New Years Eve is a great opportunity to grab a group of friends or your loved one and hit a local theatre before or after dinner. As usual, local theatres have a variety of music and comedy options.
IMPROV COMEDY shows on New Year's Eve are as much a tradition as champage toast and dropping balls. Performers solicit audience suggestions and create characters and scenes on the spot. If you have never been to an improv show, worry not, you will not be picked-on or heckled. Audience participation is always optional. Improv options include Unleashed! Improv at 8pm in the JCC Lounge www.jccrochester.org and Geva Comedy Improv with shows at 7:30pm and 10:30 pm www.gevacomedyimprov.org
JCC CenterStage has pianist/composer Elliot Sneider in GERSHWIN UNCORKED! at 7pm with a musical telling of the lives of George and Ira Gershwin, including a performance of the iconic piece "Rhapsody In Blue." www.jccrochester.org
The late show at the JCC is Rochester's fabulous drag duo, Kasha Davis and Aggy Dune in their aclaimed BIG WIGS. The BIG WIGS were the featured act on New Year's Eve last year at the JCC. The 2012 show sold out weeks in advance so JCC CenterStage brought them back for an entire weekend of their new show: DIVAS LAS VEGAS, a high energy, Las Vegas style show featuring flashy costumes and dead on impressions or favorite Divas like Cher, Tina Turner, Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Madonna, Bette Midler and more. Show Saturday, December 28 at 8 PM, Sunday, December 29 at 2 PM and New Year's Eve at 9PM. www.jccrochester.org
A very different kind of diva duo will be on stage at RAPA's East End theatre. ANOTHER CHRISTMAS WITH THE CALAMARI SISTERS: FEAST OF THE SEVEN FISHES features Delphine and Carmella Calamari in an all-new show full of holiday favorites like "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree," "Santa Baby," "All I Want For Christmas Is You," and of course, "Dominic The Italian Christmas Donkey". Matinee at 2pm. Evening show at 9pm plus shows playing December 20-27 if you want to catch it earlier. http://www.rapatheatre.org/
As always, the Downstairs Cabaret Theatre has multiple shows playing: TAKE ME HOME a musical revue of hits of the 1970s and '80s from Journey, Stevie Nicks, Hall & Oates, Foreigner, Chicago, Madonna, Phil Collins, Fleetwood Mac etc. at 6:30pm and 10:15pm. http://downstairscabaret.org/
MARC SALEM: MIND OVER ROCHESTER featured a mentalist who loves to he can tell you what you're thinking, deduce the serial number on a bill in your wallet, guess the sentence you've picked out of a book…and show you how to tap into the power of your own subconscious. 3:00pm and 7:00pm shows. www.DownstairsCabaret.com
And finally if all this music and fun is too light, check out the ShakeCo Radio Theater's "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions" by Edwin Abbott at 7:00pm at MuCCC, the Multi-use Community Cultural Center. Written in 1884, "Flatland" follows the adventures of a two-dimensional square, whose view of reality is shaken when he meets the impossible: a three-dimensional sphere. www.MuCCC.org
Whatever your taste, start the New Year right with an evening of theatre!