Broome Arts Mirror – Local Theatre Reviews
The Broome Arts Mirror is a group of volunteers affiliated with the Broome County Arts Council who write previews and reviews about local performances and arts shows. For inquiries, including having someone review your local production, please contact us at bamirror@broomearts.org.
Philharmonic hosts return of Dolphins String Quartet
This Sunday (Nov. 3), the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra will host the Broome County return of the Juilliard-based Dolphins String Quartet. The concert is part of the Philharmonic's Garufi Law P.C. Phelps Mansion Museum Series. The quartet enchanted Binghamton audiences last year when, in a breakout performance, it filled [...]
Face It! Theatre presenting provocative play about propaganda
By George Basler J. Vaclav Michalec was looking to present plays that deal with hard issues in the realm of social justice when he formed Face It! Theatre nine years ago. He wants to get people talking about these topics, conversations he believes are desperately needed at the present [...]
Soul Rebels bring funk/soul blend to BU
The Anderson Center for the Performing Arts will welcome The Soul Rebels to Binghamton University at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 for what promises to be a lively evening of music. The Soul Rebels started with an idea to expand upon the pop music the members loved on the [...]
Madrigal Choir concert is tribute to late conductor Borton
By Lee Shepherd The Madrigal Choir of Binghamton, under the baton of guest director Theresa Lee-Whiting, opens its 46th season on Sunday, Oct. 27, with a concert titled “Love Never Ends.” At this special event, the choir carries on the indelible legacy of beloved conductor Dr. Bruce E. Borton, [...]
Sing along to ABBA songs at Philharmonic concert
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Swedish pop music group ABBA achieved worldwide success with catchy tunes and stage outfits that featured glittering hot pants, sequined jumpsuits and platform heels. Their iconic sound, if not the clothes, will come to Binghamton on Saturday, Oct. 26, for a 7:30 [...]
Southern Tier Singers’ Collective features world premiere at concert of Mediterranean music
By George Basler Of course, Aimee Backus hopes the Southern Tier Singers’ Collective (STSC) will please the ears of audience members in a concert, “Memories from the Mediterranean,” Sunday (Oct. 20) at St. James Roman Catholic Church in Johnson City. But she hopes for more as well. The composer [...]
Cider Mill Stage hosting humorous yet serious lesson on the U.S. Constitution
By George Basler Hillori Schenker thinks some people view the U.S. Constitution as an old, distant document that has little bearing on their lives. Not so, said the social studies teacher at Montrose Area High School. She’s starring in the play What the Constitution Means to Me, which will [...]
Darkness dominates CRT’s skilled take on great Shakespeare play
Reviewed by George Basler A drum beats ominously. The stage is bathed in somber lighting. The set is stark and forbidding. An eerie tone dominates a production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which is in the middle of a three-weekend run at Chenango River Theatre in Greene. Inventive decisions by director [...]
Ti-Ahwaga production exposes bitter truths in Hansberry’s prescient play
Reviewed by George Basler Five years after scoring a major success on Broadway with her play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry threw critics and audience members a surprise left hook with a play radically different in tone and subject matter. While Raisin deals with the struggles of a multigenerational Black [...]
Ti-Ahwaga starts season with provocative play by major playwright
By George Basler The Light in Sidney Brustein’s Window is a play with a lot on its mind. It raises questions about American progressivism, race, political corruption and bohemian lifestyle, to name a few of its topics. “It’s definitely ambitious,” said Joseph Hoffmann, who is playing the title character [...]
BLAST’s ‘Gentleman’s Guide’ is boisterous, if sometimes uneven, fun
Reviewed by George Basler A serial killer is on the loose at the Cider Mill Stage in Endicott, leaving a large body pile in his wake. But don’t call the cops. It’s all done with a wink and a nod as BLAST (Bold Local Artists of the Southern Tier) [...]
Vocalists sing for a cause
Musical friends of pianist and veteran voice teacher Mary Lou Muratori will perform pieces from both Broadway and the classical repertoire Saturday (Oct. 5) at Tabernacle United Methodist Church, 83 Main St., Binghamton. Muratori, who is the organist/pianist and Tabernacle, will accompany the performers. A free-will offering will be [...]
CRT presenting Shakespeare’s masterpiece of murder and madness
By George Basler Murderous ambition, guilt and madness will be on display at the Chenango River Theatre (CRT) in Greene when William Shakespeare’s great play Macbeth opens Friday (Oct. 4) for a three-weekend run But this production will be different from your standard sprawling Shakespearean fare. Five actors will [...]
Opening Philharmonic concert celebrates nature’s healing power
The Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra is billing “Restless Oceans,” the first concert of its 2024-25 season, as a “thrilling program of music from across two centuries that celebrates the healing power of nature.” The concert Saturday (Sept 28) takes its title from the opening piece, Restless Oceans, by the [...]
BLAST starts season with murder and laughs at Cider Mill Stage
By George Basler A murder plot that is both fiendishly clever and hilariously funny will open BLAST (Bold Local Artists of the Southern Tier)’s fourth season at the Cider Mill Stage in Endicott on Friday (Sept. 27). The musical, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, tells the [...]
