Author: Grant Golden

GRANT GOLDEN wears a number of hats. He has been practicing radiology in Buffalo since 1981, for the past 15 years, with Seton Imaging. Dr Laszlo Tabar, internationally famous mammographer, has been his special friend and mentor. Grant began The Old Chestnut Film Society, Buffalo’s only film society, in 1983. Now in its 35th consecutive season, the OCFS does monthly screenings of Hollywood classics in 16mm. He has written the scores (and some of the books) for a number of locally produced musicals, including the old WONDERMAKERS shows, THE OTHER ISLAND, NOBODY’S INN (Alleyway Theatre), IZZY! (Musicalfare), and ME II (Western Door Playhouse). He reviewed local plays on the radio for 20 years--on WBEN and WBFO—before making the switch to BuffaloRising. Grant and his lovely wife Deborah live in Central Park with their dog Ginger, and cats Ella and Felix. They have three adult children, and now, happily, two grandchildren!

THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Diane Samuels powerful historical drama tells the story of how 9 year old Eva, a Jewish German girl, is sent by her parents on the Kindertransport to start a new life with a foster family in Britain just days before the outbreak of WWII. Over 40 years later, she had changed her name to Evelyn, and denied her roots. Kindertransport gives this wrenching story (and the some 10,000 like it) a decidedly human face. Performances at the Jewish Repertory Theatre on North Forest Road continue weekends (less Fridays) through February 25th. Saul Elkin directs a cast of six—some…

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THE BASICS: The ICTC revival of this landmark 1982 Athol Fugard drama plays weekends at the Andrews Theatre through December 3rd. Aaron Mays directs the cast of three. “Master Harold” runs about 100 minutes. There is no intermission. THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The play is set in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, during the apartheid era. Hally, a teenage white boy, interacts with Sam and Willie, two middle aged black waiters who work in his mother’s tea room. These three go back to Hally’s childhood, and have been like a second family to him. Hally’s own parents, problematic, have long since alienated him.…

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THE BASICS:  The Irish Classical Theatre Company has opened it ‘23-‘24 season with an interesting new (2011) social/historical drama:  BELFAST GIRLS.  Kyle LoConti directs a cast of five.  BELFAST plays weekends at the Andrews Theatre through October 15th.  The show, with its single intermission, runs approximately 2 ½ hours.  THUMBNAIL SKETCH:  The year is 1850.  Five young women seek to escape the Great Famine in Ireland, aboard a ship bound for Australia.  As they sail toward the promise of new lives in Sydney, they struggle to leave past lives (and secrets) behind.   THE PLAYERS, THE PLAY AND THE PRODUCTION: Lilly…

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THE BASICS:   ICTC remounting of Oscar Wilde’s celebrated comedy, EARNEST (A Trivial Comedy for Serious People) plays weekends through June 25th at the Andrews Theatre downtown.  Kristen Tripp Kelley directs a cast of eight.  The play runs two and a half hours with its single intermission. Tickets. THUMBNAIL SKETCH:    Love and (potential) marriage among the upper classes in England, 1895.  Many complications arise from the fact that both of the protagonists, Jack and Algernon, have been living sneaky double lives (country and city) for their own pleasure. The desired women, Gwendolen and Cecily,  seem quite smitten, but will have no suitors …

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THE BASICS: It was way back in ’63 when lovable newlyweds Corrie and Paul Bratter first graced the New York theater scene, in Neil Simon’s BAREFOOT IN THE PARK. The hit comedy has had tremendous “legs”, delighting audiences almost continuously since then. The popular 1967 film featured Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. The present mounting, at the Jewish Repertory Theatre on North Forest Road in Amherst, is playing weekends (no Fridays) through May 21st. Brian Cavanagh directs a cast of five. BAREFOOT runs just a little over two hours, with its single, 10 minute intermission. THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The action takes…

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THE BASICS:  This one man show about Justice Thurgood Marshall was written by George Stevens, Jr., and plays weekends at the Andrews Theater (ICTC) through April 16th.  Steve H. Broadnax III directs actor Brian Marable. THURGOOD runs approximately 90 minutes.  There is no intermission.  THUMBNAIL SKETCH: While waiting in an empty room to deliver an address at his old Alma Mater, Howard Law, Marshall paces around and talks to us about his “life and times”. Playwright Stevens takes a conventional approach; the various tales and anecdotes are basically chronological. As we listen, a feisty, colorful young man from Baltimore discovers…

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THE BASICS:  This is the stage adaptation, by Mitch Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher, of Albom’s hit memoir of the same name.  It concerns a series of visits Albom made to his favorite college professor, Morrie Schwartz, some sixteen years after his graduation.  The two develop a strong bond, even as Morrie is dying of ALS. TUESDAYS, a two hander, plays Thursdays through Sundays (no Fridays) at the Jewish Repertory Theatre, in the Benderson building at the JCC in Amherst.  Josie DiVincenzo directs Adam Yellen and Jack Hunter.  The play runs a trim 90 minutes.  There is no intermission. Closing date is…

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THE BASICS: This offbeat “historical” musical by Peter Rothstein plays Wednesdays through Sundays at the Shea’s 710 Theatre, through December 18th. The cast of ten (in multiple roles) has been nicely directed and staged by Susan Drozd. CALM, which has no intermission, clocks in at a lean 75 minutes. THUMBNAIL SKETCH: (from the program notes) “The Western Front… Christmas 1914. Out of the violence a silence, then a song… Thus begins an extraordinary night of camaraderie, music and peace. A remarkable true story about an astounding moment in history when Allied and German soldiers laid down their arms to celebrate…

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THE BASICS: The Irish Classical Theatre Company continues its 2022-3 season with Neil Bartlett’s stage adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic, GREAT EXPECTATIONS. The show plays weekends at the Andrews Theatre through December 11th. ICTC Associate Director Chris Kelly directs a cast of nine, with a number of the roles doubled (or tripled) to accommodate such large-scale storytelling. Interestingly, though, this bare-bones adaptation runs just 2 ¼ hours with its single intermission. Photo by Mark Duggan/Nickel City Headshots THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Charles Dickens’ classic coming-of-age tale, adapted for the stage by Neil Bartlett, follows the orphan Pip as he navigates a strange…

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THE BASICS: MusicalFare has kicked off its 2022-23 season with a featherweight version of a typical 30’s style musical comedy. The book, by Joe DiPietro, hearkens back to the days of Guy Bolton and P G Wodehouse, and is actually the reworking of an old Gershwin show, Oh Kay! There’s plenty of silliness in this chorines-and-gangsters tale, woven together with a peppy, recycled Gershwin Brothers score. Chris Kelly directs an all star cast of sixteen. NICE WORK plays weekends through October 9th. The show, with its single intermission, runs approximately two and ¼ hours. THUMBNAIL SKETCH, ETC: This is a…

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