Before he knew the name, title and exact age, the Norton Museum’s curatorial associate for European art knew the piece in front of him was something exceptional. Past the cracks, layers of dust and the darkness that had settled, he knew. “When I first saw the work, my adrenalin was pumping,” Jerry Dobrick said. “I knew it was a superb painting, no matter who had painted it.” … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2013
Despite brutality, ex-Somali captive inclines toward forgiveness
Amanda Lindhout was 27 when she and a male friend were captured in Somalia by Muslim extremists who then demanded $2 million in ransom. Lindhout, a novice writer / photographer from Canada, and Nigel Brennan, an Australian photographer, were held hostage under horrid conditions for 460 days. Soldiers raped, starved and tortured Lindhout, who dreamed of an imaginary “house in … [Read more...]
Sundays: In memory yet green
By Myles Ludwig The mist of history swirls still around the life and especially, the death of JFK. Fifty years later, that mist has not dissipated for those of us who were accidental eyewitnesses-once-removed; it refuses to leave. He is very much alive in our collective imagination. He had been born a year before my father. My daughter, born a few days earlier than his death … [Read more...]
Touring show does Man in Black proud
By Dale King The song Ring of Fire marked a milestone in the life of legendary vocalist Johnny Cash. Recorded in March 1963, it rose to Number 1 and stayed there for seven weeks, the longest a Cash song would top the charts. Minnesota-based Troupe America Inc. has gathered a talented eight-person cast for a national tour of Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash, the jukebox … [Read more...]
MCB opens first program in impeccable style
By Tara Mitton Catao Miami City Ballet’s Friday evening program began with George Balanchine’s Ballo Della Regina. Within just a few seconds, it was clear that this was a perfect opener to not only this evening’s program and the first of four programs to be presented at the Kravis, but also to the first season that is fully under the leadership and vision of Artistic Director … [Read more...]
Fine cellist, homegrown music distinguish Estonian Symphony concert
Estonia was one of the three Baltic states suppressed by Soviet Russia in 1940. Thursday night at the Kravis Center, this tiny state of 1.5 million people sent a credible symphony orchestra of 76 players to perform music by Tormis, Dvořák and Brahms in the Regional Arts Concert Series. Independent since 1991, Estonia is closer to Finland geographically than Latvia and … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 16-17
Film: By a quirk of release patterns, you can now see two recent films starring Naomi Watts on area theater screens. The two roles she plays in Diana and Sunlight Jr. are a real display of her acting range, portraying two vastly different women separated by an ocean and by the gulf of their financial circumstances. Diana is, of course, about Princess Diana, and her love affair … [Read more...]
Brilliant FGO production lets ‘Mourning’ shine
Marvin David Levy’s opera Mourning Becomes Electra made a big impression when it was first launched at the Metropolitan Opera in 1967, helped by the star turns of its leading ladies, Evelyn Lear and Marie Collier, and a young baritone named Sherrill Milnes. It had to wait 30 years for its next performance, at Chicago’s Lyric Opera, and its current production at Florida Grand … [Read more...]
Black Violin: When Bach met Tupac
If it’s true that a serious musician doesn’t really know any genre boundaries, then it’s even truer for the two men who make up Black Violin. These two Fort Lauderdale natives and graduates of the Dillard High School for the Performing Arts (now the Dillard Center for the Arts) have for 10 years been forging a career out of an original style of music that takes them from Bach … [Read more...]
Maltz’s musical reflection on ‘Alice’ returns
Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice adventures have been musicalized many times. Of course there was the Disney animated cartoon from 1951 and a live-action film with songs by Steve Allen (1985). Liz Swados wrote a stage show, Alice at the Palace, that starred Meryl Streep 31 years ago and, Frank Wildhorn penned a version called simply Wonderland that ran briefly on Broadway two … [Read more...]