The Buffalo News - Top Stories http://www.buffalonews.com Latest stories from The Buffalo News en-us Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:29:17 -0400 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:29:17 -0400 <![CDATA[ Business bonanza of 10 years tax-free is finalized in Albany ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130619/CITYANDREGION/130619052/1109 ALBANY – Businesses that locate new jobs on vacant public or private college land will get treated to 10 years without any state or property taxes under a deal finalized Wednesday by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders.

The tax-free bonanza will, if Cuomo’s predictions come true, lead to one of the greatest job-producing benefits for upstate New York in generations. Critics, though, dismiss it as an offshorelike tax-break program that has been tried and has failed before in various forms and will force existing businesses to finance the tax breaks for new companies, including competitors.

The deal, to be approved before lawmakers end their 2013 session this week, envisions pirating jobs away from other states with the lure of saving millions of dollars in annual state tax bills, depending on the size of a business.

“I believe it is the boldest economic-development program for upstate New York ever. Period. This is on a scale that has never been attempted before,” Cuomo said Wednesday.

The governor agreed to several changes to his original “Tax-Free NY” proposal unveiled just several weeks ago, including limiting his idea to zero-out or sharply reduce personal income taxes for new employees of firms that locate on campuses. His original plan offered the tax break to an unlimited number of workers; the new deal gives it up to 10,000 new employees statewide.

The plan originally was billed as an upstate economic initiative but now has been expanded to include more downstate areas as a bow to political interests in New York City and on Long Island. Under the plan, vacant land or buildings at public colleges and up to 3 million square feet of space at private campuses will be available to new business expansion in return for the state promising they will not have to pay state income, sales, franchise and other taxes, as well as property taxes.

One state university official in Albany said that a half-dozen firms already are reaching out to take advantage of the tax-free zones.

At the University at Buffalo, no such calls have come, officials said, but there is great hope the program will attract businesses while also providing a space for researchers to incubate their ideas into moneymaking ventures that end up providing internships for students and possible jobs to keep graduates in the area.

While colleges can buy land outside their core campus areas and let businesses lease from them and get the tax-free benefits, UB President Satish K. Tripathi said vacant land is available at the university’s North and South campuses that would be ideal for the program.

Tripathi said any businesses coming to UB would have to have a connection to campus programs. “Our core mission is education, research and service,”’ he said. But, he added, “we don’t live on an island. We live in the community, and part of the mission is the economic well-being of the community.”

In 11 recent appearances touting the program, Cuomo dubbed it “Tax-Free NY”; he said the new name, “Start-Up NY,” is less confusing.

But unions, including the AFL-CIO, said the program gives valuable tax breaks to new companies at the expense of existing companies, as well as municipalities that will have to provide police, firefighting and other services to these tax-free zones. They questioned the premise of a program that will have a three-person board – with appointees representing the governor and Senate and Assembly leaders – choosing who gets to join the tax-free program.

Ron Deutsch, executive director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, a group heavily backed by labor, dismissed Cuomo’s contention that the program will not cost anything on the theory that the state wasn’t counting on these jobs, anyway. “It creates an uneven playing field. How am I, as an existing business, supposed to compete with a business coming into the zone?” he said.

Others have questioned whether the state university system is up to the task of meeting its core mission of educating students and playing the role of economic developer, and who at the colleges will be responsible for trying to attract firms.

But a Cuomo administration official said that some colleges have to undergo a “cultural change” to build on the educational core mission to connect students and professors with businesses that want to grow in a region. The official, speaking on background, said campuses wanting to participate must show an “alignment” between the company being lured and a field of study at the college.

The tax breaks are available only for “net new jobs” created, and firms can’t transfer from one part of the state to another and get the tax-free treatment. Employees of the firms getting the income tax breaks cannot have worked in the state for the previous five years. A whole series of industries are not eligible, from law firms to hospitality companies, and downstate campuses face further industry restrictions. Existing academic programs cannot be canceled, and current buildings, such as dorms or classrooms, cannot be razed to make land available for companies.

Besides the state colleges, universities and community colleges and five City University of New York colleges being eligible, 3 million square feet of private college space qualifies – all to be selected by the three-member panel. Land at an additional 20 “strategic state assets,” which include shuttered prisons or mental health hospitals, will be offered.

If off-campus land is targeted, there is supposed to be an emphasis on first developing manufacturing sites or brownfields instead of more valuable real estate that would be taken off the local tax rolls. The selection panel is to ensure that a mix of urban and rural state university campuses are part of the program.

Businesses also could locate in up to 200,000 square feet of land within a mile of a state campus and get the tax breaks. Workers on construction projects, such as building a new building for a business locating in one of the tax-free zones, will get prevailing wage rates, a union-backed effort; the Cuomo administration says that it is only applying existing state law regarding prevailing wages.

Brian Sampson, executive director of Unshackle Upstate, a business group, said the legislation also includes lowering the job-creation threshold requirements for another state program, called Excelsior, so existing New York firms can get better benefits to make up for some of the tax breaks being given to firms joining the tax-free program.

Also, there is anti-competition language so a software business can’t locate at UB, for instance, just down the road from an existing software firm.

Alluding to previous economic programs, Sampson said, “They’re trying to learn from past mistakes.”

email: tpreciousbuffnews.com ]]> Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:33:24 -0400 Tom Precious
]]> <![CDATA[ Actor James Gandolfini dies in Italy at age 51 ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/AP/306209999/1002 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:26:37 -0400 <![CDATA[ James Gandolfini, star of ‘The Sopranos,’ dies at age 51 ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130619/WORLD/130619021/1002
But his portrayal of criminal Tony Soprano in HBO’s landmark drama series “The Sopranos” was just one facet of an actor who created a rich legacy of film and stage work in a life cut short.

Gandolfini, 51, who died Wednesday while vacationing in Rome, refused to be bound by his star-making role in the HBO series that brought him three Emmy Awards during its six-season run.

