THE BASICS: This smart social comedy by W. Somerset Maugham plays in repertory at the Royal George Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake through October 27th. Expect a lot of talk. The play runs fully 2 hours and fifty minutes with its two intermissions. THUMBNAIL SKETCH: The cravings and connivings of a group of mega-rich, expatriate Americans (in particular, a clutch of pretty, younger heiresses) in London society, early 1920’s. THE ROLES, THE PLAYERS AND THE PRODUCTION: While there are nine major characters in OUR BETTERS, the focus is ultimately on Pearl (Lady Grayston), an American heiress who married an English lord (now…
Author: diddlebock
THE BASICS: Susan Glaspell’s one-act play TRIFLES (1916) has been coupled with Eugene O’Neill’s very first play, A WIFE FOR A LIFE (1913), as this year’s Lunchtime Theater offering at the Shaw Festival. TRIFLES runs in repertory, at the Court House Theatre, through October 12th. Please note the early curtain time: 11:30 am. The full program runs about 50 minutes. There is no intermission.THE PLAYLETS: Glaspell’s TRIFLES, which derives from a sensational Iowa murder of 1900, is a whodunit of sorts, with a smart feminist subtext. Interestingly, neither the murdered husband nor his distraught widow (the #1 suspect) ever…
Once Thursday in the Park (1987)… now Thursday at Canalside.Once Buffalo Place rocks the Harbor… now Buffalo Place Rocks Canalside.New event names for a fresh 2013 Buffalo Place concert season. Thursday at Canalside kicks off on Thursday, June 6 with The Hold Steady and Hollerado. Eighteen consecutive Thursdays ending with Lotus August 29. Starting time 5:00PM, until 9:30PM. Free admission to all of these. Also there are six Buffalo Place Rocks Canalside shows in late June, July and August. Doors open at 6PM for these shows. They are all Friday-Saturday pairings. Tentatively Saturday August 31 concert is to be announced in…
Twilight Zone. Rocky Horror Picture Show. Batman TV show. Godfather. Wayne Newton’ s Danke Schoen. Enter the Dragon. Cincinnati Kid. Recognize any of those tunes? Then you have heard the work of Niagara Falls, NY born Tommy Tedesco with the Wrecking Crew.When I first heard that the movie “Wrecking Crew” was coming to the Market Arcade in downtown Buffalo, I thought of quarterback Paul “Wrecking” Crewe of the Mean Machine football team, the inmates’ team in the movie “The Longest Yard”. Instead it was about the 50s and 60s LA-dominated music scene, where the same 20 studio musicians “helped” fix…
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…
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…
A little less than three years ago, the Canadian government purchased the house at 196 Soldiers Place to serve as the home of the Consulate General. Attorney Herb Siegel sold the house to the Canadians for $1.39M which is one of the highest priced single family home transactions in Buffalo history. After purchasing the house, the Canadians invested approximately $200,000 to upgrade the home. So, in total, they invested approximately $1.6M into the property. Then, in May of last year, the Canadian government decided to close the Buffalo consulate and sell their properties. Not surprisingly, 196 Soldiers Place was then listed for sale…
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…
The City of Buffalo Department of Public Works has shared their current plan and its justification for Linwood Avenue on Friday (see below) identifying the project goals and their design considerations. These goals include:• Resurface Linwood Avenue in 2012;• Comply with Complete Streets Ordinance;• Provide a much needed traffic calming solution for Linwood Avenue;• To address all concerns raised by the community and utilize this information to aid in selection of the best option moving forward.Through their consideration of multiple scenarios including two-way traffic, they identified a two-way cycle track to be located along the West side of the street…
The following was written by a Buffalonian who currently lives out in Las Vegas. He recently reached out to me to express his frustration at wanting to move back to Buffalo, and his inability to do so. He is a teacher with a family who tells me that in order to land a teaching job in Buffalo the schools are requiring him to be on-hand as part of the interview process. As you will read, that is something that is not possible for him to do. It always bothers me to hear that one of our own is attempting to…