Music director Ward Stare returns to lead the RPO this week, in a program ceded to him by originally announced guest conductor Jun M#rkl. It’s markedly similar to the concert Stare essayed so successfully a couple of weeks ago, beginning with a short, lively piece by a French composer (Saint-Saëns’s “Danse macabre”) and ending with […]
David Raymond
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David reviews “Chocolate Casi Amargo,” “You Are Where,” and “M.I.A.”
I only know a few words of Spanish, but I really enjoyed “Chocolate Casi Amargo,” (“Chocolate, Almost Bitter”), a one-act written and directed by Candide Carrasco and presented Saturday afternoon on the TheaterRocs Stage at Xerox Auditorium. The play has no plot to speak of, it’s just a late-night conversation between a long-married couple, Isabel […]
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David reviews “The Cougar and the Cabana Boy”
If you’re not quite ready to say goodbye to summer, slip on your flip-flops and catch one of the remaining performances of "The Cougar and the Cabana Boy" at Xerox Auditorium. This original musical by Dresden Engle and J. Daniel Lauritzson features a very agreeable cast and a story as light and colorful as the […]
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Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
Based on most local media coverage of Ward Stare, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s new music director, you would know that he’s young, he’s handsome, and he looks good in a tuxedo — all excellent attributes in a conductor, of course, but … The media have approached Stare’s musical credentials more gingerly; nonetheless they are definitely […]
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THEATER | “Pass It On”
Anyone who has been in recovery knows the names, or at least the first names, of Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. The two men met in a hotel in Akron, Ohio, in 1935, and their efforts to keep themselves and others sober led to the formation of AA and the […]
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David reviews “A Page of Madness,” “Coffee With God,” and “The Last Five Years”
What better way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon than in a Japanese madhouse? That is the setting for “KuruttaIppeji,” or “A Page of Madness,” a recently discovered silent film from 1926 by the Japanese director Teinosuke Kinugasa. It was presented on September 21 in the Eastman School of Music’s Kilbourn Hall with a live […]
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David reviews “W.A.C. Iraq” and “Bernhardt on Broadway”
Rochester Latino Theatre Company’s "W.A.C. Iraq" takes a complicated subject and presents it in a simple, powerful way. This tribute to Latina women in the Armed Forces who have served in Iraq honors their contributions, details their sacrifices, and asks some disturbing questions about a country that gives poor women opportunities in the military and […]
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David reviews “SaMe SeX sHaKeSpEaRe” 2014
The Rochester Shakespeare Players’ "SaMeSeXsHaKeSpEaRe" was a hit at last year’s festival, and if you’ve ever wanted to see Macbeth in a red power suit and heels, or Hamlet as the original emo teen, you have one more chance to see the 2014 edition, on September 26. This is a nicely paced, 45-minute tour through […]
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Concert Review: RPO’s season opener
Based on most local media coverage of Ward Stare, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s new music director, you would know that he’s young, he’s handsome, and he looks good in a tuxedo — all excellent attributes in a conductor, of course, but … The media have approached Stare’s musical credentials more gingerly; nonetheless they are definitely […]
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Going alone
One of the most theatrical of theatrical genres is the solo show: 90 minutes or so featuring one actor, and one actor alone. They may be playing a character in the playwright’s imagination, or a historical person, or, if the actor is skilled enough, a stage full of memorable characters. A solo show is one […]
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Stage lights
The 2014-15 theater season is going to be packed, so let’s dive right in: “Curtains” (Pittsford Musicals, October 18, 24, 25) This venerable community theater group continues to try new things, this time with a recent hit combining old-fashioned musical comedy and a murder whodunit, with a very “Broadway” score by John Kander and Fred […]
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THEATER | “The Life of Gautama Buddha”
The story of Prince Siddhartha’s physical and spiritual journey to becoming Gautama Buddha is a compelling one in any format. This weekend you can see it take theatrical life in the Theatre World production “The Life of Gautama Buddha,” presented by India Community Center at the Nazareth College Arts Center. The show promises to be “a visual work […]
