Programming a not-for-profit regional theater is a balancing act between challenging material and work that is escapist entertainment, with many a company erring on the side of the latter. And yet last year – with the exception of plays by William Shakespeare – the most produced script in America was Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced, his 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama that holds a … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2017
Karen Allen: In pursuit of the compelling story
Say the name Karen Allen and chances are the role that comes to mind is Marion Ravenwood, Indiana Jones’ hard-drinking girlfriend in Raiders of the Lost Ark. But that was 36 years ago and the perky ingénue you are picturing turned 65 last year when you weren’t looking. In the intervening time, she starred opposite Jeff Bridges in Starman (1984) and Bill Murray in Scrooged … [Read more...]
Milagro Center young artists meet the Highwaymen
By Lucy Lazarony The Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square and the Milagro Center have come together for an exhibit in honor of Black History Month. One part honors Florida’s past — with stunning paintings by the Highwaymen, African-American artists who beginning in the 1950’s captured Florida’s lush landscapes and seascapes and wildlife. often with bright daring … [Read more...]
Amid comic horror, ‘Get Out’ a sharp critique of race relations, film
It’s been about 20 years since Wes Craven’s Scream franchise foregrounded what we all subconsciously knew: that African-Americans in horror movies are the most expendable of specimens, so detached from the white gaze that, by the time they’re dispatched as guinea pigs to the ominous cabin or the menacing basement or the moss-eaten manse, their chances of survival are less than … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire returns with mastery to Bach’s six motets
Back in the early days of Seraphic Fire, the Miami concert choir took on the challenge of all six motets by J.S. Bach. The performance I saw 12 years ago was very fine, but effortful: The difficulty of the music took its toll on the singers, and it was noticeable by the end of the concert. The group has done one or another of the motets individually since then, but this … [Read more...]
Lapham: History’s lessons may help us save our democracy
Lewis Lapham is not impressed by the anti-Trump demonstrations that have erupted since the inauguration. Democracy, says the former editor of Harper’s Magazine, has been under “systematic assault by a kind of plutocracy, a government for the rich by the rich,” for 30 years. Donald Trump, he says, is a symptom of of anti-democratic trends long brewing, not the cause of … [Read more...]
PB Symphony percussion concert challenging, innovative
Only six players constituted the Palm Beach Symphony on Feb. 8, in a case of staffing to suit the venue: the concert was in the acoustically ripe room housing Henry Flagler’s personal railway carriage. About 500 people attended. Moving from the rear of the orchestra where they always play, the daunting six percussionists were front and center and made up in volume what they … [Read more...]
A tale of two moods: Jewelry and fine crafts at the Convention Center
By Myles Ludwig A visit to the shows on offer at the Palm Beach Convention Center is like a visit to two different worlds. On the ground floor is the Palm Beach Jewelry, Art and Antique Show, an exhibition of the sumptuous. It is slightly intimidating in a hushed, softly carpeted atmosphere of serious, almost secret spaces where foreign languages seem to be the rule. … [Read more...]
Powerful child performances make ‘Fanny’s Journey’ memorable
Overly decorous but occasionally gripping, Fanny’s Journey uncovers yet another rock in the endless rubble of World War II cinema, this time dramatizing a fraught escape from Vichy France through Nazi strongholds toward the safety of the Swiss border. The trekkers are children, which sets the fact-based movie apart from fellow period pieces and lends it an unimpeachable … [Read more...]
Jazz legend Corea to team with Rubacalba for night of piano-duet improv
Chick Corea. The name is as unique, identifiable and indelible as the sounds from the 75-year-old jazz pianist’s lengthy recording and touring career. From solo and duet to big band and orchestral projects, Corea has proven restless and amoebic for more than 50 years. His early classical and jazz training is most evident on his acoustic catalog, much of which ranges from … [Read more...]