SISTERS OF SWING: THE ANDREWS SISTERS MUSICAL opened this week and runs through August 9th at Musicalfare Theatre, 4380 Main St., located on the Daemen College campus in Amherst. And Musicalfare's Randall Kramer takes his talents on the road to Lewiston, presenting PETER PAN, the Broadway musical based on the play by J.M. Barrie, opening at Artpark on July 30th.
Meanwhile, in Canada, both the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario with 13 offerings and the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario with 10 offerings, continue well into the fall. THE TWELVE POUND LOOK is a 35-minute play by J.M.Barrie, of Peter Pan fame, which deals with feminism and the role of a wife in a marriage. In that play, the typewriter, and a career as a typist, offers women in the first decade of the 20th century an opportunity to better their circumstances.
Coincidentally, SWEET CHARITY also includes a routine in which the typewriter, and a career as a secretary, offers women an opportunity up and out. Since THE TWELVE POUND LOOK is so short, it’s easy to see that and still have time for lunch before taking in a 2 p.m. matinee.
ROMEO AND JULIET, the tragedy by Shakespeare presented by Shakespeare in Delaware Park, directed by Tom Loughlin, also wraps up this Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on Shakespeare Hill in Delaware Park. While in this production of R&J several traditional male roles, including the Prince, Benvolio, and Tybalt, are played by women, the next production, TWELFTH NIGHT, a comedy by Shakespeare also presented by Shakespeare in Delaware Park, will have, as in Shakespeare’s time, an all-male cast. Directed by Steve Vaughan, who choreographed the fight scenes in R&J, TWELFTH NIGHT will open on Thursday July 23 and runs through August 16, Tuesdays through Sundays, always at 7:30 p.m., and always free.
This Sunday, July 12th is the last day for OUR TOWN, the classic play by Thornton Wilder presented at the Bratton Theater by Chautauqua Theater Company, directed by Paul Mullins. With a number of actors familiar through Broadway, film, and TV the traditional role of stage manager on the bare stage is enhanced by “stadium seating” which adds an intimacy to this very intimate look at first love and small town life. Spoiler alert: bring tissues or a hankie. The CTC’s next play is INTIMATE APPAREL, by Lynn Nottage, directed by Vivienne Benesch, which opens July 24th.
