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2nd Gen: Building a Season on Lessons Learned

Melinda Miller, The Buffalo News: When theater people find a good idea, they don’t let it go to waste. It could be big, like turning a fairy tale that was made into a hit movie into a splashy Broadway musical, or it could be personal, like taking those pre-pandemic plans that you had for the stage and making a virtual video celebration of your city.

That’s what the women of Second Generation Theatre did when they moved “Songs for a New World” online during the pandemic, and they are hanging onto that thought to open their back-in-the-theater 2021-22 season when they bring the show back to where it started, the stage at Shea’s Smith Theatre, on Oct. 22.

In “Songs for a New World,” composer Jason Robert Brown tells stories about people making choices and the new worlds they see or want for themselves. It is designed to be performed on a very spare set. However, when Second Generation had to go virtual, director Amy Jakiel took the singers to iconic locations around the city – no “extras” for the set, but the locations and the architecture alone added impact.

They want to hang onto some of that.

“When we were choosing the season to come back with in person, we wanted to build on the things we learned when we were closed down,” artistic director Kelly Copps explained. “We’ll tie in some of the elements from the film in the use of projections, combining the experience and spark of live theater and acknowledging the last year and a half. It would seem like a waste not to share those images again, and share them with more people.”

Purchase a season FLEX PASS with incredible perks by clicking here: www.secondgenerationtheatre.com/tickets/

Continue reading here: https://buffalonews.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/second-generation-theatre-building-a-new-season-on-pandemic-lessons-learned/article_e6dcace0-09b7-11ec-80a5-678c7662c44f.html

REVIEW: The Color Purple at Shea’s 710

Something magical is happening at Shea’s 710 Theatre. And it’s a joy to report that the local talent onstage is simply astounding. Along with the Ujima Theatre Company and Second Generation Theatre, Shea’s is producing a spine-tingling production of the musical THE COLOR PURPLE. (Read the full review below!)

https://www.broadwayworld.com/buffalo/article/Review-THE-COLOR-PURPLE-at-Sheas-710-Theatre-20230916

TICK, TICK… BOOM! is HAUNTING, POWERFUL…

BUFFALO NEWS REVIEW 5/24/23 by Anthony Chase

The career of Jonathan Larson is tantalizing. All the accolades that were heaped upon him, including three Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, came after his death. He died abruptly and unexpectedly of aortic dissection the day before the first off-Broadway preview of his musical, “Rent.”

He is known only for “Rent,” and for an earlier musical, “Boho Days,” which was adapted by others into the three-person musical, “Tick, Tick … Boom!” after his death. Second Generation Theatre has just opened an exquisite production of “Tick, Tick … Boom!” at Shea’s Smith Theatre.

Larson’s early death gives his musicals, all about youthful hope and fear, a haunting quality. The material is both timeless and very much of the AIDS era. Younger and older audiences are likely to respond to “Tick, Tick … Boom!” very differently. The name of the stigmatized disease is not even mentioned in the script, and it is possible that younger audiences will not understand exactly what is being said.

I think that an uncontrollable groan of emotion might have escaped from my choked-up throat when Jon, the central character, vows to be with a friend who has AIDS at the time of his death. Life teaches us that such promises are not always possible to keep.

The quality of the material, which was recently made into a film, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and released on Netflix, is clear. Happily, this production, meticulously directed by Lou Colaiacovo and joyfully choreographed by Elizabeth Polito, with music direction by Joe Isgar, is excellent. The production moves beautifully and sounds terrific. It is also imbued with great wit and penetrating insight.

Sean Ryan plays Jon, a character based on Larson, who is struggling to have a career writing musicals but is beginning to doubt his prospects. A talented actor, singer and dancer, Ryan’s good looks make him a quadruple threat. His performance is by turns thrilling and emotionally powerful. He simply exudes talent and charisma.

Leah Berst plays Susan, Jon’s girlfriend, as well as many other characters. She previously appeared in “Rent” for Starring Buffalo and has a large and lush voice that’s made for Larson’s music. She is wonderful.

Joe Russi alternately makes us bust out laughing and wrecks us with emotion as Michael, Jon’s friend who abandoned the theater to become hugely successful in marketing. This is the latest in a litany of fabulous performances from Russi.

For me, “Tick, Tick … Boom!” provided a wistful and contemplative look backward. Twentysomethings, emerging from a pandemic and wondering what the hell to do with their lives, are likely to respond very differently but just as powerfully. The production is first-rate.

Info: Presented by Second Generation Theatre through June 6 at Shea’s Smith Theatre, 658 Main St. For tickets, visit sheas.org.

4 STARS: Second Generation’s ‘Secret Garden: Spring Version’ is artfully staged, superbly acted

The Secret Garden: Spring Version” is full of mysteries, locked away: a garden, a boy, a heart. The 1991 musical by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon is based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic novel from 1911. The Second Generation Theatre production is a jewel: elegant, charming, exquisitely designed and expertly performed.

This is a 90-minute retelling of the story of Mary Lennox, a young English girl who is shipped off to an uncle she doesn’t know when her parents die in India. Uncle Archibald’s home in England is grand, but not happy. He is in mourning for his beloved wife, Lily, who died giving birth to their son, Colin. The boy is an invalid, confined to his room and forbidden to receive visitors. To make matters worse, Mary’s uncle can’t bear to look at her, because of her uncanny resemblance to her late Aunt Lily.

The secret garden of the title was Lily’s. In his grief, Archibald had it locked and abandoned when she died, but of course, nothing fascinates children more than something that is locked away, and the uncontainable desires of children propel the plot of this timeless story.

