A number of theatrical productions hit the stage this weekend, ranging from the mature fare of “The Vagina Monologues” presented for V-Day 2010, to the Rochester Children’s Theatre’s presentation of the Broadway favorite “Peter Pan.” Pay a visit to the box office for these five very different shows:
'Edge’
COMPANY Method Machine
PLAYWRIGHT Paul Alexander
DIRECTOR David Henderson
CAST Marcy Savastano
SITE Multi-use Community Cultural Center (MuCCC), 142 Atlantic Ave., Rochester
TIME Friday, March 12, at 8 p.m.
TICKETS $15 ($10 students/seniors)
CONCEPT Savastano portrays poet and author Sylvia Plath on the final day of her life in Alexander’s one-woman play, giving an extended — both passionate and restrained, and often haunting — monologue about her childhood, her father’s death, her husband’s infidelities, her work and the various factors that have led to her suicide. “Edge” was the first work held in the MuCCC, in March 2009, and will be reprised, one night only, for the venue’s first anniversary.
THOUGHTS “Living with the script for so long — about 14 months now — has certainly had its challenges as well as its rewards,” wrote Savastano, who has reprised the show with Method Machine elsewhere over the past year — and who, as an artist, has related to Plath’s struggles. “Knowing that one can never perfect one’s art and wanting so badly to always be brilliant and affecting and true to that art is a feeling to which I can certainly relate. I think ‘Edge’ has helped me face that fear/struggle in a different way — to accept it some days and to fight against it with everything I have other days. ... To return once again to the place where the venture began is amazing. After one year, we’ve come full circle and that feels strange and beautiful — it doesn’t happen a lot in theater.”
‘The Vagina Monologues’
COMPANY Planned Parenthood of the Rochester/Syracuse Region
PLAYWRIGHT Eve Ensler
SITE Hochstein School of Music and Dance, 50 N. Plymouth Ave., Rochester
TIME Saturday, March 13, at 7 p.m.
TICKETS $20 ($10 students and seniors), available at Aaron’s Alley, Equal=Grounds, Parkleigh, local Planned Parenthood locations, www.pprsr.org and at the door
CONCEPT Eve Ensler’s play, a varying number of monologues by assorted women addressing various women’s issues — some joyful, some horrific — has been staged around the world and has, through the global nonprofit V-Day, raised millions of dollars for groups fighting violence against women. Planned Parenthood’s “V-Day Rochester 2010” will include a performance of the play, and a benefit for rape crisis services in the area. A portion of the proceeds also will go to address violence against women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to volunteer public relations manager Anne Blythe. It’s the fourth year the play has been staged for V-Day here, and the 2010 production includes the largest cast yet, with 35 women from all walks of life.
THOUGHTS “It’s definitely an awareness-building campaign to let people know that violence against women is not stopping, it’s going on — and we get in people’s face and say we’re not going to allow it,” Blythe said, adding, “It’s also a wonderful opportunity for women who would not know one another to connect with one another. ... Bottom line, we have a lot of fun.”
‘Peter Pan’
COMPANY Rochester Children’s Theatre
SITE Nazareth College Arts Center, 4245 East Ave., Pittsford
TIME Saturday, March 13, 2 and 7 p.m.; plus 7 p.m. March 14,
20 and 21
CAST Jodi Beckwith, Stefan Cohen, Jason Mincer, Mary Tiballi, Janine Mercandetti, Nick DiCola, Gracie Martin, Eoin Dennis, Henry DuRocher, J. Simmons, Ted Limpert, Aaron Netsky, plus 20 children playing Lost Boys and Indians
TICKETS Range from $20 to $25 (also, ticketbuyers mentioning the “High Five” promotion will get $5 off per ticket if they buy five or more), available at the arts center box office, (585) 389-2170, www.naz.edu/artscenter
CONCEPT It’s the musical adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s 1904 “Peter Pan” play, featuring such classic songs as “I’m Flying” and “I Won’t Grow Up.” Broadway productions of the musical have featured Mary Martin, Sandy Duncan and Cathy Rigby among its past Pans.
NOTE Peter & co. will fly thanks the Flying by Foy, the same theatrical effects company that has flown three Broadway productions since 1954 (the Martin, Duncan and Rigby shows), as well as originating the flying for “Superman,” “Spamalot,” “The Lion King” and thousands of other stage productions, concerts, ballets and more.
‘The Sweet Life’
COMPANY Actors from Greater Rochester Repertory Companies
PLAYWRIGHT Craig Thornton
DIRECTOR Michael H. Arvé
CAST (Staged reading by) Diane Chevron, Allan Cuseo, Meredith Powell, Kevin Indovino, Jillian Christensen, John Christensen and Stephen Elliott
SITE Multi-use Community Cultural Center (MuCCC), 142 Atlantic Ave., Rochester
TIME Sunday, March 14, at 2 p.m.
TICKETS $10 door, $5 advance
CONCEPT Billed by MuCCC and Arvé as a “bittersweet comedy” that’s an “homage to small towns, chocolate, family and Kaufman and Hart,” the play’s about a family chocolate business that’s near collapse due to antiquated business practices and a lack of modern technology — matriarch Helen May (Chevron) claims to have a medical syndrome that’s intensified by cell phone use. Tensions heighten when estranged daughter Pauline (Powell) — who never eats chocolate — returns from the city with a plan to save the family business.
Actors from GRRC are presenting the play as a staged reading; if it’s successful, Arvé said it may return in a fully staged version.
THOUGHTS “I’ve known Craig for many years, I’ve known him since he was a kid — we reconnected after many, many years of not seeing each other,” Arvé said, noting that a mutual friend passed him Thornton’s script. “It’s not light, but it reminds me a great deal of Kaufman and Hart, ‘You Can’t Take It With You’ — it’s that same type of screwball comedy. It’s funny, and it still has a lot to say,” he chuckled.
‘Grease’
COMPANY Touring production produced by Nederlander Presentations, hosted by Rochester Broadway Theatre League
PLAYWRIGHT Book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey (additional songs from Barry Gibb, John Farrar, Louis St. Louis and Scott Simon)
DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER Kathleen Marshall
CAST Josh Franklin, Lauren Ashley Zakrin, Will Blum, Bridie Carroll, Kate Morgan Chadwick, Laura D’Andre, Kelly Felthous, Allison Fisher, Dominic Fortuna, Jesse JP Johnson, Roxie Lucas, David Ruffin, Jamison Scott and Nick Verina
SITE Rochester Auditorium Theatre, 885 E. Main St., Rochester
TIME March 16-21: 7:30 p.m. March 16, 17 and 18; 8 p.m. March 19; 2 and 8 p.m. March 20; and 2 and 7 p.m. March 21
TICKETS Range from $30,50 to $57.50, available at www.rbtl.org and Ticketmaster locations
CONCEPT This national tour of the Fifties-themed Broadway musical about Danny and Sandy, reunited at Rydell High, also includes some elements from the 1978 movie — adding songs from the film like “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and “You’re the One That I Want.” Last month, Josh Franklin joined the cast as Danny — Rochester audiences will remember him from “Jersey Boys” last season. They may also remember the show’s Sandy — Lauren Ashley Zakrin — from the 2008 production of “Legally Blonde the Musical.”
NOTE “American Idol” season-five winner Taylor Hicks will not be appearing in this tour’s Rochester engagement. (He’s been playing the Teen Angel.)
