When it premiered in 1985 at New York City’s Public Theater, Larry Kramer’s “The Normal Heart” packed a considerable punch as the first successful mainstream play to tackle public attitudes toward the growing AIDS crisis. Time is not always kind to topical or polemical plays, but a recent Broadway revival reminded us that AIDS is […]
David Raymond
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Classical | Jon Kimura Parker
Hardly a season goes by in Rochester without an appearance by pianist Jon Kimura Parker – and this week we have three of them, not that we’re complaining. A favorite concerto soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic, he’ll be heard with RPO Laureate Conductor Christopher Seaman this week in Beethoven’s witty “Concerto No. 2.” On Sunday […]
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Theater Review: Limelight Productions’ “God of Carnage”
Rochester seems to be growing theater groups left and right, and many of them have adventurous ideas about programming. Good local actors get substantial roles to play, interesting plays get revivals or first local showings, and audiences win. Limelight Productions’ current show, Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage”, is an excellent example — a celebrated, if […]
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Theater Review: “Clybourne Park” at Geva
Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” has been a classic American play since it debuted in 1959, frequently revived and adapted to film. Bruce Norris’s 2009 “Clybourne Park” is a kind of sequel to “Raisin,” and the only play to win London’s Olivier Award as well as a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize […]
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Classical | Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra: An Evening in Paris
“French music is a dream of the senses,” according to Claude Debussy, who wrote one of music’s dreamiest and most sensual pieces in his “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.” That very piece starts off this weekend’s “Evening in Paris” concert by the RPO, led by Fabien Gaubel, music director of the Quebec Symphony […]
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Theater Review: “Boeing Boeing” at Blackfriars Theatre
“Boeing Boeing” is a meretricious, cliché-ridden contraption without a shred of literary quality — and it is absolutely irresistible, at least in Blackfriars’ slam-bang production. I have seldom heard an audience enjoy itself so much as I did at this opening night, and I happily admit I also enjoyed every door slam, unlikely coincidence, double […]
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Theater Review: “The Lion in Winter” by Out of Pocket Productions
“I could listen to you lie for hours,” says Henry II to his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, during one of their frequent tussles in “The Lion in Winter.” In this play the characters do little else but lie to each other, but they do it with style. This James Goldman play was first produced on […]
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CLASSICAL | Society for Chamber Music
The Society for Chamber Music chose well for its first concert of the new year. Eastman School of Music professor of guitar, frequent recitalist and recording artist, and all-around mensch Nicholas Goluses is the soloist for an intriguing program that includes one of Paganini’s tuneful trios for guitar and strings, as well as works from […]
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Theater Review: “Last Gas” at Geva Theatre Center
“Last Gas,” which opened last week at Geva, is a play about lost chances and last chances, bad choices and no choices. Geva is calling it a “romantic comedy,” which is not really true, even though it is very funny and there’s definitely romance in it. If this a romantic comedy, then so is Chekhov. […]
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Off Monroe Players
Mention the name of Sir William S. Gilbert to most musical-theater fans, and their response is apt to be “…and Sullivan.” Gilbert and his composing partner Sir Arthur Sullivan are indeed best remembered as collaborators on more than a dozen operettas, including “HMS Pinafore,” “The Mikado,” and “The Gondoliers.” Considered the cream of Victorian musical […]
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Classical | Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Gala Holiday Pops
The RPO calls its Holiday Pops concert “Rochester’s favorite holiday musical tradition,” and it may well be right about that. Certainly this annual orchestral assortment of carols and other holiday music, presided over by the genial Jeff Tyzik, has packed Kodak Hall for quite a few years now. Besides the virtuosi of the RPO, you’ll […]
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“Relatively Speaking”
The JCC CenterStage’s new production is “Relatively Speaking,” a program of one-act plays, recently presented on Broadway, by writers better known for their work in the movies: Ethan Coen, Elaine May, and Woody Allen. Does anything tie them together? Well, each of them contains a generous sprinkling of wisecracks, as you might expect. And each […]
