STAGEFRIGHT by JAVIER
The fabulous Sarah Paulson won this year’s Tony award for her performance as the leading actress in Appropriate which also won the Tony for Best Revival of a Play. The play by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins was performed off-Broadway in 2014. Then leading actress, Johanna Day, won an Obie award for her performance. Now Paulson is nominated for an Emmy award in the Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series category (there are so many acting categories in the Emmys) for her performance in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Good thing about the different categories. Paulson will not have to compete with partner Holland Taylor who is nominated in the Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category for her performance in The Morning Show. Taylor’s competition, however, will be Buffalo’s own Christine Baranski, who was nominated for her role in The Gilded Age. Incidentally, Road Less Traveled presented the WNY premiere of Appropriate in 2015, directed by Scott Behrend, starring Lisa Ludwig, David Mitchell, Kelsey Mogensen and Aaron Krygier.
Talking about Taylor. She is currently off-Broadway, shining in the brilliant new play, N/A, by Mario Correa, directed by Diane Paulus, also starring Ana Villafañe at Lincoln Center, which is eager to assure us that the N in the title is not Nancy Pelosi, and the A is not Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – yeah right. Now 81, Taylor originated the part of the daughter in the New York production of Pete Gurney’s The Cocktail Hour back in 1988 (a role played by Lisa Ludwig at the Kavinoky back in 2006). In what has become a legendary Broadway story, Taylor also starred in the 1983 production of Moose Murders, one of the most notorious flops in Broadway history. It closed after one performance and thirteen previews. Always the trouper though, Taylor stepped in after the second preview to replace Eve Arden who was making her return to Broadway after a 40-year absence. Arden quit for “artistic differences,” but it was always rumored that she could not remember her lines. This happened after Arden’s highly praised performances as the High School Principal in the movies Grease and Grease 2. Incidentally, the success of N/A makes me wish for a similarly high-profile production of Drew Fornarola’s Artie Award winning Fauci and Kramer, a play of similar style, wit, and quality.
For the record, it was my idea for the Kavinoky to produce The Cocktail Hour. For years, Gurney would not allow the play to be produced in Buffalo because it contains echoes of a family scandal. The Kav was struggling to find one more play for their season. I called then artistic director David Lamb and said, you know Gurney’s mother just died so he might let you do The Cocktail Hour. He did.
Happy sesquicentennial Chautauqua Institution! That is 150 years. Chautauqua Theater Company continues its season with Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine, which will run July 27th – August 4th. The play premiered in New York in 2004 and was recently revived in 2018. Nottage has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice, for Ruined (2009) and Sweat (2017). She is the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama two times. In other Chautauqua news, the company has just announced the opening of a new state-of-the art facility. Once completed, the Roe Green Theater Center “will complement Bratton Theater as a creative hub for CTC to incubate new work, train the world’s most promising young performers and offer artists the space to create new ways of producing theatre.” Roe Green Foundation has committed $4.5 million to the project.
Another local institution is celebrating a major anniversary. Artpark in Lewiston turns 50, now under the direction (since this past April) of Interim President Dave Wedekindt. The 50th Anniversary Gala on July 24th is sold out, but you can still get tickets to the Artpark Birthday Bash which begins at 6 p.m. in the Skybox (open beer and wine bar, plus food from Southern Junction, which my friend Gino from Amarillo swears serves the best Texas barbecue he’s ever had) plus prime spots to see Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo perform in the Artpark Amphitheater. For tickets, go to artpark.net
Musicalfare has quite an impressive lineup for its 24-25 season, its last at the Daemen space, which they greatly improved over the years. Randall Kramer will direct the superb Pulitzer Prize winning musical Next to Normal (Feb-Mar 2025), with music direction by Theresa Quinn and choreography by Michael Oliver-Walline, starring Victoria Perez, Darryl Semira, Marc Sacco, Quinn McGillion, Penelope Sergie and Aaron Saldana. The musical is one of only ten that have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It addresses quite heavy topics such as bipolar disorder, grief, depression, suicide, and drug abuse, but still manages to be thrilling and uplifting. Really! It just premiered in London’s West End. Opening the Musicalfare season is the hilarious and timely The Prom (Sep. 4 – Oct 5), directed by Artie Career Achievement Award winner Doug Weyand, starring Nicole Cimato, Louis Colaiacovo, Sam Crystal, Jake Hayes, Marc Sacco, Dave Spychalski, Jenn Stafford, Davida Tolbert, and Alexandria Watts. The season will also include the comical Something Rotten!, directed by Chris Kelly and the sweet Waitress, directed by Susan Drozd. More details to follow.
