Cover Story
Pulling back the curtain
Over the years, CITY’s annual Fall Guide — along with, of course, writing about the great things to do during a Western New York autumn — has become our annual preview of the upcoming arts and cultural seasons.
Becca reviews ‘Within the Quota’ and ‘You’re Being Watched’
Settle in, because I have some thoughts and feelings about my Tuesday night at Fringe. I’ve reviewed TableTopOpera’s highly topical productions for the last two years of Rochester Fringe Festivals: In 2015 the group presented an excellently thorough and sensitive program on child mortality, and in 2016 it produced an equally well-done commemoration of the…
Katie reviews ‘Rosalba’s Dream Me Pumps’ and ‘Mo-to-the-oncle’
When I was getting ready tonight to head out to Fringe to see “Rosalba’s Dream Me Pumps,” I thought about my shoe choice. Do I wear my grubby but comfy sneakers, or do I wear those new heeled booties I just got? I’m going to see a show about heels; the booties it is. I…
Film review: ‘mother!’
The Las Vegas-based polling firm CinemaScore, since 1978, has been conducting weekly surveys of moviegoers, asking them to assign a letter grade based on their reaction to a new release they’ve just seen. The system gives some insight into the average person’s movie opinions and, for the studios, helps gauge how successful their films might…
Classical review: SCMR’s ‘Mozart and Pärt in Harmonie’
Mozart lavished his musical imagination on wind instruments as part of the orchestra, but he also wrote some terrific works for the unassuming octet known in the 18th century as the Harmonie ensemble – pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns. (If you add a flute, it’s also the wind section of the classical-era orchestra…
Adam reviews the St. John Fisher Student Film Festival and ‘Twelve Dollar$’
The Little Theatre hosted the second annual St. John Fisher College Student Film Festival, which presents a program of works made by undergraduate students enrolled in the college’s Department of Media and Communication as well as the Film and Television Studies minor. The program screened four films, which managed to span a spectrum of genres,…
Kathy reviews ’13 the Musical’ and the 24-Hour Plays
For an hour and a half on Monday night, I was transported back to my teenage years. “13 the Musical,” performed by members of the Lyric Voices junior show choir at the Lyric Theatre, is a charmingly irreverent and surprisingly funny musical that tackles issues that every teen has faced: being liked by their peers, being…
Becca reviews ‘Labyrinth’
The highly anticipated Sunday night premiere of “Labyrinth” at RMSC’s Strasenburgh Planetarium did not disappoint. Co-created by BIODANCE’s Missy Pfohl Smith and media artist W. Michelle Harris — who together presented the acclaimed “Anomaly” at the same venue in 2013 and 2016 — the multi-sensory show was performed to a full house on opening night.…
Adam reviews ‘The Seal Maiden’ and ‘The Topher Holt Experience’
With the sheer number of options available to audiences each day at the Rochester Fringe Festival, the only way to get the most out of the experience is to make sure you take in as wide a variety of shows as possible. And with that in mind, I spent my Sunday taking in a bit…
Becca reviews ‘Big Knockers,’ ‘The Lanthan Mire,’ ‘The Space Between,’ and ‘Creditors’
If you’re in the mood for some silly, bawdy humor and enjoy participating in a good puzzle, check out the final performance of the delightful “Big Knockers: Debunking the Fox Sisters” next Saturday at Abilene. Produced by Stone’s Throw (the people behind “Dashboard Dramas,” “The Oboe Show,” and “Hot Tub: The Musical”), the show is…
Adam reviews ‘Wolf Tails and Stolen Footprints,’ ‘Good Joke/Bad Joke Bingo,’ and ’50 Shades of Gay’
“Wolf Tails and Stolen Footprints” opens with the show’s 12-person cast running about Blackfriars’ darkened stage, each of them fearfully crying out. The chaos carries on for a time, until the din suddenly falls away as a voice calls out, “Once upon a time!” This brief opening neatly encapsulates the idea behind the production, in…
Katie reviews ‘Heathers,’ ‘Come As You Are,’ and PUSH
First off, can we talk about how cool Plasticiens Volants was? According to my social media feeds, you guys thought so, too. Tonight, I was popping around to The Lyric Theatre, Parcel 5, and the School of the Arts, and I have to say, it makes me all sappy when I see the amount of…
Frank reviews ‘Where? I. Come! From…” and Leo Crandall
