Theater News -- May 2025

STAGEFRIGHT by JAVIER

On stage at Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre with Greg Stuhr

Buffalo’s own Greg Stuhr is back on Broadway appearing opposite George Clooney in the current hit play Good Night, and Good Luck at the Winter Garden. Co-written by Clooney and Grant Heslov, the play is based on their screenplay for the 2005 film about veteran journalist Edward R. Murrow. Clooney directed the film, starring David Strathairn as Murrow. This time it's Clooney’s turn to play Murrow, and he was just nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor. The role marks his Broadway debut and his first on stage performance since 1986 when he appeared at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. Stuhr returns to Buffalo to direct Richard III at Shakespeare in Delaware Park, July 24-August 17. The production is set to star, among others, Chris Avery, Darryl Semira, Leah Berst, Lana Sugarman, Diane DiBernardo, Ryan Okun, and David Lundy.

Flanked by Cole Escola, Broadway’s irreverent new comedy darling, and Charles Busch, the legendary drag icon.

Also nominated for a Tony for Best Actor is Cole Escola for his performance in the long-running hit Oh, Mary!, in which he portrays Mary Todd Lincoln. The play, written by Escola, is also nominated for Best Play.

The Tony Awards ceremony will take place on June 8th at Radio City Music Hall beginning at 8 p.m. on channel 4, and streaming on Paramount+. Wicked film star and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo is hosting.

Back in Buffalo, the Artie Awards are scheduled for Monday, June 9th at Asbury Hall on Delaware Avenue – that’s Babeville! The doors will open at 7 p.m. and the show will start at 8 p.m. Amy Jakiel and Curtis Lovell return as hosts, along with Anthony Chase.  Philip Farugia is again the music director. Tickets are $25 and will become available on May 19th, just after the nominations are announced on Buffalo-Toronto Public Media at noon.

The Alleyway Theatre will be presenting a new version of A Christmas Carol, created and directed by Dan Lendzian and Chris Handley, December 5th-28th. The production is being billed as “a gorgeous new adaptation for our time.” The company’s 2025-26 season will now open with the much-anticipated comedy The Cottage (September 5th-27th) which was postponed from last season. Directed by David E. Shane, the production will star Handley and Tracie Lane. The Cottage opened on Broadway in July 2023, directed by Jason Alexander. It has been described as a modern British farce a la Noël Coward.

Although Neal Radice officially retired a few years ago, he is now part of Imagine Theatre, an independent producing company that will present live theater at various venues around the area. The company will continue the tradition of presenting the annual production of Radice's adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Now in its 43rd year, A Christmas Carol will be performed December 20th at 5 p.m. & 8 p.m. at Buffalo State University’s Rockwell Hall. That production will star Darryl Hart, Andrew Brown, David Mitchell, Trevor Dugan, Bill Lovern, Lincoln Kwiatek-McCann, Madeline Allard-Dugan, Bob Bozek, Kaylie Horowitz, Gayle Petri, Rylie Stang, and Maximilian Bielecki.

Not one to miss a historical opportunity, Radice has written (book, music, lyrics) a musical to commemorate the bicentennial of the opening of the Erie Canal. On the Canal will be performed at Shea’s Smith Theatre September 26-28. The show is produced by Friends of The Buffalo Story, Red Thread Theatre, in association with Imagine Theatre, and sponsored by Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation. It is a world premiere.

Up next for Brazen-Faced Varlets, The Early Girl by Caroline Kava, directed by Leyla Gentil-Rosado, starring July Grygier, Kai Crumley, Vanessa Vacanti, Vernia Garvin, Emrald Ja’Ceil, Marie Costa, and Isabel Deschamps. The play runs May 9th-25th at the Compass Performing Arts Center.

