Posts by Erie Culture Guru
Meadville’s “French” Connection
Downtown Mall Bistro A Restaurant Review A bistro in Meadville? Yep. My taste buds were intrigued, but my mind was puzzled. What exactly is a “bistro,” it asked? Too lazy and too pressed for deadline time to find a dictionary, I turned to Google. It describes a bistro as “a small informal restaurant or bar,…
Read MoreCry and the Family Stoned
Long Day’s Journey Into Night A Theater Review Leave it to the Performing Artists Collective Alliance to be the only Erie theater have the chutzpah to mount a landmark tragedy. Unlike some local theatrical venues that peddle Disney retreads or staged treacle for the Sunday brunch geriatric crowd, PACA offers a gut punch to the…
Read MoreThe Sounds of Silence
A “Guru” Reviewer Considers Life at Home, Alone An Essay Last Saturday morning, I found my father on the kitchen floor. He was conscious, but he couldn’t recall how or when he fell, but I have the horrible feeling he was there all night. For some reason, he almost always waits until I go to bed…
Read MoreNo Frog, It’s Good!
Bullfrog Bar A Restaurant Review The best thing about two restaurants sharing the same building? If you don’t like one, you patronize the other. I was initially was assigned to review Andy’s Ale House & Grill. It looked like a fun place to meet friends what with its pool tables and live bands as I…
Read MoreOdd-O Show
Schaefer’s Auto Art An Art Review With an art gallery that I was supposed to check out unexpectedly closed, I asked myself Now what? As I headed back to my car, I started googling Erie art galleries, hoping to find a nearby site to review”so the GURU wouldn’t be reviewing my employment status with ErieCulture.Guru. …
Read MoreThe Wizard of Oz at the Academy Theatre
I Don’t Think We’re in Meadville, Anymore, Toto A Dance Review If ever a book-to-movie treatment deserved a left-turn transformation into a dance recital, it has to be The Wizard of Oz. With its fantastical tale, imagery of far-off lands and colorful characters, you know it’s going to pop. Also, strip away dialogue and replace…
Read MoreEverything Will Be Okay & Space is Not Enough
Two for the Price of Free Admission a Dual Art Review at Allegheny College In his current show, Everything Will Be Okay, Ian F. Thomas confronts a singular topic: gun violence. His forthrightness offers an honest, aesthetic vision on a serious topic that Americans witness almost daily. My works are ruminations on this dark undercurrent…
Read MoreAnastasia at Academy Theatre
(Don’t) Pass the Duchess A Musical Review It’s every little girl’s dream to be a princess. Few are born royals, others may become royalty after marrying their Prince Charming. But only one was a princess and later became a princess. Again. Anastasia. (Okay, okay! I know her official title was grand duchess, but Google says…
Read MoreMan, What a Woman!
Tootsie A Theater Review Erie Playhouse™s present show asks two serious questions about success: First, how bad do you really want it? And, secondly, if you get it, was it really worth it? When blind ambition and I™ll-Show-You-Revenge join hands in one man™s frustrated psyche, the only answer can be¦a comedy musical, of course! Rejiggered…
Read MoreWeird “Science?”
Weird Romance A Theater Review Love can sometimes turn divisive, but a current Erie play is divisional. But it™s a good thing. It™s evident in the Performing Artists Collective Alliance™s current production, Weird Romance. A two-tale, one-cast musical comedy, it demonstrates that love can be found in the most unusual of circumstances. …
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