THEATER PREVIEW Enriching theater in March By Darwin McPherson A varied selection of intriguing, dramatic, humorous, and touching material takes Western New York stages this month. If springtime isn’t coming soon enough for you, sample some of these spiritually enriching attractions. Brian Riggs in The Good Thief, directed by Kelli Bocock-Natale. Natale and Riggs will reunite for New Phoenix’s Macbeth. Order in the Kav Tackling a subject that doesn’t get too much play on stage, the Kavinoky Theatre presents Bob Clyman’s Secret Order, which explores the high stakes world of medical research. Ian Lithgow, who recently reprised his role as George Bailey in the Kavinoky’s Christmas show It’s a Wonderful Life, plays a graduate student on the verge of finding a cure for cancer who “gets caught in the pressures of the corporate and academic machine,” says director Doug Zschiegner. “There are lots of big ideas in this play,” Zschiegner says. “The human drama seems to hinge on how our hopes and expectations get all intertwined with each other. Everyone in this play expects the best of themselves and of their colleagues. On the other hand, everyone has their own agenda and there is a lot of insight into power games and how we intentionally and unintentionally manipulate each other. Sometimes, the best intentions can lead to disastrous consequences.” Zschiegner says this suspenseful thriller is heightened because “our hero isn’t trying to get the girl or catch the bad guy, but find a cure for cancer. That raises the stakes incredibly. The consequences of failure are so high.” In addition to Lithgow, Secret Order’s superlative cast features Saul Elkin, Peter Palmisano, and Adrienne Lewis. Like recent Kavinoky productions The Farnsworth Invention and The 39 Steps, Secret Order is a fast-paced narrative with many moving parts. It opens March 5 and runs through April 3. Something wicked this way comes Last year, actor/director Kelli Bocock-Natale met with New Phoenix Theatre on the Park executive director Richard Lambert about including her favorite Shakespeare play, Macbeth, in their 2009–2010 season. To her delight, he agreed. For this production of the dark tragedy, Bocock-Natale is using a cast of only eight people and utilizing “a type of physical theatre that will not only tell the story, but also challenge the audience’s imagination to the fullest,” she says. One of Buffalo’s best talents, Brian Riggs (recently seen in ICTC’s Blood Brothers), stars as Macbeth, the beleaguered general whose rise to power includes murdering the king of Scotland and dealing with an insanely ambitious wife. “Brian is at the right age to play Macbeth. He is so intelligent as an actor, and he excels in physical theater,” Bocock-Natale says. Kate LoConti is featured as Lady Macbeth and the remaining ensemble—Eric Rawski, John Kreuzer, Caitlin Coleman, Darryl Hart, Marie Hasselbeck, and Kevin Craig—will double and/or triple roles. “By keeping the cast small, it enables me to create, through physicality, all the moods and atmospheres of the play,” Bocock-Natale says. “I advised all of the actors they must be in excellent shape. They will need not only their acting talents, but true endurance and strength.” This new interpretation of Macbeth opens March 11. Moody blues Now playing at the Paul Robeson Theatre is Lydia Diamond’s adaptation of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Aware of Morrison’s “melodic rhythm” in “addressing themes and issues within a culture from an elegant and purposeful presentation style,” PRT artistic director Paulette Harris admired how Diamond took a wide variety of subjects and weaved them into “something that addressed racial issues, generational dysfunction, and people who represented the unspoken horrors in every culture.” She chose this production in the hope that it would speak to today’s generation. With the play’s depiction of a long history where African Americans were constantly put down, the current reality with the first African-American U.S. president is an interesting parallel. “This production will generate plenty of conversation about how times have changed or not,” she says. The Bluest Eye is about “toxic shame and social pollution. The dumping of toxic racial and socioeconomic inferiority carcinogens into our community and society at large,” says director Ibn Shabazz. “These carcinogenic agents, from the well-intentioned Dick and Jane elementary school text books, to subtle ads and product packaging, to not-so-subtle disdainful looks and outright aggression, all lead to a cancerous internalized self-loathing that manifests in a little black girl longing for ‘the bluest eyes’ to make her pretty.” The Bluest Eye can be seen through March 20 at the African American Cultural Center. A tight-knit family I’m always keen to see a remount of a production before my time on the “theater beat.” This month, MusicalFare offers Falsettos, which garnered much critical acclaim and many fond memories back in 1995. “Last time, we did the show at the old Pfeiffer Theatre downtown. This time, we’re bringing it out to the suburbs,” says MF artistic/executive director Randall Kramer. This musical, with a book by James Lapine (Sunday in the Park with George) and William Finn (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) and music and lyrics by Finn, focuses on a character named Marvin and the folks who surround him. Kramer says Falsettos is about “trying to maintain the essence of a family while the societal rules and conventions of what a family is keep changing. It’s about trying to hold on to what is truly important in life even while we make inevitable missteps and things happen that we can’t explain.” For this production, three original cast members from 1995 are returning: John Fredo, Debbie Pappas, and Pam Mangus. New cast members include Lou Colaiacovo, Marc Sacco, and Michele Roberts. Since Fredo and Pappas are amongst my favorite WNY performers, I’m quite excited—especially since they rarely (if ever, according to my memory) perform on stage together. Falsettos opens March 3 and plays through April 3. The Lonesome West runs at ICTC through March 28. Irish Bros’ Obviously, with a name like “Irish Classical Theatre Company,” you expect work with a distinctive ethnic feel. However, few playwrights, in my experience, have evoked as palpable an atmosphere as Martin McDonagh, who wrote Beauty Queen of Leenane and Cripple of Innishmaan. “McDonagh, although considered Irish, is English-born, though his locations, characters, themes, and language are all profoundly Irish,” says ICTC artistic director Vincent O’Neill. The Lonesome West is a part of McDonagh’s “Connemara Trilogy,” which includes Beauty Queen and A Skull in Connemara (which ICTC has yet to produce). ICTC associate director Greg Natale (Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me) directs a carefully assembled cast to present McDonagh’s tale of two warring brothers “forever stuck in a pubescent selfishness and violent way of looking at life,” he says. Steve Copps (Blood Brothers) and Joe Wiens (Buddy Holly, Yankee Tavern) star as the brothers. Candice Kogut (Blackbird) is “the flirtatious beauty lost in rural purgatory,” Natale says, and Brian Patrick Stoyle is “the hapless, hopeless, and in-over-his-head young parish priest, sentenced to tend to his troubled flock, the inhabitants of, as he puts it, ‘the murder capital of Ireland.’” The Lonesome West is a dark comedy about “how most people don’t change, not really. They may wish they could; they may even be able to delude themselves that they are doing so for a while, but ultimately, the real ‘them’ will rise to the surface ... good or bad,” Natale says. The Lonesome West continues through March 28. Also playing From March 5 to 28, Ujima presents Florence Gibson’s drama Belle, about two former slaves who go north in the period following the Civil War. Ujima artistic director Lorna Hill says she waited a long time to mount this production, because she needed to find the perfect actress for the lead. After discovering Shanntina Moore, who played “Snake” in In De Beginnin’ last season, her search was over. The Alleyway presents their annual Buffalo Quickies show March 4–20. The festival of one-acts is in its nineteenth year and is best suited for adult audiences. Featuring songs from the movie as well its original hits, the Broadway touring production of Grease slides into Shea’s March 23–28. Ace Young and winner Taylor Hicks, American Idol veterans from the show’s fifth season, are both in the show. Darwin McPherson is Spree's theater previewer SUBSCRIBE NOW Back to the Table of Contents Back to Top