‘Last Five Years’ puts pair in a pop opera time warp

Reviewed by Nancy Oliveri

Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years opened last night (March 22) in Binghamton, a production of Half Light Theatre, one of the more recent entries into the theater community here. The show is not exactly a musical and is not exactly a play, but is more like an opera. I would call it a Pop Opera, but without any instantly sing-able melodies. I didn’t leave with any one song buffering in my head, just a sense of the work as a whole.

That’s OK, though, because it was good and, first and foremost, a love story — a story about the first and, no surprise here, what turn out to be the last five years of a couple’s angst-ridden, sometimes hopeful, but never really tender relationship. Performed in the intimate setting of the Roberson  Museum and Science Center’s third-floor ballroom, the show was accompanied only by Vicky Gordon, a fine pianist.

United Cultural Fund grants total $228,000 for 2013

By Barb Van Atta

Broome County Arts Council Board Chairman Fred Xlander and Executive Director Sharon Ball today (March 13) announced the awarding of more than $228,000 in United Cultural Fund (UCF) grants for 2013. Seven arts and cultural organizations will share in $210,428 in UCF general operating support grants. Project grants totaling another $18,298 will be shared by 14 organizations and individual artists.

SRO’s ‘Godspell’ mixes showmanship and faith

Reviewed by George Basler

In staging Godspell, co-director Ann Szymaniak wanted to put forth a message of love, acceptance and hope that “our fast-paced cynical society needs to hear.”
On a less spiritual level, the musical, which has been around for 42 years now, is an opportune chance for younger performers to try out their singing and acting skills in a zestful show that requires youthful exuberance to make it work.
Both spirituality and this exuberance are on display in the SRO Productions III’s presentation of the show that runs this weekend and next weekend in the ballroom of the Roberson Museum and Science Center in Binghamton.
While Godspell’s mixture of solemnity and hippy-dippy cuteness might not be to everyone’s taste, the SRO production is first-rate with an energetic and talented cast, ranging in age from 25 to 15, showing off the fact that there are a lot of talented young people in Broome County.

SRO adds ‘Little Women’ performances

Feeling bad that you missed SRO Productions’ run of the musical version of Little Women? Well, cheer up. SRO will be presenting two encore performances at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, at the Roberson Museum and Science Center, 30 Front St., Binghamton.

For tickets, call the Roberson box office at 772-0660, ext. 223, or reserve online at www.Roberson.org.

Half Light Theatre schedules ‘Master Class’ benefit; Binghamton mayor has role

By George Basler

Half Light Theatre, a new Binghamton-based theater company, is planning to mark its first anniversary with a special evening this coming weekend.

On Friday (July 27), the company will take over the grand mansion foyer of the Roberson Museum and Science Center for a gala fund-raising event that will begin with wine sampling and hors d’oeuvres at 6:30 p.m. followed by a performance of Terrence McNally’s play Master Class at 7:30 p.m.

Lesser-known works fare best in Elton John revue

Reviewed by George Basler

In his remarkable  40+-year career, nobody has ever accused Elton John of understatement.

To the contrary, John’s name conjures up a rock star image with over-the-top performances in large arenas and stadiums, outrageous costumes and driving rock bands. One image that doesn’t leap to mind is performing his songs in a intimate, cabaret setting, with only a keyboard accompanist.

That is the challenge being taken on this weekend by the Half Light Theatre, a new local theater group, which is peforming a wide-ranging concert of the composer’s work in the outdoor courtyard of the Roberson Museum and Science Center, 30 Front St., Binghamton. The revue, featuring eight singers backed by pianist Ken Martinak, opened Friday (July 13) and will continue at 7:30 p.m. today (Saturday, July 14) and at 3 p.m. Sunday (July 15).

Half Light creates hell at Roberson

Reviewed by Rebecca Sheriff

I was very intrigued when I heard there was going to be a local production of the play No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre. The work has been an absolute favorite of mine since studying existentialism as an undergraduate, and I find myself quoting the famous line “Hell is other people” on a weekly basis. I was hoping that this production by the Half Light Theatre would be traditional as the brilliance of this extraordinary play lies in its understated drama and the philosophical questions that arise from the profound dialogue. At Saturday evening’s performance (June 2), I was not disappointed.

