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.
Know Theatre cast brings believable meaning to 'Mass Appeal'
Reviewed by Nancy Oliveri I confess … I was completely taken by Bill C. Davis' Mass Appeal, which opened last night (Feb. 14) as part of Know Theatre's 20th anniversary season. A packed house greeted the performance at Know's Binghamton City Stage in a former downtown firehouse. These days, any church [...]
Artist family matriarch dies
Please share your memories of Carol Brunelli, who died Tuesday (Feb. 11). Here is a link to the Press & Sun-Bulletin obituary she wrote for herself: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pressconnects/obituary.aspx?n=carol-ann-brunelli&pid=169652134&fhid=7274
Annual BU program doesn’t dance around concept of sin
By Nancy Oliveri For Binghamton University’s annual dance program, opening tonight (Feb. 14) in the Anderson Center Chamber Hall, JoEllen Kuhlman has choreographed the Seven Deadly Sins. She said the concept came to her while listening the song “Young and Beautiful” by Lana Del Ray, which she then used [...]
Ti-Ahwaga's 'As You Like It' tries hard, but falls short
Reviewed by George Basler On his death bed, the famous actor Edmund Kean reportedly said, “Dying is easy; comedy is hard.” That’s especially true with the comedies of William Shakespeare, which are filled with references and language that had Elizabethan audiences rolling in the aisles but are about as [...]
TCO 'Don Giovanni' marked by strong singing and production values
Reviewed by Kathleen Harrison Cook I’ll admit right off that this is the first time I have seen Don Giovanni anywhere. I’ve certainly heard the overture and other music from it, and of course there was that dramatic scene in the film version of Amadeus, but other than those [...]
Playhouse heats up winter with snappy sex farce
Reviewed by Nancy Oliveri These days, if you want to know if someone’s “messing around,” all you have to do is go on Facebook. But in the world of the hotel sex farce, and believe me, there are a lot of them (Lend Me a Tenor, Don’t Dress for [...]
'Four Our Hearts' at the Phelps is flirty and fun
Reviewed by Nancy Oliveri Grab your honey, whether you have one or not, and get over to the Phelps Mansion in Binghamton tonight or Saturday (Feb. 7-8). The Darkhorse Dramatists (read about them at http://www.darkhorsedramatists.com/) are offering up a very fun and, in some spots, sweetly sentimental evening of [...]
Local ragtime composer featured in BCAC program Friday
By Lee Shepherd Did you know that Binghamton had its own Scott Joplin? His name was Charles (aka “Chas”) Cohen, a ragtime composer whose piano and vocal pieces were published in the 1910s and revived in the 1960s. The African-American composer, born in Rome, Ga., in 1878, arrived in Montrose, [...]
New faces, voices help move TCO through anniversary season
By Barb Van Atta Don Juan’s not going to get much sympathy around Tri-Cities Opera this year. Previously when the opera company has presented Don Giovanni, Mozart’s take on the legendary lothario, the directors have been male. Thus, acknowledged TCO General Director Reed Smith recently, a slight “boys will [...]
'Golden Days' still very much a work in progress
EDITOR's NOTE: If you saw Golden Days last weekend (Jan. 25, 26) and want to chime in with comments about the musical, feel free. What did you like? What needs to be improved? The show's creator, Daniel Kermidas, is only in the early stages of writing. Following the Sunday performance, [...]
Violinist, Philharmonic heat up Anderson Center
Reviewed by Lee Shepherd The audience at Binghamton University's Anderson Center had a "hot time in the old town" Sunday afternoon (Jan. 26) when the Binghamton Philharmonic burned up the stage with steamy, smoldering and passionate renditions of Piazzolla's Tangazo, Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46 and Dvorak's Symphony No. [...]
S.T.A.R.’s 'Lion in Winter' is fun addition to the season’s theatrical offerings
By Nancy Oliveri As we found out last week with the positively huge, amazing cast of SRO's Les Mis, the greater Binghamton area has no shortage of people with talent. Thankfully, the relatively new Southern Tier Actors Read (S.T.A.R.) provides another outlet for actors to show their stuff, [...]
Quick look at upcoming high school musicals
For the second year in a row, BAMirror sends a big shout-out and thank you to Rich Ives of Owego, who compiled a nifty graphic about upcoming musicals at local high schools and made it available to us. […]
SRO revolutionizes 'Les Mis' with stellar production
Reviewed by Nancy Oliveri Director Scott Fisher knew he had “an embarrassment of riches” in the talent available for SRO Productions III's presentation of the musical Les Miserables, mounted to celebrate the company's 30th year. If you have seen any staged or film version of Les Mis, as it’s fondly called, it would [...]
Destination: The Barnes Collection
Local artist Joanne Thorne Arnold, who is also a member of BCAC's Board of Directors, is blogging about her recent trip to see the Barnes Foundation's famous collection in Philadelphia. The Barnes Collection is the reason for a Windsor Whip Works Art Center bus trip on March 8th. February [...]
