COME FROM AWAY has come to Buffalo. The show with that rather odd title that has been beguiling audiences since it's inception and doesn't have the same name recognition as HAMILTON fully deserves to be placed among HAMILTON's ranks. When the brilliant tour opened at Shea's Buffalo Theatre on Tuesda... (more...)
A gritty reality that is so true to form that you have to remind yourself you are watching a play, versus eavesdropping on someone's life... That is what is playing out in Tracy Letts' SUPERIOR DONUTS, now at Shea's 710 Theatre in a winning production by Road Less Traveled Productions. ... (more...)
Buffalo's Irish Classical Theatre Company has chosen to open their 2019-20 season with a rarity, 'TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE by John Ford. First seen in 1633, the question arises as to whether this Jacobean drama still deserves to be produced. Happily, this often shocking play has enough intrigue to k... (more...)
The brilliant comedian Tina Fey has brought her clique of nasty teenage girls to town to open the First National Tour of her Broadway hit musical, MEAN GIRLS. After the success of the film version, Fey and her husband, composer Jeff Richmond, have added music to the story of teenage angst and meanne... (more...)
The Shaw has once again programmed a play known by few. After their success at rediscovering Mae West's SEX this season, I was hoping that THE LADYKILLERS would produce yet another unearthed gem. This comedy, mostly unknown outside of the UK, was briefly revived on the West End in 2011,but it's ... (more...)
How does an author title a play? Well, there should be something descriptive, enticing or informative to engage the audience from the outset.The Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake has gone out of a limb and programmed a virtually unknown play that is rarely, if ever produced. Oh, and the title is ... (more...)
A pervading air of discontent and general unease looms over the lackluster St. Louis apartment of the Wingfield family in Tennesee Williams memory play, THE GLASS MENAGERIE. The Shaw Festival is presenting this classic with the loving care that it deserves, and the end result is a gripping produc... (more...)
The Shaw Festival has a great history of producing murder mysteries and this season we are lucky to have Patrick Hamilton's play 'ROPE.' Probably more well known as the 1948 Alfred Hitchcock movie starring Jimmy Stewart, ROPE had it's start in 1929 on the British stage. It's twist lies in the fact t... (more...)
To say that George Bernard Shaw's social commentaries were erudite would be an understatement. His keen eye and astute observations always allow the reader or viewer to take pause and contemplate life in a different light. The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the Lake is producing one of his lesser works... (more...)
The mystical land of BRIGADOON has emerged once again at Niagara on the Lake's Shaw Festival, and the now rarely produced musical still brings with it a sense of hope wrapped around Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's hauntingly beautiful lyrics and score. And while re-engaging with this Golden ... (more...)
Intelligent, engaging and well cast theatre has returned to the former Studio Arena theatre with MusicalFare's fine production of FUN HOME. The space may now be called by a different name, Shea's 710 Theatre, but those floor boards have been tread by ingenious predecessors who forged new works wort... (more...)
The most famous of all Danish princes is making a welcome return to the Buffalo stage in Irish Classical Theatre's riveting production of William Shakespeare's HAMLET. Programming the Bard's works doesn't usually fall into many theatrical seasons, but ICTC has taken a risk that is paying off. In add... (more...)
Should I laugh out loud? What is everyone else thinking? Is this for real? These emotions and thoughts are not usually associated with a musical comedy, but THE BOOK OF MORMON is anything but your typical musical. The blockbuster 2011 musical from the creators of TV's 'South Park' can best be descri... (more...)
One could say the stars aligned for one brief day in 1956 when four musicians at the edge of stardom met in the same recording studio. Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins make up that aptly named MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET and their story plays out in the musical play of the sam... (more...)
Playwright Tony Kushner's magnum opus may very well be what he subtitled 'A Gay Fantasia on National Themes.' Better known as ANGELS IN AMERICA, PART ONE: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES, this pivotal piece of theatre was written during the height of the AIDS crisis in America when maudlin stories of dying ... (more...)
The showman and the politician... No, this is not a description of Donald Trump. But feel free to insert any names you feel appropriate. In this case I am referring to David Frost and Richard Nixon, that unlikely duo that forms the basis of Peter Morgan's intense play FROST/NIXON now playing at Buff... (more...)
