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.
Award-winning Sondheim musical opening at Ti-Ahwaga
By George Basler Stephen Sondheim is a composer known for his intricate lyrics and rhyme schemes, and actor Matthew O’Ryan calls Sunday in the Park with George “quintessential Sondheim.” “It is one of his more difficult roles to manage. But doing it is a labor of love. It’s a fantastic [...]
Jazz master Davis returning to Binghamton for concert
By George Basler Steve Davis developed his love for jazz growing up in Binghamton in the 1970s and 1980s. He fondly remembers the vibrant music scene at the time. “A lot of music was happening in the eighties,” the nationally known jazz trombonist said. The Music [...]
‘Twisted Broadway’ raises funds and awareness during Pride Month
By George Basler The Binghamton Pride Coalition will continue what has become an annual tradition when it presents “Twisted Broadway” Saturday (June 15) at the Cider Mill Stage in Endicott. The cabaret-style performance, featuring songs from well-known Broadway shows, raises scholarship money for local students in the LGBTQIA+ community, [...]
Downtown Singers to conclude season with ‘Love, Harmony and Spirit’
The Binghamton Downtown Singers and Orchestra will present their annual spring concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (June 8) at Sarah Jane Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, 308 Main St., Johnson City. Its theme: “Love, Harmony and Spirit.” Robert J. Manners, interim artistic director of the Downtown Singers, will [...]
SRO Productions III to present landmark Sondheim musical
By George Basler SRO Productions III is ending its season with a musical that in some ways revolutionized the American musical and helped make the reputation of Stephen Sondheim as a Broadway legend. Company, with music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by George Furth, was one of [...]
KNOW ends season with play about love and relationships
By George Basler Almost, Maine takes place in a fictional Maine community near the Canadian border, where residents are seeking relief from a long, cold, dark winter. The 2004 play, which has become a darling of regional theaters, opens Friday, June 7, for a three-weekend run at KNOW Theatre [...]
CRT’s ‘Boeing Boeing’ takes funny shots at ’60s playboy lifestyle
Reviewed by George Basler The play Boeing Boeing debuted in 1960 at the dawn of the “Swinging Sixties,” and the sex farce reflects the spirit of the time. The term “Women’s Lib,” let alone “Me Too,” hadn’t been spoken. Instead, the sexual revolution was dawning, Sinatra’s “Rat Pack” was in full [...]
BLAST’s ‘Charlie Brown’ is pleasing fun for the whole family
Reviewed by George Basler Perky and amiable are words that describe You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, now mid-way into a two-weekend run at the Cider Mill Stage in Endicott. While the show has no plot as such, it’s so good natured and pleasantly entertaining that it’s hard to resist. [...]
Chenango River Theatre opens season with lively French farce
By George Basler The Chenango River Theatre in Greene is starting its 2024 season with a play that has earned a niche in Guinness World Records, the official site of record-breaking facts and achievements. In 1991, Guinness listed the play, Boeing Boeing, as the most performed French play in the [...]
BLAST ends season with family-friendly ‘Charlie Brown’
By George Basler You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a show with proven staying power. First performed in 1967, the musical is based on the popular comic strip Peanuts, created by cartoonist Charles M. Schultz back in the 1950s. A lot has happened since then, but the [...]
TCO turns kids’ stories into operas
Tri-Cities Opera’s Pocket Opera Project returns tonight (Tuesday, May 14) to showcase a unique collaboration. Original stories by students from the Central New York region have been transformed into mini-operas by composition students in Binghamton University Department of Music and lyricists from KNOW Theatre. These new works will be [...]
PresentArts program celebrates innovators
Big, Bold and Brave – Men and Women Whose Imagination and Innovation Inspired Our World will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday (May 10) at the Phelps Mansion Museum. 191 Court St., Binghamton. The program, written and directed by Judith Present, showcases the stories of charismatic historical notables whose larger-than-life [...]
S.T.A.R. to stage classic Steinbeck story
By George Basler Judy McMahon remembers seeing the movie The Grapes of Wrath as a teenager and being emotionally riveted by the story of desperate migrants struggling to stay afloat during the Great Depression of the 1930s, while heading west to the "promised land" of California. What attracted her was [...]
Binghamton Community Orchestra ends season with ‘Bravado and Beauty’
By George Basler Evan Meccarello hopes concert goers will “feel inspired by beauty from unexpected places” when they attend Saturday's Binghamton Community Orchestra concert. In keeping with this goal, the orchestra’s music director has planned a program that features two main centerpieces: a concerto featuring the tuba, an instrument [...]
Philharmonic honoring superheroes at ‘Other Worlds’ concert
The Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra will end its 2023-24 season with a May 4 program featuring an array of superheroes from the DC and Marvel cinematic universes. The concert at the Broome County Forum Theatre in downtown Binghamton will highlight some of the greatest soundtracks from the genres of fantasy [...]
