March comes in like a lion with experimental music ensembles and political theater this week in CT arts

Experimental music ensembles rule, with the jazzy Bad Plus and the neo-classically cool So Percussion both in Connecticut this week challenging your musical mind with strange syncopations and surprising arrangements of songs you thought you knew.

Political theater is hot too, specifically political theater about women’s issues. Besides “The Art of Burning” March 2-26 at Hartford Stage, there are plays based on the Supreme Court with “Roe” at UConn’s Connecticut Repertory Theatre, “All Things Equal: The Life and Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” at Ridgefield Playhouse and Caryl Churchill’s classic “Top Girls” at Wesleyan. It’s worth noting that all those hot-issue plays have plenty of funny moments in them. “Roe” writer Lisa Loomer was a stand-up comedian before she became a playwright and “All Things Equal” scribe Rupert Holmes has done musical comedies.

Here is how to expand your horizons with provocative compositions and sharp discussions about society this week in Connecticut arts.

The Bad Plus

Infinity Music Hall, 32 Front St., Hartford

The Bad Plus is an exceptional avant-garde jazz ensemble that started getting into rock clubs and onto FM radio when they began doing esoteric covers of grunge anthems and rock classics while also rearranging the more usual jazz/pop standards. On Sunday at 7 p.m., the musicians are at Infinity Hall Hartford, the most appropriate intimate jazz/pop-friendly concert hall in the state to do what they do. $35-$45. infinityhall.com.

So Percussion

Morse Hall, 470 College St., New Haven

The radically rhythmic neo-classical quartet So Percussion was formed by students at the Yale School of Music after they performed a sensational concert tribute to composer Steve Reich. They went on to commission new works for percussion, then major composers started to offer new works to them. They’ve done oodles of fascinating works, like the slow, reverent rethinking of ABBA’s “Lay All Your Love On Me” with vocalist Caroline Shaw. At Yale’s Morse Hall on Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m., So Percussion will perform one of their other collaborations with Shaw, “Taxidermy,” as well as Vijay Iyer’s “Torque (movements II & III), Nathalie Joachim’s “Note to Self,” Jason Treuting’s “Nine Numbers: 4″ (movements II & III) and Bryce Dessner’s “Music for Wood and Strings.” $28, $13 students. music.yale.edu/concerts.

Cherish the Ladies

Seamus Egan Project

Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook

Some say March comes in like a lamb or a lion, but the truth is that the first two weeks of the month are always crammed with so many rollicking Irish bands that animals don’t stand a chance. The Kate in Old Saybrook has several, starting off the month with the highly regarded female ensemble Cherish the Ladies on March 1 at 7:30 p.m. ($47) and traditional Irish multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan and his band on March 4 at 7:30 p.m. ($32). katharinehepburntheater.org.

‘Top Girls’

Wesleyan Center for the Arts, 213 High St., Middletown

Caryl Churchill is considered one of the world’s greatest living playwrights, renowned for culture-questioning classics like “Cloud 9″ (which Hartford Stage staged in 2017) and “A Number” (which Backyard Theatre Company did in New Britain just last year). One of Churchill’s best-known works is “Top Girls,” in which a successful modern-day businesswoman enters into a dialogue with women from other eras in world history. A college student production of “Top Girls,” directed by Annabella Machnizh, will take place at the Patricelli ‘92 Theater on the Wesleyan University campus in Middletown on March 2 and 3 at 7 p.m. and March 4 at 5 p.m. Free; registration required. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events/.

‘Roe’

Connecticut Repertory Theatre, 820 Bolton Road, Storrs

Lisa Loomer’s play “Roe” is about what happened to a couple of the key figures in the Roe v. Wade trial decades after the 1973 Supreme Court decision. UConn’s Connecticut Repertory Theatre is presenting it with a mostly student cast enhanced by professional actors Lori Vega and Andrew Rein. “Roe” is directed by Taneisha Duggan, known locally for her past work with TheaterWorks Hartford, HartBeat Ensemble and the University of Hartford. March 2-11 in the Nafe Katter Theatre on the UConn campus in Storrs. Performances are Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., plus March 4 at 2 p.m. and March 8 at 7:30 p.m. $10-$35. crt.uconn.edu.

‘All Things Equal: The Life and Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’

Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge, Ridgefield

This timely touring one-woman show about the late great Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginburg stars Michelle Azar and is written by Rupert Holmes, who won Tony Awards for creating the mystery musical “Drood,” wrote a slew of other plays as well as several novels, created the TV series ”Remember WENN” and even composed and sang “Escape (The Pina Colada Song”). March 3 at 8 p.m. at Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge, Ridgefield. $45-$55. ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

Richard Lloyd

Cafe Nine, 250 State St., New Haven

The death last month of Tom Verlaine makes the latest local appearance of the pioneering punk band Television’s other groundbreaking guitarist, Richard Lloyd, that much more compelling. Lloyd has alsoplayed with Matthew Sweet, performed with the reunited Rocket from the Tombs and who learned his craft from guitar legend Jimi Hendrix, returns to Cafe Nine for a 9 p.m. show on March 3 with local singer/songwriter Tim Rowe opening. $18, $15 in advance. cafenine.com.

‘Cats’

Waterbury Palace, 100 East Main St., Waterbury

“Cats” withstood the ignominy of its horrible 2019 movie version by continuing to tour its magical original stage version, which has only been lightly revised since it first premiered over 40 years ago. The current tour has long outlasted the shortlived 2016 Broadway revival on which it is based. For that revival, “Hamilton” choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler refreshed the dances while keeping the general style of original choreographer Gillian Lynne. There were new lighting and sound designs as well. March 3 at 8 p.m. and March 4 at 2 and 8 p.m. at the Waterbury Palace. $45-$85. palacetheaterct.org.

‘The Book of Mormon’

Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven

The outrageously funny and just plain outrageous Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon” returns to the Shubert March 3-5. The show, about Mormon missionaries wreaking havoc in Africa, premiered on Broadway in 2011. The first of a series of national tours began in 2012 and was only curtailed by COVID. “Book of Mormon” hit the road again last year. The book by ”South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and “Avenue Q” and “Frozen” composer Robert Lopez, is as funnily offensive as ever. Performances are Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. $88-$159. There is also a lottery held for same-night $25 tickets. Entries are received at the box office 2½ hours before each performance, and the winner is announced half an hour later. shubert.com.

‘Up Close: Spring’

Ballet Theatre Company, 20 Jefferson Ave., West Hartford

West Hartford’s Ballet Theatre Company puts its bigger shows like “The Nutcracker” or this April’s “Cinderella” in The Bushnell’s Belding Theater, which it often sells out. But the company also likes to do more intimate, close-at-hand dances, and that’s what its “Up Close” series, held in a studio space, is for. “Up Close: Spring” features new works from choreographers Melanie Ramos “(”Odyssey”) and the company’s artistic director Stephanie Dattellas (”Por un Cabeza”) as well as the Pas de Trois from Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake.” March 4 at 7 p.m. and March 5 at 2 p.m. in BTC’s Ron & Nancy Compton Studio. $35 for the live performance, $25 for video on demand. dancebtc.org/up-close-spring.

Reach reporter Christopher Arnott at carnott@courant.com.