Grant Golden

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• Posted The Clean House to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This quirky, bittersweet comedy by Sarah Ruhl is having its WNY premiere with Road Less Traveled Productions. It plays weekends at their Market Arcade theater, through May 12th. Derek Campbell directs an exemplary cast of five. The show runs about two hours with its ten minute intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: "A metaphysical Connecticut", present day. Matilde, a young woman from Brazil, has wandered aimlessly into the US following the tragic deaths of her parents. Purportedly a housekeeper but with no desire to clean, Matilde is on a quest to dream up The Perfect Joke. She finds herself in the home...
• Posted Buffalo Quickies 2013 to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This is the 22nd incarnation of the Alleyway Theatre's signature short works program, saved from the guillotine in the 11th hour by a few exceptionally generous donors. This year's edition of seven short plays features both WNY playwrights and out-of-town talents. It's been directed by the Alleyway's Joyce Stilson, who is also a member of the company. All four actors play multiple roles. With its single ten minute intermission, the show runs approximately 90 minutes.THE PLAYS AND THE PLAYERS: The seven offerings are briskly paced, and wide-ranging. The lead-off piece, FACE TIME, by Donna Hoke, is a short and...
• Posted Buried Child @ Torn Space Theater to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: Sam Shepard won a Pulitzer prize in 1979 for this creepy family drama, set in a strange and troubled American heartland. The present production, by Torn Space Theater, plays weekends through March 16th at the Adam Mickiewicz Dramatic Circle, 612 Fillmore Avenue. David Oliver directs a cast of seven. The play, with its two intermissions, runs fully 2 ½ hours.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The action takes place in the living room of a farmhouse in Illinois, 1970's. The owner-family, unnamed, and presided over by the bickering Dodge and Halie, has seen better days. Much better. Ever since the time of...
• Posted Stick Fly to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This new domestic drama by Lydia R. Diamond recently completed a successful NYC run. Paulette D. Harris snatched it up immediately for the Paul Robeson Theatre*, where it is now playing weekends through March 3rd. The show, directed by Willie W. Judson Jr., runs about 2 hours and 40 minutes with its single intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Oak Bluffs colony on Martha's Vineyard, present day. The well-heeled LeVay family is congregating. Both grown sons have new girlfriends to present. One of the young ladies is white. Everyone has issues, and the various parties set one another off in interesting ways....
• Posted Other Desert Cities to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS:  The Kavinoky Theatre gives us the WNY premiere of a well-regarded new Dysfunctional Family Drama by Jon Robin Baitz.  It's political in its underpinnings, fueled by generational conflict and acrobatically bridging the Vietnam and Iraq wars.  Peter Palmisano directs a cast of five.  The play, which runs a little over two hours with its single intermission, plays weekends at the Kav through December 16th.THUMBNAIL SKETCH:  The action unfolds on Christmas Eve, 2004--in Palm Springs, California.  Lyman and Polly Wyeth, "waspified GOP zombies" (their son's semi-serious/semi-joking appelation), welcome home their troubled liberal daughter Brooke, after an absence of six...
• Posted NEXT TO NORMAL @ ICTC to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This pop-rock musical by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey hit Broadway in 2009, won three Tony Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the following year Intimate and downbeat, NORMAL shows the devastation wreaked by mental illness upon a small, "regular" nuclear family. The Buffalo premiere, at the Irish Classical Theater Company ICTC, has been directed by Fortunato Pezzimenti, with musical direction by Jason Bravo. It plays weekends at the Andrews Theatre through October 7th. The show runs nearly 2 1⁄2 hours with its ten minute intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Urban America, present day. Dan and Diana, a young middle...
• Posted MR. AND MRS. NOBODY to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: The New Phoenix Theatre has opened its 2012-13 season with playwright Keith Waterhouse's adaptation of, and elaboration upon, a minor classic of late Victorian literature, DIARY OF A NOBODY. The play, which was directed by Robert Waterhouse (son of the late playwright), plays weekends at the New Phoenix through October 13th. The show runs approximately two hours with its single intermission. Thursday nights are pay-what-you-can.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: England, 1890's. A year (or so) in the lives of Charles and Carrie Pooter, striving members of the middle class, shortly following their move to a new house in North London. The...
