Casino and elsewhere

From Fradiani to Foxwoods to Wine & Food Fest: Plenty of winter fun

There's a lot to cover at Connecticut's two huge casinos in coming months. But first, a news item regarding a big state talent.

-- Connecticut's talented singer/songwriter Nick Fradiani, who has played at Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den several times, has a busy holiday season lined up, an exciting professional time for him. He's releasing a new album Nov. 23 and he'll be an alternate lead on Broadway in the new jukebox musical "The Neil Diamond Musical: A Beautiful Noise." (With that, he gets to perform the role once a week and understudies the main guy.) Fradiani was very good in his first touring musical show, "A Bronx Tale," which played  the Palace in Waterbury before being shut down when COVID swept the country in 2020. 

Now some potentially fun happenings, mostly at the casinos:

--"Dancing with the Stars" is back on tour this winter and stars of the (now-Disney+) series will be performing new numbers and old showstoppers at Mohegan Sun Arena on January 13. Tickets are $45 and you can get them at Ticketmaster or -- to avoid the maddening fees -- at Mohegan Sun Box Office/

-- Tickets to a tuneful evening are available to "The Simon & Garfunkel Story" due at Belding Theater at The Bushnell in Hartford March 8. The concert-style show chronicles the success of the folk-rock duo Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, of course, who were once known as Tom & Jerry.

--  Foxwoods Resort will welcome Chevy Chase to a special screening of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" Dec. 3 at 8 p.m.  in the Grand Cedar Showroom. Chase played Clark Griswold in the film.  Tickets are $40 for the evening, which will also include a Q&A and Chase will also be the one turning the switch at the Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony at 7 p.m. that evening.

-- Speaking of Foxwoods, it's been looking a lot like the holidays for weeks at the cavernous resort in Mashantucket, with the ice rink and winter terrace opening this week (Nov. 25), thousands of lights and decorations up in Cedars Steak House and other public areas (at left) and with
more shoppers finding their way to the attached shops in Tanger Outlets (keep an eye out for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals).

Foxwoods will also feature Santa himself hosting a family-friendly Breakfast at Cedars on the first three Saturdays in December, and for adults, Foxwoods’ 12 Bars of Christmas pub crawl will return Dec. 8. Also, Cedars Steak & Oysters will host a Boozy Brunch with The Grinch on Dec. 18 featuring themed food and cocktails plus a live DJ. Kids/Teen Week will be Dec. 26-28, with movies, arts/crafts, games and group activities. 

Rounding out the season will be a New Year's Eve Bash Dec. 31 along with the Midnight Ball Drop .

-- British singer/songwriter Louis Tomlinson, right, will bring his North American tour to Mohegan Sun Arena May 26 and tickets are on sale from $39.50 to $99.50 at (dreaded) Ticketmaster.com. (See the recent controversy over the site, Live Nation and Taylor Swift.) Tomlinson's second album, "Faith in the Future," came out the other day.  

--Resuming a long tradition, the latest installment of Bowzer’s Rock ‘N’ Doo – Wop Party Volume XXI will visit Mohegan Sun Arena at 3 p.m. Jan. 15. (Why is it 3 p.m.? Do the math on the age of fans and performers.) Tickets are just $35 and $25.

-- There's an exciting dining addition coming to Mohegan Sun next year. Tao Group Hospitality, which runs the lush Tao eatery at Mohegan, announced that the restaurant Beauty & Essex will open inside Mohegan Sun in the fall of 2023. There are already Beauty & Essex restaurants in New York City and Las Vegas.

-- Foxwoods will have a new twist on a steady performer at its resort soon. Middle-range Asian eatery Golden Dragon is moving locations (the newly rebuilt eatery is opening in a different Great Cedar location, which you can glimpse behind partitions these days, as we noticed in a recent stop). The redo is part of an $85 Million property development project that will bring a new casino area (in place of the Grand Ballroom) and another celeb-branded restaurant to the resort in the near future.

-- Arguably the top highlight of the winter season at Mohegan Sun is the Wine & Food Fest, which will be held in late January again in 2023. The 19th Annual Sun Wine & Food Fest (below) kicks off Thursday, January 26 abd runs through Sunday, January 29. Sun Wine & Food Fest is one of the largest  in the Northeast, featuring 14 total events highlighted by the Grand Tasting but also including the excellent Celebrity Chef Dine Around. New events this year include the Pappy Van Winkle Tasting where guests can taste one of the bourbons of Pappy Van Winkle and intriguing Beam & Burgers, where Gotham Burger Social Club teams up with Beam Suntory Inc. serving juicy burgers and top-shelf whiskey. Capping off the weekend will be Bloodys & Brunch with special guest Buddy Valastro.