For 26 seasons now, James Brooks-Bruzzese has led members of his Symphony of the Americas and guest musicians from around the globe in a musical Summerfest that always includes performances in his native Panama. On Aug. 5 at the University Theatre on the campus of Florida Atlantic University, he and the group were back for another summer appearance, accompanied as they have … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2017
Boca Ballet Theatre offers rich, varied summer program
Because it’s summertime, arts shows tend to get a more indulgent audience: Crowds are smaller, the big names and shows that come through are a few months away, and the youths involved in the various hot-months training programs show their stuff before the school year begins. On Aug. 6, Boca Ballet Theatre’s annual summer recital was presented in two programs at Spanish River … [Read more...]
Aesop’s Tables: Animals, morals, artwork and togetherness on Clematis Street
By Lucy Lazarony Aesop’s Tables, hand-painted picnic tables on Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach, are set to be auctioned off Aug. 31 in support of more than two dozen local charities. The live auction starts at 7:30 p.m. and is part of Clematis by Night from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The 6-foot tables, which support 25 different local charities and depict … [Read more...]
‘Amnesia’: Healing, memory and the Holocaust
There’s something ineffably Hitchcockian about the setup of Barbet Schroeder’s Amnesia. It’s set in 1990 on the breathtaking coastline of Ibiza, where sixty-something Martha Sagell (Marthe Keller) occupies a sprawling property disconnected from much of society. The interiors contain more secrets than material goods. The walls throb with the unspoken and the repressed, starting … [Read more...]
Appreciation: Barbara Cook, queen of the Broadway songbook
Barbara Cook, one of the true great performers of the musical theater and the concert stage, has died of respiratory failure at 89. In a career that spanned six decades, she originated roles in such shows of Broadway’s Golden Age as The Music Man, Candide and She Loves Me before reinventing herself as a solo interpreter of the Graet American Songbook. In between those … [Read more...]
‘Dead Man Walking’ ends Miami festival in overwrought fashion
By Dennis D. Rooney The composer Jake Heggie was born John Stephen Heggie on March 31, 1961, in West Palm Beach, but didn’t stay there long as his family relocated soon after his birth to Columbus, Ohio. Since the late 1990s he has been identified with the musical scene in San Francisco, where he currently resides. He composed Dead Man Walking through a fellowship from … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival 4: A satisfying roundup to the 26th season
By Dennis D. Rooney How many composers were born in a church tower? I only know of one, Bohuslav Martinů, who arrived on December 1890 in the tower apartment of the St. Jakub Church in Polička, a town in Bohemia, close to the Moravian border. His family was allowed to live there because his father Ferdinand, a shoemaker, also worked as the church sexton and town fire … [Read more...]
Michael McKeever: South Florida’s own prolific playwright
It is rare that the name Michael McKeever comes up without the adjective “prolific” attached to it. In the 21 years since the Davie playwright’s work was first produced in South Florida, he has written 27 full-length plays and countless short plays, probably between 20 and 24, by his offhanded estimate. Because he enjoys performing, McKeever often appears in his own plays … [Read more...]