Theater News -- April
- Javier
- Apr 3
- 4 min read
Stagefright by JAVIER
Movie, TV and stage actor Richard Chamberlain died this week at the age of 90. Known to millions of fans for playing Dr. Kildare on the hit 1960s TV series, Chamberlain also had a renowned career on the stage. He starred on Broadway as Henry Higgins in a My Fair Lady revival that also featured Buffalo’s Corinne Melançon in the cast. He toured as King Arthur in Spamalot which also featured Buffalo’s Darryl Semira. Last time we saw him was in 2012, in a stage adaptation of The Exorcist at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, which also starred Buffalo’s Roslyn Ruff, alongside Brooke Shields and Stephen Bogardus.
The Exorcist, which had hopes for a Broadway run, was adapted by John Pielmeier, best known for his play Agnes of God which opened on Broadway in 1982, and is currently in rehearsal for a production at the West Shore Center for the Arts in Westfield, directed by Buffalo’s Tim Newell, starring our own Christina Rausa, with Karin Seager, and Emily Barry; the show opens on May 2nd. Interestingly, in another Buffalo connection, Pielmeier’s ill-fated Broadway play, Sleight of Hand, opened in 1987 starring Buffalo’s Jeffrey DeMunn.
Pamela Rose Mangus and Jack Hunter, together again, (remember The Speed of Darkness at BET, on the 6th floor of the Jackson Building, back in 1994?) in the Jewish Repertory Theatre of WNY’s production of The Hatmaker’s Wife, under the direction of Steve Vaughan, also starring Peter Palmisano, Renee Hawthorne, David Wysocki, and Charmagne Chi. Next season, the company will present Conscience, a play by Joe Dipietro, directed by Vaughan, starring Josie DiVincenzo as Margaret Chase Smith and David Mitchell as Joseph McCarthy. Chase Smith was the first woman elected by the state of Maine to serve in Congress; later she was the first woman the state elected to the Senate. In 1950, she became the first senator to stand on the Senate floor and publicly rebuke Senator McCarthy. Also in the schedule, Just For Us by Alex Edelman starring Jordan Levin and directed by Chi. The play premiered on Broadway in 2023 at The Hudson Theatre, and earned Edelman a 2024 special Tony Award and an Emmy Award.
Subversive Theatre is back for one night only (for now) with a staged reading of Bertolt Brecht's, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, a darkly comic allegory about the rise of a fascist dictator. Directed by Subversive Theatre's Founder & Artistic Director Kurt Schneiderman, the reading is free and open to the public (donations gratefully accepted) and will feature Greg Natale, Keith Elkins, David Mitchell, Kate Olena, Paul Bene, Mary Moebius, Jack Agugliaro, Jason Francey, Leon Copeland, Lawrence Rowswell, Brian Zybala, Monica Karwan, Jacob Sauer, Jane Cudmore, and Tom Scahill, with musical accompaniment by David Granville, Saturday, April 5th at 7 p.m. at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, 341 Delaware Ave.
Second Generation Theatre will conclude its 2024-25 season (May 2-18) with the much-anticipated production of the rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, directed by Michael Gilbert-Wachowiak, starring Vanna Deux and Kristopher Bartolomeo. The company will open next season on October 24th with the hilarious musical Urinetown, directed by Louis Colaiacovo, choreographed by Kristy Cavanaugh, and music direction by Allan Paglia. The season will also include Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage, directed by Robyn Lee Horn, starring Christopher Avery, Kristin Bentley, Kelly Copps, and Steven Copps. Rounding up the season is Pure Glitter, the comedy by Douglas Lyons, previously presented by the company as a staged reading, now directed by Michael Gilbert-Wachowiak.
Sheila McCarthy is back in town and back on the local boards at the Alleyway Theatre where she has performed many times before, now starring in the stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Who killed Roger Ackroyd? Directed by Chris Handley, the production also stars Sara Know-Falcone, Bill Lovern, David Lundy, Steven Maiseke, Johnny Rowe, and Julia Witt. Performances begin on April 11th.
Ujima closes its season with Everybody, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins which puts a modern spin on the medieval morality play Everyman, with roles drawn at random before each show. The production marks the Ujima directorial debut of Production Manager and company member Tioga Simpson, starring Curtis Lovell, Lisa Ludwig, Gerald Ramsey, Yael Montijo, Dayatra Hassan, Cordell Hopkins, Rachael Jamison, Gabriella McKinley, Alejandro Gomez, and Brian Brown. The show runs May 1-18 at the Lorna C. Hill Theater.
Buffalo State University Theater Department alum Marco Antonio Rodriguez’s new play Domino Effect opens this week off-Broadway, presented by The People’s Theatre in collaboration with Boundless Theatre Company and Latinx Playwrights Circle. Rodriguez was listed as one of the Fifty Key Figures in LatinX and Latin American Theater in 2022. His previous plays include Bloom which was presented in Buffalo by Raíces Theatre Company starring Alejandro Gómez and Victoria Pérez; Barceló on the Rocks, and Ashes of Light.
Next September Desiderio’s Dinner Theatre will present an evening of short plays by Tom Dudzick.
No surprise that the very popular musical Wicked will return to Shea’s, November 12th-30th. On August 26th Artpark will present Wicked, Sing-Along on the Outdoor Amphitheater at 7:30. Brush up on the lyrics and prepare to defy gravity!
There will be a memorial tribute for beloved Katheen Betsko Yale at the Irish Classical Theatre Company on Monday, May 5th (the day before her birthday) at 7 p.m. Mixing and mingling will begin at 6 p.m. in the Chris O'Neill Lounge.
Happy opening for Dorian (at the Irish Classical through April 13th) and Dial M for Murder (at Shea’s 710, also through April 13, 2025). Two fabulous shows that nobody should miss!
