REVIEW: “Xanadu” at the Mac-Haydn Theatre

by Barbara Waldinger Picture a musical consisting of seven of the nine Greek Muses, daughters of Zeus (supposedly the other two are in the band), two of whom are males, whose leader (Clio, the Muse of History) wears roller skates, changes her name, and speaks with a bizarre Australian accent…

REVIEW: “The Full Monty” at the Mac-Haydn Theatre

by Jeannie Marlin Woods THE FULL MONTY, which opened August 18th at the Mac-Haydn Theatre ends with a big,show-stopping song and dance number called “Let It Go.” Warning: this is not the world of Elsaand FROZEN! Instead, we are in down-on-its-luck Buffalo, New York, maybe in the 1980s,where the local…

“The Full Monty” Returns to the Mac-Haydn Theatre

(August 12, 2022–Chatham, NY) Ten-time Tony nominated “The Full Monty” returns to the Mac-Haydn for three weeks this summer after its fan-favorite debut at the Chatham theatre in 2014. The highly-anticipated production runs August 18 – September 4. This grin and bare-it comedy tells the story of six average-looking, unemployed…

REVIEW: “Next to Normal” at the Mac-Haydn Theatre

by Barbara Waldinger Bravo to the Mac-Haydn Theatre for daring to produce Next to Normal as part of their busy summer season schedule!  Imagine a musical about mental health alongside a lineup including A Chorus Line, Urinetown, Kiss Me Kate, The Full Monty, Xanadu and Forever Plaid.  Undaunted, Artistic Director/Director…

“Next to Normal” Makes Its Mac-Haydn Debut

(July 25, 2022–Chatham, NY) The Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical “Next to Normal” will make its Mac-Haydn debut from August 4-14 – a regional premiere production. The show promises to be an artistic highlight of the 2022 Mac-Haydn season, and is unlike anything audiences have ever seen on the Chatham…

REVIEW: “Urinetown” at the Mac-Haydn Theatre

by Lisa Jarisch Satire? Farce? Social Commentary? Political humor? Ecological & Environmental Propaganda ? Black comedy? Don’t bother trying to slot the Mac-Haydn‘s first-ever production of Urinetown into its “proper place” in musical theatre; it doesn’t have one. What it does have is a place as a show that checks…

REVIEW: “Phantom” at the Mac-Haydn Theatre

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July 2008 This is NOT Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. I mean that both ways – it isn’t the one he composed and it is nothing like his version. This version, which goes simply by the title of Phantom has a book by Arthur Kopit (what…