SRO presents top-notch Kander & Ebb revue

Editor’s note: With this review, BAMirror welcomes a new writer, George Basler, recently retired from a long reporting career at the Press & Sun-Bulletin. (Due to technical difficulty, the review previously was posted under the editor’s blog sign-on.)

Reviewed by George Basler

To the casual theatergoer, the names Kander and Ebb might not be as familiar as Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Loewe or the Gershwins. But John Kander and Fred Ebb, who first teamed up in 1962, deserve a notch in Broadway history as the most long-running and successful duo of the last 50 years.

Half-Light’s ‘Barefoot’ is ‘must-see production’

Reviewed by Ralph Hall

The “watchers” battle the “doers” in Half-Light Theatre’s production of Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park, which opened last night (March 23)  in the newly renovated ballroom of the Roberson Mansion in Binghamton. Director Tim Mollen established a pace and beat that nourished the humor and accented the dramatic, giving the full-house audience an excellent interpretation of this 1960s comedy.

Zachary Chastain (as a young newly-wed lawyer) and Kate Murray (as the mother of the new bride) interpreted their characters with a strength, consistency, humor and energy that made this production the success that it is. Both actors have been seen and enjoyed often on local stages; however, they both stepped up to new levels of artistic performance in Barefoot in the Park.

Chastain’s character maintains a constant rock of stability with a new wife, job and apartment until the pressure builds and the volcano erupts. Whether in the controlled stable state or lost in the eruption of frustration, Chastain’s performance was outstanding.

When the mother lets down her hair, it is the watcher becoming the doer. The shifting and altering of circumstances and timing demand an equal change in intensity and motivation. Murray very successfully rose to this demand. (Shown from left in the photo: Chastain, Wade, Murray and Yajko.)

Classic Simon comedy next up for new Half Light Theatre

By Ralph Hall

Broome County is blessed with several theatrical productions company. The newest is Half Light Theatre, which is producing Barefoot in the Park later this month in the newly redecorated ballroom of the Roberson Museum and Science Center, 30 Front St., Binghamton. The company was founded and is managed by Missy Harris, Tim Mollen and Nathan Butler. In February, Half Light produced Love Letters, which featured Mollen and Harris and was directed by Butler.

Civil War play debuts to full house at Roberson

Reviewed by Ralph Hall

Since Binghamton was established in the early part of the 19^th Century, its residents have contributed in many ways to most world events including the American Civil War. Laura Cunningham’s new play, Apron Strings, chronicles the lives of six of those citizens returning from this war. Produced by Terry McDonald, Executive Director of the Roberson Museum and Science Center in Binghamton, and directed by Judy McMahon, Apron Strings had its premiere performance Thursday (Feb. 23) in the newly renovated ballroom of the Roberson Mansion.

Local filmmaker mentioned in upbeat ‘NY Times’ review

Local filmmaker Nat Bouman was the lensman for a new indie film that received a great review in today’s (Jan. 6, 2012) New York Times. Nat is mentioned in this Times article about the film “Co-dependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same”. Nat is a member of the ART Mission & Theater and was born and raised in  nearby Brackney, Pa., where he lives with his wife, Katherine Bouman, and their daughter, Harper. Nat entered the film and television industry as a lowly production assistant after college. Since then, he has earned his M.F.A. in Film from Columbia University and worked on a wide variety of projects as both a director and cinematographer. Nat is currently an assistant professor at SUNY College at Oneonta, where he teaches courses in film studies and film production. Katherine Bouman, Nat’s wife, is on the board of directors for the ART Mission & Theater and formerly served as director of education at Roberson Museum & Science Center.

Discovery Center’s Crocker to be honored for lifetime of achievement

The first that Margaret S. “Pokey” Crocker knew of her nomination for the Broome County Arts Council’s Heart of the Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement was when she got the phone call saying that the 2010 award was hers.

 “This thing blew me away,” said the executive director of The Discovery Center of the Southern Tier. “I said, ‘What do you mean? Me? Why?’

“And then I started to cry.”

What did you do in the arts this past week?

I headed to Roberson for the inaugural Two Rivers arts festival, but there were so many things on my “to do” list that didn’t get done. Maybe you could tell me ( and the rest of BAMirror’s readers) what I missed. Please share what you did in the arts this past week.

Roberson revives outdoor arts festival

What so far has been a stellar month for outdoor arts festivals will wind up this weekend when Binghamton’s Roberson Museum and Science Center revives an old favorite … with a new attitude and a new name.