Michael Rabice - Page 9

The Tudor Era meets the Girl Band as the six wives of Henry VIII take the stage in the flashy new musical SIX now playing at Shea's Buffalo. The girl singing groups of the last 70 years surely have paved the way for our regal queens, with the Spice Girls and K-Pop Girl Bands being more recent additions to the pop culture musical scene.

A classic American musical is headed to SUNY Buffalo with Rodgers and Hammerstein's CINDERELLA. This long held audience favorite was written for television audiences in 1957, where over 100 million people tuned in to get their first glimpse of a young Julie Andrews singing a score by the esteemed Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.

American History, Civil Rights, Black History and theatrical drama are magically melding on stage in the one act play THURGOOD that is playing at Buffalo's Irish Classical Theatre.

What did our critic think of Just how wrong can everything go so that it looks wrong in a perfect way? That should be the goal in any good  farce. And the farce du jour these days seems to be the ridiculously absurd but oh so perfectly titled, THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG now playing at the Kavinoky Theatre. THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG at Kavinoky Theatre?

The stage can bring you to places never dreamed of before, but what about places that are even beyond your dreams...or nightmares. Lucas Hnath's THE THIN PLACE, now playing at Road Less Traveled Theatre, brings the audience along for a fascinating ride in this interactive play. The result is nothing short of brilliant as it's four players delve into a world that can only be experienced with the help of psychics or mediums.

Finding new ways to tell age old stories is as old as time.  Greek and Roman mythology, passion plays and Shakespearean tales are often updated or transformed from play to musical to opera or  even ballet.  Most recently the Broadway stage has found a new re-telling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth in the form of the TONY Award winning  HADESTOWN and the tour is playing at Shea's Buffalo through this Sunday.

A modern day memory play  of sorts with influences of Greek mythology may be one way to describe THE MAI,  now playing at Irish Classical Theatre. Never a company to shy away from complex topics, the drama that is unfolding challenges the viewer in a myriad of ways.

The best uplifting evening of theatrical magic is happening again just in time for the Christmas season. And no, it's not the annual Christmas Pageant at your family church. It is the remarkable true story of goodness that came out of the unthinkable tragedy of 9/11. COME FROM AWAY has returned to the Shea's Buffalo stage and it continues to enthrall audiences.

If ever there were to be a hope of peace, it couldn't be found any closer than the trenches of the battles fought in World War I. And a rare and hard to believe story of a single night of peace is what makes up the beguiling musical play ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 now on stage at Shea's 710 Theatre.

The holiday season often brings about classic Christmas stories being retold and Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL is usually number one on most producer's short list. Instead, Buffalo's Irish Classical Theatre Company is presenting  Dickens' GREAT EXPECTATIONS in a newer version by Neil Bartlett. And while the brief  Christmas theme is glossed over, the familiar characters still are ripe for this creative theatrical evening.

Christmas traditions may come and go, but watching the film WHITE CHRISTMAS has always been an obligatory part of the holiday season for me. And for the past 20 years or so, audiences can experience Irving Berlin's classic  live on stage. The Shaw Festival is presenting their joyous version this year on the Festival stage and the result is pure technicolor heaven.

The bonds of a true friendship rarely can be broken, even in the face of adversities.  The story of such a friendship is being beautifully told in Rajiv Joseph's gripping one act play GUARDS AT THE TAJ now playing at Road Less Traveled Theater.

The beloved  diva took to the Shea's Buffalo stage as the Broadway musical TINA: THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL opened to wild audience approval last night. The icon of soul and later rock & roll has her life told through another one of those bio-musical retellings, using the Tina Turner catalog of hits as a score.

The Halloween season is upon us and the folks at Kavinoky Theatre have capitalized on the eerie and sometimes gruesome story that is Stephen King's MISERY. Thanks to the blockbuster 1990 movie adaptation featuring the fascinatingly devious Kathy Bates, the story has some name recognition. Bates went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress , allowing no one to ever be comfortable with the thought of a sledge hammer by a bedside. High marks across the board can be given to all involved in this creepy tale that opened on Friday night.

What did our critic think of Celebrating Sondheim with The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra at Kleinhans Musical Hall?

When a big musical takes to a small space there may be cause for concern. But fear not, The Second Generation Theatre Company ‘s production of THE SECRET GARDEN fits perfectly in the cozy Shea’s Smith Theatre and transforms the space into a magical garden.

THE PROM concludes it's National tour in Buffalo this week as the big show with lots of heart took to the Shea's Buffalo stage. The first production of the 2022-23 M & T Bank Broadway Season is not an instantly recognizable name to theatre goers, despite having had a one year run on the Great White Way and a Hollywood A-List Netflix movie starring Meryl Streep.

Storytelling for the sake of enlightenment and teaching is what many think of when they hear of parables. Allegories intimate there is something deeper to be found under the surface. And many a Sunday preacher has used the pulpit to convey an everyday lesson to live by.  John Patrick Shanley’s DOUBT, A PARABLE has been a smash on Broadway in 2004 winning the Pulitzer prize and TONY Awards  for Best Play and Best Lead Actress by the fabulous Cherry Jones. In 2008 it was made into a remarkable film starring Meryl Streep. And now Buffalo gets to sit attentively as the Irish Classical Theatre presents it’s gripping production as the season opener. 

Shea's 710 Theatre was reborn last night as it  solely produced it's first ever musical on the former Studio Arena stage. An embarrassment of riches assembled onstage as some of Buffalo's own brightest talent mixed with some out of town pros  presented a rousing production of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND.

What at first sounds like an evening of gratuitous nudity for the pleasure of gay men actually turns into quite the opposite. In one of it’s final performances this summer, Robert Chesley’s play JERKER proved to be a perfect fit for The Provincetown  Theater’s mission of presenting previously unseen works to it’s audiences.