Buffalo audiences are in for a rare treat. The Broadway revival of the hit musical MISS SAIGON soared into town last night in what can only be described as a spectacular evening of theatre. First seen on Broadway in 1991 at the height of the megamusical phenomenon, MISS SAIGON continues to resonate ... (more...)
Memory. With the first downbeat I was instantly transported to 1982 and the mezzanine of the New York's famed Winter Garden Theatre were the new Broadway production of CATS would settle in a for a record breaking 18 years. The iconic CATS theme wafted from it's synthesizers accompanied by lasers an... (more...)
Everything old is new again. But who would think the new century would have 19th Century literature resurfacing in the form of theatrical plays. This season Buffalo has seen Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' characters in the new play MISS BENNETT: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY at Shea's 710 Theatre. Bu... (more...)
Watch out Murphy Brown, Will & Grace, and Roseanne.... Miss Bennet is back in town. In an age when Americans are looking to their past for reliable entertainment with TV reboots, movie prequels and Broadway revivals, Jane Austen is making a comeback of sorts as her beloved 'Pride and Prejudice' char... (more...)
It's not often that a Broadway musical creates so much press and hype that almost every US citizen has heard of the phenomenon that is HAMILTON. The show that got it's start off Broadway at NY's Public Theatre has taken the country by storm. Still the hottest ticket on Broadway 3 years after it ha... (more...)
Buffalo's Irish Classical Theatre Company has programmed and produced a gem of a play in their most recent outing, SIVE, by John B. Keane. Such a perfect blend of expert acting and captivating story telling is playing out in a play that would seem to have been exclusively written for this company. ... (more...)
A new entity has formed where the name of the game is collaboration and pooling talents to serve the greater good. Buffalo's All For One Theatrical Productions mounted their inaugural play last weekend with THE THREE MUSKETEERS. Obviously their company's name had a great deal to do with the chosen f... (more...)
Jewish oppression, immigrant families struggling to keep together, and an exodus of foreigners fleeing to America for a better life. Topics ripped from headlines of CNN are also the basis for the classic 1964 musical comedy FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. The record breaking musical is as relevant today as e... (more...)
Youth, ingenuity, and courage can be held responsible for Buffalo's latest artistic endeavor, STARRING BUFFALO. This new production company has creatively brought the concert musical to the Queen City and in it's inaugural production of Alan Menken and Steven Schwartz's THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, ... (more...)
BWW Review: A Joyous COME FROM AWAY at SHEA'S BUFFALO Theatre
BWW Review: Realistic Drama Told in SUPERIOR DONUTS at SHEA'S 710 THEATRE
BWW Review: 'TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE Engrosses and Shocks at IRISH CLASSICAL THEATRE
BWW Review: MEAN GIRLS Cast Shines Despite Weak Score at SHEA'S BUFFALO Theatre
BWW Review: THE LADYKILLERS Only Mildly Amuses at Shaw Festival
BWW Review: SEX is Alive and Well at SHAW FESTIVAL
BWW Review: THE GLASS MENAGERIE Shimmers at The Shaw Festival
BWW Review: ROPE is Riveting at the SHAW FESTIVAL
BWW Review: GETTING MARRIED at SHAW FESTIVAL
BWW Review: BRIGADOON at Shaw Festival
BWW Review: FUN HOME at Shea's 710 Theatre
BWW Review: HAMLET at Irish Classical Theatre
BWW Review: THE BOOK OF MORMON at Shea's Buffalo Theatre
BWW Review: MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET at Shea's 710 Theatre
BWW Review: ANGELS IN AMERICA at SECOND GENERATION THEATRE
BWW Review: A Riveting FROST/NIXON at IRISH CLASSICAL THEATRE
BWW Review: MISS SAIGON at Shea's Buffalo Theatre
BWW Review: CATS at SHEA'S BUFFALO Theatre
BWW Review: SENSE & SENSIBILITY at IRISH CLASSICAL THEATRE
BWW Review: MISS BENNET: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY at SHEA'S 710 THEATRE
BWW Review: HAMILTON at Shea's Buffalo Theatre
BWW Review: Expert Acting in SIVE at BUFFALO'S IRISH CLASSICAL THEATRE
BWW Review: THE THREE MUSKETEERS at Shea's 710 Theatre
BWW Review: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Shea's Buffalo Theatre
BWW Review: THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME at STARRING BUFFALO
