Buffalo Theater: ‘Come From Away’ opens tonight in company’s renovated new home

By AJ Govenettio

When MusicalFare opens its 2025-26 season on tonight (Oct. 23) with “Come From Away,” it will mark a new era in theater for Buffalo. 

MusicalFare Artistic/Executive Director Randall Kramer says the show – which marks the debut of his company at the 710 Theatre  on Main Street in downtown Buffalo – will bring new experiences and renewed glory back to the Theater District. Kramer is also the director of “Come From Away,” the true story of how airline passengers were stranded in a small town in Canada on 9/11 — and how the town welcomed them.  

The Buffalo Hive’s AJ Govenettio spoke with Kramer about MusicalFare’s move down Main Street from Daemen University in Amherst to the downtown site that housed Studio Arena and about what the future may bring.

The move to the Shea’s campus

After the lease for the Daemen University space was up, Kramer said, “This was the obvious choice all along.”

MusicalFare had been performing at Shea’s 710 for almost a decade at this point. Alongside the pride of being involved with the Buffalo Theatre district, the space itself has seen quite a lofty upgrade.

“This is now a regional theater that is on par with any other mid size regional theaters in the country,” Kramer said.

The theater has increased seating to 558 seats along with redoing the lobby and the cabaret space. Kramer noted there is also increased accessibility with no need for a ramp to get in.

Kramer credited Brian Higgins, the president and CEO of Shea’s Performing Arts Center, for being fully on board with the move and renovation. Kramer said MusicalFare has made this move with Buffalo in mind as well.

Collaborations with the Tappo and Bacchus restaurants allow for more parking. Kramer said there is a special lot that it has been set aside for MusicalFare’s subscribers to potentially use.

“We’ve started a shuttle that will be running the first Saturday matinee of each show from Salvatore’s out on Transit Road … (to) take people to Shea’s 710,” Kramer said. “We just announced it … in an E-blast that we sent out to our patrons, and we already have the first show completely sold out. We’re trying to decide whether to have a second shuttle.”

MusicalFare has had to expand its own operations in preparation for a season with bigger plans, employing 114 employees. In the past it has done one or two shows at Shea’s per season; now they’re doing five with Shea’s as their home base.

Kramer said the new location is able to bring in people from a wider variety of locales than Daemen, reaching further south of the city.

Debuting with ‘Come From Away‘

“It’s a show I’ve had my eye on for a long time, waiting for the rights to become available for it to be produced at a regional level,” Kramer said. “This is not a show about grandiose theatrical moments; It’s a show about grandiose human moments.”

Despite the theater’s upgrades, it is still a very intimate space. “Come From Away” aims to embrace this.

“When you produce there, you not only need to be able to speak to its intimacy, but you also need to give it a backdrop that really centers it in that space and gives it the scale that it deserves,” Kramer said. “That’s one of the things that we kept in mind as we were coming up with the design for the show.”

The rest of the season?

In April of 2026, MusicalFare will present its take on “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

“Our superstar will be a different take, not because I want to be different just to be different, but because that story is so well known,” Kramer said.

He said it will stay true to the script, but still challenge people’s expectations and interpretations of it.

This version seeks to “tell that story in a new way, in a way that might make someone listen to those words that they’ve heard a million times before, listen to them for the first time,” Kramer said, “because someone different looking, of a different color of a different sex, is saying them. Then it could possibly have the impact it did the first time it was ever done. It’s cast that way.”

The full Mainstage schedule includes:

Mainstage:

• “Come From Away,” Oct. 23-Nov. 9
• “White Christmas,” Dec. 4-21
• “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” Feb. 19-March 8, 2026
• “Jesus Christ Superstar,” April 2-19, 2026
• “Hairspray,” May 7-24, 2026

MusicalFare’s long-term role in the Buffalo Theater District?

With a permanent home established, MusicalFare has more resources to put into producing new theater.

“A producing theater is starting everything from the ground up, casting, building, sets, designing,” Kramer said.

Shea’s brings Broadway to Buffalo. MusicalFare aims to do what Studio Arena — the legendary theater that once was housed at 710 — did for plays … bringing Buffalo to Broadway.

Studio Arena played a vital role in bringing legendary talent to the theater district. With performers ranging from Christopher Walken to Olympia Dukakis, Studio Arena was a uniquely powerful platform for new plays in Buffalo. Anyone stepping into the space permanently has big shoes to fill.

Kramer said they’ve kept this in mind from the start.

“That, quite honestly, that has been a goal of mine for a very, very long time,” he said. “It was very difficult in our old space, because of the limitations.”

He said MusicalFare plans to produce new works in the hopes of launching those shows to New York. And, of course, eventually producing more theater in the renovated Cabaret space.

MusicalFare’s move to Buffalo is more than just adding a new face on Main Street. MusicalFare and Shea’s plan to change Buffalo’s theater district as a whole.

“We want to add more than 100 performances a year to the theater district, and we want to make the theater district a place to be, a place to go, and a place to belong,” Kramer said.

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AJ Govenettio is a Buffalo Hive intern. He is a junior majoring in acting and audio production at SUNY Fredonia.