Jewish Repertory Theatre will open its season in November with Joe DiPietro’s Conscience, directed by Steve 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, nine years later she was the first woman the state elected to the Senate, and in 1950, she became the first senator to stand on the Senate floor and publicly rebuke Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. The company will also present, in May 2026, Alex Edelman’s

Just For Us, starring Jordan Levin, directed by Charmagne Chi. Edelman was awarded a Special 2024 Tony Award® for the show.

I have always loved the British farce Boeing Boeing! A 1965 play which will still make you laugh if done well. (Can you believe there was a movie with Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, and… Thelma Ritter!) The play was revived on Broadway in 2008, starring the fabulous Buffalo Gal Christine Baranski. Now it is the Kenan Center’s turn. Under the direction of Kevin Leary, the show opens May 8th, starring Brendan Didio, Jacob Albarella, Jen Mysliwy, Solange Goselin, Paige Cummings, and Colleen Pine. The Kenan will kick off next season with the grand revue It’s a Grand Night for Singing, showcasing the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein. For the record, Lynne Kurdziel-Formato directed an elegant production of this review for Upstage New York in 1995.  Performed at ECC North, Donald Jenczka was the music director, and the performers were Eric Alsford, Sabatino Cimato, Katy Clancy, Mary Jakiel, Tim McGann, Tom Owen, Michele Sprada, and Syndi Starr.

You don’t have to wait until September to enjoy Rodgers & Hammerstein. Starring Buffalo is presenting a show of their songs May 16th & 17th at the Canterbury Woods Performing Arts Center, starring Jay Dref, Beau Bradshaw, Lindsey Brett Carothers, Gabriella Galante, Karen E. Saxon, and Darryl Semira.

You probably have heard that Mamma Mia! will be back on Broadway, probably followed by a national tour. Well, Mamma Mia! is also back in Buffalo, courtesy of Second Generation. The show will run at 710 Shea’s, January 15 – February 1, 2026, directed by Lisa Ludwig, starring Kelly Copps, Michele Marie Roberts, and the return of Bethany Moore. Is it true that there is yet another movie sequel in the works?

The fabulous Anne Gayley will be inducted into the Buffalo Theater Plaza of the Stars. Congratulations!

So now Audra holds the record for most Tony nominations. Eleven. Chita and Julie Harris each had ten. Not that it’s a contest, but remember, the rules for Tony’s have changed radically over the years. Chita was not even nominated for West Side Story, because the producers could only submit one actress: Carol Lawrence was the lead. Congratulations to Audra, who is phenomenal in Gypsy. Still, with Megan Hilty for Death Becomes Her; Jasmine Amy Rogers for BOOP! The Musical; Nicole Scherzinger for Sunset Boulevard; and Jennifer Simard for Death Becomes Her, it’s an exciting category! Idina Menzel (Redwood), Robyn Hurder (Smash), and Sutton Foster (Once Upon a Mattress) didn’t even make the cut!

With Ruth Buzzi

The entertainment world lost an icon this week, when Ruth Buzzi succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 88. She began her career as an acting student at the Pasadena Playhouse in California and achieved lasting fame as purse-wielding Gladys Ormphby on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.” Thanks for the laughter, Ruth!  

So finally, the first week of May is feeling like Curtain Up week. There are plenty of shows for everyone’s taste! Long live the live theater.

At Shea's Smith Theatre the Opening Night of 2nd Generation's Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with stars Vanna Deux, and Kristopher Bartolomeo

With the fabulous cast of Burn This on Opening Night at Road Less Traveled Theater: Leah Berst, Ricky Needham, Nicholas Stevens, and Kevin Craig

Opening Night of Waitress at MusicalFare -- their last opening ever at Daemen -- with stars John Kaczorowski and Maria Pedro, and talented up and coming star Jeremy Ephraim Meyers

Early in her career, a few years before "Laugh In," Ruth Buzzi worked in Buffalo, at the Rendezvous, a supper club inside the Statler Hotel. Here's a clipping from The Buffalo News, November 24, 1962.