Don’t men go to the theater anymore? Scan the current audiences at the Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse, or the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, and you would swear the answer is a resounding “No.” Not only are there almost no men in attendance, but the shows on view -- Divorce Party The Musical and Love, Loss and What I Wore -- are so female-centric, so calculated for … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2012
Violinist Hou branches out into show creation
Crossover is something that Yi-Jia Susanne Hou believes in, and not just in music. The Shanghai-born Canadian violinist, who played a solo recital in the Flagler Museum’s music series in 2009, is perhaps best-known for her work as a featured member of Bowfire, a multimedia fiddle extravaganza founded in 2000 that’s sometimes referred to as “Riverdance with violins.” Hou … [Read more...]
Callaway sisters’ smart double act brightens Royal Room
Husky-voiced singer-songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway has appeared eight times at the Colony Hotel’s Royal Room before her current engagement this week. While she has been much acclaimed, something was missing previously: Her younger sister Liz. That has now been rectified with an 80-minute set, continuing through Saturday, that samples all three of the cabaret shows the sisters … [Read more...]
‘Haywire’ all style, no substance — but that’s some style
I watched Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire less than 24 hours ago, and I’m already having trouble remembering exactly what the picture was about – some gobbledygook about private government contractors double-crossing one another, with one rogue special-ops agent targeted for knowing too much, or for the appeasement of her vengeful ex-boyfriend/employer, or something like that. But … [Read more...]
Maltz Jupiter Theatre leads Carbonell nominations
If you have the impression that 2011 was a particularly good year for Palm Beach County’s professional theater, you are right. Or at least you agree with the judges -- full disclosure: that includes myself -- of the Carbonell Awards, now in its 36th season of recognizing excellence in South Florida stage productions. Of the 98 nominations announced on Monday, 43 came from … [Read more...]
Two world premieres: One chamber, one symphonic
The Fifth String Quartet of American composer Kenneth Fuchs, which had its world premiere Sunday afternoon at the Colony Hotel in Delray Beach, is an effective piece of dramatic music first and foremost, with a big-boned grandeur that shares sonic space with an intense and hearfelt elegy. Fuchs, a professor of composition at the University of Connecticut, grew up in Fort … [Read more...]
Time with the ‘Angels’ is well worth spending
Any art exhibit containing “Old Master” in its title takes the gambling out of the museum visit. There is no question that the art is going to be good. And so it is with Offering of the Angels: Old Master Paintings and Tapestries from the Uffizi Gallery, in which the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale has given us an easy one, with plenty of drama and musculature. More than 40 … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 13-15
Theater: Since the vacuum created by the demise of Florida Stage, the Caldwell Theatre has become the place to go for cutting edge theater in Palm Beach County. Artistic director Clive Cholerton has shaken the cobwebs off this Boca Raton playhouse while still bringing its audience locally produced versions of plays acclaimed in New York. But who else would bring area … [Read more...]
Saxophonist Mintzer finds new inspiration in organ, drums
Veteran jazz saxophonist Bob Mintzer didn't have to look far to find inspiration for the title of his latest CD, Canyon Cove. The disc is named for the street his house sits on in Hollywood, Calif., and which also happens to be the former residence of classical composer Arnold Schoenberg. “He's probably rolling over in his grave because a jazz musician is living in his house," … [Read more...]
Bruegel film beautiful, but too bloodless at the core
Film adaptations of plays, books and even video games are as common as rain in Seattle, but a movie adaptation of a painting? That’s an undertaking so ambitious – and probably presumptuous – that it’s hard to fathom it. Polish director Lech Majewski is up to the task in The Mill and the Cross, attempting to delve beyond the canvas of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s famous The Way to … [Read more...]