Arts & Culture

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Rent @ Shea's

March 27th, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

A very talented cast performs in the high energy 20th anniversary tour of Jonathan Larson’s rock opera, Rent, this week at Shea’s. Loosely based on Puccini’s opera La Bohème about 19th century starving… more »

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The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey @ Buffalo United Artists

March 23rd, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

Jimmy Janowski is superb as nine different characters in the one man show The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, a Buffalo United Artists production now at Alleyway Theatre. Wearing loose grey pants and shirt, Mr. Janowski… more »

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Review: Parade @ American Repertory Theater of WNY

March 22nd, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

Parade is a Tony and Drama Desk award-winning musical based on the 1913 trial of pencil factory superintendent Leo Frank for the rape and murder of 13-year-old factory worker Mary Phagan, and subsequent events in Atlanta, Georgia.… more »

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Review: The Sidewalk Stageplay @ Paul Robeson Theatre

March 16th, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

Edreys Wajed is a Buffalo poet and visual artist, among his other artistic talents. His poem, “The Sidewalk,” is the inspiration for the compelling new play at Paul Robeson Theatre, The Sidewalk Stageplay. In the… more »

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Review: Between Riverside and Crazy @ Road Less Traveled Theater

March 15th, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

Just when you think you know where Between Riverside and Crazy is heading, playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis veers off in an unexpected direction. The play is chock full of surprises that are emotional, comic, and occasionally… more »

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Review: Frost/Nixon @ Irish Classical Theatre Company

March 2nd, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

In 1977, David Frost and Richard Nixon contracted to do a series of televised interviews covering domestic and foreign policy, Nixon’s personal life, and of course, Watergate. Frost was a hedonistic talk show host thirsting… more »

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Review: Miss Saigon @ Shea's

February 27th, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

The most powerful images in Miss Saigon evoke a sense of horror at the cost of war to the people whose lives are disrupted and destroyed by it, while others, seen and unseen, profit greatly. The fall of Saigon in April 1975,… more »

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Review: The Killing of a Chinese Bookie @ Torn Space Theater

February 23rd, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

When Cosmo Vitelli steps out onto the floor to welcome the audience to his nightclub at the opening of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, the air is shrouded in fog and a seedy-looking curtain is drawn across the stage behind him.… more »

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Review: Ragtime

February 21st, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

Watching Ragtime at MusicalFare Theatre brings to mind the adage "the more things change, the more they remain the same." Set in the early 20th century in the northeast, the three central families in the musical embody issues… more »

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Review: Almost, Maine

February 17th, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

Almost, Maine is a delightful, charming, and very clever concoction of eight-plus scenes. It is a sweet, bittersweet, sad, and at times laugh-out-loud funny riff on the human heart in its many permutations. Produced by Road Less… more »

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Review: Talley’s Folly

February 9th, 2019 by Marti Gorman

Review by Kevin M. Cox Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning (1980) play, Talley’s Folly, opened this week at The Jewish Repertory Theatre, proving once again to be timeless and powerful. The set is a strikingly… more »

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Review: Cats

February 6th, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

Cats, now at Shea’s, is a visually and aurally striking phantasm, an inventive confection that includes stunning balletic and acrobatic choreography performed with feline grace by first-rate terpsichoreans, imaginative… more »

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Review: Tales of the Driven

February 2nd, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

Tales of the Driven is the premiere of a play written and directed by Subversive Theatre founder and Artistic Director, Kurt Schneiderman. On its website, the theater quotes Bertolt Brecht: “Art is not a mirror to reflect… more »

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Review: Native Son

January 28th, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

Native Son at Paul Robeson Theatre is 90 powerful minutes of intense and compelling theater. At the center of this thought-provoking abstract play is a brilliant performance by Alphonso Walker, Jr. as Bigger Thomas, a 20-year-old… more »

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Review: Sense & Sensibility

January 27th, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

Sense & Sensibility at Irish Classical Theatre is still very much a Jane Austen experience, but it seems as though that lady might have ingested a steroid with her tea, or perhaps even a psychedelic or two. Playright Kate… more »

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The Illusion

January 19th, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

Magic. Illusion. Love. Betrayal. Regret. These universal themes are at the center of The Illusion, adapted by Tony Kushner from L’Illusion Comique by 17th century playwright Pierre Corneille. Comique it is, and full of… more »

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Review: Spamalot

January 12th, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

Spamalot, now at the Kavinoky Theatre, is about as much fun as one can have at the theater. There was so much laughter in the house opening night that it filled the entire room, then leaked out into the newly remodeled lobby,… more »

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Review: Our Town

January 6th, 2019 by Ann Marie Cusella

“The moon is terrible” declares young Emily as she gazes out her window in Act One of Our Town. It is fierce, intense, awful to the moonstruck girl as she feels the first flush of romantic love toward her neighbor,… more »

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Review: Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play

December 16th, 2018 by Ann Marie Cusella

There is some very snappy tap dancing along with classic songs like The Boy Next Door, The Trolley Song, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and Meet Me in St. Louis in the production of Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio… more »

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Review: A Very, Very Trumpy Christmas Carol

December 9th, 2018 by Ann Marie Cusella

If you are in or near despair about the state of our country with The Donald in the White House daily tweeting venom to the masses and threatening the very foundations of our democracy, take heart. Todd Warfield has “redacted… more »

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Review: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley

December 8th, 2018 by Ann Marie Cusella

Mary Bennet is having an existential crisis, and she is quite at a loss as to what to do about it. The middle of the five sisters in the Bennet family of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Mary is the not-very-attractive… more »

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Review: Barcelo on the Rocks

December 1st, 2018 by Ann Marie Cusella

Raices Theatre Company’s new production is the English language premiere of Barcelo on the Rocks, a play by Marco Antonio Rodriguez. It opened at the Manny Fried Playhouse Friday, November 30th to a sold-out audience, with… more »

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Review: Hamilton

November 22nd, 2018 by Ann Marie Cusella

Hamilton has arrived at Shea’s Buffalo in a stunning production that is seamless and riveting from start to finish. It is a magical night of theater, transporting us back in time while maintaining a very modern sensibility… more »

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Review: Christmas Over the Tavern

November 18th, 2018 by Ann Marie Cusella

MusicalFare Theatre has a hit on its hands, or more aptly boards, with the world premiere of Christmas Over the Tavern by Buffalo native Tom Dudzick. We Buffalonians love plays about ourselves, particularly ones that speak to… more »

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Review: Sive

November 9th, 2018 by Ann Marie Cusella

Irish angst is center stage at Irish Classical Theatre in their excellent production of the popular Irish play, Sive, by John B. Keane. Written in 1959, the play is an exploration of how years of grinding poverty and the misery… more »

Rent @ Shea's

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey @ Buffalo United Artists

Review: Parade @ American Repertory Theater of WNY

Review: The Sidewalk Stageplay @ Paul Robeson Theatre

Review: Between Riverside and Crazy @ Road Less Traveled Theater

Review: Frost/Nixon @ Irish Classical Theatre Company

Review: Miss Saigon @ Shea's

Review: The Killing of a Chinese Bookie @ Torn Space Theater

Review: Ragtime

Review: Almost, Maine

Review: Talley’s Folly

Review: Cats

Review: Tales of the Driven

Review: Native Son

Review: Sense & Sensibility

The Illusion

Review: Spamalot

Review: Our Town

Review: Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play

Review: A Very, Very Trumpy Christmas Carol

Review: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley

Review: Barcelo on the Rocks

Review: Hamilton

Review: Christmas Over the Tavern

Review: Sive

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