WEST PALM BEACH —Palm Beach Atlantic University’s biennial concert series of new music, the Frontwave Festival, begins tonight at the college in West Palm Beach and runs through Saturday. The special guest for the festival is composer John Fitz Rogers, who teaches composition at the University of South Carolina. He holds degrees from Oberlin, Cornell and the Yale School of … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2016
Comic Carlin’s daughter to discuss growing up with George
By Dale King The last time a famed Carlin family member walked a stage at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach was 2002. The performer was George Carlin, by that time a bearded, white-haired comic legend still packed with the pith, fire and vinegar that had driven him to skewer popular and unpopular causes throughout his 40-year career. He continued … [Read more...]
Unlikely musical, ‘13 Things,’ pops up at FAU Theatre Lab
A one-woman, one-act play with the prosaic title of 13 Things About Ed Carpolotti? It doesn’t sound like very promising source material for a musical, but see for yourself what an amusing, emotionally moving show it turned into, this weekend at Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab in its Making Musicals program. Composer-lyricist-adaptor Barry Kleinbort was commissioned … [Read more...]
Dichter’s Beethoven sparkles at last Symphonia concert
It says something important about the connections our area arts leaders have in that for the last concerts of the season for the Symphonia Boca Raton, the orchestra was able to feature one of the leading pianists of the older generation and an encore appearance by one of the country’s most intriguing conductors. The final Symphonia Boca Raton concert of its Connoisseur Series … [Read more...]
Cellist Parnas shows she’s one to watch
The young cellist Cicely Parnas grew up listening to recordings of her celebrated cellist grandfather Leslie, and there’s little doubt that aural education has paid off. Cicely Parnas, now 23, gave a recital Thursday night at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens, and in everything she played on her program, which consisted of sonatas by Barber, Brahms and Ravel, she … [Read more...]
Pianist Ax’s Beethoven survey high point of Broward classical season
By Robert Croan Classical recitals are all too scarce in Broward County. A recital of the caliber of Emanuel Ax’s all-Beethoven program, in Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater on March 22, would be rare anywhere, anytime. Professionally, the Polish-born pianist, 67 this year, is at the top of his field, and as the present concert demonstrated, he is in top form technically and … [Read more...]
Poland’s Meccore Quartet closes Flagler season in brilliant fashion
The last of this year’s fine crop of string quartets to play in Flagler Museum’s Music Series came from Poland. Introduced by the museum’s new executive director, Erin Manning, the Meccore String Quartet, established in 2007, has won numerous awards for their innovative approach. Each member currently receives scholarships from the Polish Ministry of Culture and teach at the … [Read more...]
Limon Dance marks 70 years in exceptional style at Duncan
A scene from the Limón Dance Company’s The Moor’s Pavane. (Photo by Bill Hebert) By Tara Mitton Catao While out on its 70th anniversary national tour, the Limón Dance Company made a stop here in South Florida as part of the Duncan Theatre’s Modern Dance Series. The program celebrated the creative essence of its founder/creator José Limón and gave us the opportunity to see … [Read more...]
At Dramaworks: Laughs, and love at last, in ‘Outside Mullingar’
Alex Wipf and Nick Hetherington in Outside Mullingar. (Photo by Samantha Mighdoll) For its fourth play of its 16th season, Palm Beach Dramaworks serves up a change of pace. For starters, John Patrick Shanley’s Outside Mullingar is a comedy, in fact a romantic comedy. And rather than “theater to think about,” the West Palm Beach company’s motto, it is more theater to touch … [Read more...]
Clash of the trite ones: ‘Batman vs. Superman’ a soulless, empty exercise
Of all of the craven, deceptive teases in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, none is perhaps more flagrant than the film’s title. The two barrel-chested superheroes may face off in the movie’s grimacing poster, but they’re pitted against each other for all of five minutes of Zach Snyder’s two-and-a-half hours of pandering claptrap. There are more fireworks in an early … [Read more...]