Colin Fleming-Stumpf - Page 4

Geva Theatre's second-to-last production of the 2021/2022 season is a techno futuristic-feeling comedy that takes the audience deep into the sunny California culture of fitness, yoga, spiritual gurus, and their intersection with today's social media-driven, brand-obsessed world. 'Yoga Play' traffics in themes that are familiar to all of us trying to navigate an ever-increasingly online and consumeristic world, and does so with plenty of laughter and thought-provoking fodder for the audience.

After a successful play reading in 2017 and a long hiatus due to COVID (for more of the backstory, see Jeff Siuda's director's note), Out of Pocket Productions is finally presenting 'Placebo', a quirky and thought-provoking play by Melissa James Gibson, at Rochester's MuCCC.

If you're looking for a theatre experience rife with laughs, tears, cheekiness, dry British wit, and a not-insignificant amount of very-near nudity, I am here to tell you that Rochester's Blackfriars Theatre has got the show for you. 'Calendar Girls', a play adapted by Tim Firth and based on the 2003 movie of the same name, is a joyfully irreverent romp that can only be described as a romantic/dramatic comedy....a rom-dram-edy. Did I just invent a genre?

To end its 2021-2022 season, JCC's Centerstage Theatre is currently presenting 'Little Shop of Horrors', the 1982 doo-wop campy masterpiece from the twisted minds of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and a stalwart favorite of the late 20th century musical theatre repertoire. Like most 'Little Shop' productions, JCC's is big, wild, whacky, funny, and delightfully macabre.

Blackfriars Theatre continues its 2022 season with a heartwarming story about kindness and doing good in the world, featuring a talented cast led by two young performers from Rochester's School of the Arts.

In keeping with its tradition of spotlighting new plays and emerging playwrights, in addition to the stalwarts that theatre audiences know and love ('Little Shop of Horrors' is next on the docket), Rochester's JCC Centerstage Theatre launched its production of 'Tracy Jones' on March 5th, a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere written by Stephen Kaplan. It's a play filled with laughs, tears, and high-octane anxiety that you don't want to miss.

The last two years have tested the collective resolve of artists and creatives everywhere. While COVID has impacted our lives in every way, from physical health to our experiences in school to the ways in which we interact and empathize with one another, a largely-unsung result of the pandemic has been the many ways it has ravaged the creative spirit of our artists and thinkers. Anyone who has tried will tell you that creativity simply doesn't flourish over Zoom. It's timely, then, that the second mainstage production of Geva Theatre's 49th season---its first full season after a long COVID hiatus---centers on what, and who, inspires our creativity and expression.

'My Fair Lady' is a story that has become ingrained into American storytelling in countless iterations over the past 60 years. Debuting in 1956 and putting icon Julie Andrews on the map, it went on to be adapted into the also-iconic Audrey Hepburn vehicle in 1964, and the story's main narrative beats have been repurposed in everything from 'Pretty Woman' to 'Trading Places' to 'She's All That' in the years since. It opened Tuesday at Rochester's Auditorium Theatre.

After a brief COVID-related delay (an all-too-common frustration in the world of theatre these days), Geva Theatre's Fielding Stage is currently presenting 'Constellations', a two-person play about split-second decisions and missed opportunities. This production is particularly meaningful not only because it is Mark Cuddy's final appearance as a director--he retires this summer after a remarkable 27 seasons as Geva's Artistic Director--but because it features his son, Gus Cuddy, and his son's partner Mari Vial-Golden.

As JCC Centerstage Producing Artistic Director Ralph Meranto stated during Saturday night's pre-show announcements, seeing original stagecraft that can't be found anywhere else is one of the most treasured aspects of live theatre, and is indeed why many of us attend the theatre so regularly in the first place. JCC's 'Hitmaker' series is one of those one-of-a-kind gems, and 'Welcome to the 70s' is the seventh installment in which performers intertwine musical performance with historical exploration, treating the audience to exciting renditions of their favorite tunes as well as the needed context regarding what was happening in the world of music, and the world at large, during the time it was hitting the airwaves.

