Palm Beach Dramaworks prides itself on producing plays by great American playwrights such as Edward Albee, Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill. Yet in its 17 seasons is has never tackled a script by the lyrical Southern dramatist Tennessee Williams. Until now. Its season has kicked off with The Night of the Iguana, the 1960 tale of a defrocked, unhinged minister and a reserved, … [Read more...]
Archives for October 2016
‘Omnium Gatherum’ gripping at FAU’s Studio One
By Dale King At its core, the intense drama Omnium Gatherum is a contemporary mix of tragedy and travesty. The tale of seven guests and a hostess feasting on a gourmet meal at a luxurious Manhattan dinner party while the recollections of a hellish day in American history hang like a dark pall and gush from a dungeon-like lower hallway, tests the audience’s ability to absorb … [Read more...]
The View From Home 82: Mizoguchi and Reed, Refn on fame, Fassbinder the cop, and Eastwood goes South
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum: Completed more than a decade before the string of masterpieces for which he’s most known, Kenji Mizoguchi’s The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (Criterion, $27.99 Blu-ray, $22.99 DVD) is a startlingly modern meditation on the give and take between art and life. Forecasting by at least two years the technical innovations of Orson Welles, this … [Read more...]
‘Denial’: An easy victory over evil thought
It was merely 16 years ago that the existence of the Holocaust was put on trial in England. Wait, what? It sounds preposterous, but it happened: David Irving, a British World War II historian turned Holocaust denier, filed a high-profile libel suit against Penguin Books and American scholar Deborah Lipstadt, who called Irving what he was in her 1993 book Denying the … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2016-17: Classical
Because of South Florida’s history as a regular vacation spot for the big cities of the Northeast, an unusually rich classical scene has developed here. Snowbirds can catch some of the concert season they’re missing up in the colder climes, and locals can reap the benefit. But there’s also a vibrant and healthy homegrown classical culture that increasingly is drawing favorable … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2016-17: Art in Palm Beach County
This season, brace yourselves for an identity crisis. The art and artists being featured are driven by it. Clearly, creativity thrives in the absence of a defined self. In an attempt to come up with something highly personal and unique, artists are pulling deeper than ever from within them. Equipped with more free admissions, night operating hours and themes suited for the … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2016-17: Opera
The coming season at the three regional opera companies has no milestones like last season did, with the wrap up of Sarasota Opera’s 28-year Verdi Cycle project or Florida Grand Opera’s staging of Mieczysaw Weinberg’s The Passenger, but the season has some very interesting events nonetheless, and savvy operagoers will find much to enjoy. Palm Beach Opera: The company enters … [Read more...]
Art, science combine in drawings show at Ann Norton
The latest exhibition at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens came out of the blue – or perhaps an attic. It is the sort of thing that happens through a friend of a friend and remains private at the request of an anonymous patron. That’s how the venue ended up with hundreds of engravings and lithographs dating from the Renaissance to the 19th century. On display now, along with … [Read more...]
2016-17 Season Preview: Art in Miami-Dade
By Michael Mills Like Santa Claus, Art Basel comes but once a year – and for only a few days. The rest of the year museums do the heavy lifting for the cultural life of Miami-Dade. Remember that galleries in the Wynwood District and elsewhere often schedule solo and group exhibitions with short notice. Museum schedules also typically fill in over time. Here are some … [Read more...]
2016-17 Season Preview: Art in Broward
By Michael Mills Artists past and present, artists young and old. Artists established, artists on the rise. Artists local and regional, artists national and international. That’s the lineup for the upcoming art season at Broward County’s leading art institutions. Here’s an overview of what you can expect. NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale: Executive director (and curator) … [Read more...]