From left, Joshua Matheney, Mark Hetelson and Brianna Frank in Black Coffee, at the Delray Beach Playhouse. By Dale King Delray Beach Playhouse brings its 2015-16 season to an end with the first production that murder mystery maven Agatha Christie wrote for the stage. And it’s an excellent fit for both. The Playhouse engages 13 fine actors to perform Christie’s deadly drama, … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2016
Remarkable performance lifts ‘Satchmo’ above artificialities
Barry Shabaka Henley in Satchmo at the Waldorf. (Photo by Alicia Donelan) Actors like one-man shows because they present opportunities for them to display their performance versatility and stamina. Producers like one-man shows because they, by definition, have low payrolls. If only there weren’t those darned reviewers, for whom one-man shows are the bane of their existence, … [Read more...]
‘Weiner’ finds the villain, and it’s not the congressman
At one point during Weiner, Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg’s documentary about the man with the most unfortunate surname in modern political history, Kriegman is in the backseat of Anthony Weiner’s car, his camera trained on the former congressman. Kriegman, off-camera but ever-present, asks one of many pesky questions about the then mayoral candidate’s sexting scandal and … [Read more...]
‘Hair’ offers plenty of grooviness at Rinker
Michael Scott Ross, Alexa Baray, Elijah Word, Fo’i Meleah and Mike Westrich in Hair. (Photo by Corby Kaye/Studio Palm Beach) Some musicals are timeless, while others are time capsules which transport us back to a specific period. An example of the latter is Hair, the “American tribal love-rock musical” which captures the psychedelic, flower power 1960s. It first arrived on … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire closes season with radiant Byrd
By Robert Croan At the start of Seraphic Fire’s concert of English cathedral music Saturday night at Fort Lauderdale’s All Saints Episcopal Church, director Patrick Dupré Quigley spoke to the audience, explaining that there would be 75 minutes of uninterrupted music, and asking that the listeners not look at the printed program during that time. “Just let the music wash over … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire closes season with radiant Byrd
By Robert Croan At the start of Seraphic Fire’s concert of English cathedral music Saturday night at Fort Lauderdale’s All Saints Episcopal Church, director Patrick Dupré Quigley spoke to the audience, explaining that there would be 75 minutes of uninterrupted music, and asking that the listeners not look at the printed program during that time. “Just let the music wash … [Read more...]
The View From Home 78: Hawks classic, Fuller gumshoe, The Residents, Reynolds and what’s in a name
Cary Grant and Jean Arthur in Only Angels Have Wings (1939). Only Angels Have Wings: Howard Hawks’ 1939 masterpiece (Criterion, $26.19 Blu-ray, $19.69 DVD) is set in an exoticized South American airfield, where Cary Grant’s emotionally crippled American expat runs a commercial aviation business. He’s accustomed to sending pilots off into treacherous conditions and, often, … [Read more...]
The View From Home 78: Hawks classic, Fuller gumshoe, The Residents, Reynolds and what’s in a name
Cary Grant and Jean Arthur in Only Angels Have Wings (1939). Only Angels Have Wings: Howard Hawks’ 1939 masterpiece (Criterion, $26.19 Blu-ray, $19.69 DVD) is set in an exoticized South American airfield, where Cary Grant’s emotionally crippled American expat runs a commercial aviation business. He’s accustomed to sending pilots off into treacherous conditions and, often, … [Read more...]
‘Fireworks Wednesday’: Scenes from a marriage, subversively explored
Hediyeh Tehrani in Fireworks Wednesday. An interesting thing has happened to the career of Iran’s Asghar Farhadi: It is moving forward by moving backward, at least for Western audiences. Ever since his 2011 drama A Separation scored Oscar and Golden Globe gold, his previous features have been unearthed from dust heap of film history, feeding an international art-house … [Read more...]
‘Fireworks Wednesday’: Scenes from a marriage, subversively explored
F Hediyeh Tehrani in Fireworks Wednesday. An interesting thing has happened to the career of Iran’s Asghar Farhadi: It is moving forward by moving backward, at least for Western audiences. Ever since his 2011 drama A Separation scored Oscar and Golden Globe gold, his previous features have been unearthed from dust heap of film history, feeding an international art-house … [Read more...]