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.
Remembering Ralph Hall
Remembering Ralph Hall Ralph Hall passed away last Thursday (July 30) in Duchess County, close to his children and grandchildren. Ralph was my predecessor here at the Broome County Arts Council, and he made a difference during his 17-month tenure as interim executive director. Among other things, Ralph created [...]
Tenor Leech joins Michigan Opera Theatre staff
By Barb Van Atta Former Metropolitan Opera and Tri-Cities Opera tenor Richard Leech today (July 28) was named Director of Resident Artist Programs at Michigan Opera Theatre (MOT) in Detroit. Leech, who grew up in Broome County, will head MOT's newly created young artist program, Michigan Opera Theatre Studio. MOT President [...]
What have you been doing in the arts this week?
Who did you catch in concert, Diana Krall or the Lovin' Spoonful? Did you spend Friday with Theatre Street Productions or Saturday with SRO Productions III? Were you part of the local contingent at hometown boy Santino DeAngelo's NYC theater debut? Please share your thoughts with your fellow BAMirror readers. [...]
Summer Savoyards' 'Mikado' a winner
Reviewed by Tony Villecco The Summer Savoyards' has successfully mounted a fun, colorful and energetic production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s perennial favorite operetta, The Mikado. Friday’s house (July 17) at Binghamton University was quite full with an appreciative audience who kept up with the unique British humor sprinkled with modern-day [...]
Were the arts part of your weekend?
Did you attend a performance of Rent by EPAC, Bonnie and Clyde by Theatron (see review following) or, like me, the wonderfully sung and cleverly staged Into the Woods by SPARE Productions? Did you visit a gallery or museum, catch a bar band or actually create (or rehearse) a work of [...]
Theatron resurrects Bonnie and Clyde in musical of the same name
Reviewed by Nancy Oliveri Should you sit for over two hours to get to the end of a musical that tells the story of two people whose fate you already know? Yes, you should. In its first full-length musical, Theatron Productions is presenting Bonnie and Clyde at the Tri-Cities Opera Center [...]
Opera superstar speaks out about 'outre' productions
Although European opera houses tend to favor avant garde productions more than American houses, sometimes they go too far, according to one opera superstar. Check out this interview with Plácido Domingo.
Beautifully sung Guthrie revue at CRT will warm your heart
Reviewed by Lee Shepherd What a perfect show for the Fourth of July or, indeed, for the whole month of July. Invoking anything but knee-jerk patriotism, Woody Guthrie’s American Song at the Chenango River Theatre, gives a strong message -- that liberty and the freedom to speak your mind [...]
'Prairie Home Companion' even better in person
By Nancy Oliveri Summertime, and the living is easy on a misty June evening in Lenox, Mass. A strolling Garrison Keillor, cordless microphone in hand, circles the reserved seating section in the cavernous Music Shed at Tanglewood. He moseys onto the huge lawn, picking his way between folding chairs, picnic baskets [...]
KNOW Theatre reaches for the 'Moon' and catches it
Reviewed by George Basler Eugene O’Neill is the Mt. Everest of American drama. A climb to the summit can be a daunting task for audiences and actors alike. But once there, the view is overwhelming. Such is the case with A Moon for the Misbegotten, a heart-wrenching play that [...]
Henkle remembered as tireless volunteer for the arts
By Barb Van Atta You may not have known her name, but, for many people, Rosemarie A. Henkle was the face of a host of Broome County arts organizations. Henkle, who died Tuesday (June 9), was a dedicated volunteer who ultimately became, as her family put it, “an art [...]
Say 'yes' to Mill's 'Millie'
Reviewed by Therese Bohn The Cider Mill Playhouse is wrapping up its 39th season with the crowd-pleasing Thoroughly Modern Millie, and what a caper it is! Millie (Maureen Edwards) arrives in Manhattan looking as innocent as Mary Pickford, but under her yellow pinafore and ringlets, she’s determined to be a thoroughly [...]
Did you have an art-full weekend?
How were the arts part of your life this past week and weekend? Did you catch Roar of the Greasepaint or Velocity of Autumn like your BAMirror reviewers did (see below)? Or were you at the Dance Stories performance at Binghamton University? Were you in the audience when the Downtown Singers performed [...]
Ponderous book undercuts Ti-Ahwaga 'Greasepaint'
Reviewed by George Basler The famous American playwright George F. Kaufman glumly observed that “satire is what closes Saturday night.” Kaufman wasn’t talking about The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd, but he could have been. The musical, which opened this past weekend at the Ti-Ahwaga [...]
CRT's 'Velocity' is two-person powerhouse
Reviewed by Nancy Oliveri Every now and then you attend a show that has the potential to blow your socks off. Eric Coble's The Velocity of Autumn at Chenango River Theatre in Greene is just such a play. The two-person, one-act comedy/drama is set in a New York brownstone that’s [...]
