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 concert to blend spooky music and special effects
By George Basler Julia Grella O’Connell calls the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra’s upcoming concert “a multi-media, interactive Halloween show.” That means audience members on Oct. 28 won’t just hear music; they’ll see some striking special effects on the stage of Broome County Forum Theatre in Binghamton. “I won’t divulge what [...]
Get out your leather jackets and Brilliantine: SRO is presenting ‘Grease’
By George Basler SRO Productions III will bring back memories of the 1950s when it opens the musical Grease on Oct. 27, for a two-weekend run at the Schorr Family Firehouse Stage in Johnson City. “It’s a show that’s fun to do that people know about,” said Scott Fisher, who is [...]
Madrigal Choir to feature all-American program
By George Basler The Madrigal Choir of Binghamton will mark two anniversaries when it performs “American Reflections” Sunday, Oct. 22, at Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church in Binghamton. One is the 45th anniversary of the choir, which was formed in 1978 when 11 people gathered on Binghamton’s South Side because [...]
Philharmonic chamber series open with Dolphins Quartet
At 3 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 15), the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra will open its 2023-2024 Garufi Law, P.C. Phelps Mansion Museum Series with a concert by the Dolphins Quartet. The Dolphins – Luke Henderson and Isaac Park, violin; James Preucil, viola, and Ian Maloney, cello – are a rising [...]
CRT duo gives strong performances while imagining MLK’s last night on earth
By George Basler The Martin Luther King Jr. in Katori Hall’s play The Mountaintop is not a plaster saint placed on a pedestal. Instead, he’s a man in the midst of a profound psychological crisis as he worries for his life, battles some personal flaws and wonders if his work [...]
Live music ‘Coco’ to screen at BU
On Thursday (Oct. 12), the Coco Live-to-Film 2023 Concert Tour will come to Binghamton University’s Anderson Center for the Performing Arts. The event features a screening of the complete Disney/Pixar film with Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer Michael Giacchino’s musical score performed by the 20-member Orquesta Folclórica Nacional de [...]
TCO staging poignant opera on hot-button topic
By George Basler Tri-Cities Opera is tackling an important and controversial issue when it presents the modern opera I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams this weekend (Oct. 13 and 15) at the opera center 315 Clinton St., Binghamton. Created by Cerise Lim Jacobs and composed by Jorge Sosa, [...]
BU presents complex and challenging play
By George Basler Envoy, an intense play about the terrifying ordeal of American college students held hostage in a Third World country, will open Thursday (Oct. 12) at Binghamton University. “It’s a magnificently layered work,” filled “with theatrical moments you can’t wait for audiences to see,” said Brandon A. [...]
Award-winning local film to be shown at Cider Mill Stage
By George Basler In August the locally produced film Demon Behind the Glass won the Michael O’Hear Award for Outstanding Western New York feature at the 10th annual Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival. Southern Tier residents will have the opportunity to see the award-winning film at two 7:30 p.m. screenings Oct. [...]
Ti-Ahwaga Players go to the dogs in a humorous way
By George Basler In Sylvia, Anna Tagliaferro gives a performance that chews up the scenery. That could be a criticism, but, in Tagliaferro’s case, it’s a compliment. She’s lively, funny, goofy and even a bit touching, even while her character nibbles on some old shoes. And she does it on [...]
Chenango River to close season with intense historical drama
Chenango River Theatre in Greene will close its season with Katori Hall’s historical drama, The Mountaintop, which the Associated Press called “a thrilling, wild, provocative flight of magical realism ... as audacious as it is inventive.” The play, which will run Oct. 6-22, focuses on the actions of Martin [...]
Have a BLAST: Cider Mill play provides laughs galore
By George Basler Remember the 1970s -- bad clothes, bad hair, vinyl records and rotary phones. That’s the setting for playwright Katie Forgette’s Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a very funny and, for the most part, affectionate “send up” of the social mores and expectations of that [...]
KNOW’s death row tale is compelling theater
By George Basler John Brennan and Robert Alvin “Bobby” Rayburn have nothing in common. Rayburn is a mentally damaged white supremacist. Brennan is an educated white liberal who was once a prison counselor. But in a major way they are the same. Both are damaged souls housed in adjacent [...]
Step Afrika! set to rock the Anderson Center
By George Basler When people come to a Step Afrika! performance, they shouldn’t expect to stay quiet, the troupe's founder, C. Brian Williams, says. Not by a long shot. He wants them to applaud, make noise and “feel free to interact” with the performers from the time they go on [...]
Ti-Ahwaga begins season with comedy about relationships
The Ti-Ahwaga Community Players in Owego will start their 2023-24 season with a play that has been called “a smart, silly, sophisticated and occasionally salty comedy about relationships, nature and growing older.” Sylvia, which will run weekends from this Friday (Sept. 29) to Oct. 15, was written by A.R. [...]
