Now being performed at Geva’s Nextstage through Saturday, December 27, “The Man Who Came to Dinner” comes to the stage courtesy of Rochester’s Screen Plays, a wonderfully creative theater group dedicated to performing classic American plays that were made iconic on film (in this case, the 1942 motion picture starring Bette Davis, Monty Woolley, and […]
Theater Review
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Theater Review: “The Man Who Came To Dinner” at Geva’s Fielding Nextstage
Now being performed at Geva’sNextstage through Saturday, December 27, “The Man Who Came to Dinner” comes to the stage courtesy of Rochester’s Screen Plays, a wonderfully creative theater group dedicated to performing classic American plays that were made iconic on film (in this case, the 1942 motion picture starring Bette Davis, Monty Woolley, and Ann […]
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Theater Review: RBTL presents Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella”
A nearly sold-out audience filled the Auditorium Theatre, Tuesday, for the opening night of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” brought to town by the Rochester Broadway Theatre League. I was surprised at the full house (on a Tuesday) and the age-span of the viewers, from pre-school tots to grandparents pushing walkers and in wheelchairs. Little girls […]
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Theater Review: “Naked in Encino” at JCC’s CenterStage
The title of Wendy Kout’s “Naked in Encino” conjures up images of performers stripped to their birthday suits, frolicking in the California sun, but in reality its indecent exposure is somewhat more metaphorical in nature. While the play (a world premiere being staged at the JCC CenterStage Theatre through December 21) promises its characters’ hearts […]
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Theater Review: “West Side Story” at Kodak Center
"West Side Story" may be nearly 60 years old, but it’s remarkably spry. The 1957 musical blended drama, music, and especially dance as no musical before it had quite done, and few musicals after it have completed the equation quite as elegantly. It’s an ambitious choice for a joint production by RAPA and The Rochester […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Theater Review: “West Side Story” at Kodak Center
"West Side Story" may be nearly 60 years old, but it’s remarkably spry. The 1957 musical blended drama, music, and especially dance as no musical before it had quite done, and few musicals after it have completed the equation quite as elegantly. It’s an ambitious choice for a joint production by RAPA and The Rochester […]
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“King Lear”
Which of Shakespeare’s plays is his greatest? It’s a fatuous question, of course, but if I had to choose, I think “King Lear” would be a front-runner. That may be a reflection of growing older: this play has profound and unsettling things to say about aging, physical and mental decline, selfishness, abuse of power, and […]
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Theater Review: RBTL presents “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”
The Rochester Broadway Theatre League opened its 2014-15 season Tuesday night with the first performance of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” The popular biblical musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice (their first major collaboration together), takes its inspiration from the Book of Genesis, telling the story of a […]
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Theater Review: “I’m Not Rappaport” at Blackfriars Theatre
I can appreciate a playwright who describes his line of work as “the Las Vegas of art forms, and the odds are terrible.” Herb Gardner wrote few plays, but he did hit the jackpot at least twice: once with “A Thousand Clowns” in the 1960’s, and again with “I’m Not Rappaport” in the 1980’s. Blackfriars […]
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Theater Review: “Good People” at Geva Theatre Center
In David Lindsay-Abaire’s "Good People,” you’re always kept guessing about who the good people really are. As the play opens, Margie (Constance Macy) is being fired from her job at a dollar store in South Boston by the manager (Nick Abeel) for her excessive lateness. Margie is the single mother of a handicapped daughter, cared […]
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Theater Review: “Bad Jews” at JCC CenterStage
You don’t have to be Jewish, or even particularly bad, to love Joshua Harmon’s corrosive comedy “Bad Jews.” An Off-Broadway hit last year, it is receiving its first regional theater production at the JCC CenterStage. Artistic Director Ralph Meranto was eager to get the rights for this play, and with good reason: as the title […]
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Theater Review: “Diversions and Delights” at MuCCC
John Gay’s "Diversions and Delights" begins with Oscar Wilde on the skids, and ends with the writer triumphant. This one-man play presents Wilde giving a lecture on his life and work to a Parisian audience; banned from England after his release from prison, he is living on the Continent without any visible means of support […]
