By Dale King If Agatha Christie murder mysteries are your cup of tea, grab a mug of Earl Grey – hot – and take a seat among the many audience members at the Lake Worth Playhouse for a run of Christie’s top-notch tale, The Mousetrap. A talented cast that delivers the playwright’s goods with aplomb keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. The old English drawing room set … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2022
‘Luna Gale’ at Boca Stage tackles big issues, underwhelmingly
Following closely upon its satire of Big Pharma, Rx, Boca Stage now takes a jaundiced look at the bureaucracy of the social safety net in Rebecca Gilman’s Luna Gale. At the play’s center is a stressed-out, overburdened Cedar Rapids social worker named Caroline, whose caseload includes meth addicts Karlie and Peter, parents of the title baby. We first encounter them in an ER … [Read more...]
Appreciation: Remembering Sally Kellerman
The news that Sally Kellerman, who will forever be remembered for her Oscar-nominated role as Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H, died Thursday brought back memories of a lunch I shared with her back in 1995. She was about to star as Mame Dennis in the musical Mame at the then-called Jupiter Theatre, long before Milton Maltz came on the scene. Her … [Read more...]
Trumpeter Blanchard, set for Boca festival, goes from strength to strength
As anyone who’s followed jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard’s career knows, his upcoming appearance at Festival of the Arts Boca will hardly be his first figurative South Florida rodeo. Following a long run as artistic director for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of California Los Angeles, Blanchard took a similar position in the … [Read more...]
On eve of PB Opera’s ‘L’elisir,’ tenor explores poignancy of ‘Una furtiva lagrima’
By Robert Croan Mario Chang has no qualms about touting the Palm Beach Opera production of L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love), in which he will be the star this weekend. (The show runs Friday through Sunday.) “Tell the people that if they stay away they’re missing something very good,” says the Colombian tenor, who will play the central role of Nemorino. “This … [Read more...]
Since 1976, West Palm’s Music Man has kept the bands playing
During the same year Music Man (www.MusicManInc.com) opened on North Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach, consider that the United States celebrated its bicentennial anniversary, and Jimmy Carter was elected its 39th president. The average cost of a new house was slightly more than $43,000; average income was $16,000, average monthly rent $220, and gas cost around 59 cents per … [Read more...]
‘The Prince’ slims down Henry James for the modern age
By Sharon Geltner It took a former book reviewer for the New York Times to cleverly update Henry James’s best and, at 600 pages, longest novel, The Golden Bowl. Dinitia Smith has just launched The Prince, cutting 300 pages and speeding the pace — thereby catapulting the Gilded Age into the modern age. “I don’t write in Henry James’ style!” Smith exclaimed recently, … [Read more...]
From Rome with love: Michelangelo, up close at the Armory
Tom Pearson likes to tell a story he heard about Michelangelo and the painting of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. In order to paint the ceiling of the chapel, Michelangelo spent five years on a scaffold lying on his back. He wouldn’t let anyone preview his work, including Pope Julius II. When the pope tried to sneak in, Michelangelo threw a shoe at him. Pearson, CEO … [Read more...]
‘The Duration’: World premiere play deftly examines shadows of 9/11
Can it really be 20 years since the events of 9/11, a day so etched in our memories that it feels like yesterday? Perhaps by now Audrey Batten’s well-earned anger and bitterness have subsided, but in Bruce Graham’s world premiere play, The Duration — which initially takes place mere days after the destruction of the Twin Towers — her grief has the highly rational history … [Read more...]
New Kravis CEO: Let’s program for the community
Cue the arrival of the new Kravis Center chief executive officer. Take two. When the longtime head of the West Palm Beach performing arts center, Judith Mitchell, announced that she was retiring, it triggered a nationwide search for her successor. Eventually, Terrence Dwyer, a veteran southern California arts manager, was selected, but he lasted a mere five months during … [Read more...]