• Posted TROUBLE IN TAHITI to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This gutsy little one-act opera by Leonard Bernstein is this year's Lunchtime Theatre offering at the Shaw. It plays in repertory at the Court House Theatre through October 7th. The show runs about 45 minutes; there is no intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: It's 1952, and Americans have fled to the suburbs to live the Great American Dream. Dinah and Sam are a typical suburban couple. He is climbing up the corporate ladder while she stays home, dresses prettily and tends the nest. They seem to have everything, including a fine young son, but there is trouble in paradise. Society has...
• Posted RICHARD III to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: Shakespeare in Delaware Park (SDP) has kicked off its 37th season with this droll but drafty "history" play. It's been directed by SDP founder Saul Elkin, and stars Buffalo's own Tim Newell. RICHARD plays daily, except Mondays, on Shakespeare Hill (behind the Rose Garden in Delaware Park), through July 15th. It's free, but the actors do "pass the hat" at intermission. If you go, bring a comfy low chair, and plenty of munchies. This runs a whopping 3 ¼ hours!THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The action takes place in the 15th century, at the end of the War of the Roses....
• Posted FRENCH WITHOUT TEARS to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This charming 1935 comedy by Terrence Rattigan (his breakout play) has by directed by Kate Lynch and plays in repertory at the Royal George Theatre through September 15th. It runs close to 2½ hours with its single intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The action takes place in the living room of a villa in a small seaside town in the west of France, 1930's. With their sites on the diplomatic service, a small group of privileged and rather effete young brits are taking a stab at learning French, under the tutelage of the gruff-and-grum M. Maingot. It's hard to stay focused,...
• Posted MISALLIANCE to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This classic Shaw comedy was last staged at the Festival in 2003. It's back, with new trimmings, at the Royal George Theatre, where it plays in repertory through October 27th. The production was directed by Eda Holmes, and designed by Judith Bowden. It runs just shy of two-and-a-half hours, with its single intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Here is Shaw on familiar ground, exploring the curious mating habits of his countrymen, and the ever-perplexing parent-child bond. The action (what there is of it) takes place at the country house of John Tarleton, the Underwear King, supposedly in the spring of 1962...
• Commented on A MAN AND SOME WOMEN
  I won't be going to RAGTIME at the Shaw, having seen an outstanding production of it in Chicago not that long ago. It's a great show, however, and I suspect that, getting the royal treatment on the Festival Stage, it'll...
• Posted A MAN AND SOME WOMEN to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: The Shaw Festival continues its exploration of the works of Shaw's fellow Fabian playwright, Githa Sowerby, with this domestic drama from 1914. Its original London run cut short by WWI, the play was not revived until 1996(!), and is just now receiving its first full North American production. Directed by Alisa Palmer, MAN/WOMEN is in repertory at the Courthouse Theatre through September 22nd. It runs about 110 minutes with its single intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The action takes place primarily in the home of Richard Shannon, successful businessman and sole surviving male of the clan, at the time of his...
• Posted A DELICATE BALANCE to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: Edward Albee's brooding domestic drama, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1967, has been lovingly revived by the Irish Classical Theatre Company (ICTC) in a production directed by Derek Campbell. BALANCE continues weekends through May 13th. Be patient during the long first half; things really start to percolate after the ten minute intermission...THUMBNAIL SKETCH: This one courtesy of Wikipedia: "The uneasy existence of upper middle-class suburbanites Agnes and Tobias and their permanent houseguest, Agnes' witty alcoholic sister Claire, is disrupted by the sudden appearance of lifelong family friends Harry and Edna... who ask to stay with them to...
• Posted ANCESTRAL VOICES: A FAMILY STORY to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This sweet, memoir-like, devised-for-staged-reading play by A. R. Gurney is at last getting its WNY premiere, thanks to the Road Less Traveled Productions, who have been championing Gurney with a multi-year retrospective. The production, directed the by RLT's Scott Behrend, runs weekends at the Market Arcade Centre through May 13th. The play runs about 90 minutes; there is no intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Buffalo and environs. Late 30's into the war years. Young Eddie (read A. R. Gurney) finds his safe, privileged world rocked by the unexpected split-up of his grandparents. And he's not alone. When grandpa's oldest friend horns...