No cause of death was given by HBO and Gandolfini’s managers Mark Armstrong and Nancy Sanders in a joint statement confirming his death.

“He was a genius,” said “Sopranos” creator David Chase. “Anyone who saw him even in the smallest of his performances knows that. He is one of the greatest actors of this or any time. A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes.”

HBO called the actor a “special man, a great talent, but more importantly a gentle and loving person who treated everyone, no matter their title or position, with equal respect.”

Joe Gannascoli, who played Vito Spatafore on the drama series, said he was shocked and heartbroken.

“Fifty-one and leaves a kid — he was newly married. His son is fatherless now. ... It’s way too young,” Gannascoli said.

Gandolfini and his wife, Deborah, who were married in 2008, have a daughter, Liliana, born last year, HBO said. The actor and his former wife, Marcy, have a teenage son, Michael.

Gandolfini’s performance in “The Sopranos” was his ticket to fame, but he evaded being stereotyped as a mobster after the drama’s breathtaking blackout ending in 2007.

In a December 2012 interview with The Associated Press, he was upbeat about the work he was getting post-Tony Soprano.

“I’m much more comfortable doing smaller things,” Gandolfini said then. “I like them. I like the way they’re shot; they’re shot quickly. It’s all about the scripts — that’s what it is — and I’m getting some interesting little scripts.”

He played Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama bin Laden hunt docudrama “Zero Dark Thirty.” He worked with Chase for the ‘60s period drama “Not Fade Away,” in which he played the old-school father of a wannabe rocker. And in Andrew Dominick’s crime flick “Killing Them Softly,” he played an aged, washed-up hit man.

On Broadway, he garnered a best-actor Tony Award nomination for 2009’s “God of Carnage.”

Deploying his unsought clout as a star, Gandolfini produced a pair documentaries for HBO focused on a cause he held dear: veterans affairs.

He was mourned online in a flood of celebrity comments. “The great James Gandolfini passed away today. Only 51. I can’t believe it,” Bette Midler posted on her Twitter account.

“An extraordinary actor. RIP, Mr. Gandolfini,” Robin Williams tweeted.

His final projects included the film “Animal Rescue,” directed by Michael R. Roskam and written by Dennis Lehane, which has been shot and is expected to be released next year. He also had agreed to star in a seven-part limited series for HBO, “Criminal Justice,” based on a BBC show. He had shot a pilot for an early iteration of the project.

While Tony Soprano was a larger-than-life figure, Gandolfini was exceptionally modest and obsessive — he described himself as “a 260-pound Woody Allen.”

In past interviews, his cast mates had far more glowing descriptions to offer.

“I had the greatest sparring partner in the world, I had Muhammad Ali,” said Lorraine Bracco, who, as Tony’s psychiatrist Dr. Melfi, went one-on-one with Gandolfini in their penetrating therapy scenes. “He cares what he does, and does it extremely well.”

Gandolfini grew up in Park Ridge, N.J., the son of a building maintenance chief at a Catholic school and a high school lunch lady.

After earning a degree in communications from Rutgers University, Gandolfini moved to New York, where he worked as a bartender, bouncer and nightclub manager. When he was 25, he joined a friend of a friend in an acting class.

Gandolfini’s first big break was a Broadway production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” where he played Steve, one of Stanley Kowalski’s poker buddies. His film debut was in Sidney Lumet’s “A Stranger Among Us” (1992).

Director Tony Scott, who killed himself in August 2012, had praised Gandolfini’s talent for fusing violence with charisma — which he would perfect in Tony Soprano.

Gandolfini played a tough guy in Scott’s 1993 film “True Romance,” who beat Patricia Arquette’s character to a pulp while offering such jarring, flirtatious banter as, “You got a lot of heart, kid.”

Scott called Gandolfini “a unique combination of charming and dangerous.”

In his early career, Gandolfini had supporting roles in “Crimson Tide” (1995), “Get Shorty” (1995), “The Juror” (1996), Lumet’s “Night Falls on Manhattan” (1997), “She’s So Lovely” (1997), “Fallen” (1998) and “A Civil Action” (1998). But it was “True Romance” that piqued the interest of Chase.

In his 2012 AP interview, Gandolfini said he gravitated to acting as a release, a way to get rid of anger. “I don’t know what exactly I was angry about,” he said.

“I try to avoid certain things and certain kinds of violence at this point,” he said last year. “I’m getting older, too. I don’t want to be beating people up as much. I don’t want to be beating women up and those kinds of things that much anymore.”

___

]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:19:35 -0400 LYNN ELBER

AP Television Writer

]]> <![CDATA[ Act Three of Shea’s renovation under way ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/CITYANDREGION/130629987/1002
The $500,000 project to restore the ornate theater’s proscenium arch, high walls and ceiling area near the stage is expected to be completed by Sept. 13, one week before the annual Curtain Up! celebration. Work on the remaining 80 percent of the ceiling, at a cost of $2 million, is planned for the summer of 2014.

“This is the last major restoration project in the theater,” said Anthony C. Conte, Shea’s president since March 2001. “Once we’re done with this, all the major stuff will be completed. We’ve been preparing for this for awhile, and it’s great to see it getting started.”

The other finishing touches expected to add luster to Shea’s movie-palace grandeur will take place in 2015. That’s when the worn-down grand curtain and fabric on the back walls are expected to be replaced, and replicas of 50 lighting fixtures are to be manufactured and put in place.

But those projects, which can mostly be done while Shea’s is open, pale in comparison to the amount of meticulous effort needed to clean and paint the ceiling and front of the house during what is the auditorium’s third phase of restoration.

The scaffolding, erected by Safe Span of Tonawanda, was in place four days after Shea’s closed its sold-out run of “The Book of Mormon,” capping another successful season for one of the country’s most successful theaters for traveling Broadway productions.

The scaffolding includes bridge-like braces across the orchestra pit, since it would not have been able to support the weight.

Nine workers employed by Swiatek Studios, a Buffalo-based company with an extensive track record of church restoration, will be working on the theater through the summer, with union workers providing additional support.

