By Janis Fontaine The #MeToo movement that exploded onto the cultural scene in 2017 with allegations of sexual misconduct against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein – who was indicted this week on rape charges in New York – has upended the careers of major figures in entertainment, media and government, among other professions. Palm Beach ArtsPaper sat down in April with … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2018
MNM’s brings care, skill to edgy ‘Avenue Q’
As long as there is latent racism, widespread fixation on internet porn and young people stumped by their purpose in life – three subjects explored in bouncy, infectious songs – then Avenue Q, the adult Sesame Street-inspired show populated by puppets, will probably be around. And if it is produced with the care and skill that MNM Theatre Company brings to the task, … [Read more...]
Scary monsters: This ‘Beast’ isn’t just another Moll
For Moll (Jessie Buckley), the rebellious, unstable 27-going-on-17-year-old at the center of Beast, Pascal is her knight in earthen armor. It’s her birthday in the movie’s opening moments, but she’d rather be elsewhere. Upstaged at her barbecue party by her flawless sister’s announcement of twin buns in the oven, she flees to a bar, drinks herself stupid, and dances all night … [Read more...]
What’s on in New York: The Broadway season in review, Part Two
Here is Part Two of my survey of the current Broadway season in New York: Summer: The Donna Summer Musical – There were surely biographical jukebox musicals before 2005’s Jersey Boys, which celebrated the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. But it was the enormous success of that show that begat Beautiful about Carole King’s life, next season’s Cher musical and this … [Read more...]
What’s on in New York: The Broadway season in review, Part One
There are standout exceptions, but this was largely a disappointing season on Broadway, with the nominating committee challenged to fill all the Tony Award categories. In general, the revivals were better than the new work, in both plays and musicals. Here is my report from a week in New York, where I saw 14 shows in 10 days (Oh, the things I put myself through for you … [Read more...]
Stage Door’s ‘Victor/Victoria’ quirky and fun
By Dale King At times during the run of the gender-befuddling musical, Victor/Victoria, the audience at the Broward Stage Door Theatre in Margate may feel they are getting a special bargain. Viewers are actually getting two stars – a male lead and a female lead character – in one person. In a nutshell, Victor/Victoria is the tale of a woman disguised as a man who dresses … [Read more...]
Dramaworks’s ‘Equus’ packs powerful punch
From a small newspaper item about a teenage boy who inexplicably blinded a stable of horses, playwright Peter Shaffer spun a tale of psychology and mythology, of passion and pain, a detective story that seeks the teen’s motives but becomes just as interested in the demons plaguing the doctor who tries to wean him to normalcy. The play is Equus – the Latin word for … [Read more...]
Weekend picks: May 19-20
Film: While The Avengers and Deadpool 2 duke it out for the box office booty, see instead a small, human unconventional love story with no superheroes. It is called Anything – OK, a terrible, generic title – but it concerns a recent widower in Mississippi (John Carroll Lynch) who moves to Los Angeles at the urging of his meddlesome sister (Maura Tierney), and settles in tawdry … [Read more...]
The prime of Ms. Juliette: ‘Let the Sunshine In’ offers an earthy, real heroine
Many of the most award-winning screenplays of both the classical and modern era are also among the archest and most self-conscious. After all, as much as I admire all of them, nobody talks like they do in Aaron Sorkin or Quentin Tarantino or Coen Brothers or Joseph L. Mankiewicz scripts. Their dialogue is flashy, eccentric, aspirational. Rarely is someone struck speechless in … [Read more...]
Cake leaves out ‘Survive’ dessert from strong SunFest set
Unlike the primary California gold (and platinum) rush of popular music acts between the 1960s and present day, most of them from Los Angeles (The Doors, Van Halen, Los Lobos, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice-T, Jane’s Addiction, N.W.A., Maroon 5) and the San Francisco Bay area (Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Sly & the Family Stone, Tower of Power, Primus), Cake emerged … [Read more...]