• Posted COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This domestic drama from 1950 is the play that brought William Inge to the attention of the literary world. The production at the New Phoenix Theatre, directed by Joseph Natale, plays Thursdays - Saturdays at 8pm, through April 21st. Thursday evenings are Pay What You Can. The show runs about 2 hours and 20 minutes with its single intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The action takes place in an old house in a run-down neighborhood of a Midwestern city--circa 1950. Doc Delaney and his wife Lola are a middle aged couple leading lives of (usually) quiet desperation. Doc is a chiropractor,...
• Posted Fish Out Of Water to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This three character domestic drama by Gillian Grattan was a finalist in the ICTC's Maguire Playwriting Competition (for new works by Irish citizens). Directed by Fortunato Pezzimenti, and starring Christian Brandjes, Beth Donohue and Diane Curley, this world premiere production runs weekends at the Andrews Theatre through March 25th. A short full-length play, it runs a little under 90 minutes. There is no intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: A rural village in the southeast of Ireland, present day. When Lydia, a beautiful, unhappy "flower child" from the city, moves into her deceased grandmother's house, she disturbs the equilibrium between her unhappily...
• Posted BLACK TIE to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This long one act by Buffalo native A. R. Gurney is making its WNY debut this month at the Kavinoky Theatre. Directed by Chris Kelly, and starring Peter Palmisano and Saul Elkin, BLACK TIE runs weekends through January 29th. It runs approximately 90 minutes.SIDEBAR: "Pete" Gurney is a naturalist of sorts. He has spent the lion's share of his creative life studying the life cycle, preferences and habits of a single species: the Great Dinner-Dressed (read: Tuxedoed), Silver Spooned WASP. Here, as in THE DINING ROOM and many others, Gurney fixes a trained eye on His Own Kind,...
• Posted THE ADDAMS FAMILY to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: The National Tour of this new musical, based upon celebrated creations of cartoonist Charles Addams, plays nightly at the Shea's Buffalo through December 11th. The book, by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elise, and songs by Andrew Lippa have both seen extensive revision. Jerry Zaks is now supervising the operation. THE ADDAMS FAMILY runs approximately 2 ½ hours with its one intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: NYC, present day. All seems to be well with the Biggle Apple's weirdest nuclear family until daughter Wednesday, now grown up, falls for the son of some decidedly straight-arrow Ohio folks. Optimistic beyond reason, Wednesday and...
• Posted GOD OF CARNAGE to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS:  This curious little comedy by Yasmina Reza (ART), translated by Christopher Hampton, is receiving its WNY premiere at the Kavinoky Theatre.  The production, directed by David Lamb, runs weekends through December 4th.  The play runs a brief 70 minutes; there is no intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH:  The time is the present; the place--New York or any other big city.  Young Benjamin has just attacked schoolmate Henry with a stick at a local park, knocking out a couple of Henry's teeth.  As the curtain rises, the four parents are meeting in the living room at Henry's home, trying to "talk things...
• Posted ICTC Production: La Bete to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This period comedy in verse, by David Hirson was a huge flop on Broadway in 1992. It has a legion of admirers, however, and was revived successfully both on Broadway and in the West End in 2010. This ICTC production, the WNY premiere, was directed by Fortunato Pezzimenti, and plays weekends through October 2nd at the Andrews Theatre. LA BETE clocks in at about 2 ½ hours, with its ten minute intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The scene is 17th century France, at the time of Moliere. Princess Conti, sponsor of Elomire's royally sanctioned theater company, throws things into a cocked...
• Posted ON THE ROCKS to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This political fantasy by Bernard Shaw, written during England's gloomy, tumultuous Great Depression, has rarely seen the light of day. The first Canadian production was, in fact, at the Shaw Festival, in 1986. This new version, adapted by Canadian playwright Michael Healey, runs in repertory at the Court House Theatre at Niagara-on-the-Lake, through October 8th. The play runs 2 ¼ hours with its single intermission. THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The action takes place in the cabinet room at Number 10 Downing Street. Britain's likeable but weak-kneed and dithering Prime Minister gets a crash course in Marxism, and attempts to...
• Posted HEARTBREAK HOUSE to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: One of GBS's masterworks makes its reappearance at the Festival Theatre, after an absence of eleven years. This new mounting is directed by the Festival's former artistic director, Christopher Newton, and runs in repertory through October 7th. With its two intermissions, HEARTBREAK HOUSE clocks in at just a shade under three hours. But you won't be bored; there is plenty to think about and many laughs in this beautifully produced revival.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The action takes place in the shiplike library of the aged, eccentric Captain Shotover, in Sussex. The world is out of joint, trembling on the brink...
