By Márcio Bezerra If Thomas Mann thought that Wagner’s art was “dilettantism raised to the level of genius,” what would he have made of Gustav Mahler’s symphonic output? Mahler, one of the more important conductors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (in both Europe and New York City), had a limited compositional output as he wrote his symphonies mostly during his … [Read more...]
Archives for December 2023
‘Bye Bye Birdie’ at The Wick: An appealing return to 1950s America
The world of rock ‘n’ roll was, pardon the expression, all shook up when in 1958 Elvis Presley put his hip-swiveling act on hold to enlist in the Army. But music’s loss was the musical theater’s gain, as Lee Adams, Charles Strouse and Michael Stewart used that news as their inspiration for their show biz-meets-Middle America satire, Bye Bye Birdie. Classically trained … [Read more...]
Palm Beach’s new Balcos Gallery showcases French artist Herlédan
By Sandra Schulman A new gallery in the growing Palm Beach scene, Jennifer Balcos Gallery is debuting with an exhibit of paintings and sculpture by Aude Herlédan, the French artist’s first showing in Palm Beach. “We find most of our artists during our travels,” Balcos told Palm Beach ArtsPaper. ”I make it a point to visit every gallery, working artists’ studios and … [Read more...]
Meme streets: ‘Dream Scenario’ raises funny, troubling points about cancel culture
Paul Matthews, the character played by Nicolas Cage in the new satire Dream Scenario, is many things: a husband, a father, a tenured professor of evolutionary biology, a font of insecurities and jealousies and resentments. But more than anything, in this strange, heady and ever-shifting polemic, he is a human meme. Paul tends to satisfy both the original scientific … [Read more...]
Director’s smart touches refresh FGO’s well-sung ‘Traviata’
By Robert Croan Verdi’s La Traviata, as staged for Florida Grand Opera by Chía Patiño [seen at the Broward Center, Nov. 30], contained many original and unusual touches while retaining the opera’s original 19th-century milieu. Early on, in retelling Alexandre Dumas fils’ story of the courtesan who sacrifices her one chance of true love, the consumptive heroine --- … [Read more...]
Delray Playhouse’s ‘She Loves Me’ shines with stellar cast
By Dale King A lyric in theme song for the 1970s TV comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show tells us that “Love is all around.” That short, but sweet and sentimental, assertion could easily apply to the Hungarian perfume store where She Loves Me, the serene and romantic musical that packages amour in various situations, takes place. The production, now being presented on the … [Read more...]
Maltz’s ‘Christmas Carol’ looks great, comes up short in story
When, in 1843, Charles Dickens published a novella called A Christmas Carol, he had no idea that 180 years later, scores of regional theaters across America would be producing stage versions of the durable ghost story. And for many of them, it would be an annual event, the biggest moneymaker of the season. Now following in that tradition is the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, with a … [Read more...]
The View From Home: ‘The Unknown Country’ a sublime entry in the docufiction pantheon
Expect to be taken aback the first time The Unknown Country, a work of ostensible fiction newly released on DVD and Blu-ray ($22, Music Box), abruptly shifts to a documentary. We’ve just watched an actor, Lily Gladstone, stop at a Deadwood diner after a long night of driving. The camera is focused on her, not the loquacious server at the greasy spoon, who in between dispensing … [Read more...]
‘Berlin Diaries’ a Holocaust drama tour de force for two actors
Move over, Anne Frank. Playwright Andrea Stolowitz’s great-grandfather Max Cohnreich has a Holocaust-era diary too. Written in 1939, as Max is relocating from Germany to New York City, the diary arrives abruptly in the mail to Stolowitz many decades later, by way of the Holocaust archives. Feeling little connection to her ancestors, however, she puts the diary on a shelf, … [Read more...]