Desiderio’s closes out one season while new shows beckon

By Melinda Miller
(Above photo: The Alleyway Theatre will offer a different kind of surf comedy in ‘Wipeout.’)

There’s no other time of year quite like this, when the change of seasons is so sharply marked. The ending of summer, of long days and warm nights, always seems much more sudden than, say, winter’s often overlong goodbye. 

In the theater world, Shakespeare in the Park is behind us, and the Torn Space encampment has come and gone at Silo City. Across the border, the Shaw Festival chugs along in Niagara-on-the-Lake with several worthy shows. (If you look for tickets online, keep in mind that you won’t see the very favorable U.S. dollar exchange rate until checkout … currently about 20 percent less than the Canadian price.)

Meanwhile, here at home Desiderio’s Dinner Theatre runs out the summertime clock with one more weekend of the light-hearted Cold War family comedy “Don’t Drink the Water.” Consider it silly fun for over-heated times.  

The large and well-assigned cast jumps feet-first into the Woody Allen farce, hitting their laugh lines like Caitlin Clark knocks out three-pointers. The plot is refreshingly simple, if politically complicated: A vacationing American couple and their grown daughter are pursued by Communist authorities after accidentally taking photos in a restricted area in “somewhere behind the Iron Curtain.” To escape arrest, they seek refuge in a U.S. Embassy that has, for the time being, been left under the management of the ambassador’s incompetent son. Liaisons of both the diplomatic and romantic sort follow, underscored by echoes of Rocky & Bullwinkle meeting Boris and Natasha. 

Jay Desiderio may have thought this was a nostalgia piece when he scheduled it months ago, but having it onstage during a major midsummer U.S.-Russia prisoner exchange was rather prescient. “We arrest one of their spies, they arrest one of our caterers,” is how an embassy regular explains the process, and, after the recent real-life trade, it sounds like he nails it.

Good food, fine performances, unexpectedly topical humor – Desiderio’s is always a good bet for a delightful evening (or afternoon) out. The remaining shows are Aug. 31, Sept. 5 and Sept. 7; dinner starts at 6 p.m. with performances beginning at 7:30; Sept. 7 also has an afternoon matinee, with lunch at 1 p.m. and a 2:30 showtime. The venue is in Bobby J’s Italian American Grille, 204 Como Park Boulevard, Cheektowaga. For info go to mybobbyjs.com/dinner-theatre; reservations are at 716-395-3207.

(We can’t wait for Jay’s next show, one that departs from his tried-and-true formula of Italian dining specialties paired with humorous entertainment. Coming up in October is the theatrical adaptation of one of my favorite films to rewatch, “The Shawshank Redemption.” Based on a Stephen King novella, the quirky prison drama could be an interesting digestif.) 

First, though, we have September and all that comes with it: The start of school, football, apple picking, and Curtain Up! on Sept. 13, to open the 2024-25 theater season. 

In this crowded calendar, not everyone is waiting for that official kick-off to get out on the field.  

MusicalFare leads the charge by presenting its opener, “The Prom,” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 4, and it’s determined to have fun with it. Theatergoers are invited to come in promwear for the Saturday evening shows and take advantage of MusicalFare’s photo backdrop for social media shots. 

The comic musical is the story of acceptance and identity. When a high school girl is barred from bringing her girlfriend to the school prom, a group of self-absorbed Broadway performers intervenes, triggering a round of unexpected consequences. This begins MusicalFare’s final season in its theater and cabaret on the Daemen University campus, 4380 Main St., Amherst. Parking is abundant and free; and there is a full bar, open before the show and at intermission. Tickets are $57. For more on this and upcoming shows, go to musicalfare.com.

Buffalo United Artists also is getting an early start on the season, debuting “Monsters of the American Cinema” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 6. According to BUA, “Monsters” is an exploration of “fathers and sons, the ghosts of our pasts, and the monsters we face within ourselves.” A widowed Black man and his late (white) husband’s straight teenage son share a bond over their mutual love of monster movies, only to have that connection threatened by real-life events.

BUA is again sharing space in the Compass Performing Arts Center, upstairs (there’s an elevator) at 545 Elmwood Ave. Tickets are $30, $25 for students, at buffalounitedartists.org.

If that isn’t enough, Alleyway Theatre (1 Curtain Up Alley, of Main Street near Shea’s) begins previews of its season opener, “Wipeout,” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 6, with opening night on Wednesday, Sept. 11. Expect to be swept away with this surf comedy like no other, as three girlfriends in their golden years “navigate the choppy waters of their changing relationships and identities, balancing on both the literal and metaphorical tides of life,” as the Alleyway website says. Previews (Sept. 6, 7, 8 and 10) are pay-what-you-can, but you do need to get a ticket. Go to alleyway.com.