Music/Theater

AMERICAN SCHEMERS: Junkshop owner Don (Kurt Ehrmann, left) and his short-fused friend Teach (Tracy Letts) plot an ill-fated robbery in a Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” (1975), playing at McCarter’s Matthews Theatre through March 28.

Tracy Letts (not just a Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright) Ignites David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” at McCarter

Donald Gilpin

Tracy Letts, Steppenwolf ensemble actor since 2002 and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize — and Tony Award-winning playwright for August: Osage County, commands the stage from his first angry, foul-mouthed entrance down the steep, narrow staircase into the junkshop early in the first act of David Mamet’s 1975 American Buffalo until his final subdued exit in the last minutes of the play.

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Depicts 19th Century Drama through Music

Nancy Plum

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra subtitled its most recent concert series “Don Juan,” referring to the Richard Strauss tone poem which was the centerpiece of the program. However, rather than be at the core of the performance with other works bracketing, the complex Strauss piece was at the end, preceded by three other pieces full of action and stories. Guest conductor Lawrence Renes relied on his experience in opera to guide the NJSO players through a performance on Friday night in Richardson Auditorium which was full of musical narratives and drama.