Robert B. Weide’s documentary Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time is about the man in the title, but it’s also about an enduring friendship, and it’s about the long game of filmmaking. Long as in 40 years: Weide, then a little-known documentarian, first proposed the idea of a documentary about the influential novelist in 1982, when he was 23 and Vonnegut was 60. Vonnegut died in … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2021
For Art Basel week, art fairs and satellite events back in full force
By Sandra Schulman After last year’s cancelation of Art Basel Miami Beach, the return of the fairs and several satellite events is welcome news for the South Florida art scene. All the big fairs are opening their doors – Art Basel, Art Miami, Context, NADA, Scope and many more. With travel restrictions lifted, expect the art jet set to fly in from around the world. There … [Read more...]
‘Spamilton’ takes loving dig at Miranda and his musical
The more successful a show is, the more it deserves to be spoofed. That is the philosophy of Gerard Alessandrini, the creator and writer of Forbidden Broadway, which has been poking the commercial theater in the ribs for nearly 40 years. And with Hamilton, arguably the most successful musical in a generation, he decided it deserved an entire evening’s parody — which he … [Read more...]
Appreciation: Sondheim made the musical into fine art
In 1994, a stark black-and-white cover of New York magazine asked, “Is Stephen Sondheim God?” The cheeky question tacitly acknowledged that the then 64-year-old was the reigning composer-lyricist of Broadway, perhaps of all time, and implied with a bit of wishful thinking that maybe he was immortal. Certainly his musicals, ranging from 1957’s West Side Story to 2008’s … [Read more...]
At LW Playhouse, ‘Earnest,’ with an LGBTQ Palm Beach twist
By Dale King Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest has been modified and repackaged in many different ways since it first hit the London stage on Valentine’s Day 1895. Lake Worth Playhouse has made its own modifications to the three-act production, pulling it into the 21st century, relocating it from England to Palm Beach County and toying with some of the gender … [Read more...]
‘Fully Committed’: At Levis JCC, one man’s scheduling nightmare
Did you ever try to get a 7:30 reservation to a trendy, high-end restaurant only to be told, somewhat derisively, that the establishment is “fully committed” for the next two months? Chances are, while wallowing in your disappointment, you never gave much thought to the travails of the out-of-work actor/reservations clerk on the other end of the phone. Well, playwright … [Read more...]
At Kravis, heartwarming ‘Come From Away’ packs emotional punch
Grab your vaccination card and your mask, the Kravis Center is back in business. And since its Broadway series is opening with Come From Away, the true-life tale of a tiny Canadian town that welcomed the bewildered passengers of 38 diverted airplanes on 9/11, you might as well pack a box of Kleenex too. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have inspired … [Read more...]
Armory Art Center hosts COVID Memorial Quilt
On display at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach through Dec. 6 is the exclusive South Florida exhibit of the COVID-19 Memorial Quilt, with 19 panels commemorating people from all over the world as well as two Florida-related panels. Each panel is made up of an 8-inch-by-8-inch piece of fabric (symbolizing infinity, or a sign of life) cut into squares that will be … [Read more...]
‘Mayor Pete’: Amazon doc fosters respect for rising Democrat
Like Robert Drew’s landmark Primary, Jesse Moss’s Amazon Prime documentary Mayor Pete is an insider’s portrait of a campaign for the Democratic nomination: the eternal political sausage-making of stump speeches and rope lines, mock debates and televised ones, meetings with consultants and bleary-eyed tracking of poll numbers. But while Drew’s account of the John F. Kennedy … [Read more...]
At the Norton, it’s TGIF: Thank God it’s Frida
In the universe of Mexican art, one petite star has shined consistently bright despite the eclipse caused by male counterparts. If it were a constellation, its shape would be a thick unibrow and its name Friducha. That was famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera’s name for his painter wife Frida Kahlo. Both are now the focus of a new exhibition organized by the Norton Museum of … [Read more...]