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Stagefright

Sarah Gilbert (pictured above), creator and executive producer of TV’s The Talk, recently announced on the show that she is engaged to marry rock musician Linda Perry, former lead singer of 4 Non-Blondes. Gilbert (Little House’s Melissa Gilbert’s younger sister) is best known to TV audiences for her role as Darlene on the sitcom Roseanne (1988-1997). Though she doesn’t have much time for work on the stage, Gilbert is always looking for the right project. She was last seen in New York several years ago in the play The Exonerated.

Chautauqua Theater Company will kick off its 30th anniversary season with Tennessee Williams’s 1955 Pulitzer Prize winning Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (June 28-July 7). The classic American drama joins previously announced Clybourne Park and The Comedy of Errors. On July 27, the company will present The Romeo & Juliet Project, an original retelling of the Shakespeare tragedy, conceived, curated, and directed by Vivienne Benesch. This will be a first in a three-year series of projects in collaboration with Chautauqua’s other resident companies.

This week, Torn Space Theater opens its production of Fassbinder’s Blood on the Cat’s Neck, directed by the company’s artistic director Dan Shanahan. On July 15, Shanahan, in collaboration with video artist Brian Milbrand, will present Fassbinder, an audio-visual installation in Buffalo’s historic Canalside district. The company will kick off its 2013-14 with Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (July 25-August 4), directed by Meghan Callahan, at a location yet to be announced. Also for next season, Maria Irene Fornes’s Mud and A Clockwork Orange.

Gail Golden directs American Repertory Theatre’s final show of the season (April 26-May 18), Ron Hutchinson’s Moonlight and Magnolias, an insider’s look behind the making of the movie classic Gone with the Wind. The production stars Guy Wagner, David C Mitchell, Todd Fuller, and Jamie Nablo-Lama.

Not to be missed, on Saturday April 27 at 8pm at Kleinhans, a staged concert version of Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate with the BPO, starring Michele Ragusa as Kate and Mike McGowan as Petruchio, directed by James Brennan. Both Ragusa and McGowan played the roles to great acclaim a few years ago at the Paper Mill Playhouse, also directed by Brennan. The concert version will also feature, among others, Jenn Stafford, Tom Owen, Maggie Zindle, and David Bondrow. By the way, McGowan is also in the national tour of The Book of Mormon, so he will be back to Buffalo in June, this time at Shea’s.

David Bondrow and Marc-Jon Filippone will play Felix and Oscar in Neil Simon’s classic The Odd Couple, coming up in May at Desiderio’s Dinner Theatre. Since its opening on Broadway in 1965, the comedy keeps being produced all over the place. As a matter of fact, the Geva Theatre in Rochester has it as part of its 2013-14 season, which kicks off on September 10 with Pump Boys and Dinettes.

Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart debuted at New York’s Public Theater in 1985. It finally made it to Broadway in 2011 and won five Tony Awards including Best Revival. And now, after years of delays, it will finally be made into an HBO movie starring Mark Ruffalo, Joe Mantello, Jim Parsons, and Julia Roberts. BUA presents its local production beginning May 17, starring Brant Adamczyk, Kevin Craig, Kurt Erb, Tim Finnegan, Dave Hayes, Matthew Crehan Higgins, James Mikula, Michael Seitz, and Caitlin Coleman.

The fabulous actress/dancer Bethany Moore (pictured below) is back on Broadway starring in the first ever revival of Pippin at the Music Box Theatre. Already an audience favorite, the musical officially opens on April 25. It is a likely winner of the Tony for Best Musical Revival (Broadway Across America is one of the producers). Tony nominations will be announced April 30 at 8:30am. In addition to her performing duties, Moore is the animal trainer for the understudy dog, also pictured.