Colin Fleming-Stumpf - Page 5

Perfectly timed for the blistery cold Rochester weather we're all suffering through, the RBTL is currently presenting 'Anastasia', the stage adaptation of the 1997 animated movie in which audience members are whisked away to snowy St. Petersburg during the height of the Russian Revolution of the 1920's. This era of political upheaval is the backdrop, but the story focuses on a young woman and her journey through the past to find her family and her identity.

There is nary a more unifying social experience than receiving horrid, mind-bogglingly bad service at a restaurant. It cuts across class, background, geography, ideology, upbringing, and every other imaginable social divide. With minimal effort we can all probably recall a recent experience in which we were out to dinner with friends or significant others and had a server who was slow, rude, invasive, negligent, easily distracted, too chatty, or-in the case of Stephen (Danny Vaccaro), the waiter in Wendy MacLeod's 'Slow Food', currently on stage at Geva Theatre-all of the above. And while it might trigger flashbacks of dining horror and peak hangry-ness, it makes for a truly entertaining stage comedy.

Keeping with the artistic diversity that makes this theatre a Rochester gem, Blackfriars continues its 70th anniversary season with Peter and the Starcatcher, a Tony Award-winning play like none other they've featured in recent seasons, one that's fueled by imagination, spirit, and a tremendous amount of fun.

Continuing its 2019-2020 season, JCC's CenterStage theatre brings us Raging Skillet, a memoir-turned-play making its regional debut that that tells the story of a rule-breaker and boundary-pusher, a rebellious lesbian Jewish chef whose story is told through food and the ghost of her long-dead mother.

For thousands of years the theatre has been a place where storytellers go to evaluate the world around them and the people who inhabit it. Every period in history, every noteworthy event, near every moment of import has theatrical representation in one form or another, from Jesus to the Salem Witch Trials, the Nixon impeachment to the smartphone. The polarized and divisive times in which we're all currently living have been no exception, with playwrights and artists of all stripes stepping up and trying to make sense of the calamity of our politics and culture. 'The Niceties', currently playing at Geva Theatre Center, takes a sharp and assertive stance on the issues of race and class that have become a powder keg since 2016 (and long before), in one of the most searing and provocative commentaries written in recent years.

There are few forces more powerful than that of family, friendship, love and home. These forces are mightily strong under the best of circumstances, and become even more central to our existence in times of violence, oppression, and separation. Within the context of 20th century American history, the civil rights movement of the 1960's is probably the pinnacle of violence and oppression; it's this era that acts as the backdrop of 'Detroit '67', which explores the bonds that connect us to both our friends and loved ones, but also the place we call home.

The Rochester Broadway Theatre League opens its 2019-2020 season with a glitzy, glamorous, and soulful look at the queen of the disco era, Donna Summer. 'Summer: The Donna Summer Musical', which began its national tour in Rochester this week, isn't just for children of the 1970's, but for anyone who wants a more intimate look into the life and career of one of the music industry's most iconic figures.

To an outsider, the world of competitive spelling may not seem like one that's brimming with tension and intrigue. When one thinks about worlds that are rife for dramatization, a myriad of source material seems more plausible; but I suppose Mormon missionaries, SpongeBob SquarePants, and the life of Alexander Hamilton also seemed odd choices at-a-glance for stage adaptation, and things turned out ok for those musicals. Though competitive spelling is at the heart of 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee', that's not what makes 'Spelling Bee' so compelling; it's the cast of eccentric characters, their personal baggage, and how that baggage informs their drive to excel at spelling that makes the show so heartwarming. Blackfriars Theatre's production of 'Spelling Bee' is as touching and wildly funny a production as you'll find on any professional stage, made more impressive by the fact that the cast, and the bulk of the artistic team, are local college students.

You don't have to be a talented baker (and I certainly am not) to appreciate a show that uses pie as a metaphor for life. Its variety, its many surprises, how with one wrong measurement or ingredient everything can go terribly wrong.

Peter Shaffer's farce Black Comedy delights based on one absurd premise. What if we could see what goes on in the obscurity of darkness? From this thought, he literally flips the light switch. The play begins in darkness with a young sculptor Brindsley Miller nervously preparing for a life changing meeting with elderly millionaire art collector George Bamberger. To impress Bamberger, he and his fiancee, Carol Melkett temporarily purloin the furniture and artwork of his flamboyant neighbor Harold Gorringe. While questioning the ethics of this nefarious decision with his fiancee, the apartment building's main fuse blows and the stage is bathed in light. It becomes clear that the motor of the play is that the audience sees when the actors don't. This topsy-turvy conveyance heightens the slapstick humor and illuminates the frenzied panic induced by unethical contrivances gone awry. Adding to this madness are love triangles, jealousy and repressed feelings.

To close out their 2018-2019 season Rochester's Geva Theatre chose a piece with deep historical, musical, and local significance. Revival: The Resurrection of Son House was commissioned by Geva in 2015 and received a staged reading that year at their festival 'Journey to the Son: A Celebration of Son House.' The fully-staged production is now getting its world premiere, and it's the perfect capstone to a season rich with history, diverse voices, and new works.

At this point-four years after it premiered on Broadway and took the world by storm, earning a record 16 Tony nominations and making Lin Manuel-Miranda a household name --it seems a superfluous task to write a review of Hamilton. What hot take can I offer on this groundbreaking, history-making musical that scores of other critics and millions of audience members from around the globe haven't offered already?