Author: NeilGarvey

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, is a rock musical written by John Cameron Mitchell, with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask. The musical premiered in 1998 off Broadway, where it ran for a couple years and racked up both Obie and Outer Circle Critics awards. It has since been performed all over and has finally come to Buffalo in this excellent ALT production. Mr. Mitchell starred in the 2001 film version of HEDWIG, which I recall as a somewhat muddled and confused affair, a result which could well be derived from the sometimes confusing material. The stage version strikes me as…

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Saturday night I hopped on the 25 Delaware bus headed for downtown. I got off at Niagara Square and took in the awesome view of our massive Art Deco City Hall. While Occupy Buffalo was doing their “occupying,” I strolled by them and started to hear the echo of their folk tunes bouncing off the facades on the square. The noticeably vacant streets of downtown started to fill up with people who all seemed to have one thing in common…BAD Holiday fashion! The good news was that I wasn’t going to be the only one fashionably late.The Urban Land Institute’s…

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If you were driving up Delaware Avenue on Wednesday afternoon you may have seen red and white balloons blowing in the wind at 1040 Delaware. Greenleaf & Company and Paul Kolkmeyer had a ribbon cutting ceremony for their recently completed luxury apartments. Guests awaited the ceremony in true Buffalo fashion, decked with proud smiles on their faces as mother nature gave everyone a wintry hint of what is soon to come.Originally a nursing home, the building sat vacant for ten years. The simple three-story brick structure was converted into a remarkable four-story mixed-use building. David Wylier and Associates were the…

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In news that will shock most Sabres fans, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that former Sabres owner Tom Golisano is preparing a bid for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Golisano, who sold the Sabres less than a year ago to Terry Pegula, said “baseball has been my favorite sport all my life. I would welcome the opportunity to own such a fine franchise.” Of course, Golisano profited handsomely after purchasing the Sabres from bankruptcy and selling them to Pegula. Given that, it’s not surprising that he’s interested in investing in another sports franchise, especially one that is tied up in bankruptcy…

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IMAGING MADOFF, by Deb Margolin, directed by Greg Natale for The Jewish Repertory Theatre. The Jewish Repertory Theatre celebrates its Ninth Season in its new home, the Maxine and Robert Seller Theatre at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo. This is a wonderful thing for local professional theatre. While always a purveyor of highly acclaimed and high quality productions, there were times in its short history when JRT might have toppled over and gone the way of Studio Arena. Fortunately for all, a dedicated constituency and the founders’ fortitude have sailed the ship into this wonderful, safe and beautiful new…

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VIVIEN, The Triumph and Madness of Vivien Leigh, by Rick Foster | Directed by Darleen Pickering Hummert for New Phoenix Theatre and Red Thread TheatreA “one man show” (or a “one woman show”, as the case may be), can present a theatre with major opportunities and major challenges. On the plus side, such “one-handers” allow theatres both large and small to produce a play with minimal payroll and, often, minimal production costs. Thus a company with a four or five show season gets a bit of a breather between larger productions.A one man show can also provide an opportunity to present…

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THE TURN OF THE SCREW by Jeffery Hatcher, Directed by Derek Campbell for ICTC (review based upon a preview performance):Tis’ the season – for horror! And in homage to this time of unholy spirits and hauntings, The Irish Classical Theatre Company has delivered a deliciously dark and moody production of THE TURN OF THE SCREW, playwright Jeffery Hatcher’s taught take on Henry James’ classic ghost story. This is the tale of a wealthy Man, who has become the guardian of his young niece and nephew. While the Man remains in London, the children reside at his country estate with the Housekeeper. They…

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OLIVER! the much loved 1960 musical featuring Charles Dicken’s smudgy orphan coping with life in the wicked underworld of Victorian England has been reworked into a presentation by an unlikely acting troupe touring Depression Era America of 1930’s. The conceit is that of a railroad traveling acting company which pitches its circus style tent on the outskirts of some Dustbowl prairie town to put on their version of Dicken’s classic story of economic exploitation and (dare we say?) class warfare. You are the audience sitting in the bleachers, carnival barkers warm up the pre-show crowd in set designer Chris Shenk’s wickedly…

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Theatre at its best transports an audience. The lights dim, a curtain rises and we are off to another time and place, or at least another place. A wise commentator once said that theatre was the “last act of community” left in our society, and one wonders, in this time of red/blue strife, if indeed a theatre is the last place where we can all sit down together in peace and enjoy a communal experience. And when the show is over, and the lights come up, we hope that, together, we have shared a story, an outlook or a pure entertainment…

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42nd Street by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, Lyrics by Al Dubin, Music by Harry Warren. Directed by Norm Sham for the Kavinoky Theatre.42nd STREET is bringing them to their feet at the Kav. One of the great American musicals of the 20th Century, this throwback to the glory days of the Great White Way of the Great Depression is a blend of modern staging with terrific, nostalgic music and songs and some irresistible toe-tapping dance. Adapted from a 1933 Hollywood film, the story is as old as dirt. Ingenue Peggy Sawyer is fresh off the train from Allentown, ready to conquer…

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