Ever since Tom Brokaw wrote about the men who went off to fight World War II and the women who sacrificed on the home front awaiting their return, they have been known as “The Greatest Generation.” But in the way his grandfather’s contemporaries had been idealized, playwright Sharr White sensed that the full story had yet to be told. That led him to write Six Years, the … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2011
Civil rights awareness adds substance to enjoyable ‘The Help’
Since Hollywood has virtually given up on making dramas, let alone serious female-centric films, the arrival of a quality release of some substance like The Help is remarkable. And in the summer yet. This tale of black domestic workers in the homes of white families in Jackson, Miss., in pre-civil rights 1962, first gained fans from Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel. Now adapted … [Read more...]
Clever ‘Mr. Peanut’ part psychological study, part police procedural
Death by dieting isn’t necessarily a case of anorexia. In Adam Ross’s original yet perplexing debut novel, Mr. Peanut, a young wife is found murdered after she manages to lose more than 100 pounds. The murder weapon is a plate of peanuts, the number one suspect her heft-loving husband who swears he didn’t do it. Over the course of their 13-year marriage, Alice Pepin had tried … [Read more...]
The View From Home 29: New releases and notable screenings, Aug. 8-31
J. Hoberman famously coined the term “hippie Western” to describe ’70s counterculture films like El Topo. But Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man, released in 1995 and a budget title on Blu-ray as of Aug. 9 (Echo Bridge, $7.99) could be read as a hippie Western for Generation X. Not that the film is necessarily about free love – though we do witness a cowboy receiving oral sex outside a … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Aug. 5-7
Theater: Sharr White’s Six Years looks at the ups and downs of the second half of the 20th century, as seen through the struggles of Phil and Meredith Granger (Todd Allen Durkin and Margery Lowe), a married couple separated by World War II, who are challenged to re-establish a normal life when he returns from combat suffering from a trauma that is dismissively diagnosed as … [Read more...]
A first look at Dramaworks’ new home; Maltz seeks student actors
With no summer show this year, Palm Beach Dramaworks has been out of the media eye lately, so it invited the local theater press -- and a few politicos -- for a tour of the renovations of the Cuillo Centre in West Palm Beach, to demonstrate that it was on schedule to open Dramaworks’ new permanent home on Nov. 11 of this year. Yes, 11-11-11, for you numerology fans. According … [Read more...]
‘Masked’: Brotherly conflict drama from a Palestinian perspective
The political complexities of the Middle East conflict have been pared away in Israeli student Ilan Hatsor’s 1990 drama Masked, the gripping tale of three Palestinian brothers bonded by blood, but alienated from each other by a lack of trust. The densely packed, 70-minute play was produced off-Broadway in 2007 and is now receiving its South Florida premiere at Coral Gables’ … [Read more...]
Stravinsky, Schumann end chamber fest’s 20th summer in excellent style
Of the last concert in the 20th season of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival it need only be said that as the Crest Theatre audience sat there Sunday afternoon listening to L’Histoire du Soldat, the brilliance of Stravinsky’s conception became clear. Which is only a fancy way of saying that the musicians and actors of the festival did this little masterwork proud, ending … [Read more...]
Welcome to our new home
Today, the launch of this version of the Palm Beach ArtsPaper site becomes official with the redirecting of our initial site – www.pbartspaper.com – to this one, www.palmbeachartspaper.com. If you’ve bookmarked the old site, you should end up here. If you are still interested in seeing the site as it was since our launch in November 2008, we’ve moved all that material to … [Read more...]