theater

January 28, 2017 - 7:50pm
Review: This tautly written Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play explores what it means to be a Muslim in the post-9/11 United States.

Disgraced – written by Pakistani-American playwright Ayad Akhtar and directed by May Adrales – could not have arrived at Syracuse Stage at a more fitting time, when everyone is struggling to find their bearings in Trump’s America.

December 12, 2016 - 7:40pm
Review: The pleasant rendition of Disney’s 1991 award-winning animated feature provided the audience with enthusiastic and humorous, yet heartfelt performances.

At first glance, it was hard to imagine how an extravagant and familiar Disney story would unfold in the intimate space of the Redhouse Arts Center. But as the actors took the stage, the audience was magically transported to a secluded French village surrounded by lush green trees, houses and bakeries.

December 4, 2016 - 11:38pm
Review: Based on the stories of P.L. Travers and the Disney film of the same name, the Broadway musical shares the beloved story of a nanny's magical effect on a family.

Young children – and adults too  who have already seen Mary Poppins at Syracuse Stage may still be trying to figure out how the titular nanny removed a coat rack, among other large props, from her famous carpet bag.

The special effects throughout the whole show, from Mary and the kids flying to chimneysweep Bert walking and dancing upside down on a rooftop, play with the mind.

November 25, 2016 - 6:32pm
The magical nanny drops in on Central New York for the holidays, and families can see the beloved musical from Nov. 26 to Jan. 8.

Twenty current Syracuse University students join experienced performers for the holiday production of Mary Poppins at Syracuse Stage.

“It’s a big production,” said Joseph Whelan, Syracuse Stage’s assistant marketing director. “It has a big cast. Mary Poppins flies. Bert does a dance at the top of the proscenium. It’s a big musical with big production numbers.”

November 17, 2016 - 12:55am
Review: Now, perhaps more than any time in recent memory, a musical about life, protest, love and community is needed.

Jonathan Larson’s Rent is, distilled to its purest form, a story about life and what you do with it. One of the musical's most quoted lines is "No day but today" - a sentiment that is as poignant today as it was when Larson premiered it off-Broadway in 1996.

The 20th anniversary tour of Rent, which played at the Oncenter Crouse Hinds Theater from Nov. 15-17, provides audiences with heartfelt, powerful performances and proved why the musical has lasted 20 years.

November 6, 2016 - 5:50pm
Review: With touches of comedy, "Laura and the Sea" by SU Drama reflects on how people struggle to form connections in a digitally disrupted world.

SU Drama’s latest offering is an engaging exposition of life in the digital age. Directed by Katherine McGerr, Laura and the Sea opened to a packed theater Saturday evening in the Storch Theatre at the Syracuse Stage/SU Drama Complex.

October 28, 2016 - 1:10pm
Young dancers and dance enthusiasts filled The Oncenter Crouse Hinds Theater to see alumni of the 'So You Think You Can Dance' program.

Dreams take us to places we could have never imagined.

Out of the dreamland and mind of one of So You Think You Can Dance’s most well-known alums, Travis Wall, comes Dance Reimagined, a story about the manifestations of dreams, innermost thoughts and confronting your demons through dance.

October 22, 2016 - 2:10pm
Leadership team of artistic director Bob Hupp, managing director Jill Anderson and associate artistic director Kyle Bass aim for new play development.

If the new leaders at Syracuse Stage have their way, they won't be the only ones making debuts in the near future.

In January, the theater's board of directors announced that Bob Hupp, then producing artistic director of Arkansas Repertory Theatre, would succeed Timothy Bond as artistic director. Since Hupp started in July, he has made it known that new play development is a goal.

October 22, 2016 - 2:01pm
Review: A rotating band of narrators help usher Charles Dickens' classic to the modern stage.

Not one, but two plays appear within Syracuse Stage’s production of Great Expectations, and the various levels of drama do not stop there.

In one of those scenes, which fans of Charles Dickens may recall from the original source material, young hero Pip attends a production of Hamlet. So terrible is this prince of Denmark that his London audience chimes in on the debate whether he should “be” or “not be,” eliciting laughs from the true audience.

October 6, 2016 - 6:01pm
Review: Lights, cameras, action - and plenty of it! Musical "Nine" has glamour, gams and Guido Contini, the Casanova of the cinema Italiano golden age.

After originally opening on Broadway in 1982 and revamped as a movie starring Daniel Day Lewis in 2009, the Tony Award-winning musical Nine explores the lengths a man will go to hang onto his youth and find enough love to satisfy his insatiable need for affection.