Doris Collins, the theater’s restoration consultant, over the last 17 years has researched Shea’s past and worked with suppliers and restoration companies to ensure exact materials, patterns and colors, from carpeting to wall fabrics, are reintroduced to the theater.

One of the challenges now, she said, will be to determine the precise colors used on the proscenium’s painted fruit and garlands.

Collins will use a chemical stripper – a kind of lie detector test for color – to find out. It’s been used successfully on box seats to determine their original color scheme underneath layers of paint.

The original color was found to be far more subtle, Collins said, than the “bright, circus wagon” colors later applied.

Oil paints will be used, since that’s what was originally brushed on, and because latex doesn’t have the depth of color that oils do, Collins said. Nothing will be rolled or sprayed, either, since those applications provide a less desirable texture than brushes before the glaze is applied.

Collins also has been helped by more than 100 volunteers and students who through the years have made significant contributions toward the theater’s restoration, while helping the non-profit save money.

“Buffalo has a spirit of volunteerisim you don’t get in many, many cities. This will probably be my swan song, but I’ll come back as a volunteer and haunt everybody,” Collins laughed.

She added that the theater is always recruiting volunteers to help with the restoration; interested volunteers can call 829-1155.

Shea’s, which opened in 1926, was designed by Rapp & Rapp, the Chicago architectural firm considered among the handful of greatest movie-palace designers. The interior glasswork was done by Louis Comfort Tiffany, one of only four theaters he decorated.

The theater went through tough times for years before the stage house was enlarged to allow for traveling Broadway productions. This year, nearly 13,000 people were season ticket holders, once again putting the 3,019-seat theater among the highest one-week markets in the country.

“The community continues to support Shea’s, and we continue to appreciate it,” Conte said. “We continue to work to bring the best and newest shows from Broadway to Buffalo.”

Subscriptions are available for the 2013-2014 Broadway Series. It features “Ghost: The Musical,” “Porgy and Bess,” “Once,” “Evita,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and one non-musical, “War Horse.”

There also will be engagements of “Wicked” and “Beauty & the Beast.”

email: msommer@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:02:24 -0400 Mark Sommer
]]> <![CDATA[ Yogurt-maker offers ‘Powerful’ men’s brand ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130619/CITYANDREGION/130619009/1002
But with a package makeover and some clever marketing, manufacturers are hoping to increase sales of all three by bringing them into the domain of dudes.

Powerful Yogurt, a Greek yogurt “designed for the active man,” has now hit local shelves.

Dubbed “brogurt” by food blog Grub Street, it comes in a larger “man-sized” serving and therefore has a beefier protein content of up to 25 grams.

At Tops, Powerful Yogurt is currently priced at $2 for eight ounces, while Chobani Greek yogurt is $1 per six-ounce cup. Powerful’s striking red and black container is stamped with a logo resembling a steer’s skull and is contoured in the middle to represent toned abdominal muscles.

Touted as a “nutritional superfood” for fitness freaks, Powerful Yogurt’s tagline is “Find your inner abs.”

“Four out of 10 consumers are guys, but we realized they’re not being catered to,” said Carlos Ramirez, chief executive officer of the Florida-based company Powerful Men. “Guys are concerned about protein intake and building muscle, but no one was talking to them about yogurt.”

It’s pretty genius, really. Without the cost of creating a new product or significantly changing the old one, a slight shift in branding opens an entirely new avenue for sales.

“What you have here is a brand manager poring over research trying to extract a single benefit that can be marketed toward men,” said Bill Collins, principal at Travers Collins.

It’s not the first time a company has taken a product that has been successfully targeted to women and tried to open it up to a broader market – often with a higher price tag.

In an extreme example, one company is even marketing maxi pads to men.

Well, not maxi pads per se, but pretty close.

With a “Guard your manhood” campaign, adult diaper-maker Depend is hawking Guards and Shields – incontinence pads for men.

Touted as a solution for light bladder leakage, the products closely resemble female sanitary napkins, complete with “leak barriers” and an adhesive strip.

Yankee Candle recently released its second limited-edition collection of “man candles” scented like bacon and buttered popcorn.

It joins top-selling man candle favorites Man Town, First Down and Riding Mower.

In 2011, Dr Pepper Snapple Group famously launched a “manly” diet soda called Dr Pepper Ten after research showed men were hesitant to drink diet soft drinks, considering them feminine.

The company’s macho “Not for Women” campaign ran commercials during the U.S. Open and featured such imagery as a lumberjack eating tree bark and an action hero shooting laser guns from a dune buggy.

Seeing a similar opportunity with yogurt, Ramirez and his partners came up with the bigger 8-ounce container and a hyper-masculine marketing campaign.

In one ad, a buff cowboy hooks jumper cables to his abdominal muscles and uses them to jump-start an attractive blonde’s truck.

In another, a macho lumberjack strikes a match on his abs and starts a blazing fire for a female camper (whose shirt pops open, revealing robust cleavage).

In the next, a man plays a match of rapid-fire pingpong using his washboard abs instead of a paddle.

But commercials for Dannon’s Oikos Greek yogurt are clearly aimed at women. Featuring actor John Stamos and the yogurt as equal objects of lust, one commercial promises the yogurt will turn “the next person you see into John Stamos for 5 seconds.”

Like Powerful, other yogurt commercials aimed at women tout yogurt’s health benefits, but instead of a protein-packed, muscle builder, it’s presented as a “diet” food.

“When you engage in gender-based marketing, you have to be really careful,” he said. “If you’re not, you can offend your target market.”

Lindsey pointed to the launch of Bic Cristal pens for women, advertised as having a sleeker design to better fit a woman’s hand and as being available in an array of feminine colors.

The product marketing was skewered as sexist in thousands of Amazon reviews. Ellen DeGeneres devoted a five-minute monologue to its absurdity on national television, complete with a commercial parody.

The parody ended with a voice-over that said, “For best results, use while barefoot and pregnant.”