So, it seems that the planned new Musicalfare Theater, scheduled for summer 2025 may not be happening quite yet due to the misguided response from some residents of the town of Amherst. I hear from a couple of sources that the company may land at Shea’s 710 Main for the time being. Their original productions on that stage and the transfers from Amherst have all been highly successful downtown.
Speaking of transfers. You may consider Charmagne Chi’s Blue Xmas: A PG-13 Christmas Spectacular a transfer to the Kavinoky after its workshop run at the Alleyway’s Cabaret. The show will now run at the Kavinoky December 6-21, and Chi will be joined by “an ensemble of Buffalo's most talented musical theater performers for a night of hearty holiday laughs.” The Kavinoky will be celebrating its 45th season, now appropriately called the Sapphire Season (some queen must have thought of that). As we announced a while back, though not part of the regular season, the company will produce Disney’s The Newsies at Shea’s 710 Main in September.
Coincidentally, the Alleyway Theatre will be presenting its 45th season. Artistic director Chris Handley will have a busy year, as he will be back on stage and directing. Handley will star in the comedy The Cottage by Sandy Rustin (Nov. 8-30), directed by David E. Shane, and co-starring Tracie Lane. Set in England in 1923, the play has been described as a modern take on a Noël Coward comedy. The Broadway production last year starred Laura Bell Bundy and Eric McCormack (is Handley playing that role?). Also, Buffalo’s Michele Ragusa starred in a 2014 production of the play in Aspen. In April, Handley will direct The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Heidi Armbruster, based on Agatha Christie’s 1926 masterpiece. The season will open with Wipeout by Aurora Real de Asua, directed by Josie DiVincenzo, starring Julie Kittsley, Diane McNamara, Tina Rausa and Jacob Applegate. The press says this play is for fans of Grace & Frankie, Beaches, Laverne & Shirley, Thelma & Louise. As is tradition, The Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition is still going on, and the 2023 winner, Black Bear Island by Karissa Murrell Myers, will go up in February directed by Daniel Lendzian.
Hoping for another transfer (maybe this time to off-Broadway just like The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers), and part of the ongoing Alleyworks Development Series, the world premiere comedy of A Kidman Carol: A Gay Dementia on Australian Dames, written and directed by Kevin Zak, will take place in December. Another irreverent take of the classic A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. And although retired, Neal Radice has confirmed to me that his traditional adaptation will return to the Alleyway in December. He is also working on a new musical called On the Canal, to be produced next year at Canalside, which (for those of you not educated at a New York State public school) was originally built in 1825 as the portal to the west. 2025 will be the 200th anniversary.
The Irish Classical Theatre Company’s annual fundraiser The Wake (the party to die for) is back, Friday August 9th from 7 to 10 p.m. at a new venue, The Banshee Irish Pub. For tickets, go to irishclassical.com. Recently appointed artistic director Keelie A. Sheridan is really putting forward a new vision for the company: the first two shows in their 2024-25 claim to be only 90 minutes long with no intermission. Their regular subscribers are going to think they’ve only seen the first act! The season starts with Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, described as a “90-minute romp of gender-bending, lightning-paced hilarity breathes new life into the timeless gothic tale by one of Ireland’s most famous exports - Bram Stoker,” directed by Chris Kelly with set design by David Butler, starring Sheridan, Mike Donovan, Charmagne Chi, Daniel Lendzian, and Jorge Luna as Dracula. (There is no truth to the rumor that Luna is an ex-Menudo). Up next is the new musical The Fitzgeralds of St. Paul by Christie Baugher, a fictionalized portrayal F. Scott Fitzgerald and wife Zelda’s marriage. Fitzgerald lived in Buffalo as a child, first living at the Lenox Apartments, now the Lenox Hotel, at 140 North Street when he was a year old, and leaving Buffalo after his father lost his job when Fitzgerald was 12. The musical will be directed and choreographed by Danny Mefford who choreographed the Broadway shows Dear Evan Hansen and Kimberly Akimbo. He was nominated in 2011 for an Astaire Award (now called Chita Rivera Award) for his choreography in Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson.
One look at the poster for Dracula should convince you that Mr. Kelly is perfect for the job. He directed a campy version for BUA many years ago where Dracula was frequently shirtless, and Jimmy Janowski played Van Helsing (as a woman, of course!)
Up next for BUA, Monsters of the American Cinema, directed by Mike Doben, starring P.K. Fortson and Ayden Herreid, September 6th-28th at the Compass Performing Arts Factory on Elmwood Ave. The play explores fathers and sons, the ghosts or our pasts, and the monsters we face within ourselves, e.g. bullying.