Link to Full Review HERE.

4/4 Stars for CABARET

Anthony Chase

Second Generation Theatre has taken on one of the greats of the American musical theater and nailed it. Under the masterful direction of Kristin Bentley, this production of “Cabaret,” the 1966 musical adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s “I am a Camera,” by playwright Joe Masteroff with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, is swift, economical and pointedly focused. “Cabaret” tells the disturbing tale of how fascism destroys the lives of some innocent and well-meaning people.

No. “Cabaret” is not a show for those who need their musicals to be mindless or comforting. Set in Weimar-era Berlin, the play centers on the residents of a rooming house operated by Fraulein Schneider, a widow, during the rise of the Nazis and violent antisemitism. Seeing this show the night after the first hearing on the events of Jan. 6 was a sobering experience, and that’s the point of “Cabaret.” This is a cautionary tale. In that Brechtian way, we are intended to watch these characters from long ago, and think about ourselves. The scenery for the original Broadway production featured a giant mirror in which the audience could see its own reflection.

The characters who inhabit Fraulein Schneider’s house include Clifford Bradshaw, an aspiring novelist from America; Fraulein Kost, who pays the rent through prostitution; and Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit seller who is in love with the landlady. Finally, an English cabaret singer, Sally Bowles, moves in with Clifford when she loses her job.

The charismatic Steve Jakiel and Pamela Rose Mangus are the emotional center of “Cabaret” at Second Generation Theatre.

Mark Duggan

The sleazy Berlin cabaret where Sally works serves as counterpoint and mirror to the world of the play. The proceedings are overseen by a master of ceremonies played by Joe Russi who performs a succession of musical numbers, each of which makes an incisive comment on the lives of the other characters.

Cabaret has undergone three revisions since 1966. New material was written for the 1972 film starring Liza Minnelli, and in 1998, songs from the film were incorporated into this version, while other songs were nixed, and a number cut before Broadway was restored. This script also explores Clifford’s ambiguous sexuality, an element that was absent in 1966.

The contribution of Bentley’s production lies in the calibration of traditional musical theater elements among the secondary characters, and more expressionistic elements, which are brought front and center. The Emcee, an equal player with Sally in many productions, emerges in this staging as the central narrator of the story, and Sally, famed for her triviality, is revealed to be a deeply troubled person.

Russi is fabulous as the mischievous and decadent Emcee. The frivolity usually assigned to Sally is relegated entirely to him in this production, and his performance swings wildly from frolicsome to the searing. He makes this show his own in a commanding yet playful fashion.

Cassie Cameron, who plays Sally, is a first-rate actress. In the musical milieu, as Sally’s situation becomes more desperate, she pushes her cabaret numbers to startling extremes. Not everyone shares my fascination with the deployment of ugly theatrical gestures, but I was drawn to Cameron’s harsh and nearly frantic interpretations of such songs as “Mein Herr” and the titular “Cabaret.” The actress makes us understand that Sally’s air of carefree superficiality is clearly a disguise, hiding her anguish and terror. This is a stunning and original performance.

The emotional center of the production lies squarely in the charismatic hands of Pamela Rose Mangus and Steve Jakiel who are perfection as Schneider and Schultz. The garish world of the cabaret finds its opposite in the fruit merchant’s latter life wooing of his no-nonsense landlady. They are adorable and handle their old-style musical numbers masterfully.

I greatly admired the clarity and intensity of Dan Urtz’s performance as Clifford, a man with his head squarely on his shoulders’ but who is an emotional wreck, unable to conquer his inner confusion and vulnerability. Urtz handsomely gives us a classic leading man who has all the fragility and emotional ambiguity of a film noir hero.

Amy Jakiel is excellent as pragmatic Fraulein Kost, as is Steve Brachmann as chillingly smug Ernst Ludwig.

The simplified set by Primo Thomas allows Bentley to effect impressively quick and seamless transitions. Chris Cavanagh’s stark lighting is hauntingly marvelous. Choreography by Kelly Copps evokes the tone and period, and advances the story while still being inventive and original as performed by an impressive lineup or Kit Kat girls and boys. Music direction by Allan Paglia, including a terrific band, is outstanding.

It is thrilling to see the greatest of the Kander and Ebb musicals endure. It began life at a time when Sally’s green fingernail polish was shocking and has successfully evolved and made the transition to a time when the actors specify their pronouns and even green hair isn’t shocking. Nonetheless, its cautionary tale is frighteningly contemporary and urgent. Second Generation is giving the show a superior outing, disturbing in all the right ways.

Review

“CABARET”

4 stars (out of 4)

Rave Reviews for The Toxic Avenger

Critics and patrons alike are going bananas over SGT’s regional premiere of THE TOXIC AVENGER! Click the links below to read full text of these incredible reviews!

THE BUFFALO NEWS – 3.5/4 Stars https://buffalonews.com/2019/10/26/second-generations-toxic-avenger-grotesque-absurd-and-sensational/
ANTHONY CHASE- Theatre Talk Buffalo- a 5 star Show!  https://www.theatertalkbuffalo.com/post/the-avenger-advantage
BUFFALO VIBE – https://www.buffalovibe.com/articles/arts-culture/review-the-toxic-avenger-sheas-smith-theatre
BUFFALO RISING – 5/5 Buffaloes- https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.buffalorising.com/2019/10/the-toxic-avenger-is-a-hilarious-hit-as-five-super-talented-singer-actor-dancers-and-crew-create-a-five-buffalo-show/amp/

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