To truly succeed with a product marketed for a particular gender demographic, there must be meaningful differences between product types, not just advertising types, Lindsey said.

email schristmann@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:28:15 -0400 Samantha Maziarz Christmann
]]> <![CDATA[ Buffett tells GEICO: ‘It ain’t over yet, fellas’ ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130619/CITYANDREGION/130619048/1002
“It ain’t over yet, fellas. We’re going on from here,” said Warren E. Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns GEICO and The Buffalo News. “People go where they’re welcome, and Western New York has its arms out.”

GEICO still has room to expand at the $40 million customer service center it opened in the CrossPoint Business Park in Amherst in September 2005, but company executives declined to set a long-term growth target for the facility.

With 2,500 employees now on the books and room for as many as 3,800 workers at its 251,000-square-foot Amherst center, GEICO CEO Tony Nicely said the insurer, for now, is working toward hitting the 3,000 mark, which would match the insurer’s employment at a customer service center it operates on Long Island.

GEICO executives also praised the local workforce for its productivity and dependability, and said those traits played a big role in the company’s growth over the last 10 years.

“We have a lot of really outstanding people in Buffalo, but the good news is we are still hiring,” said Richard Hoagland, GEICO’s regional vice president in Buffalo.

GEICO, which received $100 million in Empire Zone tax breaks spread over 14 years as part of the incentive package that brought the service center to Amherst, reached its goal of hiring 2,500 workers two years ahead of schedule.

With its rapid growth in the Buffalo Niagara region, GEICO now plays a major role in the Buffalo Niagara economy, going from a company that had no presence here a decade ago to one that now ranks among the region’s 25 largest employers. GEICO alone accounts for one of every 200 private-sector jobs in Erie and Niagara counties.

“It’s great for Western New York,” said Amherst Supervisor Barry A. Weinstein. “Western New York is a great place to live if you have a good job.”

GEICO, which advertises that its associates receive starting salaries of more than $30,000 a year, also has become an important source of jobs for local college graduates, who often struggle to find employment here and move out of the area to find positions in their chosen field that also meet their pay demands.

And it was that pool of workers – and the reputation of local workers for working hard and being dependable – that helped attract GEICO to the region in the first place.

“It’s the workforce,” Nicely said. “We’re fortunate to have numerous institutes of higher learning here, and they’re all producing really great people. And people here value a job. They want to work hard. They want to be dependable. They want to show up. They want to service others. That’s what you’re looking for.”

The GEICO Northeast Operations Center in Amherst handles sales, customer service and claims for New Jersey and New England. It also is one of three GEICO locations that sells other types of insurance to customers, including homeowners insurance.

A driving force behind GEICO’s growth in Amherst has been the growth of the insurer’s overall business. Buffett noted that GEICO was the nation’s seventh-largest auto insurance company when Berkshire Hathaway acquired complete control of the insurer in 1996. It now is No. 3, behind State Farm and Allstate, but Nicely noted that its market share, at just under 10 percent, still leaves plenty of room for growth. GEICO is the largest auto insurer in New York, insuring 1.65 million families in the state, and close to 2.5 million vehicles, Nicely said.

Nicely said Buffalo News Publisher Emeritus Stanford Lipsey was a relentless advocate for Western New York as a site for a GEICO customer service center.

“He always told Warren and me that if you located anywhere, you ought to check out Western New York, but more specifically you ought to check out the greater Buffalo area because if you ever located here, you would never be sorry,” Nicely said.

“It took a long time for us to need that growth and need that extra location. And when we were looking around, all over the place, Stan made sure we came here – and we came more than once to take a look at Western New York. Are we happy that he caused us to be here.”

Buffett said the workers at the Amherst service center stand out.

“I, along with Stan, told Tony 10 years ago that if he would locate this service center in Buffalo that he would never regret it, that he would find wonderful people up here, that this would be one of the best performing centers measured by any metric we could come up with,” Buffett said.

“Now you’ve made an honest man out of me,” Buffett told several hundred GEICO’s workers Wednesday. He said Nicely “was a believer then, but he’s really become a believer as he’s watched the development of this office over the 10 years.”

GEICO began hiring locally in March 2004, pledging to have 650 employees by 2006 and 1,800 by 2012 – targets that the insurer easily surpassed.

“They could pick any region to locate these jobs,” said Lt. Gov. Robert J. Duffy.

“It doesn’t have to be in Amherst or Buffalo. It could be in any one of the other 49 states or different regions … They chose here because of the workforce. They put a stake down in the ground here that really made a huge difference.”

email: drobinson@buffnews.com ]]> Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:36:17 -0400 David Robinson
]]> <![CDATA[ MusicalFare’s 24-hour musical festival culminates on 710 Main stage ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/GUSTO/130629948/1003
The second version of the event, called MF24H, gets going Friday night in the 710 Main lobby, when the teams receive their assignments and get to work on producing their shows. The quartet of new musicals will premiere at 8 p.m. Saturday. Participants include local theater personalities Scott Behrend and Jon Elston of Road Less Traveled Productions, Doug Weyand and Randall Kramer of MusicalFare Theatre, choreographer Michael Walline and playwright Donna Hoke.

Tickets to Saturday’s performance are $15 to $20, with more information at 839-8540 or www.musicalfare.com.

– Colin Dabkowski ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:51:51 -0400 <![CDATA[ Shakespeare in Delaware Park production brings ‘Hamlet’ back to basics ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/GUSTO/130629990/1003 During Saul Elkin’s first attempt to bring “Hamlet” to life on the Shakespeare in Delaware Park stage in 1977, the young director made some bold and bizarre choices.

He inserted a snooping Hamlet, disguised as a Puerto Rican janitor, into a scene in which the scheming King Claudius enlists two of the young prince’s college buddies to spy on him. When the time came for Hamlet to deliver Shakespeare’s most famous soliloquy – “To be, or not to be ...” – he did so in a Puerto Rican accent. Ophelia’s death scene involved Hamlet raising a gun to her head while carting her off stage in a sort of wheelbarrow.

