Wednesday night gave us auditions from San Antonio, Texas, and Long Beach, California. And both cities offered up a lot of remarkable talent — I will be genuinely surprised if several of the contestants featured tonight don’t make it into semi-finals at least. I won’t go through every audition, but I will pick out my […]
Eric Rezsnyak
Posted inArts & Entertainment
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 5, Episode 1: It’s not personal, it’s drag
Having just finished the 90-minute Season 5 premiere, I’m even less convinced that “Drag Race All Stars” was a good idea. I’m not talking about the infuriating teams format or the oddly unexciting winner of the much-maligned short fall season. I’m talking about the fact that, with that mini-series ending just two months ago, I […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
THEATER REVIEW: “Next to Normal”
“Next to Normal,” the Tony and Pulitzer prize-winning musical currently on stage at Geva Theatre, is simply one of the most intense, emotional productions that I have experienced in quite some time. The show — written by Brian Yorkey, with music by Tom Kitt and directed by Scott Schwartz — is not without its (very […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
“American Idol” 2013, Episode 1: Define “terrible”
Wednesday night marked the start of a new era for “American Idol.” After the exit of judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez — a decision I suspect Lopez will regret within two years — a whole new panel made its debut. Well, almost all new. We were once again stuck with Randy Jackson, who simply […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
ARTS: Nazareth College Arts Center announces hiatus for Dance Festival
Today the Nazareth College Arts Center announced that its annual Dance Festival, which debuted in 2010, will go on a one-year hiatus for 2013. Organizers are looking to “re-imagine” the festival’s programming and timing before bringing it back in 2014; the three previous editions took place in July. In its three previous incarnations the festival […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
ARTS: Remmereit, supporters address controversial RPO decision
A standing-room-only crowd packed the Central Library’s Kate Gleason Auditorium Thursday evening as a group identifying itself as RPO Community Supporters held a public event to address the November decision made by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s board of directors to terminate the four-year contract of music director ArildRemmereit two years early. Remmereit himself addressed the […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
ARTS: RPO schedules guest conductors for January concerts
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra announced today that guest conductors will fill in for its January programs devoted to works by Mozart — concerts that were originally scheduled to be conducted by RPO Music Director Arild Remmereit. These were to be the first RPO concerts featuring Remmereit on the podium since the orchestra’s board voted in […]
Posted inCulture
Dodging the digital bullet
If you see a new movie in a big-screen chain theater today, what you’re seeing is likely being projected digitally, the information embedded in a hard drive. In Rochester, our local independent cinemas are ready for this major shift, and area film professionals debate digital’s impact on artistry, archiving, and business.
Posted inCulture
INTERVIEW: John Waters
The two may seem incongruous, but John Waters and Christmas are actually a perfect match. It’s the time of year where children are encouraged to sit on the laps of portly, oddly dressed strangers. Anyone who has seen “Pink Flamingos” can guess that Edith Massey’s character would likely be a big fan of eggnog. And […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
THEATER: “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play”
A successful holiday show should balance familiarity and freshness. It should be able to evoke feelings of nostalgia, to take audiences back to happy childhood memories of this time of year. (That is the only possible explanation for the continued airings of that dreadful “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” TV special from the 1970’s.) […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Theater Review: RBTL’s “Memphis”
Given that the 2012-13 Rochester Broadway Theatre League season is stocked with big-name shows like “Book of Mormon,” “Les Miserables,” and “Mary Poppins,” you might have overlooked “Memphis,” which is currently on stage at the Auditorium Theatre. Judging by the audience reaction to Tuesday night’s area debut, this show has the potential to be a […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
“RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars”: The winner revealed (thank god it’s over)
And so we come to the end of the short, disappointing season that was “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.” I think the general consensus out there was that this season was not what ANYONE hoped it would be (I suspect that’s especially true for the contestants), and that the ultimate winner felt like an anticlimax […]
