Our top 10 picks for the 2015-16 theater season The 2015-16 theatrical season is all about fresh faces. New shows, theater companies, and directors abound, bringing a welcome energy to our local stages. It will be a busy season, but here are 10 productions that caught our attention. “James and the Giant Peach” (Rochester Association […]
Fall Guide
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Only the movies you want to see
As I was thinking about how to structure this piece on the films of autumn, I became hung up on the notion of film criticism versus movie reviewing. Film criticism is an art that seems to require a thorough steeping in film history, astute reasoning, an extremely keen eye, and the ability to concisely convey […]
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Lack not music’s pleasures
It may be years, decades, centuries, before the Olympics come to Rochester. While you’re waiting, enjoy the abundant classical music Rochester offers every year, all year round. This fall is no exception. There’s something for nearly every taste: standard repertoire; early music from the Renaissance to the Baroque; a wealth of 20th-century modernist classics and […]
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Failure is so possible
Fall arrives in Rochester with a flurry of colorful brochures announcing dance, music, and theater events. It’s an exciting time of year for arts lovers — authors start arriving, film festivals hit town, and art exhibitions open. But for some, all is not well in the cultural calendar. For creative types who haven’t met their […]
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Hear your live delights
I figure since we got screwed out of summer we deserve a cool fall. And I’m not talking about the mercury either. I’m talking about lots of groovy bands to shake our bodies to in order to work up the sweat we were supposed to have spilled in the last few months. Here are a […]
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Hitting the lecture circuit
OK, all you nerds out there, it’s time to get down to work. Stock your pencil boxes, pull out your literary anthologies, and check the batteries in your tape recorders: fall is bursting with enough lectures and literary events to make us all feel like we’re back in school again. Listen to authors and scientists, […]
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City’s choice: family theater
Theater is not just for grownups. Besides the magical tradition of The Nutcracker, during the fall there are other performances around town for the family to enjoy. These are inexpensive, low-key, and sometimes interactive shows — made just for the little ones. Rochester Children’s Theatre continues its residency at Nazareth College with The Miracle Worker, […]
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Seeking the artful bounty
Members of the Rochester Association of Art Dealers already inaugurated the new season; they strutted their stuff during Galleries Week, which started the second weekend of September. Most of their exhibits will remain up for several weeks, giving you plenty to see. And that’s just the beginning of what’s on tap for the Greater Rochester […]
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Putting on a good show
It is, in my opinion, the best moment in the world: after the lights go down and before the show starts. Voices hush, bodies settle, and you wait. There is so much possibility in the air that breathing feels better. In fall, local theater and dance groups start performing in earnest. Rochester and the surrounding […]
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Searching for the Holy Grail (of fruit)
The fall harvest season is one of my favorites, with cool nights and an almost endless variety of fruits and vegetables to sample, some more well-known than others. Lately, I have fallen in love with the heirloom tomato “Brandywine” — which is not very red, is impossible to slice for the perfect sandwich, and has […]
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Homecoming season for a Bills fan
The last four falls, I’ve been a Bills fan in exile on the peninsula of Portland, Maine. That’s deep in Patriots country, enemy territory. Surrounded by Patsies, I’d take refuge in sports bars to watch Buffalo play via satellite. I had to arrive well before kickoff to stake out a stool near the one […]
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Headline: Movies: Great expectations, after summer’s best
p> Credit: Text: Records tumbled, glowing reviews were dispensed like so much sunscreen, and we still had room for mindless junk like Eight Legged Freaks and XXX. Thanks to pictures like Road To Perdition, Signs and Minority Report, the summer of 2002 was certainly the best in recent memory. But what about the fall? […]