The whacked-out production was based on “Naked Hamlet,” an adaptation of Shakespeare’s original by Elkin’s Ph.D. mentor, Joe Papp, who founded the Public Theatre and the New York Shakespeare Festival in the early 1950s. It included a rock band, film projections and all sorts of bells and whistles beyond even the Bard’s expansive imagination.

But when Elkin’s fifth version of “Hamlet” opens on Shakespeare Hill tonight, all audiences will see is a jet-black stage punctuated by a single painted tapestry and actors delving into the language of the play. No avant-garde interpretations. No modern-day flourishes. And no Puerto Rican accents.

“It was my notion, back then, that was the direction theater was going. I’m not sure it is anymore,” Elkin said. “Then, I thought I had to throw everything in, and I did. Now, I’m thinking that I need to trust Mr. Shakespeare. I need to trust the play a little bit more.”

Though Elkin has pared the play down from its original running time of more than four hours to around three, he has otherwise left the language untouched. The set is spare and the play’s frequent shifts from one location to the next are usually indicated by nothing more than the actors’ body language. The audience, as was the case in Shakespeare’s time, fills in the rest with their own estimable imaginations.

His take on “Hamlet” has evolved over the decades, from an all-out “total theater” interpretation to gradually more language-focused productions. This year’s show, he said, is about bringing it back to basics.

Niagara Falls native Shaun Sheley, a St. Louis-based actor and teacher who last appeared on the Shakespeare in Delaware Park stage in a 2000 production of “As You Like It,” is playing the demanding role for the first time in his career. Though at first the prospect of playing perhaps the most sought-after and challenging role in English theater weighed heavily on Sheley, he has since come to treat it as he would any other theatrical challenge.

After reading books on the role and familiarizing himself with the most notable performances of the conflicted Danish prince, from Edwin Booth and John Barrymore to Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh, he has settled into a kind of confidence about the task ahead of him.

“You get sort of a wide range of interpretations of the different Hamlets,” Sheley said of his research for the role. “But having said that, it’s gotta be your own. You’ve got to just leave all that aside and get out there and dig for truth.”

“Hamlet,” like all great works of literature, strikes the reader at remarkably different angles depending on that reader’s age. A teenager reading the play for the first time might think of the 30-year-old prince as unfathomably complex and adult. It might take on more self-analytical overtones for a 30-year-old. And for those a decade older than the tortured protagonist, it takes on even deeper and more complicated shades.

For Sheley, approaching the play with 40 years of life experience behind him makes its existential themes all the more evident and poignant.

“I’m more attuned now to all the various motifs around the idea of death, life. He goes back and forth with this struggle: what is life, what is death, what comes after, what the hell are we doing in this place, what’s the point, is there a point, yes there has to be a point,” he said. “It’s just those ideas that keep popping up over and over again: What are we doing here, what are we supposed to do, how do we get through this life and not screw up too much?”

These are eternal, unanswerable questions to which anyone of almost any age can relate to, which is one essential part of the play’s appeal across the centuries.

But the play’s language – quotable and poetic as it is – has proved one of its major challenges. For Elkin, having actors on hand like Sheley, his daughter Rebecca Elkin-Young, who plays Ophelia, and SDP veteran Tim Newell as Claudius, helps to make sure none of Shakespeare’s meaning gets lost in translation.

“The quality both these gentlemen have is that they can speak the language with great clarity and they can also be very real about the action that underlies the language,” Elkin said. “There’s no doubt in my mind what’s up with Hamlet and Claudius while they’re up there.”

Elkin has decided to leave the play’s anachronistic references and outmoded words intact, challenging the actors to help the audience understand the language by highlighting its context and communicating its motivation. There’s a scene, for instance, in which Claudius says that he has “bought an unction of a mountebank” – a poisonous oil from an untrustworthy doctor – which remains unchanged.

“A what from a who?” Sheley asked, jokingly. “But we make it clear,” Elkin said. “The intention is there.”

While there are no radical interpretations at work in this production of “Hamlet,” the sixth in the company’s history, Elkin and Sheley view Hamlet as a pragmatic figure rather than as a tortured man who procrastinates and is completely unsure of himself.

In Elkin’s view and Sheley’s delivery, Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy has more to do with the practical considerations of carrying out murder than with the existential poetic reverie we normally associate with the speech. To them, the question is not exactly “To be, or not to be?” but rather, “To murder, or not to murder?”

“My advice to Sean was, this is not a contemplative speech,” Elkin said. “This is not only, ‘Should I commit suicide?’ but, ‘Should I kill the king as well, and what happens if I commit murder?’ So he comes in on the run and does it.”

Sheley immediately bought into the approach, which replaces what is typically a bout of tortured poetic yearning with a straightforward internal debate. “He’s thinking on his feet all the time,” Sheley said. “He can’t be sitting there ho-hummin’. He’s got to be thinking, he’s got to be moving.”

For Newell, who has played a string of villains on the SDP stage to great acclaim – none more popular than his portrayal of Richard III last year – the opportunity to play Claudius provides a different challenge.

“He’s up there with King Richard, I think, in how deliciously charming he can be,” Newell said. “The real fire kicks in in the second half of our production, once he’s on to the fact that Hamlet is now pursuing his life.”

There are endless readings of Shakespeare’s longest tragedy and his popular protagonist, many valid and many out of left-field. For his fifth time through, Elkin and his cast have chosen to hew closely to the text and to let Shakespeare’s language speak loudly and clearly for itself.

“In the end, every actor’s task is to attach a believable intention to the words,” Elkin said, “and if the intention is believable and if it’s true to the text, then the words are understandable and we know what you’re about. We know what you’re after.”



email: cdabkowski@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:46:00 -0400 Colin Dabkowski
]]> <![CDATA[ A look at the cast of characters in ‘Hamlet’ ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/GUSTO/130629954/1003 Hamlet (Shaun Sheley):

Our 30-year-old protagonist, the grief-afflicted prince of Denmark, is hung up on the recent death of his father and the almost instant ascent of his uncle, Claudius, to the throne. Also less than cool in Hamlet’s eyes is the fact that his mother, Gertrude, was all too willing to marry his scheming uncle practically before her former husband’s body was cold. The tortured and possibly unhinged young man has only one recourse: revenge.

