Michael Rabice - Page 11

The 2015 Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario is shaping up to be a great mix of Shavian classics, an American musical, Canadian premieres and cutting edge modern day drama. Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell will be leaving after the 2016 Season and is working hard to program an uniquely balanced season, while also hoping to fulfill all of her artistic desires before her tenure ends. The company mandate is: ' The Shaw Festival is a theatre company inspired by the work of Bernard Shaw. We produce plays from and about his era and contemporary plays that share Shaw's provocative exploration of society and celebration of humanity.'

Dark and disturbing is the best way to sum up Irish Classical Theatre's polished new production of THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE.

Shimmering and strutting with drag queen elegance, the TONY Award winning Best Musical of 2013, KINKY BOOTS, opened at Shea's Buffalo Theatre last night to rapturous applause by the near capacity audience. With an infectious score by 80's pop icon Cyndi Lauper as well as a fun and often touching book by Harvey Fierstein, KINKY BOOTS tells the dual story of a failing men's shoe factory in suburban England run by the son (Charlie) of the recently deceased owner and his chance encounter with an over the top drag queen named Lola. These two unlikely characters surreptitiously meet at a time when both need each other's help. Charlie is struggling to find a niche market for his shoe factory and Lola and her fellow drag queens are in need of some boots that can support a man's physique.

Sparse CAROUSEL Takes to the Stage

2015 brings a lavish new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'The Phantom of The Opera' that opened at Shea's Buffalo Theatre on Wednesday and it has received glorious new sets by Paul Brown, while retaining most of Maria Bjornson's Tony Award winning costume designs.

A battle of the classes is playing out in The Irish Classical Theatre's brilliant new production of 'After Miss Julie,' that opened last night. Based on Strindberg's 1888 psycho-drama 'Miss Julie,' this version by Patrick Marber updates the action to a 1945 English Manor house on the eve of the British Labour Party's election victory.

As with any good laboratory, hypothesis and conjecture are needed to lead to breakthroughs and new discoveries. Buffalo Laboratory Theatre's production of MYSTERY OF THE SILVER CHALICE currently playing at 710 Main Street often succeeds in finding humor in new found audience driven technology, while keeping the actors on their toes.

When brainstorming concepts for new shows, the idea of making a musical about Berry Gordy--not necessarily a household name, may have seemed like an odd choice. So let's look at Plan B....a musical about the careers of Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye. Well, essentially the two are all the same musical. The slick production of MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL that opened on Tuesday night at Shea's tells the story of producer Berry Gordy and his start up record label, 'Motown.'

Just when you thought your family had issues with each other and holidays were unbearable.. or when you thought the dining room scene in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY was the epitome of family dysfunction, meet Henry II of England, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine and their three sons.

Broadway's Leading Ladies Head to Buffalo