The Stratford Festival brought out big guns for its last salvo. I’d only heard about Anne Chislett’s Quiet in the Land.In1981 it was commissioned by, and premiered at, the Blyth Summer Festival, whose plays typically deal with rural Canadian settings and history. Quiet in the Land is about the pacifist Amish in southwestern Ontario. […]
Arts & Entertainment
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How art talks to itself
In one form or another, the biennial Rochester-Finger Lakes exhibition has been a showcase for Western and Central New York artists for over 100 years. And this year is no exception, as the exhibition celebrates its 59th anniversary. Of course, what exactly the exhibition showcases has often been a source of controversy. And in […]
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Finishing strong with the elaborate and the offbeat
The Shaw Festival’s productions have been getting progressively better all summer. The two final openings this season, an offbeat musical and an elaborate comedy, were greeted with wildly enthusiastic applause, and rightly so. Both works are demanding enough to warrant a “Not For Amateurs” warning label, but Shaw’s superb artistic ensemble triumphs in them. […]
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Shooting for the ‘Stars
Most 18-year-olds fret over waking up in time to make their English 101 class. Mike Magee has to worry about scoring on Zach Thornton and Pat Onstad. The New York/New Jersey MetroStars forward, who graduated from high school earlier this year thanks to an accelerated program, has six goals already this season — just one […]
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Feeling bewildered at Stratford
Canada’s great Stratford Festival continues its 51st season’s bewildering variety with six productions of classic plays, all well-known but not previously performed at Stratford. Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exitteases intriguing variations out of the cliché that “Hell is other people.” Its perfect dramatic structure counterbalances three opposed new arrivals in hell who are trapped in […]
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Rhinos enter tie land
Last time out. The Lynx are so bad. They’re so bad, they couldn’t even draw the Rhinos 2-2 at Frontier . The last time a non-Toronto team failed to score two goals on the road against Rochester was back in June, when the Rhinos shut out Montreal, 2-0. Last Friday, the Lynx (9-3-10, 30 points) […]
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A Texan in Corning
As a material for sculpture, glass is more durable than either granite or steel. And in the hands of Robert Willson, hot molten glass — “rich and utterly sensuous,” as described by the artist — is richly and utterly transformed into solid, evocative, and bold forms. Willson, born in West Texas in 1912, graduated from […]
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Shaw adds three winners
After five previous shows this season at Shaw and twelve at Stratford — all of surprisingly mixed quality — it was reassuring to see this great company hit its stride with three winning productions in a row.
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Rhinos enter Bizarro World
Last time out. Who would have dreamt that the Rhinos (12-4-5, 40 points) would get more points during the Charleston-Richmond road trip (3) than they did in the Charleston-Richmond home stand (2)? Anyone with their hands in the air is a filthy liar. Richmond (10-4-7, 34) still seems to have Rochester’s number, winning in Virginia […]
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‘Dracula’ amuses
Just after I started writing about the beautiful drive down to Naples, New York, where the Bristol Valley Theater presents light summer fare in a charming theater, I looked at my review from last summer and found that I said all that. I was kindly trying not to emphasize that show’s amateurism. In the show […]
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‘Forever Plaid’ again
Since its world premiere in Rochester at the old Downstairs Cabaret in the 1980s, Stuart Ross’ Forever Plaid played across the country and around the world, and is still playing. An endearing new production is now at Downstairs Cabaret Theatre Center, one of four venues where our busiest little professional theater currently operates. It’s really […]
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Return to Stratford
The last three plays of Stratford’s opening week were less spectacular but more unusual than the opening three. Two are seldom seen onstage, and I wish I could say that about the third. Although the smaller musical’s title might evoke a show as lovable as The King and I, its French belle époque amorality comes […]
