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 […]
David Raymond
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“Shirley Valentine”
Blackfriars Theatre is getting a slight jump on the fall theater season with its early-September production of “Shirley Valentine.” However, this production of Willy Russell’s endearing one-character play, anchored by a terrific performance, is not a theatrical hors d’oeuvre. It’s a modest, expertly prepared, and tasty meal. Susan Hopkins plays Shirley Bradshaw (née Shirley Valentine), […]
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THEATER | “The Pillowman”
The Irish playwright Martin McDonagh has some challenging (and satisfying) work to his credit, including the stage plays “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” and “The Lieutenant of Inishmaan,” and the movies “In Bruges” and “Seven Psychopaths.” But his most profoundly disturbing work may be “The Pillowman.” Life imitates art imitating life in McDonagh’s twisty study […]
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THEATER | “Ordinary Days”
Adam Gwon’s 2007 musical “Ordinary Days” is a “New York show” for everybody. The cast consists of four characters — two couples — whose lives intertwine in a single day in New York City that turns out not to be so ordinary. Gwon’s celebration of everyday miracles and the search for meaning in one’s life […]
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2014 Fringe Festival: Critic Picks
City’s arts and entertainment writers sound off on their most-anticipated shows at Fringe 2014
Posted inMusic
BROADWAY | Broadway’s Golden Age and Beyond
Ward Stare’s been getting most of the RPO-related media love lately, but we’re happy to offer some to the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s multitalented Jeff Tyzik. He starts the RPO Pops season this weekend by conducting that pops-concert programming staple, the salute to Broadway — here called “Broadway’s Golden Age and Beyond.” The program ranges from […]
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THEATER | “Marx in Soho”
In “Marx in Soho,” the Marx is definitely Karl, but Soho is not the one in London (where Marx actually lived in the mid-1800’s), it’s the one in late 20th-century New York City, where the great political philosopher has materialized, but still finds plenty of economic and social injustice to rail against, while also recalling […]
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THEATER | “The Philanderer”
Two women want to marry the same man, who really isn’t interested in getting married at all but would rather spout jokes and paradoxes: this must be a Bernard Shaw play. “The Philanderer” is one of his earliest, written in 1893 and displaying many of the political concerns and character types that preoccupied him throughout […]
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Sharing the dream
After 35 years of memorable productions and performances at Blackfriars Theatre, John Haldoupis announced last spring that he would step down as Blackfriars’ artistic director; the 2014-15 season, which starts this weekend with “Shirley Valentine,” will be his last.
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Needs no introduction(s)
One of the rules of Hollywood romantic-comedy has always been that “the boy” and “the girl” have got to “meet cute.” This weekend at RAPA, they will, three times over. The occasion is the latest production of Screen Plays: a triple bill of contemporary romantic comedies tied together by a theme. “It’s all about introductions,” […]
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The show must go on
If there is an Olympics of Theater, rehearsing and performing Michael Frayn’s “Noises Off” would be its equivalent of the triathlon: an endurance test for the participants, but a lot of fun to watch from the safety of one’s own chair. With its lovingly detailed look on backstage and onstage chaos, and the opportunities it […]
Posted inMusic
Bringing two Bachs together
Music history includes many Bachs. Johann Sebastian, who lived from 1685 to 1750, was the greatest of his musical family and still the best known to us. But Europe boasted other Bachs throughout the 17th and 18th century, and among the most prominent was one of Johann Sebastian’s sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel. In his lifetime, […]