With any dance performance, I don’t suspend disbelief but rather dive right in with my own reality as my guide. I may be wrong, and often I am, but this way, I get a personal benefit to leave with. “Where? I. Come! From…” over at MuCCC was a genius technical concept that featured three dancers in…
Frank reviews Mental Graffiti, ‘The Black Bird of Death,’ and the Immersive Igloo
First off on this tepid evening, I sauntered over to see RIT’s Mental Graffiti poetry reading. Topically it was young person fare and charming, with lots of clever digs and clever ways at reclaiming compromised innocence. One fellow even performed an ode to his foot. When a performer did something of note, the other poets…
Kathy reviews Garth Fagan Dance and EstroFest
Garth Fagan Dance’s “Up Close and Personal,” my first show at the 2017 Rochester Fringe, was a raw shot of movement, inspiration, and awe. The show, set in the acclaimed company’s rehearsal space, feels intimate as you watch the dancers move gracefully about the stage. The performances are punctuated by chats with the man himself about…
Becca reviews ‘Big Bang’
I strongly encourage you all to attend the final performance of “Big Bang.” And for that reason, my review will not contain all of the spoiler descriptions that are effervescing inside of me. Some of them, but not all of them. The Friday and Saturday on the Fringe feature will take place again at Parcel 5…
Adam reviews ‘Complimentary Heckling’ and ‘Carnival of Souls’
Before the big Friday on the Fringe show from Plasticiens Volants, I made sure I got to experience “Complimentary Heckling,” which is, well, pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Performance artist Crackerjack is camped out in Parcel 5, megaphone in hand, ready to spread some good vibes to any passerby who looks her way.…
Further north
The Toronto International Film Festival continues through Sunday, but my time there has sadly reached an end. What follows are a few more quick reactions to a few of films that made an impression over the past week. You can check out the first half of my TIFF recap here. “The Children’s Act” stars Emma…
Frank reviews Cirque Du Fringe: ‘Eclectic Attraction’ and Pinch and Squeal
Cirque Du Fringe: “Eclectic Attraction” was a physical treat of muscular and balance-oriented feats performed in the confines of the Spiegeltent. The hosts, Matt Morgan and Heidi Brucker Morgan — who have staged Spiegeltent shows at the Rochester Fringe before — were the through-line for essentially a circus masquerading as a dream by their infant…
Katie reviews ‘Wild Horses,’ The Madelein/Maddy Comedy Hour, and Stand Up for Drag
I spent most of my first night of the 2017 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival at the School of the Arts’ DS Comedy Club. Small tables fill the room, which makes it feel comedy club-esqe — minus the two-drink minimum. The stage for the first production of the night, “Wild Horses,” was sparsely decorated; a small…
Becca reviews ‘Elephant Grass,’ ‘On the Verge,’ and ‘There is a Field’
Rochester Fringe 2017 for me began with a massively inspiring performance that felt like a love note to everyone in the audience. FuturPointe Dance’s “Elephant Grass: An Afrofutur-Mystic Tale” is a femme-forward, “She-Ro” quest to shake off all that well-known negative shit and do the hard work of figuring out what you’re here to do.…
Rochester Fringe 2017: CITY’s Daily Reviews
The 2017 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival runs Thursday, September 14, through Saturday, September 23, and CITY Newspaper will be out EVERY NIGHT of the festival covering multiple shows. Check in first thing each morning for photos and reviews of the previous night’s entertainment, listed below by date. For up-to-the-minute coverage of the festival follow CITY…
The complicated path to teacher diversity
Bill Cala is former superintendent of the Fairport school district and served as interim superintendent of the Rochester district. Regarding CITY’s September 30 article on activists’ push for more minority teachers: I strongly support concerned community members seeking the hiring of more teachers of color in the Rochester City School District. When I was interim…
Brian Wilson kinda, sorta talks about ‘Pet Sounds’
There’s no other way to say it, The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” is one of the greatest, most influential works in rock ‘n’ roll history. With its symphonic, psychedelic leanings and lush vocal orchestration, “Pet Sounds” was initially met with a lukewarm response in the US when it was released in May 1966, but its…
The grown-up book fair
Area literary events this fall highlight local writers and bring the world to Rochester.