Claudius (Tim Newell):

The shrewd and deliberate King of Denmark, unknown to almost everyone, has murdered his way to the throne and into the “incestuous sheets” of Gertrude’s bed. This sits less than well with the ghost of Hamlet’s father, who instructs his wayward progeny to take up arms against his skeevy uncle and root out what’s rotten in the state of Denmark.

Ophelia (Rebecca Elkin-Young):

The beautiful young maiden is majorly crushing on Hamlet (and vice-versa), though her father Polonius and brother Laertes forbid her from returning his affections. This does not end well, as Ophelia’s conflicting alliances eventually drive her mad.

Laertes (Adam Rath):

At first, the young son of Polonius and sister of Ophelia wants nothing more than to while away the days in Paris. But events back home, up to and including the death of his father at the hands of Hamlet, bring him back to Denmark in a murderous mood.

Gertrude (Lisa Vitrano):

One of many objects of Hamlet’s poetic ire, Queen Gertrude is stuck between her new husband’s unsavory past and her son’s bloodthirsty future. For her, as for pretty much everyone in the play, things end less than well.

Polonius (Tom Loughlin):

A sort of sanctimonious bloviator in the Bill O’Reilly mode, Polonius is the chief counselor to Claudius and less-than-scrupulous father of Ophelia and Laertes. He is perhaps best known for dispensing pieces of advice that in no way describe himself, this above all: “To thine own self be true.”

Horatio (John Profeta):

As Hamlet’s true BFFL and constant confidant, Horatio is always at the young prince’s side and backs him up in his suspicions of Claudius, his love for Ophelia, and most other things. He lives to tell the tale.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Anthony Alocer and Adam Yellen):

Once Hamlet’s college buds, these two less-than-bright young men have been recruited by Claudius to spy on Hamlet. The prince, being smarter than the both of them combined, finds them out almost immediately and sends them off to their ignominious end.

–Colin Dabkowski ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:43:17 -0400 <![CDATA[ Great pies and much more at Carson’s Country Deli and Bakery ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/GUSTO/130629955/1003
We didn’t dig into the desserts until after we had enjoyed our sandwiches, and for that we deserve a commendation, because the peach and raspberry pies looked delectable, with their slightly glossy top crusts and bright fruit filling.

Carson’s menu is made up of breakfast sandwiches (served until 11 a.m., from $2.79 to $5.19 for two eggs and steak), homemade mac and cheese, soup and chili in season ($3.29 to $4.29), a few green salads, side salads and 30 subs and sandwiches. The subs can be ordered on a half- or full-length Costanzo’s roll. Most of the half-subs are $4.29 to $4.49, with a few venturing as high as $5.19 and only steak and sausage coming in at $5.99. The whole subs are a few bucks more.

The seating area has about 10 booths, including a couple of sizable ones that could seat a large family. The walls are decorated with a mixture of cute country items and fascinating historic newspaper headlines.

Also fascinating is the table of fresh-baked pies and cookies, all packaged and ready to be taken home. The ones that are sold by the slice are arranged near the cash register, although if you want more than one slice, you should probably spring for a whole pie for $9.99.

Everything John, Pat, John and I got was very good and expertly prepared. The hot things were hot, the cold things cold, everything was fresh and it was all served at the same time.

The homemade mac and cheese (medium for $3.79) was the opposite of the usual processed, creamy, tasteless cheese product. The elbow macaroni was mixed nicely with flavorful, slightly dry cheese with an occasional slight crunch. The heavy paper bowl wasn’t enormous, but was extremely rich and satisfying, so half of that went home.

The three-potato salad, which we enjoyed and then picked apart a bit to identify the spuds, seemed to contain regular potatoes, red-skinned potatoes and sweet potatoes. It was a delicious and unusual salad.

The homemade meatloaf sub (half for $4.49) was stellar in its full flavor and excellent texture. Two thick slabs of meatloaf topped with a slice of melted provolone filled the fresh, soft roll. It was brushed with gravy, which added a kick of flavor.

The beef on weck sandwich ($4.59) was not only delicious, it was beautiful, with the perfect amount of dark caraway seeds and bright salt. The thin-sliced, stacked beef was tender and juicy. We asked for some “au jus” on the side for dipping.

A royal sub ($4.99), with ham, cappicola and Italian sausage, was topped with crisp iceberg and tomato slices, which set off the spiciness of the hearty cappicola. Everything was high quality on its own and better together.

Our final sandwich was the corned beef and slaw ($4.99 for a half). This half-sub roll was difficult to pick up, it was so packed with thin-sliced deli corned beef and fresh coleslaw. The combination was one we hadn’t tried before, and it worked well, with the fresh crunch of the slaw complementing the cured corned beef.

Finally, we got to the pies, which were every bit as good as they looked. This being the off-season, the perfect segments made it clear that the peaches had been processed, and the raspberries were more jamlike than berrylike, but the crusts were flaky and tender. The whoopie pie, two soft cookies enclosing a center of peanut-butter-flavored cream, was the definition of sweet decadence.Where: 5668 Old Saunders Settlement Road (corner of Routes 31 and 93), Lockport (433-2248)

3.5 pennies

Hours: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and closed Sundays. Kitchen closes 30 minutes before the dining room.

Handicapped-accessible: Yes.

email: aneville@buffnews.com

]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:41:27 -0400 Anne Neville
]]> <![CDATA[ Niagara Arts and Cultural Center launches its first juried art show ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/GUSTO/130629988/1003
“I’d be lucky if I was getting 20, 30, 40 pieces of artwork in the beginning,” he said during an interview in his small office on the first floor of the 160,000-square-foot former high school, which was saved from the wrecking ball in 2000 by preservationists and volunteers and converted into an arts center.

