When Tamara Wilson packed her things to head to Miami for rehearsals of the Florida Grand Opera production of Un Ballo in Maschera, she forgot one important item: Her copy of the score. Her assistant later mailed it to her, but having it at hand again perhaps was more akin to having a good-luck charm nearby. This is Wilson’s fifth appearance as Amelia in Giuseppe Verdi’s … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2017
‘Norman’: A hollow man gets an empty character study
Norman Oppenheimer, Richard Gere’s title character in writer-director Joseph Cedar’s new movie, is a walking LinkedIn, if LinkedIn had defective code. Norman lives to connect people. Self-servingly curious, he’s a relentless interrogator of everyone he meets — he’s the mosquito that won’t leave you alone — until his marks end up accepting his card, or a bribe, or a dinner … [Read more...]
Figueroa’s Bartók, Robertson’s Elgar end Lynn Phil season in strong fashion
During the current concert season, Guillermo Figueroa has made two big statements about repertoire for the student orchestra at Lynn University that he directs. In February, he presented the Roméo et Juliette of Hector Berlioz, his favorite composer, and a work almost never encountered in full in area concert halls (to say nothing of any of its constituent parts). And this … [Read more...]
FAU grad students offer gripping ‘Judas Iscariot’
By Dale King Grad students in the Master of Fine Arts program at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton wrap up their 2016-2017 season this weekend with an intensely dramatic retelling of a 2,000-year-old-story with critical contemporary consequences. In fact, the play, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, is steeped in passion, and unfolds at a slow, often painful pace, … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: April 21-23
Art: This Saturday, there will be demonstrations across the country in defense of science and the environment, both of which progressives think are under attack by the new administration in Washington. Whatever your political leanings, giving a thought or two to Mother Earth on Saturday is a laudable thing to do, and a small Lake Worth art shop, the Clay Glass Metal Stone … [Read more...]
Visual poetry gives ‘Lost City of Z’ its epic passport
Depending on whom you ask, director James Gray (We Own the Night, The Immigrant) is either his generation’s Kubrick — a dogged, uncompromising auteur of narcotized mood pieces — or a ponderous, inert storyteller with an elegant camera eye. Whatever your opinion of the polarizing filmmaker, he’s an unlikely choice for The Lost City of Z (pronounced “zed”), an adaptation of … [Read more...]
Strong score, performances make ‘Kinky Boots’ a delight
Did you hear the one about the drag queen who saves a failing British shoe factory, and in so doing teaches the owner and his employees a lesson in acceptance? That’s what happen in Kinky Boots, first a 2005 British indie film and later a stage musical. The latter, with an uber-catchy score by theater composer rookie Cyndi Lauper and a message-laden script from Harvey … [Read more...]
For ‘Kinky Boots’ star, it’s about heels — and respect for Lola
Timothy Ware performs the role of thigh-high red boot-wearing drag queen Lola in the Tony Award-winning Kinky Boots, playing this week through April 23 at the Kravis Center’s Dreyfoos Hall. He was the standby for Lola in the original Broadway cast, where he performed the role 186 times. Just don’t ask him about his debut in the show. “The first time I did the role, I don’t … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Symphony’s Russian finale shows Tebar’s mastery
Ramón Tebar conducts his orchestra like a man fine-tuning a grand piano. Responding to his every command, even the slightest hand gesture, the refined playing of the Palm Beach Symphony in its last concert of the season Thursday night at the Kravis Center was superb. Tebar is proving to be more than a fine orchestra builder. His conducting and orchestral control is … [Read more...]
World premiere Easter work, Schütz stand out at Seraphic Fire
By Robert Croan Bach’s jubilant, elating Easter Oratorio (BWV 249) was the featured item in advance announcements of Seraphic Fire’s Easter weekend concerts (seen Friday night in Fort Lauderdale’s Sanctuary Church), but in the event, two shorter works on the first half of the program — one brand-new, the other older than Bach — provided the event’s most rewarding moments. … [Read more...]