WBFO Arts & Culture Desk

Over the weekend, people wandered much of Buffalo unfolding and folding a giant map, looking for those large yellow signs saying "front yard," "side yard" and "back yard" and eventually winding up in some place offering cold liquids on what was a hot day.

Mark Twain’s history in the City of Buffalo is well-documented. From 1869 to 1871, he was an editor at the Buffalo Express newspaper and lived on Delaware Avenue. The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library has a room of his manuscripts and letters.

The Chautauqua Opera Company is gaga for the 18th century, wrapping up their opera trilogy  - BARBER OF SEVILLE and ¡FIGARO!(90210)  - on Saturday with THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLE, all based on plays by Beaumarchais. At the Bratton Theatre, they've updated Goldoni's ONE SERVANT, TWO MASTERS with ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS. And the discussion continues about theater specialites which are more in demand - the dramaturg and the dialect coach.

Where can you eat pierogi poutine and a loganberry funnel cake corn dog on the same day? The Erie County Fair, of course. This year’s fair is coming up on Aug. 7-18, and there will be plenty of options to vote for in the New Food Showdown.

The seven person rock, r&b and hip-hop influenced group 'Juice' is coming to Mohawk Place this weekend. Two members of the group, violinist and vocalist Christian Rose and guitarist Daniel Moss, spoke with WBFO's Nick Lippa about the groups diverse persona and identity as they continue to grow in popularity.

For 17 years, Video Games Live has bought the music of Zelda, Pokemon and other well-known games to sold-out symphonic stages across the world. The production will be playing with the BPO Saturday night at Kleinhans Music Hall. The show’s creator, video game composer and guitarist Tommy Tallarico, has been writing music for games for over 30 years. He spoke with WBFO’s Nick Lippa about his storied career, his family in Niagara Falls and VGL’s success.

Anthony is in NYC, but before he left, both he and Peter enjoyed FIRST DATE starring Marc Sacco and Marie Michelle Roberts at MusicalFare as well as MOMMIE QUEEREST, BUA's "summer camp" send up of the movie "Mommie Dearest." On Broadway, Anthony's seen WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME (a quirky but successful play); AIN'T TOO PROUD (a jukebox musical about The Temptations); and ROLLING STONE (inspired by Arthur Miller's THE CRUCIBLE).

Buffalo and Western New York are hosting a delegation from Poland that has come to this region in search of strengthened ties and new business and cultural partnerships between their homeland and Polonia communities worldwide.

Ira Glass—the creator, producer and host of the popular public radio program and podcast “This American Life”—will speak at the Chautauqua Institution on Saturday, July 20. WBFO caught up with him before his visit to Western New York.

Movies about hope have been around since the image started moving on a screen. Now there is a new local film about hope and children undergoing major medical treatment.

Under a blue sky, with temperatures what they should be in mid-July, hundreds of thousands of people ate and drank and listened to music in between noshing at the 2019 Taste of Buffalo.

Fans of the musical HAMILTON are quite comfortable with 18th century figures singing about issues which still impact us today, so it shouldn't be too much of a leap to enjoy three operas in a row, July 25, 26, and 27 at the Chautauqua Institution, all based on plays by a hero of the American and French revolution - Beaumarchais!

Genocide. Active shooter drills in school. Abortion. These are the topics Buffalo students are exploring in a new art exhibit that opens tonight at Squeaky Wheel. It’s part of the film and media art center’s new educational program called Saturday Café. WBFO’s Nick Lippa spoke with some of the artists and their educators about their work and journey to opening night.

The Buffalo Zoo introduced Indian one-horned rhino Mohan to the public Friday morning.

Even though society may look down on her, she's still in control, and we could be talking about the flower girl, "Sonya," in THE RUSSIAN PLAY by Hanna Moscovitch or Margy, the prostitute in Mae West's SEX, both of whom forego money for love, but "it's complicated." These two seemingly different plays just opened and continue the conversation started when Shawfest presented GBW's MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION several seasons back.

"A Quiet Place," a thriller directed by John Krasinski, was a surprise hit last year and production on the sequel is underway here in Western New York. WBFO's Howard Riedel spoke with Executive Producer JoAnn Perritano, who said that while much of the first film was shot farther downstate, a lot of the sequel will be filmed in Western New York. "A Quiet Place 2" is tentatively scheduled for a March 2020 release.

Anthony is back after a short trip to NYC where he saw his favorite MY FAIR LADY (again!) at Lincoln Center and TO KILL A MOCKINBIRD at the Schubert (the updated Aaron Sorkin version that's coming to the Kavinoky in the fall)! And THE TEMPEST continues to delight at Shakespeare in Delaware Park (especially with comic masters Chris Handley and Norm Sham - see photo).

The Buffalo History Museum launched a new family-friendly program Tuesday aimed at making the past come alive. It’s called Hands-On History, and it includes a mini-tour of select exhibits followed by related activities.

Buffalo's rich history of world class jazz musicians has spawned a new generation of players. One group that best embodies this is the Ed Croft Trio. Croft recently won three 2018 Jazz Buffalo awards, including artist of the year, and brought his bandmates to WBFO's studios to play and talk about their music with reporter Nick Lippa.