But last November, when the NACC mounted its annual fall show, Drozdowski received more than 120 entries. The uptick signaled a tipping point for the NACC, which has floated under the radar for some members of the local arts community outside Niagara County.

And because of the increased response, Drozdowski instituted a jurying system for the center’s annual spring show, “Beyond the Barrel,” which opens in the main gallery space Friday night. The juror for the show was Burchfield Penney Art Center Director Anthony Bannon, who chose 55 works out of 122 submissions. He also awarded five prizes. First prize went to Nikki Catalano-Ritchey for her bronze sculpture “Erotica”; second prize to James Craig for his painting “Phoson”; third prize to Jonathan Rogers for his painting “To the Finish.” Honorable mentions were awarded to Jeff Bagneschi for his ink drawing “This Maid Don’t Clean” and Mike Kudela for a mixed media piece called “Not One.”

“I think we accomplished a couple of things. One, we attracted some artists who have never exhibited here before. And I think we bumped up the quality a little bit,” Drozdowski said, adding that he estimated a third of the submissions were due to Bannon’s inclusion in the project.

The NACC’s main gallery, a 4,000 square-foot space that occupies the former high school cafeteria, was renovated last year with help from members of the Buffalo Society of Artists. Volunteers covered the tiled walls and surrounded columns with drywall and also constructed several movable walls, improving the atmosphere of the fluorescent-lit space.

The show, which includes sculpture, painting and photography, will also feature a special section dedicated to the late artist, poet and teacher Violet Gordon organized by her daughter, Bonnie Flickinger. The NACC’s light-filled Garden Gallery, an ad-hoc art space in the high school’s former grand entryway, will feature new abstract work by painter Candace Masters.

The trio of art shows opening this weekend is only one part of the breathless activity taking place in the cavernous rooms of the NACC. The center also hosts a community theater company, the Western Door Playhouse and two ballet companies along with various education programs, classes and workshops. Some 50 artists also rent studio space in the NACC and, Drozdowski said, all but one room is rented out.

Even so, the economic challenges of paying for utilities in such a massive and inefficient building are daunting. And after the Niagara Falls City Council diverted funds designated for the NACC earlier this year and forced the organization into an emergency fund drive it will have trouble repeating, those challenges aren’t going away any time soon.

Even so, Drozdowski was generally optimistic about the NACC’s future and its ability to sustain itself, and fulfill its artist-centric mission, going forward.

“Over the years, our goal has always been to support the local arts community and also be a proving ground for new artists. I’ve seen many artists who started here who now exhibit all over the area,” Drozdowski said. “We’ve had some very talented artists here.”

preview

What: “Beyond the Barrel”

When: 6 p.m. Friday through Aug. 25

Where: Niagara Arts and Cultural Center, 1201 Pine Ave., Niagara Falls

Admission: Free

Info: 282-7530 or www.thenacc.org

email: cdabkowski@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:31:02 -0400 Colin Dabkowski
]]> <![CDATA[ Blackhawks take shootout ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/SPORTS/130629962/1003
Brent Seabrook’s slap shot beat Tuukka Rask with 9:51 gone in overtime and the Blackhawks beat the Bruins 6-5 on Wednesday night to send the Stanley Cup finals back to Chicago tied at two games apiece.

Game Five of the best-of-seven series will be Saturday night, with Game Six back in Boston on Monday.

Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks, who had only scored five goals total in the first three games of the series and hadn’t gotten the puck past Rask in more than 129 minutes coming into Game Four. Bryan Bickell and Michal Rozsival had two assists apiece, and Corey Crawford made 28 saves for Chicago.

Patrice Bergeron scored twice, and Zdeno Chara and Jaromir Jagr each had two assists for Boston, which had won 11 of its previous 13 playoff games. Rask made 41 saves but he was screened on the game-winner, which quickly quieted the building where Boston had earned a dominating, 2-0 victory two nights earlier.

“One of things we have talked about, get pucks to the net,” said Seabrook, a defenseman who also had the overtime goal in Game Seven of the Western Conference semifinals. “I just tried getting it on net, we had a great screen in front. ... It just found a way.”

It was the third overtime game in the finals, but it bore little resemblance to the three tightly contested games that opened the series. The teams combined for five goals in the second period — as many as in Games Two and Three combined — as Chicago repeatedly sprinted into the lead only to have Boston come back and tie it.

The Blackhawks led 1-0, 4-2 and 5-4, but each time the Bruins evened it up, the last just 55 seconds after Chicago took the lead when Johnny Boychuk slapped it over a sliding Johnny Oduya with 7:46 left in regulation. Boychuk, who had never scored more than five goals in a season, has six in the postseason.

The overtime was even until the Bruins failed to clear the zone and the puck got to Seabrook at the right point. What seemed like a harmless shot found the back of the net, and the Blackhawks followed with a subdued celebration at the end of another long night.

“Both teams are so great defensively. Both have great goalies,” Seabrook said.

The Bruins had won 11 of their last 13 games and trailed for under 60 minutes, total, of the almost 900 minutes they had played in the postseason. But the Blackhawks came out strong early in this one, recording the first seven shots and taking a 1-0 lead on a short-handed goal when Oduya was off for interference early in the first period.

Brandon Saad picked Tyler Seguin clean in the defensive zone and brought the puck down the ice before flipping it across to Michal Handzus, who rattled it in off the post to make it 1-0. The Bruins tied it on the power play when Andrew Ference kept the puck in at the blue line, and Rich Peverley finished it off with a wrist shot.

But it was in the second period that the teams really opened things up.

Jonathan Toews came around the back of the net and tipped in Rozsival’s shot to put the Blackhawks back in the lead with 6½ minutes gone. Just over two minutes later, Chicago took its first two-goal lead of the series when Rask stopped Bickell’s shot but left the rebound for Kane; Rask was too far to his left to get back in front of the second chance that Kane converted to make it 3-1.