Christmas is a time of traditions. Be it caroling, making sugar cookies, decorating the tree, or hanging lights, folks love this time of year because of the traditions we create and revisit each December with our friends and loved ones. If you're like me, Geva Theatre's annual production of 'A Christmas Carol' is one of your favorite holiday traditions, and for good reason. It's a consistently top-quality production filled with joy and merriment, and featuring many cast members who have been returning to Geva for this special show for over a decade.

If COVID has got you down, if you're itching to see live theatre again, or you're just looking for a fun activity that kids and adults alike will enjoy, look no further than JCC Centerstage Theatre's current production of 'Something Magical: Disney in Concert.' It's not exactly a holiday outing, but it's the perfect way to bring the family together around everyone's shared love of America's most treasured storyteller.

The Rochester Broadway Theatre League continues its 2021-2022 season with a classic from the 20th century film and children's literary canon, set to music and adapted for the stage. Road Dahl's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' features all the glitz, quirkiness and fantasy of the classic Gene Wilder film with snappy musical numbers, and magic that can only be found in live theatre.

Out of Pocket Productions is joining other Rochester theatres in opening their doors for in-person performances once again after the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to go dark for 18 months. For OOPP's first foray back into live theatre they've chosen 'A Picasso', a modest two-person play by Jeffrey Hatcher dealing with the importance and timelessness of art.

Blackfriars Theatre continues its 2021-2022 season (doing alternating repertory performances with Charlayne Woodard's 'Pretty Fire') with 'Silent Sky', an original play by Lauren Gunderson, who holds the unique accolade of being America's most produced living playwright. It's an inspiring show that touches on themes of gender and patriarchy on the surface, but if you dig a little deeper you'll also uncover explorations of space, time, human connection, and one's legacy.

After a 19-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic the lights at Blackfriars Theatre are once again lit, albeit casting light on only one performer, a simple set, and a modest-sized audience (buy your tickets now! All safety precautions are being taken! Get vaccinated if you haven't already!). For its triumphant return, Blackfriars has chosen a powerful one-woman show about love, struggle, and triumph, one with themes both timeless and incredibly topical.

Until recently, seeing live indoor theatre seemed like a relic of the distant past, and sitting in the audience for a play that can only be described as a rap-infused comic book comedy about Vietnamese refugees is something that definitely wasn't on my bingo card for 2021, and yet here we are. There's a lot to unpack with 'Vietgone', but overall, productions with this much flair, surprise, and unique storytelling are exactly what I've missed about Geva Theatre over the past 18 months.

After 18 long theatre-less months, Rochester's JCC Centerstage Theatre is once again welcoming audiences indoors (various performances were held over the summer at the more COVID-friendly outdoor Dawn Lipson Canalside Stage). And what better way to celebrate the return to live indoor theatre than by exploring the origin story of home-grown Broadway star Bruce Sabath?

After an 18-month intermission, theatre is back once again in Rochester. Like thousands of other performance venues across the country, RBTL's Auditorium Theatre has been shuttered since March 2020 as New York State and the world grapple with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. While COVID is unfortunately still with us (PLEASE get vaccinated if you haven't already!) our state and national leaders have given the green light to resume in-person theatre, as long as modest safety precautions are put in place. At the Auditorium Theatre, that means mandatory masking regardless of vaccination status and no concessions for purchase, a small price to pay for getting to say goodbye to Zoom theatre once and for all.

As part of the annual Fringe Festival, Rochester's Jewish Community Center presented 'Love Letters', the popular 1988 two-person play by A. R. Gurney that follows two friends throughout the course of their lives told solely through the reading of letters that they wrote each other over the years. The show, known for its simplicity and emotional breadth, provides a quiet and sensitive alternative to other programming at the Fringe Festival, which is known as a home for alternative and avant-garde performing arts.