The impact of the film industry on the coronavirus pandemic has been depressingly documented, from the indefinite postponement of movie shoots to the delayed release of studio pictures to the continued closures — some will be permanent — of cinemas. Audio-based art forms, on the other hand, are thriving. Offering the illusion of intimacy but the safety of distance, radio and … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2020
Music online: Pianist Vlaeva plays Mainly Mozart Festival
Recent musical summers have become richer hereabouts with the programming of the Mainly Mozart Festival, a long-running concert series in Coral Gables that got fresh, innovative energy under the leadership of pianist Marina Radiushina. Unwilling to let this summer go, Radiushina is presenting her series online as we all wrestle with the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning with … [Read more...]
Appreciation: Larry Kramer, one angry (and vigilant) man
Immersed, as we all currently are, in the scourge of coronavirus, the AIDS epidemic seems like such a distant memory. But nothing brings its horrors back with a jolt quite like the death Wednesday of activist-playwright Larry Kramer at the age of 84. The co-founder of the AIDS service organization Gay Men’s Health Crisis and founder of the more politically militant ACT UP, … [Read more...]
FAU names Studio One Theatre for arts benefactor Marleen Forkas
By Dale King Tradition has it that actors love to see their name in lights. A Boca Raton arts aficionado and longtime philanthropist has just solidified her own presence in dramaturgical nomenclature. Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters announced earlier this month that it had received a $1.125 million gift from benefactor Marleen … [Read more...]
The VIew From Home: ‘Biosphere 2,’ the game-changer that might have been
The reality-show trappings of the infamous and grandiose Biosphere 2 project are, from today’s jaundiced eye, inescapable. A vivarium constructed in the Arizona desert to house eight intrepid “Biospherians,” five environmental biomes and a curated variety of flora and fauna, the venture was designed as a prototype for a colony on Mars or the moon. The octet of personalities … [Read more...]
Jupiter teen, child star sees bright theater future ahead
For Skye Alyssa Friedman, there’s no down time, even in this moment of COVID-19. These days, the Jupiter resident is busy finishing her home-school classes, logging in to video classes on Zoom, interviewing with prospective colleges, reading plays, taking online dance classes and filming audition tapes. But perhaps that’s nothing new for the red-haired 18-year-old who’s … [Read more...]
The View From Home: More gems from Criterion
Like you, I’m stuck at home for what has begun to feel like an eternal, if comfort-filled, purgatory. But movies have been my escape from the dreadful and the humdrum. My recent adventures with the Criterion Channel app continued with six more eclectic features — five gems and one dud. La Vie de Boheme: When I reviewed Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre, in 2011, I must have skimped … [Read more...]