Stagefright: Theater News
By Javier
The North American Tour of Oh, Mary!, Cole Escola’s Tony and Olivier Award-winning hit comedy, will return to the road for a second year beginning in fall 2027. Directed by Tony Award winner Sam Pinkleton, the 2027-28 tour will include a strictly limited engagement at Shea’s Buffalo Theatre. The current tour will end up in Cleveland March 30th – April 4th. The show is now playing to sold-out houses in San Francisco through November 1st.
So it’s been thirty years since Rent opened on Broadway, and there will be a 30th anniversary reunion concert with original cast members Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Wilson Jermaine Heredia, October 26th at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. The sold-out concert is also set to stream live worldwide, with those tickets available for $30 at BroadwayCares.org. I wonder what happened with original cast member Buffalo’s Jesse L. Martin.
O’Connell & Company has Rent as part of its current season. The show will run January 29th – February 14th at Shea’s Smith Theatre. Directed by Daniel Lendzian, the show is set to star Hayden Carr, Brianna Garcia, Timiyah Love, Len Mendez, and Ashleigh Chrisena Ricci. In the meantime, on October 25th, the company will present Encore: A Cabaret of Second Chances, a one-night-only fundraising event celebrating the songs and performances that stay with us after the final curtain. The evening begins with a reception at 5:30 p.m. and the performance at 7:00 p.m. at Canterbury Woods Performance Arts Center. For tickets, go to oconnellandcompany.com.
It’s also 30 years for the Broadway revival of Chicago. There will be a 30th anniversary performance on November 16th at 7:00 p.m. with original revival cast members Bebe Neuwirth and James Naughton. The event will benefit the Entertainment Community Fund.
And 2027 will mark Annie’s 50th anniversary, and a Broadway revival is in the works. In the meantime, the Historic Palace Theatre in Lockport will present its own production directed by Drew McCabe, with Lisa Ludwig as Miss Hannigan, Jeff Coyle as Daddy Warbucks, Allinee Negron as Grace (recently stunning as Martha Jefferson in 1776 at Lancaster Opera House), Corey Bieber as Rooster, Tiffany Nowak as Lily, and Avery Hadley making her debut as Annie. The production runs November 13th – 22nd.
Speaking of Ludwig, she wears so many different hats on our local scene. She directed the current production of Nuts at Desiderio’s Dinner Theatre. Quite an undertaking, since she played the lead years ago on the same stage. Now it is Maria Pedro’s turn, and she makes the part her own under the clever direction of Ludwig. The whole cast is fantastic.
Ludwig is also in charge of Shakespeare in Delaware Park, which is now looking forward to its 52nd season! The Saul Elkin Stage will present the political intrigue of Julius Caesar, directed by Steve Vaughan, and, for something a bit different, the comedy Shakespeare in Love, directed by Daniel Lendzian. Don’t miss the holiday fundraiser at Desiderio’s Dinner Theatre on December 7th, and mark your calendars for the Fabulous Feast on March 13th.
Coming next at Desiderio’s, the comedy My Three Angels, directed by Tom Makar, starring Robert Insana, Marie Costa, Ella Waffner, Ryan Okun, Kerrykate Abel Smith, Niko Feliciano, Brendan Cunningham, Geno Delmaro, and Brett Klaczyk. The comedy, by Sam and Bella Spewack, adapted from Albert Husson’s French play La Cuisine des Anges, opened on Broadway in 1953 and later inspired the Humphrey Bogart film, We’re No Angels. Makar knows the territory well: he staged the play for the New Phoenix Theatre several years ago, a production that is still remembered fondly. That staging starred Richard Lambert, Elliot Fox, and Brett Klaczyk (reprising his role at Desiderio's) as the three convicts, with Betsy Bittar, Jack Agugliaro, Mike Benoit, Brendan Didio, John Kreutzer, Julie Kittsley, and Jamie Nablo.
Buffalo’s Christine Baranski is making her West End debut in the new production of the Noël Coward comedy Hay Fever, which officially opened at Wyndham’s Theatre October 1st. The show will be filmed live and released in cinemas worldwide beginning January 14th, 2027, via the National Theatre Live series.
There’s a new production company in Buffalo, Grim+Golden, headed by Holly Golden and Casey Grim. The company kicked off with a staged reading of Grim’s new play Tout Casse. The next event is on October 22nd at 7:00 p.m. at Buffalo Comedy Collective (155 Chandler St.), a preview of their devised play …& the Rest is Drag, which will also be a fundraiser for GLYS (Gay & Lesbian Youth Services of Western New York). Many, many years ago Golden played on of the girls in BUA’s production of The Children’s Hour. She is also a Shakespeare in Delaware Park alum having appeared in Merry Wives of Windsor and Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Jewish Repertory Theatre (JRT) opens its 2026-27 season with The Last Yiddish Speaker by Deborah Zoe Laufer, October 29th – November 22nd. Directed by Kyle LoConti, the play is set in the near future, where a white supremacist regime has taken over and survival depends on silence. Christian Brandjes, Arin Lee Dandes, Devin Klumpp, and Sam Prezioso star. Rebecca Elkin returns to JRT at the end of the season in the play Church and State.
