Artvoice: Buffalo's #1 Newsweekly
Home Blogs Web Features Calendar Listings Artvoice TV Real Estate Classifieds Contact
Previous story: From A-Z
Next story: For W.C.W.

Stagefright

Kander and Ebb’s murder mystery musical Curtains, which premiered in Los Angeles this past August was just nominated for seven LA Ovation Awards including Best Musical and Lead Actor in a Musical for its star David Hyde Pierce (pictured above). Set in Boston in the 1950s, Pierce plays a homicide detective who is an avid musical theater fan. The producers hope to take the show to Broadway by the end of this season. Interestingly enough, two other Kander & Ebb musicals that did not make it to New York are back in the works. The Visit (starring Chita Rivera) and All About Us (based on Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth) have been announced for regional productions in the 2007-08 season. Pierce was last seen on Broadway in the musical Spamalot. In 1990 he starred opposite Christine Baranski in Jules Feiffer’s comedy Elliot Loves at the now defunct Promenade Theater in New York.

Speaking of Baranski, although her fabulous Mame did not make it from DC to Broadway, she is back in New York rehearsing for the premiere of Paul Rudnick’s latest play, Regrets Only. The production begins previews October 19 at Manhattan Theatre Club where, back in 1991, Baranski originated the part of Chloe in Lips Together, Teeth Apart, a role that was written for her by Terrence McNally.

Eric Jordan Young’s Sammy & Me, which had a very successful run at MusicalFare last season, will be showcased in New York for industry people and potential backers and producers. The show will be presented on Oct. 23 at the Alvin Ailey Studios. Sammy & Me was a co-production between MusicalFare and the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca.

Coming up next at MusicalFare Theater, The Leader of the Pack, a musical revue featuring the music of Ellie Greenwich. The musical opened on Broadway in 1985 starring none other than Greenwich, playing herself. The local production will star Kathy Weese in the role. Directed by Lisa Ludwig, Leader of the Pack runs November 8-December 10. In the meantime, Sisters of Swing: The Andrews Sisters Musical has been extended through October 22.

After starring in last year’s The Cocktail Hour, Lisa Ludwig and Paul Todaro will be starring in another Gurney play, The Fourth Wall. The production will play at the Kavinoky from January 5 to February 4 and will also star Steve Cooper and Christina Rausa. Later in the season Todaro will be starring in Niagara University Theatre’s production of Fiddler on the Roof.

Theatre Plus (formerly Pandora’s Box Theatre Company) will be kicking off its 2006-2007 season November 9-18 with Babies or Bust, an evening featuring two one-act plays, Prodigy Prize by Donna Spector, and The Six That Fell by Laura Henry. The season will also include Plus and Beyond (January 18-28), an evening of short works; I Swear I Can Fly written by and starring Francine Conley (February 1-17), and Play-Rites of Spring (March 29-April 1), a staged reading of new plays by women.

The Gender Institute at UB will conclude its Gender Week on October 13 at 8pm with Shoes!, a one-woman play written and performed by Francine Conley. The performance will take place in the Woldman Theatre on the North Campus. Admission is free. Conley was last seen at the Alleyway in her Lost and Found.

Playwright DonnaMarie Vaughan has written the book for Grant Golden’s new musical Me II. Directed by David Granville, the musical will have its world premiere November 9 at the New Phoenix Theatre.

Edward Albert (pictured below), son of Eddie Albert and Mexican actress Margo, died this past September 22 at the age of 55. Albert became popular in the 1970s when he starred in the movie versions of popular Broadway comedies such as Butterflies Are Free and Forty Carats. Albert was fluent in Spanish, and was co-founder and Commissioner of Malibu’s Native American Task Force.