Colin Fleming-Stumpf - Page 7

What did our critic think of TOOTSIE at Rochester Broadway Theatre League? The Rochester Broadway Theatre League begins its 2022-2023 M&T Bank Broadway season with something fun and splashy, a perfect date night musical based on one of the 1980s' most beloved pop culture gems. 'Tootsie', the Robert Horn and David Yazbek musical adaption of the 1982 Dustin Hoffman film of the same name, is a light and springy show about showbiz, which also attempts to grapple with the difficulties of being a woman in a man's world. Rochester is the first stop on Tootsie's national tour.

What did our critic think of SEUSSICAL: THE MUSICAL at Blackfriars Theatre? Blackfriars' production of 'Seussical' showcases the talents of numerous young performers, from Yates' kind and sensitive Horton to Jade Hill's soulful Sour Kangaroo to the sassy stylings of the Wikersham Brothers (Danny Dobbins, J. Jake Thomas, Avery White).

What did our critic think of MEAN GIRLS at Rochester Broadway Theatre League? If you're looking for an excuse to don your pink and revisit the jungle of high school cliques, politics, and popularity contests, the Rochester Broadway Theatre League has just the show for you. Playing now until July 10th is Mean Girls, Tina Fey's brilliant musical adaption of the 2004 movie starring Rachel McAdams and Lindsay Lohan.

What did our critic think of SISTER ACT at Geva Theatre? To close its 2021-2022 season, Rochester's Geva Theatre is presenting the musical adaptation of one of the 90's' most treasured cinematic gems, infused with a bit more disco, shenanigans, and tweaked to fit the confines of a stage. 'Sister Act', the 2006 Alan Menken and Glenn Slater musical, is gracing the Wilson Stage now until July 24th.

What did our critic think of The Band's Visit in Rochester? The first words in 'The Band's Visit' are 'Once not long ago a group of musicians came to Israel from Egypt. You probably didn't hear about it. It wasn't very important.' These words don't exactly tee-up the audience for a musical full of sparkly costumes and dazzling kick lines, which is good because that's not at all what 'The Band's Visit' comes to deliver. What this show offers is much simpler and more fleeting. It's a story about love, music, and connection.

Geva Theatre's second-to-last production of the 2021/2022 season is a techno futuristic-feeling comedy that takes the audience deep into the sunny California culture of fitness, yoga, spiritual gurus, and their intersection with today's social media-driven, brand-obsessed world. 'Yoga Play' traffics in themes that are familiar to all of us trying to navigate an ever-increasingly online and consumeristic world, and does so with plenty of laughter and thought-provoking fodder for the audience.

After a successful play reading in 2017 and a long hiatus due to COVID (for more of the backstory, see Jeff Siuda's director's note), Out of Pocket Productions is finally presenting 'Placebo', a quirky and thought-provoking play by Melissa James Gibson, at Rochester's MuCCC.

If you're looking for a theatre experience rife with laughs, tears, cheekiness, dry British wit, and a not-insignificant amount of very-near nudity, I am here to tell you that Rochester's Blackfriars Theatre has got the show for you. 'Calendar Girls', a play adapted by Tim Firth and based on the 2003 movie of the same name, is a joyfully irreverent romp that can only be described as a romantic/dramatic comedy....a rom-dram-edy. Did I just invent a genre?

To end its 2021-2022 season, JCC's Centerstage Theatre is currently presenting 'Little Shop of Horrors', the 1982 doo-wop campy masterpiece from the twisted minds of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and a stalwart favorite of the late 20th century musical theatre repertoire. Like most 'Little Shop' productions, JCC's is big, wild, whacky, funny, and delightfully macabre.

Blackfriars Theatre continues its 2022 season with a heartwarming story about kindness and doing good in the world, featuring a talented cast led by two young performers from Rochester's School of the Arts.

In keeping with its tradition of spotlighting new plays and emerging playwrights, in addition to the stalwarts that theatre audiences know and love ('Little Shop of Horrors' is next on the docket), Rochester's JCC Centerstage Theatre launched its production of 'Tracy Jones' on March 5th, a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere written by Stephen Kaplan. It's a play filled with laughs, tears, and high-octane anxiety that you don't want to miss.

The last two years have tested the collective resolve of artists and creatives everywhere. While COVID has impacted our lives in every way, from physical health to our experiences in school to the ways in which we interact and empathize with one another, a largely-unsung result of the pandemic has been the many ways it has ravaged the creative spirit of our artists and thinkers. Anyone who has tried will tell you that creativity simply doesn't flourish over Zoom. It's timely, then, that the second mainstage production of Geva Theatre's 49th season---its first full season after a long COVID hiatus---centers on what, and who, inspires our creativity and expression.

'My Fair Lady' is a story that has become ingrained into American storytelling in countless iterations over the past 60 years. Debuting in 1956 and putting icon Julie Andrews on the map, it went on to be adapted into the also-iconic Audrey Hepburn vehicle in 1964, and the story's main narrative beats have been repurposed in everything from 'Pretty Woman' to 'Trading Places' to 'She's All That' in the years since. It opened Tuesday at Rochester's Auditorium Theatre.

After a brief COVID-related delay (an all-too-common frustration in the world of theatre these days), Geva Theatre's Fielding Stage is currently presenting 'Constellations', a two-person play about split-second decisions and missed opportunities. This production is particularly meaningful not only because it is Mark Cuddy's final appearance as a director--he retires this summer after a remarkable 27 seasons as Geva's Artistic Director--but because it features his son, Gus Cuddy, and his son's partner Mari Vial-Golden.

As JCC Centerstage Producing Artistic Director Ralph Meranto stated during Saturday night's pre-show announcements, seeing original stagecraft that can't be found anywhere else is one of the most treasured aspects of live theatre, and is indeed why many of us attend the theatre so regularly in the first place. JCC's 'Hitmaker' series is one of those one-of-a-kind gems, and 'Welcome to the 70s' is the seventh installment in which performers intertwine musical performance with historical exploration, treating the audience to exciting renditions of their favorite tunes as well as the needed context regarding what was happening in the world of music, and the world at large, during the time it was hitting the airwaves.

Christmas is a time of traditions. Be it caroling, making sugar cookies, decorating the tree, or hanging lights, folks love this time of year because of the traditions we create and revisit each December with our friends and loved ones. If you're like me, Geva Theatre's annual production of 'A Christmas Carol' is one of your favorite holiday traditions, and for good reason. It's a consistently top-quality production filled with joy and merriment, and featuring many cast members who have been returning to Geva for this special show for over a decade.

If COVID has got you down, if you're itching to see live theatre again, or you're just looking for a fun activity that kids and adults alike will enjoy, look no further than JCC Centerstage Theatre's current production of 'Something Magical: Disney in Concert.' It's not exactly a holiday outing, but it's the perfect way to bring the family together around everyone's shared love of America's most treasured storyteller.

The Rochester Broadway Theatre League continues its 2021-2022 season with a classic from the 20th century film and children's literary canon, set to music and adapted for the stage. Road Dahl's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' features all the glitz, quirkiness and fantasy of the classic Gene Wilder film with snappy musical numbers, and magic that can only be found in live theatre.