Arguably more than any other musical, memories of 1964’s Funny Girl have been so dominated by its original Broadway star – Barbra Streisand – that there has never been a major revival of the show. But audiences at the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton voted the Jule Styne-Bob Merrill musical biography of vaudeville vocalist and clown Fanny Brice (1891-1951) the show they most … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2019
Actresses make ‘Having Our Say’ an unmissable conversation
With presentational monologue plays – either one-person shows or sweet duets like Emily Mann’s Having Our Say – the question usually comes to mind, “Who are these characters talking to?” But in the case of Sadie and Bessie Delany, two centenarian African-American sisters who break the theatrical fourth wall from the start of their rambling, but endearing verbal tour of … [Read more...]
Soprano Jones stands out in Wolf songs at FGO Liederabend
By Robert Croan Lied is the German word for song (plural: Lieder). A Liederabend is an evening of German songs, usually the songs of the great 19th and early 20th-century composers – among them Beethoven, Schubert, Richard Strauss and Hugo Wolf. Their songs were the popular music of their time, at first rooted in folksong but eventually expanding in scope to encompass … [Read more...]
Violinist’s excellence obscured by poky tempi at Palm Beach Symphony
The arrival on the musical scene of a fresh young soloist talent is always worth noting, and in the case of the South Korean violinist SooBeen Lee, she’s been getting a lot of major attention. Lee, who turned 18 in September, is currently studying with the great pedagogue Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory, the Boston school where she won the concerto competition … [Read more...]
Amid the glam, much beauty at Modern + Contemporary show
By Myles Ludwig Oh, dear: it appears tough times have hit the Palm Beach art market. No more the free-flowing champagne (now $23 a flute) and nary a canape in sight when I arrived at the VIP-y vernissage at the Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary show at the city’s oft-traded “tent site” on Thursday night. It was the first pitch of the art show season, traffic was tangled and … [Read more...]
Delphi Trio offers meaty program of canonical works at Flagler
The Delphi Trio, a San Francisco-based threesome of piano, violin and cello, made a stop in South Florida on Tuesday night in a different guise than expected. Founding pianist Jeffrey LaDeur has left the group to “pursue other projects,” said violinist Liana Bérubé, and so she and cellist Michelle Kwon were joined by Tampa-based pianist Eunmi Ko at the Flagler Museum for a … [Read more...]
It’s not ‘Hamlet,’ Fernando, but ‘Mamma Mia!’ will delight you, Maltz cast says
Will the Maltz Jupiter Theatre have to replace its carpeting after its four-week run of the ABBA jukebox musical Mamma Mia!, a show known for inciting audiences to dance in the aisles? “You can see them wanting to get out of their seats,” says performer Mary Mossberg, veteran of a national tour of Mamma Mia! and two other productions. “There’s an undeniable chemistry to … [Read more...]
Maddin’s ‘Green Fog’: I left my angst in San Francisco
A work of ecstatic cinephilia run gloriously amok, Guy Maddin’s The Green Fog both is and isn’t a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Climaxing at a brisk 63 minutes and composed entirely of scenes from other movies and TV shows shot in San Francisco — 101 titles made the cut, from more than 200 Maddin viewed for inspiration — The Green Fog is an example of director as … [Read more...]
Energetic cast makes it happen for Estefan bio ‘On Your Feet!’
Add the names of Gloria and Emilio Estefan to those of Frankie Valli, Carole King, Donna Summer and Cher, singers and songwriters whose lives have been enshrined lately in biographical jukebox musicals. For the Estefans, the show is called On Your Feet!, which ran on Broadway for a more than respectable 746 performances – nearly two years – from 2015 to 2017. Soon after … [Read more...]
Philadelphia visitors pay strong visit to Symphonia
David Kim, concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, has made himself a regular visitor to South Florida over the past few years, and on Sunday afternoon with the Symphonia Boca Raton he was back in the spotlight again, where his combination of skill and easy audience rapport was bountifully on display. Kim, who has led the Symphonia as guest conductor (and will do so … [Read more...]