March is shaping up as a tantalizingly theatrical month with numerous productions offering a diverse menu of theatrical entrees. (I hope you enjoyed my feeble attempt at a theatrical homage to March’s restaurant week…) Anyway, since there’s so much to cover, let’s great right to it!

Openings this month include FALSETTOS at MusicalFare Theatre on March 3rd. First performed by MusicalFare in 1995 at the old Pfeifer Theatre downtown, FALSETTOS celebrates MusicalFare’s 20th Anniversary season and is the Tony award winning musical about a family that somehow manages to stay together by reinventing itself. Alternately comic and moving, irreverent and insightful, FALSETTOS includes original MusicalFare cast members John Fredo, Debbie Pappas and Pamela Rose Mangus in its seven member ensemble. March 4th features the opening of BLACK PEARL SINGS at O’Connell & Company. Starring Mary Kate O’Connell and Mary Craig and directed by former Studio Arena Artistic Director, Kathleen Gaffney, BLACK PEARL is a play with music that is an exploration of song, race and culture in America. Also opening March 4th is BUFFALO QUICKIES, a collection of one act world premieres at the Alleyway Theatre. March 5th introduces two more openings: SECRET ORDER at the Kavinoky Theatre is a drama about the moral and ethical dilemmas involved in the high stakes world of medical research. At Ujima Theatre, BELLE is a play about two recently freed slaves journeying to the north in search of a new life. BELLE has been hailed as “a massive achievement” and “a beautiful and very important piece of theatre” by CBC Radio.

The following weekend includes more openings. At the Alt Theatre EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL premieres on March 10th. This promises to be a comedic send-up of the 1980s horror movie franchise. On March 11th The New Phoenix Theatre presents a new version of Shakespeare’s MACBETH. This eight person adaptation is inspired by the world of physical theatre and is directed by Kelli Bocock-Natale. Also opening on the 11th is the American Repertory Theatre world premiere production of RED CLAY by Thomas LaChiusa. RED CLAY follows the rise and fall of a proud Georgia railroad company. Other productions in March include GREASE, starring American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, opening March 23rd at Shea’s Performing Arts Center and AMELIA EARHART, opening March 28th at Theatre of Youth.

Productions that premiered in February and continue through March include TONI MORRISON’S THE BLUEST EYE at the Paul Robeson Theatre (through March 7th), THE CHRONICLES OF BEEBO BRINKER at Buffalo United Artists (through March 13th), Langston Hughes’ HARVEST at Subversive Theatre (through March 14th), SOME EXPLICIT POLAROIDS at Torn Space (through March 21st), and Irish Classical Theatre’s production of Martin McDonagh’s LONESOME WEST (through March 28th.)

Special events in March include the 16th annual Shakespeare in Delaware Park FABULOUS FEAST fundraiser on March 20th at the imposingly beautiful Connecticut Street Armory. This reasonably priced special event ($75 per person with a $65 rate for Shakespeare in Delaware Park members) includes a five course banquet, beer, wine, dancing, swordfights, and three different auctions.

That’s fifteen productions and one theatrical fundraiser to attend in March. Better get busy filling up your date book…

See you in April!

Randall Kramer is the Vice President of the Theatre Alliance of Buffalo (www.theatreallianceofbuffalo.com) and the Artistic and Executive Director of MusicalFare Theatre, a leading musical theatre company in the Northeast.