ALL IS CALM, The Christmas Truce of 1914 musical, presented by MusicalFare Theatre, runs through December 18, Friday at 7:30, Saturday at 8:00, and Sunday at 2:00 at Shea’s 710 Theatre (710 Main Street at the corner of Tupper). 716-847-1410 or visit sheas.org or just show up at the box office. 1 hour, 10 minutes without intermission. WARNING – flashing lights, sounds of gunfire and explosions, and atmospheric effects are used in this production.
This is the same show that MusicalFare originally presented on their mainstage in Amherst in November 2021. ALL IS CALM takes place on The Western Front of World War I, known for its gruesome extracted trench warfare which ultimately decimated a generation. Early in the conflict, during the Christmas of 1914, for one night, the British and the German soldiers came out of those vile trenches, not to kill, but to share their common humanity. They traded trinkets, cigarettes, and food, and they sang. Apparently, a lot. And the next day the high command was furious that the foot soldiers had pulled back the curtain on the unspoken truth which I’ll describe first using the words of President Hoover – “Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die” and in our time George Carlin who said “War is rich old men protecting their property by sending middle-class and lower-class young men off to die. It always has been.” Yes, those quotes are anachronistic, but they fit. This true story is told in the words and songs of the men who lived it.
It is sung “a cappella” (voices only without orchestra and in this case only male voices) which, with the exception of listening to professional chamber choirs such as “Chanticleer” or “The Kings Singers,” is not to my taste. I did not attend this current run at Shea’s, but the audience at MusicalFare seemed to love it at the time. I’m sure this current run is equally fine.
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BIG BAND CHRISTMAS MEMORIES, written and directed by Mary Kate O’Connell featuring The George Scott Big Band from The Colored Musicians Club runs through December 18, Fridays – Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 3:00. On the mainstage of the New O’Connell & Company Theater, 4110 Bailey Avenue, Amherst, NY 14226. 716-848-0800 oconnellandcompany.com Run time 1 hour-45 minutes including one intermission.
Starring Melissa Kate, Michael J. Galante, Mary Kate O’Connell (stepping in for Lizzie Arnold) and Daniel Mink (drummer doing double duty as a cast member, including a portrayal of “Hannukah Harry”) the jokes and skits were, as they announce from stage, pretty corny, but the Baby Boomer crowd around me loved it. And that includes a number of my seven sisters-in-law whom I took with me (representing the first and the last of the Boomer generation). The music was great fun and kudos to Mary Kate O’Connell who stepped in, and by cleverly re-arranging some of the songs, absolutely nailed it. O’Connell, like many of the musicians, has decades of experience, which made for a fun, relaxing afternoon. I’m not sure it’s “perfect for the entire family” as billed, but this I can say: If you don’t take your mom, aunts, or grandmas to this, then shame on you and you get coal in your stocking. Seriously, this might not be “hip” or “cool” enough for you (to use two Boomer words which I gather are quite out of style) but this is a marvelous way to say “thank you” to the people who paid for your braces, or whatever.
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Meanwhile, also closing this Sunday, O’Connell and Company is also offering two more matinees of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, by Charles M. Schulz, based on the television special by Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson, in a stage adaptation by Eric Schaeffer, by special arrangement with Arthur Whitelaw and Ruby Persson, directed by Doug Weyand. This runs through December 18, only Saturday and Sunday matinees at 12:30 (each 30 minutes long) followed by a meet and greet with Santa Claus. It’s also at the New O’Connell & Company Theater, 4110 Bailey Avenue, Amherst, NY 14226. 716-848-0800 oconnellandcompany.com Runtime: 30 minutes
Apparently, this is the first year that the classic animated TV special featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and the gang discovering the true meaning of Christmas will not be aired on television. So this will be your only chance to catch the story in this 30-minute stage adaptation. I have a particular aversion to this story, and without any young people to take, I passed on it. But, given that Theater of Youth hasn’t come back yet from the shutdown, I would absolutely go to this.
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CADILLAC CREW, a play by Tori Sampson, directed by Linda Barr, and presented by the Paul Robeson Theatre, also runs through December 18, Friday – Saturday at 7:30, Sunday at 4:00 in the African American Cultural Center, 350 Masten Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209 716-884-2013 paulrobesontheatre.org or just show up at the box office. The runtime the night I saw it was 2-1/2 hours.