POPS | ‘A cELLAbration’
In the pantheon of American jazz, few musicians are as iconic as Ella Fitzgerald. In tribute to the centennial of her birth, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra opens its 2017-18 Pops series with “A cELLAbration: The Music of Ella & More.” Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik and the orchestra will be joined by a talented cadre…
Urban Action 9/13
This week’s calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Helping inmates after prison The Judicial Process Commission is seeking volunteers to be a mentor to people re-entering the community after incarceration. Volunteers must be willing to commit at least an hour a…
MIDDLE EASTERN | Rahim AlHaj Trio
The music of the Rahim AlHaj Trio is inherently mystical and transportive, qualities undoubtedly owed to the group’s instrumentation: the lute-like oud of AlHaj, Sourena Sefati’s santour (a kind of hammered dulcimer), and the percussion of Issa Malluf. The trio brings authentic Middle Eastern music to its audiences, but not without influences from other cultural…
Setting the scene
Before a play or musical opens, crews are work for weeks to build a temporary world on stage.
COMEDY | Nikki Glaser
There isn’t a topic Nikki Glaser will shy away from. The stand-up comedian’s former Comedy Central show, “Not Safe with Nikki Glaser,” featured segments on orgasms, porn, male enhancement pills, and an excellently titled feature called “tackling tough issues while holding a puppy.” Glaser — who also hosts a podcast called “Not Safe” — has a…
Waiting in the wings
Stand-out options for the 2017-18 theatrical season.
THEATER | ‘Harriet Tubman: With All the Odds Against Her’
America is entrenched in a battle to replace legacies, for better or worse. Trump & co. are busy trying to obscure or undo everything achieved before his rise to power. Monuments to Confederate leaders are finally being taken down, amid dubious cries that removing them is a violation of history. Abolitionist and humanitarian Harriet Tubman…
THEATER | ‘The Best Laid Plans’
Black Sheep Theatre will present “The Best Laid Plans,” an evening of five one-act plays written by husband-and-wife team Robin Anne Joseph and Albi Gorn, and directed by Kristy Angevine-Funderburk and Diane Mashia. As the name suggests, the different stories are loosely connected by the concept of carefully set efforts going awry. “Double-Date” centers on…
Effectively deceptive
If anything is going to make Rochester a “City of the Arts,” with acknowledgement from the wider world for our home-grown offerings, it’s going to be the efforts of the artists and arts organizations themselves, not just building a new theater. Those who are paying attention know these organizing efforts are already underway, and are…
SPECIAL EVENT | Plasticiens Volants
French street theater company Plasticiens Volants will take over the much contested space at Parcel 5 on Friday, September 15, and Saturday, September 16, for the hour-long, family-friendly program, “Big Bang.” Through the use of massive inflatables flown above audiences by actors on the ground, the show presents a surreal story about creation and human…
New movement
Rochester’s 2017-18 dance season will blend favorites with the unfamiliar.
SPECIAL EVENT | Upstate Social Sessions
Social media is ubiquitous. A few might be able to avoid it by deliberately disconnecting, but most of us are somehow always connected to the rest of the world — through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest, Snapchat, and on and on. And then there are some who use social media for their jobs — or social…
Sounds all around
Rochester’s 2017-18 classical music season has a little something for everyone, from traditional performances to contemporary concerts.
Roll with it
My first question to John Syouthoum, the owner of Roll’n Yen Thai Fried Ice Cream (656 South Avenue), is “Why is it called ‘fried ice cream’ when it’s not fried?” The house-made ice cream is spread out on a flat surface and then scraped into rolls and placed in a cup — there isn’t a…
Belly warmers
Seasonal drinking in the fall means whisky.
Highsmith chronicles
Jimmie Highsmith Jr.’s ninth release, “Indigo Chronicles Chocolate Brown Eyes,” finds the Rochester saxophonist channeling interpretations of love, loss, and life through his instrument. In particular, through an alto sax he calls “Indigo.” “I was a nerdy kid with no friends and no girlfriends,” Highsmith says. “My saxophone was my first girlfriend. My saxophones are…
Back to film school
Before you see the fall season’s big movies, build up your knowledge with some supplemental viewing.
