Basics: Frank Rizzo is a theater writer, covering Connecticut and New York and beyond for more than 40 years. For 33 years he was the arts/theater writer for The Hartford Courant.

He currently is theater writer/critic for Variety and is theater columnist for Connecticut magazine. He also writes for The New York Times, American Theatre magazine, Theatre Development Fund’s Stages, Playbill, the CT Hearst papers (Stamford Advocate, Greenwich Times, Ct Post, Danbury Times, Norwalk Hour), Hartford magazine, The Shore newspapers of Connecticut and again at The Hartford Courant. He has also contributed arts commentary to CT/Fox and WNPR.

Teaching: He teaches a course on the musical "Hamilton!" at the University of Hartford's Presidents' College. Next year he will be will be teaching an undergrad course in entertainment journalism at the University of New Haven, a grad course in arts administration and media relations at the University of Connecticut and an expanded undergrad course in “Hamilton! The Musical” at Quinnipiac University.

Talking: He has led on-stage discussions/interviews with arts and entertainment figures including actors Christopher Walken, Ali Macgraw, Ryan O'Neal, composer Stephen Schwartz, directors Darko Tresnjak and Mark Brokaw, playwrights Theresa Rebeck and David Lindsay Abaire and authors Gregory Maguire, Michael Riedel and Jack Viertel.

More yacking: His entertaining lecture topics include: “The Secret Life of a Theater Critic” and “How to Interview the Rich, Famous and Incredibly Gifted: Secrets That Didn’t Make It Into Print,” or a combination of the two.

Celeb world: He is also written profiles on hundreds of celebrities and artists including Elizabeth Taylor Meryl Streep, Henry Fonda, Rock Hudson, Ginger Rogers, Barbra Streisand, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Liza Minnelli and Martha Mitchell. He has a special rapport with women of a certain age who have lots to tell: Maureen Stapleton, Elaine Stritch, Olympia Dukakis, Kathleen Turner and Dame Edna, among them. He had tea with Julie Andrews, breakfast with Matthew Modine, dinner with Valerie Harper, and shared a patty melt with Arnold Schwarzenegger at a Friendly’s . His favorite interview was with Julia Child when she made lunch for him at her home in Cambridge.

Digs: He lives in New Haven and New York City with his husband, Bill Kux.