The last time Scarlett Johansson traversed a void of frame-filling darkness, she was a voluptuous alien consuming eager men like so much protein in 2013’s Under the Skin. In the opening fade-in of Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, she is once again a figure framed in absolute blackness, a light emerging from its absence in glorious medium shot. It’s almost religious, like one … [Read more...]
Archives for December 2019
For cast, ‘Music Man’ is a feel-good show with heart
By Hap Erstein Frequent Wick Theatre director Norb Joerder has forgotten how many times he has staged Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. But he can recall a lot of the prominent performers who have played the traveling salesman who cons town after town into buying instruments and band uniforms for their music-challenged youngsters. “This is probably my eighth or … [Read more...]
Miami Art Week Part 1: A conservative mood with nostalgic art
By Sandra Schulman The edgy political climate worldwide has resulted in a mega Art Week that seems to be taking a more conservative approach to the art and exhibits, with many shows looking back wistfully, from the glamour gals of Miami to the roots of Indigenous people. Using art as a respite from the world seems more of a necessity than an indulgence. The local … [Read more...]
Sluggish pace mutes the laughs in MNM’s ‘Forum’
Stephen Sondheim was a mere 32 years old when the first show with his music and lyrics, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, opened on Broadway. A farce based on a convoluted storyline by the ancient Greek jokester Plautus, the audience-friendly musical has none of the psychological complexities that Sondheim would become known for, but plenty of his quirky melodies … [Read more...]
PB Opera’s ‘Hansel’ explores world of play, menace on a set made of paper
In the Palm Beach Opera’s upcoming trip to the land of make-believe, everything is made of paper and grommets are our friend. If that sounds odd, how about this: For its December production, which in past years has amounted to such things as outdoor concerts and presentations of huge symphonic works including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Verdi’s Requiem, the company is … [Read more...]
Georgia O’Keeffe: Norton takes close look at an American original
By Sandra Schulman Floating bones and flowers in the Southwestern sky are the most famous images produced by Georgia O’Keeffe. As a woman and an artist, O’Keeffe was a mass of artful contradictions, due to her sensual abstract work and her monastic personal style. As her life as an artist evolved, she became a self-created masterpiece with a progressive, independent … [Read more...]
World premiere play revives ‘Goldbergs’ pioneer and the blacklist
Gertrude Berg, the pioneering writer-director-producer-star of radio and television’s The Goldbergs, a domestic comedy of a Jewish family in the Bronx, is all but forgotten today. In part that is why area stage actress Elizabeth Dimon wanted to commission a play about Berg and her show’s untimely demise in the dark days of the anti-Communist blacklist. In addition, the … [Read more...]
Audience-participation whodunit ‘Drood’ takes Maltz stage
Charles Dickens wrote what is probably the most popular holiday tale, A Christmas Carol, which has been adapted for the stage many times, filling theaters at this time of year. A bit perversely, then, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre has chosen to dust off his other Christmas show, 1986’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a five-time Tony Award winner including Best Musical. It opens … [Read more...]