Seraphic Fire wrapped its 11th season this past week with a new record release, a $12,500 NEA grant in hand to record the next one, and a concert of widely varied works that illustrated the range of its interests as well as the flexibility of its singers. Dubbed Cathedral Classics, the potpourri concert featured 18 short works, many of them suggested by an email campaign in … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2013
Hoffman’s ‘Still Jewish’ offers backstory of a theatrical life
By Dale King At various times in Avi Hoffman’s life, being Jewish has been a blessing and a curse — a ticket to stardom and a one-way ticket to oblivion. It has made him the toast of Broadway, but has also made toast of his career. The actor whose livelihood has taken more up and downs than an unemployment office elevator reviews his life of triumphs and travails in Avi … [Read more...]
‘War Horse’ remains magical, stunning theater
Broadway has long featured the creative use of puppets. Think Avenue Q, Disney’s The Lion King and even the revival of Little Shop of Horrors. But they all pale in comparison to the five-time Tony Award-winning War Horse and its expressive, full-sized equine puppets, which come to life in a stunning theatrical adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s popular children’s book. The … [Read more...]
Sundays: Big Media and the Case of the Missing W
By Myles Ludwig Since mid-April to today, Big Media has submerged us in a swamp of the sensational and salacious, holding our heads down in one hot mess after another. We can barely come up for a breath before another epic wave knocks us over again: Boston bombers; Jodi Arias; the Cleveland 3.1; the Bangladeshi building collapse (bad news for WalMart Nation); military rape; … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 11-12
Theater: Ten years ago, West Palm Beach’s Actor’s Workshop & Repertory Company had a critical hit with a teen drama by Mark St. Germain (Freud’s Last Session). Called Out of Gas on Lover’s Leap, it concerned two newly graduated high schoolers — one the daughter of a fading rock star, the other the son of an ambitious, conservative U.S. senator. They go together to a promontory … [Read more...]
Pianist Rabinovich makes impressive South Florida debut
By Donald Waxman Last Saturday afternoon (April 27) at the Steinway Gallery in Boca Raton, the much-acclaimed young Israeli pianist Roman Rabinovich performed for the first time in South Florida. The 28-year-old pianist, born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, began studies in Israel at the famed Rubin Academy, “the Juilliard of Tel Aviv,” then went on to Curtis and Juilliard. Since … [Read more...]
Sundays: Entering the Age of Age
By Myles Ludwig Need a new set of knees, a barely used stent to widen that two-lane blacktop to your heart into a six-lane turnpike complete with HOV lane, a turbo-charger for your conservative Golden Companion, or hot Pride Pursuit XL4 ATR scooter? How about a front wheel for your’99 Chevy Walker? Handgrips with neon plastic steamers for your high-speed Rollator or a new … [Read more...]
The View From Home 48: A great French comic’s film legacy
Unavailable for more than four decades thanks to legal disputes and film stock degradation – take your pick – the five feature films and three shorts from French auteur Pierre Étaix have finally been digitally restored and released on home video, and they’re absolutely irresistible (Criterion, $43.83 Blu-ray, $36.83 DVD). A clown both before and after his surprisingly limited … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 3-5
Art: See the culmination of years of study in the art work of four Masters of Fine Art students in Thesis Exhibition 2013 at the Schmidt Center Gallery at Florida Atlantic University. The exhibition, which runs through May 24, showcases the large, charcoal drawings of Jill Lavetsky, the abstract paintings and drawings of Eduardo Rosas and the functional pottery of Alexandra … [Read more...]
TED phenomenon comes to Delray Beach on Friday
In the spirit of the original TED, a nonprofit organization devoted to “ideas worth spreading,” TEDx comes to Delray Beach this Friday, organized by local resident Becky Woodbridge, a flight attendant, speaker and coach. Originating in California 29 years ago, with two major TED events each year, the organization (originally focusing on Technology, Entertainment and Design) … [Read more...]