Broome Arts Mirror
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.
Cider Mill farce finds humor in efforts to bring ‘GWTW’ to the screen
By George Basler There’s no denying that, since its premiere in 1939, Gone with the Wind has found its niche in American popular culture. Even people who have never seen the film, or read the Margaret Mitchell novel upon which it’s based, have at least a passing knowledge [...]
KNOW Theatre to take funny, heartbreaking look at a tortured relationship
By George Basler American playwright Sharr White is known for weaving dark humor into painfully sad situations. That’s certainly the case with Annapurna, which had successful runs in Los Angeles and Off Broadway in New York a few years ago. The play “covers a lot of bases: love, loss, [...]
BCAC announces 2023 UCF recipients
The Broome County Arts Council (BCAC) has announced $259,110 in 2023 United Cultural Fund (UCF) awards to 21 local artists, arts organizations and community non-profits. Applicant statistics in Broome County reflected a nationwide picture, according to BCAC, with a greater number of medium-size and large arts organizations seeking deeper [...]
Phelps to host retrospective of local playwright Judith Present’s works
By George Basler Judith Present calls herself “a storyteller. And for more than 40 years, the Hancock-based playwright has been telling stories in plays she has written and performed across the region. Her specialty is creating dramatic monologues in which characters reveal the fears, feelings and hopes present [...]
Hills of Endicott will be alive with ‘The Sound of Music’
By George Basler After more than six decades of immense popularity, The Sound of Music has earned its place in the pantheon of great Broadway musicals. “It’s a show everyone loves,” said Patrick Foti, artistic director at the Endicott Performing Arts Center, which will stage the show Thursday through [...]
Binghamton Philharmonic’s musical tasting menu harkens back to heyday of BC Pops
By George Basler A mixture of “bonbons, greatest hits, humor and fun” is how Executive Director Paul Cienniwa describes the Binghamton Philharmonic’s upcoming “Pops at the Forum” concert Saturday (March 25) at the Broome County Forum Theatre in downtown Binghamton. The goal is “to revisit the style of [...]
BU will be seeing green with Irish song and dance
By George Basler Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, an energetic blend of Irish singing, dance and music is coming to Binghamton University’s Anderson Center. Wings: A Celtic Dance Celebration, features vocalist Evangeline O’Neill, seven Irish and world champion dancers, and a small group of musicians playing [...]
Summer Savoyards present classic Shaw play on class and gender
By George Basler By chance, an egotistical phonetics expert meets a Cockney flower girl and decides to show off his expertise by turning her into a "lady," who can pass as a duchess in bourgeois English society. For musical comedy fans, the story is instantly recognizable as the [...]
BLAST bringing heartfelt semi-autobiographical musical to Cider Mill Stage
By George Basler In the late 1980s, Jonathan Larson, who would later create the musical blockbuster Rent, was going through something of a personal crisis. Approaching the age of 30, he was concerned that his theatrical career was stalled and that he might have to give up on [...]
BCO to perform landmark work of Black female composer
By George Basler In 1933 Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1 in E minor premiered to great acclaim when it was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. “It is a faultless work that speaks its own message with restraint and yet with passion … worthy of a place in [...]
Binghamton University heads into big performance weekend
By George Basler This weekend (Feb. 23-26) is shaping up as a big weekend for the arts at Binghamton University with a student-performed play, a student-performed opera and an appearance by a world-renowned gender-bending dance troupe. Student play Thrive, or What You Will, a new work by feminist [...]
Believable friendships key to Ti-Ahwaga Players’ ‘Steel Magnolias’
By George Basler Shawn Yetter knows he’s taking a risk directing Steel Magnolias, which opens a three-weekend run Friday (Feb. 17) at the Ti-Ahwaga Performing Arts Center in Owego. But the risk -- working with highly recognizable material thanks to the play's enormously popular, much-loved film adaptation -- was [...]
KNOW Theatre’s ‘dark’ comedy is just for laughs
By George Basler Put eight characters together in a dark room and throw in some outlandish situations with comic misadventures, and you have Black Comedy in a nutshell. The play, which has been called a textbook example of a British drawing room farce, will open Friday (Feb. 10) [...]
Lviv National Philharmonic brings artistry of Ukraine to BU
By George Basler As part of a concert tour that its principal conductor says has “great historical significance,” the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine will perform Saturday (Feb. 11) at Binghamton University’s Anderson Center. The tour, which began Jan. 13 in Florida, is taking the orchestra to [...]
Special concert to mark Wallenberg legacy of orchestral music
By George Basler Over the course of several decades, the late Fritz and Marianne Wallenberg worked tirelessly to bring classical music to the Southern Tier. On Saturday (Jan. 28), the community will be able to honor their vision and dedication at a special 7:30 p.m. concert at the [...]