It remains hard to believe that the industry that gave us all the superhero comic book dreck that filled multiplexes this summer is the same mill that can churn out so much anticipated award fodder in the fall. But get ready for the work of such admired directors as Alexander Payne (Nebraska), Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street), David O. Russell (American Hustle) and the … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2013
2013-14 arts preview: The season in books
Except perhaps for New York City, that capital of world literary culture, South Florida is blessed with an unexcelled literary calendar, starting more or less the moment you read this, and continuing deep into next spring. Three signature book events celebrate landmark anniversaries this season. Miami Book Fair, marking its 30th year, is among the oldest, while the Palm Beach … [Read more...]
‘Sound of Music’ gets Wick Theatre off to impressive start
When the Caldwell Theatre Company folded up two years ago, it seemed unlikely that the sound of music — or the sound of plays, for that matter — would ever ring out from its still-new playhouse in Boca Raton. When Marilynn A. Wick of Costume World announced that she was buying the theater for her costume museum and would — as an afterthought — begin producing shows for the … [Read more...]
Sundays: Living the illustrated life
By Myles Ludwig Amid gods and grotesque wonders I meandered in an alternate universe. The atmosphere vibrated like a plucked string on a cosmic harp playing the music of the spheres. Creatures escaped from a child’s nightmare — lurid monsters with no discernible reference, deformed horrors, superbeings with powers defying rational explanation — surrounded me. Weird tales … [Read more...]
Often-surprising ‘Prisoners’ makes us fellow travelers to the abyss
Prisoners opens like an episode of Law & Order: SVU and concludes, some two and half hours later, like a gothic horror film that would have won the approval of Edgar Allan Poe. Somewhere along the way, as the audience ascends film’s spiral staircase of twists and turns, with its many false leads, red herrings, blown fuses and unanswered questions, it nearly achieves the mythos … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 20-22
Dance: One of the innovations of the Miami-based Knight Foundation has been its Random Acts of Culture, many of which can be seen on YouTube. Don’t be surprised next week if you see something similar here from Ballet Palm Beach, Colleen Smith’s Palm Beach Gardens-based dance troupe. This coming Thursday, the company will do 10-minute “flash ballets” at the Cultural Council of … [Read more...]
Broward Stage Door’s ‘Moon Over Buffalo’ gives light farce an edge
By Dale King Broward Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs kicks off the 2013-2014 season with a show that encourages yelling, running, door slamming, drinking, occasional sexual innuendos, mayhem and general chaos. The play, Moon over Buffalo, written by slapstick playwright Ken Ludwig, drew iconic comedienne Carol Burnett back to the Broadway stage when it debuted in 1995. … [Read more...]
Little area golfers in documentary think big
Although Palm Beach County has plenty of celebrities, it is rare for a movie to feature prominently two local residents. But that is the case with The Short Game, a new documentary opening this weekend at the Muvico Parisian complex, about 7-year-old golfers from 54 countries around the globe competing in the World Championship of Junior Golf at North Carolina’s manicured … [Read more...]
After 21 years, Palm Beach chamber fest opens fall series
A musical series that began almost the same way a kids’ lemonade stand does —as an activity for friends to have some fun in the long days of summer — expands after 21 years this week into the fall season. Tomorrow night at the Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University in Boca Raton, and Friday night at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Lake Worth, the Palm Beach Chamber … [Read more...]
Sundays: Into the unknown unknowns
By Myles Ludwig I’m in a melancholy mood today. Two things have been on my mind this week. When I thought enough about them, I realized they were the same: we don’t know what we don’t know. That much-mocked Rumsfeldian tautology has resurfaced with a vengeance this week and it applies as much to the current Syrian situation as it does to the profoundly personal questions of … [Read more...]