• Posted DRAMA AT INISH--A COMEDY to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This is the latest in the long line of Shaw Festival rediscoveries, a charming 1933 comedy by Lennox Robinson, co-founder and fixture at Dublin's Abbey Theatre, and onetime secretary to Bernard Shaw. INISH is in repertory at the Courthouse Theatre through October 1st. The play runs about 2 ¼ hours with its single intermission. THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The action takes place in a hotel sitting room at Inish, a sleepy little seaside town in southern Ireland, where summer tourism is the mainstay. After a disappointing past season of lowbrow comedies, John Twohig, the town's main mover and shaker,...
• Posted MY FAIR LADY to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: The legendary Lerner and Loewe musical, based upon Shaw's own PYGMALION, has set up shop at the Festival Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where it plays in repertory all the way 'til October 30th. It's a large, colorful, tuneful package; plan on three hours with the single intermission. THUMBNAIL SKETCH: London, just before the Great War. Can Professor Henry Higgins--brilliant but eccentric elocutionist and "confirmed old bachelor"--transform scruffy Cockney flower-seller Eliza Doolittle into a lady, on a bet? And if so, can he resist his own magnificent creation? THE CAST: Shaw and Stratford Festival veteran Benedict Campbell makes a very...
• Posted The Last Days of Judas Iscariot to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This theological comedy/drama/fantasy by Stephen Adly Guirgis is an Easter present from Road Less Traveled production. Directed by Artistic Director Scott Behrend, it runs weekends at the Market Arcade Film and Arts Centre through 5/22. Be prepared for a long evening; the show runs nearly three hours with its ten minute intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Purgatory, time out of time. Fabiana Aziza Cunningham, a much bruised and abused modern-day resident, has decided to get the catatonic Judas Iscariot out of Hell, to rehabilitate his severely tarnished image, by means of a heavenly sanctioned trial. The pandering, oily Yusef El-Fayoumy, a...
• Posted INHERIT THE WIND to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This revival of this classic Jerome Lawrence /Robert E Lee drama of 1955 is a coproduction of the New Phoenix Theatre Company and the Subversive Theatre Collective. It plays weekends through April 9th at the New Phoenix on Johnson Park. The Subversive's Kurt Schneiderman directs a cast of twenty-one. (Yes, twenty one!) The play runs a good 2 ½ hours with its single intermission. THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Hillsboro (read: Dayton), Tennessee--July, 1925. Bertram Cates (read: John T Scopes) is standing trial for teaching the theory of evolution in the Tennessee public schools, in direct violation of the state's infamous...
• Posted ICTC: The Mandrake to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS (WITH A LITTLE BACKGROUND): While we remember him nowadays for THE PRINCE, the bible of evil politicians, Niccolo Machiavelli made his living as a playwright and poet. THE MANDRAKE, a comedy of adultery written in 1518, is considered to be his masterpiece. In a relatively new translation by Peter Constantine, THE MANDRAKE is now on stage at the Andrews Theatre, playing weekends through March 27th. Fortunato Pezzimenti directs the cast of nine. The show, which runs about 100 minutes, is played without intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Florence, 16th century. Callimaco, a wealthy young bon vivant, develops an all-consuming passion for...
• Posted ANGEL STREET to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This is the American version of Patrick Hamilton's Victorian era thriller, the basis for the film "Gaslight". It's part of the fourth season for the Playhouse of American Classics, which makes its home at the Buffalo Historical Society. This production runs through Sunday, February 13th. The play runs fully 2 ½ hours, a little longer actually, with its single intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: New York City, 1885. Jack and Bella Manningham, a five year married couple, have taken up residence in a beautiful old home, and seem, on the surface, to be living a fine, patrician life. But there are...
• Posted Five Stars for Third to Buffalo Rising
  THE BASICS: This comedy-drama by Wendy Wasserstein, her last completed work, is receiving its WNY premiere at the Kavinoky Theatre, under the direction of Peter Palmisano. THIRD plays weekends through February 6th, and runs nearly two hours with its single intermission.THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The action unfolds at a small, prestigious New England college during the 2002-3 academic year. Laurie Jameson, a "star" professor in the English department, is not enjoying her life, and is beginning to fall apart at the seams. Her husband and daughters, not meeting her high expectations, have distanced themselves, her demented father is failing rapidly, and her...