Colin Fleming-Stumpf - Page 4

'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.

After nearly 16 months without setting foot in a physical performance venue, it was such a thrill to return to the 'theatre' this past weekend to enjoy an afternoon of Shakespeare-inspired absurdity, laughing and applauding in the company of *gasp* other human beings. No, it wasn't technically the Centerstage Theatre that we're used to; the show took place under the 'Dawn Lipson Canalside Stage', a large covered tent being utilized by the JCC and other community arts organizations until this fall, when most theatre and performing arts companies in Rochester will be returning to full in-person performances. Yes the Sunday matinee performance I attended was rainy and overcast, but it was the perfect weather for a musical taking place during 16th century England, adding a distinctly British flair that no tech crew could ever recreate indoors. Something Rotten!, one of the great musical comedies of the last 20 years, was the perfect antidote to a theatre-less year in which surely we were all growing tired of Zoom play readings and what icon Tracy Letts lovingly referred to as 'computer theatre' in a recent New York Times interview.

I learned early on in the pandemic (Spring 2020, aka COVID 1.0) that filmed/livestreamed/Zoomed theatre doesn't really do anything for me. That's not a knock against any particular show or performer or theatre company, just a reality of the medium itself. When you take the quintessential elements of live theatre-the energy, urgency, proximity, and community of fellow audience members-and strip them away, something vital to the art form is lost. If I'm going to devote two-or-three hours to consuming a piece of storytelling, I asked myself, why would I opt for a piece of filmed theatre instead of one of the innumerable offerings on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, etc., all of which are teeming with movies and TV shows that were designed to be viewed on a screen? Thus I haven't accepted many invitations to do theatre criticism over the past year; the invitations have almost exclusively been for streaming productions, and it didn't seem fair to subject a production to my critique when I had a baseline objection to the format.

Given the current reality of social distancing and isolation that we're all grappling with, there has perhaps never been a greater need for art that is collaborative and deeply reflective. Kelly Izzo Shapiro, a local singer-songwriter, is hoping to bring that experience to Rochester through a multimedia work titled 'Ceci n'est pas: The Treachery of Images', a project that channels surrealist art and the human psyche, and conveys the idea that our subconscious is going to reflect onto the art that we consume.

There is no facet of life that hasn't been impacted in some way by the COVID-19 outbreak. Streets are empty, people can't go to work, students can't go to school, gatherings large-and-small are forbidden, and that's to say nothing of the devastating public health realities of widespread illness, the plummeting economy and skyrocketing unemployment rate, and the emotional tolls of social isolation. Here in Rochester schools have been closed since mid-March, as have most non-essential employers (many of which have their employees working from home), and the number of positive coronavirus cases within Monroe County currently stands at 512. Given the scary and unprecedented moment that we're all living in, speculating about the future of theatre and the performing arts seems trivial. But in Rochester, home to one of Upstate New York's most vibrant artistic communities, it's anything but trivial. Our region's theatres are employers and economic drivers of the Finger Lakes area, but more importantly, they bring tremendous joy to the community, which is palpably missing during a crisis that has forced the temporary shuttering of our city's theatres.

Continuing Geva Theatre's 2019-2020 season is the story of an unexpected meeting that blossoms into love, vibrant music, and a renewed vigor for life. It will warm your heart on a cold and dreary Rochester evening.

There is perhaps no greater contributor to the musical theatre art form than Andrew Lloyd Webber (Phantom of the Opera, Evita, Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, etc.), and perhaps no more generation-defining contribution than Jesus Christ Superstar. Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, Rochesterians can once again be reminded why this stylish musical is iconic and timeless.