Coming up in November, Starring Buffalo is teaming up with AnsariSaxon and Buffalo State University to present, in their signature staged concert format, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights. Directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda Family Artistic Fellow Matthew B. Cullen, with music direction by Karen E. Saxon and choreography by Naila Ansari Carbonell Catilo, the show will star Broadway performers Jacob Guzman and Mikaela Secada with Buffalo performers Melinda Capeles, Willa Dewhip, Brianna Garcia, Alejandro Gomez, Diego Guzman, Jamil Kassem-Lopez, Smirna Mercedes, Jake Hayes, and Alexia Guzman-Hayes (notice the change in name; congratulations to the newlyweds!). Students from Buffalo State University, Niagara Falls High School, Iroquois High School, and Cheektowaga Central High School fill out the ensemble and chorus. Only four performances: November 13th at 7:30, November 14th at 2 & 7:30, and November 15th at 2, at the Warren Enters Theatre on the Buffalo State campus. For tickets, go to www.starringbuffalo.org. The theater holds only 350, so book early! After presenting Rent earlier this year, Starring Buffalo will return to Shea’s main stage next year with Les Misérables.
After Second Generation’s hilarious Bat Boy: The Musical, in a more serious vein, the company will present the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play Proof by David Auburn, directed by Kristin Bentley with associate director Leah Berst, starring Matt Witten, Lauren Farrow, Anna Krempholtz, and Steve Maiseke. The play opened on Broadway in 2000, and it was just revived this past spring. The 2nd Gen production will run November 19th – December 6th. Save the date! The company’s annual fundraiser, Broadway Bucket List, will be held on April 11th, 2027.
Sweeney Todd is, without a doubt, a solid classic musical. Since its Broadway debut in 1979, it has been revived three times, most recently in 2023. It is constantly performed all over the country. Buffalo has seen several productions, including two by MusicalFare, now ready to open its third, directed by Randall Kramer, choreographed by Michael Oliver-Walline, with music direction by Joe Isgar. The production runs October 22nd – November 8th, Thursdays & Fridays at 7:30, Saturdays at 2:30 & 7:30, and Sundays at 2. Steve Copps stars as Sweeney, Amy Jakiel as Mrs. Lovett, Philip Farugia as Judge Turpin, Solange Gosselin as Johanna, Ryan Butler as Toby, Emily Yancey as the Beggar Woman, Michael J. Galante as the Beadle, Bob Mazierski as Pirelli, and Austin Marshall as Anthony. Featured in the ensemble: Christopher Andreana, Taylor Carlson, Chris Cummings, Julia Pitarresi, Emory Redfearn, Brandin Smalls, and Michael Wells. Set, lighting, and sound design by Chris Cavanagh; costume design by Kari Drozd; hair, wig, and make-up design by Susan Drozd.
Multi-talented Jeremy Kreuzer will star as Tim Finnegan (not our Timmy Finnegan), an Irish immigrant trying to make it as a writer on Amity, an affluent summer colony in Massachusetts, in the dark comedy The Smuggler by Ronán Noone. This interactive production will play at the Road Less Traveled Theater cocktail lounge on selected Saturday afternoons at 4:00 p.m., starting November 21st. The bar will be open during the performance, and Mr. Finnegan may even serve your cocktail! For tickets, go to www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org, or call the box office at (716) 629-3069.
In a perfect holiday offer, the Irish Classical Theatre Company will be presenting A Sherlock Carol, “when a grown-up Tiny Tim asks Holmes to investigate the mysterious death of Ebenezer Scrooge, Sherlock must use his gifts to solve a Dickens of a Christmas mystery!” Directed by Doug Weyand, the show will run November 27th – December 13th. The cast will feature Chris Guilmet, Greg Gjurich, Marc Sacco, Charmagne Chi, Kris Bartolomeo, and Kristen-Marie Lopez.
As her tenure as artistic director at Irish Classical Theatre comes to a close, and right on the heels of her triumphant production of Kate Hamill's Emma, Keelie Sheridan is headed to New York City to direct a reading of Consumed by Karis Kelly at the Irish Repertory Theatre. The event will take place on Monday, November 9th, on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage.
The Lancaster Opera House is presenting two holiday shows, Every Christmas Story Ever Told, which is more for adults and older kids (December 4th-13th), and The Night Before Christmas, which is more for families and younger kids (December 18th-20th). The theater is offering a Christmas Bundle program where you get discounts if you purchase tickets for both shows. Visit www.lancasteropera.org
Back in December 2024, the Alleyway produced the premiere of Kevin Zak's hilarious new play, A Kidman Carol. A new production is now set to open off-Broadway at New World Stages where it’s scheduled to open on November 16th. Coming up at the Alleyway is the premiere of the new comedy The Haunting of Hooverton Hotel by Jacob Albarella and Jason Kaiser. The production will feature original music by Zak Ward.
The Shaw Festival’s 2027 season will present two musicals: South Pacific and The Color Purple. It will also feature Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring, an old-time favorite with a Western New York pedigree – Kesselring worked at a community theater in Niagara in the early 1930s. Also, Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, Ira Levin’s Deathtrap, Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers, and The Rats and The Patient, two of the plays from The Rule of Three, Agatha Christie’s 1962 triple bill. The Bernard Shaw offering will be his beloved comedy, Arms and the Man. Believe it or not, this is artistic director Tim Carroll’s 11th season at the Shaw!
Daniel Croix Henderson, a graduate of the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, is making his Broadway debut as Cléante in Molière’s classic comedy The Imaginary Invalid, starring Bill Irwin. Fellow Buffalonian Roslyn Ruff, currently in rehearsal for a Broadway revival of August Wilson's Seven Guitars at Lincoln Center, also took in the show and said hello to Daniel. Both played early stage roles at Ujima Theater Company in Buffalo. Ruff was recently appointed to the Tony Award nominating committee.