First Look Buffalo Theatre Company will open its 2024-25 season with Tea Party, a new play by Sean Abley, directed by Lara D. Haberberger. Set in Montana, the play tells the story of a married heterosexual crossdresser in his late 30s when he discovers Miss Olivia's Finishing School for Girls, a club for fellow recreational crossdressers. Just like in New York’s Catskill Mountains, where there was Casa Susanna, immortalized by Harvey Fierstein in his play, Casa Valentina. The play runs September 13th-October 5th at the Allendale. The other play in the season is The Day I learned to Fly by Wendy-Marie Martin, directed by Jason Francey, January 17th-February 8th at the Canterbury Woods Performing Arts Center in Williamsville. Also at Canterbury, ten full-length new plays will be performed as staged readings in early December. In March, the company will present Rideshare, short one acts all taking place in the same location, in or around a rideshare car.
Desiderio’s Dinner Theatre is now presenting Woody Allen’s 1966 Broadway comedy hit, Don’t Drink the Water. Jay Desiderio directs this play, starring Ian Michalski, Sarah Emmerling, Nate Chateaux, Robert Insana, Lisa Hinca, David Lundy, Joel Weiss, Brendan Cunningham, Geno Delmaro, Don Williams, and Mary Moebius. It runs through September 7th. There are two film versions of the play (1969 and 1994). Desiderio’s has already planned a fabulous line-up of shows to run through April 2025! The stage adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption will be up in October, starring Kinzey Brown and Brian Tabak. The comedy farce Sorry! Wrong Chimney will run in December-January; followed by the comedy-drama Now and Then.
By the way, Woody Allen’s ex, Mia Farrow returns to Broadway this summer for the first time in a decade to star alongside Patti LuPone in The Roommate, a play by Jen Silverman about middle-aged women sharing a house. Farrow was last on Broadway in 2004 in Gurney’s Love Letters. I was privileged to see Farrow as Honey in a reading of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf back in 1999, opposite the original Martha, Uta Hagen, with Jonathan Pryce as George, and Matthew Broderick as Nick.
As part of their 53rd season, Theatre of Youth (TOY) will present Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!, The Hobbit, and Don’t Let the Pigeon drive the Bus! The Musical! As they say at TOY, perfect for the young, and young-at-heart of all ages!
Lancaster Opera House will present three big musicals in the upcoming season: The Wizard of Oz, Chess, and Crazy for You! The season kicks off with the classic Arsenic and Old Lace, starring Mary Jakiel and Pamela Rose Mangus as the old ladies (lots of make-up will be needed). The mystery thriller, Accomplice, by Rupert Holmes rounds up the season line-up.
The Niagara Arts & Cultural Center will commemorate the 100th anniversary of its building with a week of free and ticketed events from July 20 through July 27 when they’ll throw a big anniversary party. For information go to thenacc.org. In related news, the Board of Directors announced in June the resignation of its Executive Director, Kevin Leary citing “Kevin is stepping down to return to his roots and pursue artistic endeavors.” Leary directed last season’s Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf at the Alleyway.
Up next for Shakespeare in Delaware Park, The Comedy of Errors, July 25th – August 19th. The touring production, A Midsummer Night’s Tour, directed by Brendan Didio, MFA D'Youville University, has a few more stops:
July 22nd – Taylor Rd. Cabin (6765 Taylor Rd, Hamburg)
July 23rd – Forest Lawn The Meadow (1990 Main St, Buffalo)
July 24th – The Niagara Arts & Cultural Center (1201 Pine Ave, Niagara Falls)
July 29th – Academy Park (170 S 9th St, Lewiston)
August 5th – Erie Canal Boat, Seneca Chief at Canalside (44 Prime St, Buffalo)
August 12th – Town of Tonawanda Show Mobile – Aquatic & Fitness Center (1 Pool Plaza, Buffalo)
August 19th – Bassett Park (359 Klein Rd, Williamsville)
Preparations are underway for next year when Shakespeare in Delaware Park will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. They've already slated Twelfth Night directed by Eileen Dugan, and they're close to decided on a second title involving a cunning king. (Note: I had previously announced a different director, but have now learned that Eileen will take reigns on Twelfth Night. For the record, Eileen won an Artie Award in 2011 for her direction of an all-female version of the Scottish play at SDP and the production was deemed the Outstanding Play of that season).
Congratulations to Nick Stevens and Samantha Sugarman who will be getting married at the end of their turn in 100 Days, the story of two people who get married after a whirlwind romance. Thank heaven it’s a hit; if they’d been panned, would they have postponed the nuptials? You can see their fabulous performances now at Musicalfare through August 4th. It is also now confirmed that Eric Deeb Weaver will direct the company’s production of The Last Five Years, starring Artie award winners Kelly and Steve Copps. I hope to be around when they perform I Do! I Do!