Even with the stamp of approval of the Pulitzer Prize and the name recognition that comes with a film version that starred Joanne Woodward, Paul Zindel’s stage play The Effect of Gamma Rays in Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds is rarely revived. It is a fragile tale of a young girl’s survival despite a bitter, abusive mother, a play that could easily be derailed in lesser hands, but … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2012
An even-handed account of the Civil War’s meteor
Although some people viewed John Brown as a madman, his daring 1859 raid on the U.S. military arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va., helped galvanize anti-slavery sentiment in the North. In Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War, Tony Horwitz has written an engrossing account of Brown’s life and singular devotion to the abolition cause. With hindsight, … [Read more...]
Letter From Los Angeles 3: How I learned to stop hurting myself and get the win-win
Among my friends is a woman who moved here from Boston. Twenty-five years later, she still makes a point of putting Long Beach in her prayers. Our route to lunch often takes us along Alamitos Bay, where snow-capped peaks of purple mountains are a backdrop for the recreational waterway and its iconic red swim buoys. Before anyone picks up a fish taco, my friend thanks God for … [Read more...]
Illustration show at Four Arts also chronicles shift in American identity
Two adjacent exhibits, now on view at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach until Jan. 15, demonstrate why illustration should be given due consideration within the context of the history of art in America. Yet also, as the complement to the journalism of their day, the works on view provide a visual thumbprint for our nation’s ideology during different times in our … [Read more...]
Music roundup: Weiss offers rare, worthy toccatas; Zukerman leads splendid RPO
It isn’t every pianist who’s going to encore with a Keith Jarrett improv from the early 1980s, but Orion Weiss has the kind of omnivorous approach to music that makes such things possible, and enjoyable to boot. In his recital appearance Wednesday afternoon at the Duncan Theatre’s Stage West, the 30-year-old pianist from suburban Cleveland gave his appreciative audience not … [Read more...]
Real-life mother-daughter team helps revive ‘Gamma Rays’ at Dramaworks
Arielle Hoffman always knew that she wanted to be an actress. After all, theater is the family business. The 17-year-old daughter of South Florida fixtures Laura Turnbull and Avi Hoffman grew up thinking the odd hours, feast-or-famine, histrionic life of stage performers was normal. “I didn’t know that this was unusual or weird,” she shrugs. “I just had no idea that people had … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 6-10
Theater: It is not easy getting attention for a play when the mainstream media will not even print the title, but Stephen Adly Guirgis’s The Motherf**ker with the Hat (C’mon, Wheel of Fortune fans, you can figure it out) managed to eke out a respectable run on Broadway last season and be nominated for Best Play. It is described as a high-octane verbal cage match about love, … [Read more...]
Singer Holmes celebrates inspirations, PB Pops celebrates 20th
The last time Clint Holmes appeared with the Palm Beach Pops, he sang Broadway show tunes and songs associated with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. “The audience went crazy. We got a high volume of letters requesting him back,” says David Quilleon, executive director of the Pops. This season, the Pops celebrates its 20th anniversary, having given its first concert in 1992 … [Read more...]
The View From Home 34: New DVD releases, Jan. 10-31
As Brian De Palma and Stanley Donen understand all too well, there can come a time in every reverential filmmaker’s oeuvre when loving homage devolves into shameless mimicry. For these aforementioned filmmakers, features such as Dressed to Kill and Charade followed various Hitchcock blueprints so faithfully that the directors’ own voices risked being swallowed in a quicksand … [Read more...]
PB Opera cancels vocal contest to boost Young Artists program; Muse Award winners named
Palm Beach Opera said last week it is expanding its Young Artist program to add more singers, three days of auditions in New York, and a staged production next season featuring the young musicians. In order to put the expansion into effect, the West Palm Beach-based opera company has canceled this year’s vocal competition, which had been scheduled for April. “We realized … [Read more...]