It stayed that way for six minutes more before Milan Lucic deflected Chara’s shot into Crawford and then put back his own rebound to make it a one-goal game. Forty-nine seconds later, Kruger scored to make it 4-2. ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:27:11 -0400 Associated Press

]]> <![CDATA[ Runners take to streets in heels to help stomp out ovarian cancer ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/CITYANDREGION/130629985/1003
Regardless of the differences in shoe choice, all of the approximately 350 women and men ran, walked and wobbled along Elmwood Avenue as part of the sixth annual Stiletto Run – a 0.5K race that raises money for the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. Event organizer Matt Carlucci said it would take at least a week to determine how much money was raised.

Participants lined up at Bidwell Parkway and Elmwood Avenue about 7 p.m. Wednesday – some decked out in colorful tutus and blue knee-high socks.

But amid the bright costumes and flashy footwear, the runners didn’t lose sight of the reason they were there.

Jayliann Sgroi of Amherst walked with nine other members of her family – aunts, cousins and sisters. Each had a sign pinned on to their shirts that read, “Stepping out for our Survivor Barbara,” in honor of Sgroi’s aunt, Barbara Curto, who underwent a round of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer on Tuesday.

“It means the world that we can walk for her and for every woman that’s ever had to deal with something as horrendous as this,” said Sgroi, whose twin sister, Shawna Joyce, sported a wig dyed pink and blue.

“I’m wearing a pink and blue wig because one of my aunts had breast cancer and another one is surviving ovarian cancer,” Joyce said. “We’re here to show solidarity in our family.”

Sgroi and Joyce crossed the finish line, hip to hip, with fellow family members.

Rochester resident Angie Bracci was walking because she had battled uterine cancer in 2011, undergoing six surgeries.

“You really do start to learn more about yourself and ... what makes you happy. If I didn’t have that, I probably wouldn’t be here with these beautiful women celebrating life,” said Bracci, who was wearing a pair of 4-inch, black peep-toe heels decorated with bows.

As Bracci spoke, her friend, Shelli Watt, interjected, “I don’t think you told me you had cancer.”

“It’s not something I talk about,” Bracci said.

“All I know is that when I had my uterus removed, she was there,” Watt said, embracing her friend.

Watt and Bracci positioned themselves at the front of the starting line when the horn sounded, signifying the start of the race.

Some runners at the back of the pack pranced cautiously, content with making their way slowly and carefully along Elmwood.

Others, like repeat runner Jacob Marsh, took off with a blazing start. Marsh entered this year’s race eager to best his third-place finish at last year’s run.

He did that, claiming first place in the men’s division.

“Honestly, any research for cancer is a good cause, so why not support it?” said Marsh, who won the title in 5-inch platform stilettos.

First-place winner in the women’s division, Melina Buck of Amherst, said venturing to the Stiletto Run for the second year in a row was no-brainer, considering it combined her favorite things.

“I love to run, and I love high heels, so I feel like it was made for me,” she said.

email: dtruong@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:35:33 -0400 By Debbie Truong

NEWS STAFF REPORTER

]]> <![CDATA[ Nominations being accepted for recognition program ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/CITYANDREGION/130629973/1003
In late July, special signs will be given for display in nominated gardens. Photos also will be taken, with permission, and posted on the JRC’s Facebook page. Mary Maxwell, JRC neighborhood project associate, noted that the program was inspired by recommendations in the city’s neighborhood revitalization plan.

Nominations can be made by calling 664-2477, ext. 244, by emailing mary@jamestownrenaissance.org or by filling out a form on the JRC Facebook page. ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:45:59 -0400 <![CDATA[ Inclusive Kiwanis Club park accommodates all children ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/CITYANDREGION/130629974/1003
The unique park features playground equipment that accommodates all children regardless of disabilities. The park was a joint venture of the town, Kiwanis Club and Genesee ARC, which employs the developmentally disabled. ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:44:34 -0400 <![CDATA[ Longtime village mainstay to be feted at board meeting ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/CITYANDREGION/130629975/1003
Clark served as the village building inspector for 34 years before he became a trustee for 20 years, retiring in 2010 from the board.

The meeting will be held in the board room of Village Hall, 375 Lake St. ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:41:40 -0400 <![CDATA[ ‘Here Comes Summer’ will close Main Street ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/CITYANDREGION/130629976/1003
Planned as a family event to coincide with the last day of school in the Lewiston-Porter School District,

The event takes place this year on the eve of the summer solstice and will feature live music, activities for children and food.

The free event is sponsored annually by the Youngstown Business and Professional Association. ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:40:07 -0400 <![CDATA[ International relations post goes to Vietnamese educator ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/CITYANDREGION/130629977/1003
Hung Le will serve as vice president of international relations, effective July 15. The office will seek to increase enrollment of foreign students at Niagara, while overseeing the university’s Study Abroad program.

Le most recently was a partner and general manager of a business and educational consulting firm in Hanoi.

Before that, he was president of a bilingual private school in Hanoi that used an American curriculum for Vietnamese students in grades 1 through 12.

He has worked in the U.S. before, serving as an assistant dean at his alma mater, St. John’s University, from 2002 to 2007. He earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from that university. ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:38:49 -0400 <![CDATA[ Sunset gazing on Fridays viewed as show of support ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/CITYANDREGION/130629978/1003
Joining for the initiative are the Campaign for Greater Buffalo, Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper and 21st Century Park. Campaign for Greater Buffalo executive director Tim Tielman said the site offers panoramic views of Lake Erie, downtown Buffalo and the grain elevators along the Buffalo River. “We want to avoid a Mistake by the Lake,” Tielman said. “We have a wonderful green space the size of Delaware Park that is constantly being threatened, even as it is being improved and more and more people are discovering what a spectacular asset this is. It must be preserved.” ]]> Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:36:10 -0400 <![CDATA[ Buffalo waterfront poised for maritime re-enactment ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130620/CITYANDREGION/130629979/1003 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:34:50 -0400