By Dennis D. Rooney The program of the inaugural concert of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival’s 26th season (which I heard Sunday at the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach) was opened by the … Continue reading...
LATEST ARTICLES
MUSIC
A charming, colorful ‘Vixen’ at Miami Music Festival
By Dennis D. Rooney Leoš Janáček’s operas, particularly Jenůfa and Káťa Kabanová, have now become established repertory works, albeit still at the fringes. The Cunning Little Vixen, from 1924, is … Continue reading...
ART
Cultural Council’s exhibit lets the pictures do the talking
Whoever said that a picture was worth one or 10,000 words didn’t count on the picture itself containing any. We won’t do the math but, by that rationale, a new series of works from 16 local artists … Continue reading...
The art of the epistle: Meta-text at the Norton
By Myles Ludwig Handwritten letters are like fossils of an earlier age, docubones from a world B.M. (before Microsoft), and Pen to Paper at the Norton is an exhibition of more than 30 letters from … Continue reading...
DANCE
Godden ballet intrigues at Harid’s season closer
Choreographer Mark Godden created his ballet Minor Threat, set to the first two movements of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, some 20 years ago for Canada’s Alberta Ballet, but in a performance May 28 … Continue reading...
Fist & Heel’s ‘Citizen’ was powerful, subtle
There was a subdued elegance to Citizen, the multimedia work presented May 6 at the Rinker Playhouse in West Palm Beach. It wasn’t at all what I had expected from the Brooklyn-based dance company that … Continue reading...
THEATER
‘Finding Mona Lisa’ a wry look at the power of art
The point is made several times: The portrait that has captivated the world for 500 years, arguably the most famous painting in history, is merely “oil on wood.” But when Leonardo da Vinci applied the … Continue reading...
A brilliant ‘Sweeney’ for a Dramaworks summer
Since the start of his long, illustrious career as a composer-lyricist, Stephen Sondheim has been intent on pushing the boundaries of the form and the content of the Broadway musical. Nowhere is that … Continue reading...
FILM
Filmmaker Nesher returns to Holocaust subject in ‘Past Life’
For nearly 40 years, Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher has been making award-winning movies like his latest, Past Life, which opened in South Florida last week. The film, already acclaimed in Israel … Continue reading...
In ’47 Meters Down,’ an overzealous cage match with terror
When pretty white girls are marooned in Mexico, things rarely end well. At least that’s the impression you get from watching too much horror cinema or Nancy Grace. In an agonizing example of the … Continue reading...
BOOKS
Young writer’s stories of Florida raise her profile
Recently, Sarah Gerard started a new job at Books Are Magic, a Brooklyn bookstore owned by novelist Emma Straub. That was about the same time Gerard began touring in support of her second book, an … Continue reading...
Author tells compelling story of struggle with depression
Daphne Merkin begins this compelling new book with these words, “Lately I’ve been thinking about the allure of suicide again.” Merkin has battled depression since she was a child. She has … Continue reading...
INTERVIEWS
Erin Manning: In search of the Flagler spirit
Erin Manning took over as executive director of the Flagler Museum earlier this year from the retiring John Blades, coming to Henry Flagler’s 1902 Whitehall mansion from the Historical Society of … Continue reading...
Terry Teachout: Bringing ‘Satchmo’ to life, as playwright and director
Terry Teachout, 60, the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, is also a biographer and opera librettist. Five years ago, he adapted his biography of jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong into a one-man … Continue reading...
NEWS & COMMENTARY
ArtsBuzz: Cultural Council adds board members; ‘Sound of Music’ will feature lobby concerts
Cultural Council names six new board members LAKE WORTH — Six new members have joined the board of directors for the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, with global finance expert Nathan Slack … Continue reading...
Letter from Edinburgh: No love lost in Scotland for Trump
By Chloe Elder As an expat living in Scotland, I often find myself in conversations disparaging the state of my homeland. My American accent simply seems to invite a political discussion. Even a … Continue reading...