Over the past 30 years, the world of contemporary classical composition has moved, like so many things in our digital culture, into niches. There are hardcore atonalists, minimalists, New Romantics, and eclectics of every description vying for the ears of a busy audience. But in the United States, this flowering of different styles comes after the establishment in the … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2016
This could be the start of something Wagner-big
It’s been more than 20 years since Miami’s opera company did any works by Richard Wagner, and it’s been even longer for Palm Beach Opera, so it was something of a truly special event Saturday night when the Miami Music Festival gave the first concert by its new Wagner Institute. Designed by festival founder Michael Rossi to develop voices for the demands of Wagner … [Read more...]
‘Captain Fantastic’: Off the grid, defying expectations
To say that Captain Fantastic is one of the finest counterculture road movies since Easy Rider is both accurate and absurd. It’s absurd because instead of two bikers searching for meaning and literally burning out in the American heartland in the turbulent ’60s, Captain Fantastic is about a father traveling with his six children in a Winnebago in Obama’s America. … [Read more...]
Slick ‘Plaid’ at the Wick; Shakespeare fest’s ‘Shrew’ take works
If you prefer your theatrical entertainment to be less than Shakespearean, The Wick Theatre is serving up a solid production of an enduring piece of musical foolishness, Forever Plaid. This parody and celebration of Eisenhower-era close harmony guy groups has been amusing audiences — off-Broadway, in regional theaters and around the globe — for the past 27 years. And … [Read more...]
Stripped-down ‘1776’ reveals show’s thinness
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, the hip-hop hit musical about the first secretary of the Treasury and its massive success, has forever relegated Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone’s 1776 to be “that other show about our Founding Fathers.” Yet this tale of how the contentious Continental Congress debated declaring independence from Great Britain is Palm Beach … [Read more...]
Promising, but rough-edged, Mahler at Miami Music Festival
Yuriy Bekker MIAMI SHORES — It takes some serious ambition to open your first concert with a Mahler symphony, but that’s exactly what the students in the current Miami Music Festival did Saturday night. The orchestral program of the 3-year-old festival, which is presenting opera, chamber music and symphonic literature through July 31 at several Miami-area venues, made its … [Read more...]
PB Chamber Fest 1: Mozart concerto, chamber-style, enchants
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), as painted by Barbara Krafft in 1819. The piano concertos of Mozart work well in chamber settings, as has been demonstrated by none other than the composer himself, who arranged several of them for piano and string quartet. This past weekend, members of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival did that one better with a reduced version of … [Read more...]
FAU’s ‘Mattress’ is raucous, delightful
Connor Padilla, Emily Freeman and Eytan Deray in Once Upon a Mattress at Florida Atlantic University. (Photo by Viviana Puga) By Dale King Those adventurous and sometimes crazy student actors at Florida Atlantic University have spent a lot of time this year taking theatrical journeys into centuries past. They plumbed the psyche of 17th-century English playwright … [Read more...]
‘Infiltrator’ brings back 1980s drug war, with a Cranston star turn
Diane Kruger and Bryan Cranston in The Infiltrator. Actors are salesmen pushing the products of their characters, and Bryan Cranston, as the saying goes, could sell snow to Eskimos. Disappearing into his roles like a ghost in a fog, he’s arguably the greatest thespian of his generation, which is to say the greatest confidence man, hooking us into believing there’s no one … [Read more...]
‘Motor City’ gives Broward Stage Door an unforgettable groove
Gabrielle Graham, Alexandria Lugo, Mimi J., Joshua Graham, Jar'Davion Brown and Elijah Word in The Soul of Motor City at Broward Stage Door Theatre. (Photo by George Wentzler) By Dale King Musicals have reigned supreme this year at the Broward Stage Door Theatre in Margate. Not just the traditional ones, with actors, dialogue, songs and fancy sets. No, the powers-that-be … [Read more...]