It's a rare theater company that has something on the boards over Christmas, but that's when the movies bring out some blockbusters, including an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods." Major stars fill the silver screen, including Meryl Streep as "The Witch" and Buffalo's own Christine Baranski as "The Stepmother." Anthony reports that there are some differences between stage and screen versions, partly because gruesome elements can be comedic on stage while movies, which are only two dimensional, somehow seem "more real." On the other hand, effects such as levitation and magic are almost Disney trademarks, while they can often seem a bit clunky on stage.
While the 2015 theater season is slowly ramping up to speed later in the month, there are two early openings next week. "Snake in the Grass" by Alan Ayckbourn is presented by Red Thread Theatre at the Marie Maday Theatre in Lyons Hall at Canisius College. Starring Eileen Dugan, Pamela Rose Mangus, and Adria Ryan, it opens Thursday, January 8th and runs through February 2nd. The following evening, Friday, January 9th, "Family Furniture," a comedy involving marital infidelity set in Buffalo in the 1950s (themes familiar to Gurney fans), opens at the Kavinoky Theatre near D'Youville College and runs through February 1st.
