Second In ‘Parallel Portrait’ Series—

Barbara Feldon To Star In ‘A Stopped Clock’

BRIDGEPORT — Barbara Feldon, the actress widely known for her portrayal of Agent 99 in television’s Get Smart, will appear at Polka Dot Playhouse for one night only, to star in a Parallel Portrait production entitled A Stopped Clock: From Brahms to Bloomsbury. The program will also feature the show’s creators, Chamber Music Plus.

The performance will take place at 8 pm on Friday, December 8, at the recently renovated playhouse at 177 State Street. A pre-concert talk will be given at 7:15 pm.

Ms Felson will dramatize the life of Dame Ethel Smyth, a 19th and 20th Century composer, conductor, writer, sportswoman and suffragette. Cellist and scriptwriter Harry Clark will be joined by pianist Sandra Schuldmann to perform works by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Schumann and other composers who were part of Dame Ethel Smyth’s creative circle. Mr Clark will also present the pre-concert talk discussing the performance.

A Stopped Clock: From Brahms to Bloomsbury, one in a series of Parallel Portraits, was written by Mr Clark, who develops scripts form historical documents, letters, memoirs, biographies and recollections. Parallel Portraits combine chamber music and theater to highlight famous historical artists and illuminate their times, their lives, and personalities through the music and the spoken word.

A Stopped Clock was created in 1999. It is told in the title character of Dame Ethel Smyth, one of the most colorful figures in late 19th and early 20th Century European romantic music. Her name appears in conjunction with almost every artistic composer and performer of her age.

Dame Smyth left her comfortable upper-class life in England at age 19 to study with Johannes Brahms in Germany. While there she befriended Peter Tchaikovsky, Edvard Grieg, Clara Schumann and simultaneously composed six operas and considerable chamber and choral work.

Extraordinarily frank about her affection for women, she had passionate relationships with several prominent women including her last great infatuation, Virginia Woolf. A friend of English royalty, creator of the English suffragette anthem, the first woman to conduct many of the major orchestras in Europe and the first to have her complete operas performed, Dame Ethel Smyth died, in her own words, “standing up,” at age 86.

Tickets for A Stopped Clock are $30 each. Phone charges can be done through the Polka Dot Playhouse box office at 203/ 333-3666. Tickets may also be purchased at the box office the day of show, depending upon availability. For information regarding group sales or for any other information, contact Chamber Music Plus at 860/278-7148, extension 3.