THE BASICS: THE MEDIUM and THE TELEPHONE, two operas by Gian Carlo Menotti, written in English, conducted by Nick DelBello, stage directed by Joseph S. Spann, presented in a double bill format by Buffalo Opera Unlimited, Friday, June 2nd at 7:30 pm and Saturday, June 3rd at 5:00 pm in the Warren Enters Theatre in Upton Hall at Buffalo State University (enter Iroquois Road and follow the “OPERA” signs on campus). Tickets (and complimentary ice water) at the door. This is not a student production. Tickets are $35 General, $25 Seniors, $10 Students For information, contact (716) 882-1692 or visit www.buffalooperaunlimited.org/…
Author: Peter Hall
THE BASICS: BUFFALO WRITERS’ THEATER ANNUAL SHORT PLAY SHOWCASE on the theme “Get in the car!” directed by Matt Boyle, Mariangela Mercurio, Neal Radice, and Jane Cudmore features ten 10-minute plays by Matt Boyle, Madison Sedlor, Neal Radice, Jennifer Tromble, J. Snodgrass, Karen McDonald, Allison Fradkin, Michael Fanelli, Tim Joyce, and Jenn Dlugos & Charlie Hatton. 3 shows only: Friday – Saturday, May 19 – 20 at 7:30, and Sunday, May 21 at 2:00 at the American Repertory Theater 545 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo. RUNTIME: A little under 2 hours with one intermission. THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Following up on a successful reading…
THE BASICS: CULLUD WATTAH, a play by Erika Dickerson-Dispenza, directed by Curtis Lovell, May 12 – 28, Fridays – Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 4 (with one extra show Thursday, May 25 also at 7:30). Lorna C. Hill Theater, Ujima Company, Inc, 429 Plymouth Ave., Buffalo 14213 (716) 322-5178 ujimacoinc.org RUNTIME: A little over 2 hours with one intermission THUMBNAIL SKETCH: As the play opens it’s November 2016, and 936 days since Flint, Michigan last had clean water. You yourself may have read the headlines but as you look through the colored water, you can see, in granular detail, how the…
After a sold-out appearance by cellist Yo-Yo Ma last weekend I wondered if the BPO could continue on that high note. Yesterday’s (5/12) morning concert with jazz violinist Regina Carter proved that if the right soloist is featured, especially one with “crossover” appeal, there will be an audience and a wildly enthusiastic one at that! The concert repeats at Kleinhans Music Hall this Saturday night at 7:30 pm. In the standard format for a classical concert, there was a shorter opening work to get us in the groove, followed by a concerto with the soloist, and after intermission a larger…
On Friday, May 5, I attended two performances both worlds and time apart, each wonderful in its own way. At Kleinhans Music Hall in the morning I heard the first of two BPO concerts with JoAnn Falletta conducting (the concert repeats this Saturday, May 6, at 7:30 pm) with a world premiere, composed in 2023, of a triple concerto for two basses and harp by Cuban-American guitarist and composer Manuel José Lezcano. More on that in a moment. At the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo in the evening their Music Director and Choir Master Jessie Downs combined local choir members and…
THE BASICS: KINKY BOOTS, the musical with book by Harvey Fierstein and Music & Lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, presented by MusicalFare Theatre at Shea’s 710 Theatre, directed and choreographed by Michael Oliver-Walline, starring Lorenzo Shawn Parnell as Lola/Simon, Steve Copps as Charlie, Bethany Burrows as Lauren along with an A-list cast including five fabulous guys as Lola’s drag Angels, runs May 4 – 21, Thursdays – Fridays at 7:30, Saturdays at 8, Sundays at 2. Shea’s 710 Theatre, 710 Main St. (corner Tupper), Buffalo (716-847-0850). www.sheas.org RUNTIME: 2-1/2 hours with one intermission in the beautiful Shea’s 710 lobby and lounge THUMBNAIL…
THE BASICS: NETWORK, a play adapted by Lee Hall in 2019 from the 1976 screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky, directed by Loraine O’Donnell, and presented by D’Youville University’s Kavinoky Theatre. April 21 – May 14, Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30, with matinees on Saturdays at 3:30 and Sundays at 2:00 at the Kavinoky Theatre 320 Porter Ave, Buffalo, NY 14201 (716-829-7668). www.kavinokytheatre.com The Kavinoky is offering a “Buy One Ticket and Get One Free” deal for NETWORK. Use code BOGO at check out, or click here to purchase with your promo code already applied or just call (716) 829-7668. RUNTIME: 2…
THE BASICS: SIX, a musical, by Toby Marlow and Lucy Ross, part of the M&T Bank 2022-23 Broadway Series at Shea’s, runs for two weeks! Apr 25 – May 7, 2023, Tuesdays – Fridays at 7:30, Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00, Sundays at 1:00 and 6:30. Shea’s Buffalo Theatre 646 Main Street Buffalo, NY 14202 716-847-1410 www.sheas.org/buffalo-theatre Recommended for ages 10+ RUNTIME: 80 minutes with no intermission! THUMBNAIL SKETCH: SIX, the Broadway musical at Shea’s is a modern retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII, who were, in order, as every British school child learns “divorced, beheaded…
THE BASICS: THE STICK WIFE, a play by Darrah Cloud, directed by David Oliver, presented by Revelation Theatre, a new theatre company in Buffalo, starring Priscilla Young Anker, Kelly Meg Brennan, Christine Turturro, David Marciniak, Steve Jakiel, and Andrew Salamone. April 21 – May 14, Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 2:00 at the Flexible Theater, Donald Savage Building, Buffalo State University. Enter the campus via Rockwell Road, free parking anywhere on campus. See map here. (716-213-7253) www.revelationtheatre.org RUNTIME: 1 hour 40 minutes with one intermission THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Set in Birmingham, Alabama in September 1963, at the time of the…
THE BASICS: SWEAT, a play by Lynn Nottage, directed by Victoria Pérez, starring Johnny Barden, Diane DiBernardo, Alejandro Gabriel Gómez, Jake Hayes, Peter Johnson, David Mitchell, Davida Tolbert, John Vines and Lisa Vitrano. April 20 – May 21 Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 2:00, presented by Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) 456 Main Street Buffalo NY 14202, (716) 629-3069 roadlesstraveled.com THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony-nominated for Best Play, in SWEAT, which flips back and forth between 2000 and 2008, a mixed-race group of factory workers in rust-belt Reading, Pennsylvania gather frequently at…