Roman Polanski’s film adaptation of the David Ives play Venus in Fur has so many layers that it’s like a wedding cake for an S&M couple: dense and towering and painfully delicious. All of these layers hum simultaneously, and following them all becomes nearly impossible in a single viewing. Better to just got swept up in its rivers of words, its ocean of chatter, which spills … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2014
Uneven, but ado-worthy ‘Much Ado’
If you are going to wage war onstage, it might as well be the “skirmish of wit” of Much Ado About Nothing, the audience-friendly romantic comedy often produced by Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival in its 24-year history. This year’s return to the play is a tribute to the company’s founding member, recent artistic director and frequent leading man, Kevin Crawford, who died last … [Read more...]
FAU Summer Rep: A kinder, gentler ‘Bonnie and Clyde’
By Dale King Bonnie and Clyde, the Musical, may not be the most memorable show ever staged at Florida Atlantic University. But it could easily be the most unusual. It certainly prompts the cast to overcome a sluggish script and sometimes intrusive backstory with their excellent acting and exceptional vocal skills. The tuneful recollection of the famed outlaws who achieved … [Read more...]
Sundays: The Great War’s technology lesson
One hundred years ago this month, Europe was in the throes of a buildup to catastrophe in the aftermath of the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28. It would climax, as we all know, in a four-year conflict that for its savagery and scale of destruction was unequalled in all of human history. World War I set in motion the even more cataclysmic … [Read more...]
Sundays: The Great War’s technology lesson
One hundred years ago this month, Europe was in the throes of a buildup to catastrophe in the aftermath of the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28. It would climax, as we all know, in a four-year conflict that for its savagery and scale of destruction was unequalled in all of human history. World War I set in motion the even more cataclysmic … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks, July 12-13
Theater: What does a theater company do when it loses its prime asset? To find out, head to Jupiter’s Carlin Park this weekend and next to see a Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival production of Much Ado About Nothing, dedicated to its co-founder, longtime artistic director and leading man, Kevin Crawford, who died suddenly at the end of 2013. Crawford had edited the text in … [Read more...]
Arts Garage’s ‘Ring of Fire’ conveys spirit of Cash’s America winningly
This is the summer of commercially unsuccessful musicals revived and reexamined on South Florida stages. There was High Fidelity at Slow Burn Theatre, and now the Johnny Cash revue Ring of Fire at Theatre at Arts Garage in Delray Beach, followed by Frank Wildhorn’s Bonnie and Clyde at Florida Atlantic University. Each show ran headlong into the brick wall of Broadway … [Read more...]
Fine discoveries, beautifully played, on Chamber Fest’s Week 1
A music series that employs a dedication to the rarer reaches of the repertory is necessarily about discovery, and when it all comes together, there’s a rich feeling of satisfaction when a well-programmed concert ends. The first series of concerts this past weekend in the 23rd iteration of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival fulfilled its mission of finding worthy, … [Read more...]
‘Life Itself’ a beautiful tribute to a great man of film
As with a lot of premature deaths, I took Roger Ebert’s continued existence for granted, and I didn’t appreciate him enough when he was alive. For many years, his critical voice was an easy one for a snobbish cinephile to dismiss, for a number of seemingly viable reasons: The former scribe of Beyond the Valley the Dolls didn’t have an appreciation for truly radical cinema. His … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 4-7
Theater: This is the final weekend for the 19th annual Summer Shorts Festival by City Theatre, at the company’s home in the Carnival Studio Theater of Miami’s Arsht Center. Whittled down to a more manageable 10 plays of 10-15 minutes duration each, that does not leave much room for error. Still, it wouldn’t be Summer Shorts if the production did not include a few … [Read more...]