I only know a few words of Spanish, but I really enjoyed “Chocolate Casi Amargo,” (“Chocolate, Almost Bitter”), a one-act written and directed by Candide Carrasco and presented Saturday afternoon on the TheaterRocs Stage at Xerox Auditorium. The play has no plot to speak of, it’s just a late-night conversation between a long-married couple, Isabel […]
Rochester Fringe Festival
Posted inSpecial Sections
Frank reviews Teressa Wilcox Band, Violet Mary, the Heroic Enthusiasts, and The Campbell Brothers
I’ve been going to see Teressa Wilcox since she was a teenage chick with a pick. And her voice’s timbre has always taken a back seat to her gentle phrasing. But not tonight, Jack. Homegirl was on the Gibbs Street Stage just a-belting it out. And her band ratcheted it up to help serve Wilcox’s […]
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Casey reviews “Garth Fagan Dance: Up Close & Personal”
Experiencing Garth Fagan Dance perform is a little bit like coming home, especially when you live in Rochester where the cutting edge contemporary dance company (now in its 44th year) also resides and works. Familiar dancers, familiar pieces, familiar Fagan — both wise and jocular in his comments and anecdotes. Seeing the company dance in […]
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Rebecca reviews “Moment of Impact”
Created and performed by Bronwyn Sims of Strong Coffee Stage Company, “Moment of Impact” is a strange, multimedia, one-woman show that explores how trauma experienced and tragedy witnessed can change the trajectory of a life. Inspired by real events, the story is told through the creative use of a sparse set, theater, dance, and aerial […]
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Adam reviews “140 Characters or Less” and 20 Penny Circus
The second social media-centric comedy show of my Fringe Festival experience this year, “140 Characters or Less: A Twitter Comedy Show” delivered the #funny. Hosted by comedian Dario Josef with a rotating cast of local stand-ups, the show shares some DNA with Comedy Central’s popular “@midnight” program — mixing Twitter-based humor with traditional stand-up comedy. […]
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David reviews “The Cougar and the Cabana Boy”
If you’re not quite ready to say goodbye to summer, slip on your flip-flops and catch one of the remaining performances of "The Cougar and the Cabana Boy" at Xerox Auditorium. This original musical by Dresden Engle and J. Daniel Lauritzson features a very agreeable cast and a story as light and colorful as the […]
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Casey reviews Biodance and “Diaghilesque”
All of Rochester could have been lit by the energy Biodance exuded at GEVA’s Nextstage last night. The show reminded me of a collection of excellent short stories. Each unique piece vibrant and well-worked out — good enough to stand alone, but even better as a group. Missy Pfohl Smith, Artistic Director of Biodance, seems […]
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Rebecca reviews “Merged II”
The final Fringe Festival performance of “Merged II” was presented on Wednesday night at Geva’sNextstage. This deeply moving and visually stunning series of performances was a fantastic celebration of the human body’s capabilities to strive and express and explore and persevere. A few of the seven pieces resonated more powerfully with me than others. A […]
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Frank reviews Hopeless Romantic
The term hopeless romantic makes about as much sense to me as the phrase guilty pleasure. If you’re a romantic then you’re far from hopeless. And if you get off on something, f**k those who don’t and judge you because you do. OK? OK. That being said, Hopeless Romantic’s vocal chanteuse Sage Melcher was particularly […]
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Rebecca reviews “The Steele Sisters: Comedy Sword-Fighting Show” and “The Nameless Days of Gumdrop Smith”
The two ladies who comprise “The Steele Sisters: Comedy Sword-Fighting Show” gave the kind of playful, riotous performance that makes you wish they were your buddies. Gwendolyn and Gertrude Steele, dressed in fanciful layers of medieval garb, took the stage at Blackfriars Theatre and revved the audience into a participatory frenzy with a few playful […]
Posted inSpecial Sections
Rebecca reviews “The Steele Sisters: Comedy Sword-Fighting Show” and “The Nameless Days of Gumdrop Smith”
The two ladies who comprise “The Steele Sisters: Comedy Sword-Fighting Show” gave the kind of playful, riotous performance that makes you wish they were your buddies. Gwendolyn and Gertrude Steele, dressed in fanciful layers of medieval garb, took the stage at Blackfriars Theatre and revved the audience into a participatory frenzy with a few playful […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
‘I Believe’: Fringe and Rochester’s future
“The Book of Mormon” is headed back to Rochester, complete with the fresh-faced, dizzily optimistic Elder Price singing “I Believe.” And that song has been running through my mind the last several days, competing with less happy thoughts. Rochester has been through a tough time this month, losing, in the space of 48 hours, a […]
