By Dale King Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the author’s legendary tale of a wretched money-hoarding soul who finds lifesaving redemption with help from ghostly apparitions who appear to him on a fateful Christmas Eve in 1840s London, is back in Palm Beach County, offering a spirited lift to folks looking forward to the arriving holiday season. The famed fable opened … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2023
‘Berlin Diaries’ gets first premiere at Boca’s Theatre Lab
As she began to write what became The Berlin Diaries, Andrea Stolowitz knew two things. One, the play would be based on the journals of her great-grandfather, Max, who escaped Germany in 1939 and came to New York. And two, it would need to be told in an unconventional format to prevent it from seeming like just another Holocaust play. Developed in part by Florida … [Read more...]
New dancers help reinvigorate MCB’s Balanchine, Tharp in ‘Fall Mix’
I caught the Fall Mix performances by Miami City Ballet at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts on Nov. 5 and it was a satisfying starter for what is being offering up for the 2023-24 season. On display was the most beautiful of “plotless” ballets, the most dynamic of “crossover” ballets, as well as a brand-new work by a most promising choreographer. There was a … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Poetry Festival to return, but in North Carolina
The Palm Beach Poetry Festival will return in two years — but not in Delray Beach. Or Palm Beach County. Or Florida. With the passing of the festival founder and director Miles Coon in May 2022 at the age of 84, and the coincidental loss of its long-term venue in Old School Square, the future of the festival was in doubt. “I want to see the festival continue to … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire renders French Baroque superbly
By Robert Croan Welcome to Paris in the 1730s, during the reign of Louis XV. To open its 2023-24 season, Seraphic Fire, directed by Patrick Dupré Quigley, presented two rarely heard works from the period --- a sacred motet followed by extracts from an opera, each evoking the alleged splendors of the French court while providing a tantalizing glimpse into music that was … [Read more...]
‘Chicago’ at the Kravis still has plenty of razzle-dazzle
Musicals are rarely cynical, but then there is Chicago, a snarky look at our justice system as seen through a pair of accused murderesses awaiting trial in the Cook County jail, circa the late 1920s. Perhaps the show’s appeal stems more from its Bob Fosse-inspired choreography and its John Kander-Fred Ebb score than from the snide script Fosse co-wrote with lyricist Ebb. … [Read more...]
‘Orient Express’ gets brilliant stage treatment at Maltz
There is no mystery why the Maltz Jupiter Theatre has become South Florida’s preeminent stage company over the course of its 20 years of existence. The clues are all on display in the expert ensemble cast and stunning design elements that add up to a production of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express that must be seen to be believed. Christie’s 1934 novel, a most … [Read more...]
Mexico’s Minería orchestra, pianist Montero get Kravis classical season off to fine start
By Márcio Bezerra The Classical Concert Series at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach opened its season Monday with a concert by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería of Mexico. Founded in 1978, the OSM is unusual as its main season runs in the summer in Mexico City (for the rest of the year, the orchestra, according to its website, “performs special … [Read more...]
2023-24 Season in Palm Beach County Art: Major collections, diverse exhibits mark art season
By Sandra Schulman It’s been a long hot summer, so the cool breeze of a new art season is a welcome relief. Major collections figure in shows at the Norton, while the Boca Museum conjures up a little mystery. Bicycles, natural flora, fiber art and art fairs all make appearances. Norton Museum of Art With a new director and curators, the Norton has a new energy going … [Read more...]