Album review: ‘Every Freak for Himself’ 25th Anniversary Reissue
Koo Koo Boy “Every Freak for Himself” 25th Anniversary Reissue City of Quality Records kookooboy.bandcamp.com Koo Koo Boy was ahead of his time. The music was avant-garde, larger-than-life, rock ‘n’ roll calamity. And despite his self-deprecating humor and unique on-stage persona in tighty-whities, Koo Koo Boy was Rochester’s best — if not its only truly…
PSYCH ROCK | Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor
After listening to Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor, it’s safe to say that the classic, trio set-up — bass, guitar, and drums — is still far from being relegated redundant or obsolete. In this Motor City, garage-psych howl, there’re nuggets of beauty and texture fueled by the band’s wide-eyed curiosity and a lack of gravity.…
Album review: ‘Mostly Blankets’
Candy Isle “Mostly Blankets” Self-released candyisle.bandcamp.com This is an awesome album of deceptive simplicity. Candy Isle is a dynamic duo made up of Kat Bakrania and Lydia Dake — and not much else. This, their first EP, sparkles like a pristine smile with a dusting of harmonious quirk. Assorted instruments are sprinkled about so sparsely…
ROCK | Brian Wilson
Often considered Brian Wilson’s first solo album, The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” is one of the greatest, most influential works in rock history. With its symphonic, psychedelic leanings and lush vocal orchestration, the album was initially met with a lukewarm response in the US when it was released in May 1966, but its underlying beauty,…
Ruckin’ good time
Rochester’s rugby clubs teach us the rules of the game.
ROCK | Joey Molland
When I first heard Badfinger’s “Come And Get It” in 1970, it sounded like Paul McCartney squared. Turned out the group was signed to The Beatles’ Apple Records label and the song was indeed by McCartney. Badfinger went on to record more Beatles-ish hits, like “Day After Day,” “No Matter What,” and “Baby Blue,” but…
A schools-Strong partnership?
Officials at The Strong National Museum of Play and Rochester school board President Van White are in discussions to explore possible partnerships between the museum and some city schools. The early discussions have involved tapping the museum’s expertise to show teachers how to use play to enrich instruction, White says. The partnership would be between…
CLASSICAL | Neave Trio
The Boston-based Neave Trio — formed in 2010, and consisting of violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura — will bring an enticing program to RIT’s Ingle Auditorium. On the bill is a work by the father and most prolific composer of piano trios, Franz Joseph Haydn; early works of great interest…
DACA reversal has a human cost
Griselda Trejo has built herself a good life, one she wants to keep. The 24-year-old Sodus resident is married; has two children, one 2 and the other 7; and has a job making things for the Navy, such as headsets. But she fears that she won’t have this life much longer. Trejo’s parents brought her…
CLASSICAL | ‘Mozart and Harmonie’
Mozart gave many of his most magical musical thoughts to wind instruments, whether in symphonies, operas, piano concertos, or concertos of their own. He also wrote some terrific works for wind octet, or as it was called in the 18th century, the “Harmonie” ensemble — pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns. The Society for…
The Gay Alliance is coming out
The Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley has a distinguished history of education, advocacy, and service to the LGBTQ community in the Rochester area. It represents the strength and resilience of the LGBTQ community, and it has often been held up as a symbol of the city’s progressive values. For more than 40 years, there’s…
Collaborative creativity, curated
The 2017-18 arts season will feature group shows and exhibits that span multiple venues.
It’s Warren’s party now
Mayor Lovely Warren has won the Democratic Primary and, given the party’s heavy domination in the city, in all likelihood she’ll will begin her second term in January. With results in from most polling places, Warren had scored an impressive win – more than 60 percent – over County Legislator and former Rochester police chief…
Our quest to become a ‘City of the Arts’
We’ve said for years that we’re a City of the Arts, and we have all the ingredients to be one.
Film recap: Toronto International Film Festival 2017
With Toronto just a relatively short drive from Rochester, it’s well worth the trip for one of the largest and widely attended film festivals in the world. The Toronto International Film Festival is held each September and — along with the Venice and Telluride film festivals — marks the beginning of the fall prestige movie…
Film review: ‘It’
Professional clowns have been up in arms over the release of “It,” the new film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel about a demonic evil that most frequently takes the form of a clown known as Pennywise. After last year’s sinister clown sightings around the country, they’re not eager for more bad publicity. But their worries…
Theater review: Geva’s ‘In the Heights’
At the age of 37, composer and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda is already a recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, three Tony Awards, two Grammys, an Emmy, and a MacArthur Fellowship. He has also been nominated for an Academy Award and was named in Time’s 2016 “Most Influential People in the World” list. But it was three…