CADILLAC CREW opens in a local civil rights office in Virginia in mid-1963, on a day when the activist Rosa Parks is scheduled to speak at a rally. We meet three African American staffers: “Rachel” (Francesca D’Auria) the energetic head of the office and her colleagues/employees “Abby” (Aquiera Oshun), “Dee” (Janate Solar Ingram), and “Sarah,” who is white, (Nikol Stellabuto). At some point, the women find out that the men in charge of the rally have decided that since Rachel has asked Rosa Parks to change her topic from a re-hashing of her famous bus ride eight years earlier to instead discuss the subject of rape, that Rosa Parks will not be speaking at all, but simply act as a figurehead for the rally. Rachel is outraged and convinces her colleagues to join her on a road trip into the deep South to confront racism as well as rape culture. They decide to become part of what was known as the “Cadillac Crews” – women, sometimes black only, sometimes mixed, who would drive throughout the South, speaking and organizing. It was a very dangerous undertaking and some were brutally murdered.
This is a story of women being marginalized by men and of history being rewritten, often by men, leaving the role of women out of the narrative.
The play continues with the four women on their road trip and then poof, the story ends. What happened to them? Good question, and that’s one of the major points of the play. Then, bringing this to the present day, after a costume and wig change, the four actors reappear, with Stellabuto now in the role of a podcaster whose three guests are Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, the actual founders of Black Lives Matter, whose names are relatively unknown just a few years later. So this is also a play about erasure, especially of women-led activities. Appropriately, this play is part of the Paul Robeson Theatre’s 2022-2023 “season of celebrating women who lead.”
The play by Tori Sampson (first produced several years ago at Yale Repertory Theatre) is itself a little uneven, often slowing down to give us not dialog but speeches. Sampson’s switch from office, to car, and finally to present-day podcast could have been smoother. And the casting at the PRT was also uneven. Still, this is a play that will stay with you, dealing with a number of important issues. so I would recommend trying to fit this in during this closing weekend if you could.
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* And, actually running through Friday, December 23 we have THE BIRTH OF SANTA, a new play by Justin Karcher and Eric Mowery, directed by Eric Mowery, featuring Andrew Zuccari, David Wysocki, Daniel Burning, Eric Mowery, Ian Michalski, Maryna Seufert, and Rick Lattimer. December 16th at 7:30 pm, December 17th at 5 pm (so no conflict with the Bills-Dolphins rescheduled game), and next week, Thursday and Friday, December 22nd – 23rd at 7:30 pm at American Repertory Theater, 545 Elmwood Avenue. (716) 697-0837 artofwny.org Runtime: 1 hour – forty-five minutes without intermission.
THE BIRTH OF SANTA offers a lengthy philosophical discussion of art – what is it, what is its purpose, is there ever any “bad” art, what is the “duty” or responsibility of the artist, both to his audience and to himself, and is commercialism always a negative force? (“Mr. Commercialism is played by the director, Eric Mowery.). The loose structure is a reimagining of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” where Scrooge is visited by three ghosts. In this play, an artist (Andrew Zuccari), famous for schmaltzy Christmas-themed paintings, decides to go in a different direction (with a painting of a naked Santa biting the head off a gingerbread man) and it is not well received.
Despondent and obstinate, the artist goes back to his studio, alone having alienated his significant other (Danielle Burning), where he is berated by his agent/manager (David Wysocki) for messing up a very lucrative gig. The artist is visited by three ghosts, who are themselves “artists of the Christmas spirit,” including Norman Rockwell (whose Americana paintings graced the cover of “The Saturday Evening Post” for decades) as played by Rick Lattimer; the Little Drummer Boy (a “musical artist” played with gusto by Ian Andre Michalski), and Brutus the Robot (Maryna Seufert) which has been programmed to be able to paint. Three very different “artists” to be sure.
It’s a very wordy play as might be expected being written by a poet (Karcher) who loves to turn a phrase. I found it a little hard to follow at times, as I was thinking about one interesting turn of phrase when another quickly followed. After the show during a conversation with the playwright (who is the “New Play Development Director for ART/WNY”) Justin Karcher said that he’s trying to encourage his poet friends to try their hand at writing plays. ART/WNY has doubled down these past several seasons on its commitment to new plays and we look forward to what’s next which I believe will be, in April, RUST & REDEMPTION: REQUIEM FOR A BUFFALO GRUNGEBAND by j. snodgrass.