New Jersey casinos have started to take bets on the Oscars, but you probably do not have time to head that way and place a wager. So instead, take my scientifically projected winners’ list and bet with your friends and family or simply impress them by calling out the winners just before they are announced on the air. Regardless of how you use this valuable information, … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2020
Slow Burn manages to sell second-rate, tuneless ‘Groundhog Day’
You have to admire the dedication of Slow Burn Theatre to revive musicals that got insufficient love on Broadway. (Yes, we’re looking at you Big Fish, Side Show and Parade.) Still, you have to also accept, no matter how well the company performs them, some of these shows are simply subpar. Which brings us to Groundhog Day, the stage adaptation of the 1993 Bill Murray … [Read more...]
‘I’m Old Fashioned’ leads off MCB’s Program II with exceptional elegance
Who was dancing with brilliant ease with Miami City Ballet at Kravis Center for the Performing Arts a couple weekends ago? Why, it was Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth gliding across the stage in a sweeping waltz. Projected larger-than-life on a huge screen, they introduced I’m Old-Fashioned, Jerome Robbins’ tribute to the silver screen and the glamorous, bygone golden age … [Read more...]
Playwright’s ‘Glass Piano,’ at FAU Theatre Lab, offers a fairy tale of anxiety
Theatergoers will have to take a leap of faith with playwright Alix Sobler and her play The Glass Piano, about to have its U.S. premiere at FAU Theatre Lab in Boca Raton. It concerns a Princess Alexandra, who either did, or believes she did, ingest a glass piano when she was a child. Ever since, she has lived a cautious life knowing the piano could break into tiny shards … [Read more...]
ArtPalmBeach offers variety, but unifying theme elusive
By Myles Ludwig Transparency, in terms of glass and ceramic works, seemed the most salient curatorial thinking behind the ArtPalmBeach 2020 exhibition at the Convention Center which runs through today. This fair has often presented surprising and even clever work in past iterations, but I felt the organizing principle behind the current edition of the show was elusive, … [Read more...]
Violinist Rhee was clear winner of second EOIVC
By Dennis D. Rooney The four finalists in the second triennial Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition the next EOIVC will be held in 2023) were heard on the last weekend in January in two concerts. They had been chosen from 19 quarter-finalists from 10 locations — Canada, China, Israel, Italy, Korea, Russia, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and the United … [Read more...]
Hare’s ‘Skylight’: When politics polarizes passion
David Hare, one of Great Britain’s most acclaimed playwrights, is known for juggling the personal and the political in his works. That balancing act is particularly evident in his 1995 drama Skylight, a reunion of two former lovers from opposite sides of the political spectrum, being revived by Palm Beach Dramaworks beginning Friday. Although set in the days … [Read more...]
Harris’s Gunnie Rose is a protagonist with legs (and weapon)
By Sharon Geltner Could the latest Charlaine Harris fantasy series evolve into True Grit meets True Blood? It’s possible. There are similarities between the Sookie Stackhouse and the new Gunnie Rose series. (Harris wrote the Southern vampire series about the telepathic Louisiana barmaid inspiring the HBO series, True Blood. She’s published more than 40 books, some in … [Read more...]
Soprano Lopez scores triumph in FGO’s ‘Butterfly’
By Robert Croan The title role in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is one of the pinnacles for every opera soprano. Sandra Lopez has performed this arduous role more than 50 times in nine productions, and in her Broward Center performance Jan. 30 (the fifth of six in Florida Grand Opera’s current run; the last one is tonight) she came through the hurdles unscathed and victorious. … [Read more...]
‘Les Misérables’: Gritty French cop drama raises timeless themes of injustice
There are more pleasant first days on the job than the one experienced by Stéphane Ruiz (Damien Bonnard), a Parisian police officer newly transferred to the city’s Street Crime Unit, in director Ladj Ly’s combustible Les Misérables. He’s barely been introduced to his superiors when he is sent on his first assignment, shadowing and assisting longtime partners Chris (Alexis … [Read more...]