and Germany, it tells the story of young Albert’s beloved horse, Joey, which has been sold to the cavalry and shipped to France. A tale of courage, loyalty and friendship, War Horse is filled with stirring music and songs – oh, and life-sized puppets which bring breathing, galloping, charging horses to life on stage. Tix at bushnell.org or (888) 824-2874.

Playhouse on Park in West Hartford features the classic comedy Lend Me A Tenor, Jan. 22 – Feb. 9. The great tenor Tito Morelli, a.k.a. Il Stupendo, is scheduled for a one-night-only engagement. When a mishap puts the star out of commission, the theater manager puts his assistant on the stage in his place. What follows is a night of mistaken identity and hilarious chaos. The perfect antidote to mid-winter blues! Call (860) 523-5900 x10, or visit www.playhouseonpark.org.

Memphis comes to the Garde Arts Center in New London for two shows at 3 and 8 p.m. on Feb. 1. Winner of four 2010 Tony Awards, Memphis is known for explosive dancing, irresistible songs and a thrilling tale of fame and forbidden love. Hot! Set in the underground dance clubs of 1950s Tennessee. Tix at (860) 444-7373, x1 or gardearts.org.