In 1995, audiences did not yet know composer-lyricist Jason Robert Brow. After all, he had not won his Tony Awards for best score (Parade and Bridges of Madison County). Nor had he written The Last Five Years, the two-character, backward-and-forward narrative musical that regional theaters all across the country have since embraced. But he had penned Songs for a New … [Read more...]
‘Putting It Together’: How Sondheim and Lapine painted their masterpiece
When encountering a fully satisfying musical, it is hard to imagine the difficulties it endured on its way to Broadway. Think of Fiddler on the Roof or Hello, Dolly! – both a shambles in their out-of-town tryouts – or virtually every show by Stephen Sondheim, the musical theater’s pre-eminent composer-lyricist, notoriously slow in completing each score. Such is certainly … [Read more...]
Shakespeare Fest sticks to basics in impressive ‘Twelfth Night’
I never thought I would be able to use this word to describe a Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival production, but its latest take on Twelfth Night – the company’s fourth version – is “conventional.” In a good way. Perhaps producer/director Seth Trucks had no interest in setting the plot-initiating shipwreck on Mars or turning it into an air crash on a South Pacific island, as … [Read more...]
New Kravis programming director sees big potential for growing audience
Georgiana Young was perfectly content in her job as vice president of marketing and sales at Miami’s Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Then she got a call from Lee Bell. She was aware that Bell, senior director of programming at the Kravis Center for the past 24 years, had announced his intention to retire, so she felt she owed him a call or maybe lunch. But Bell … [Read more...]
Maltz to open its post-COVID season with ‘Jersey Boys’ at Roger Dean stadium
Never accuse the Maltz Jupiter Theatre of thinking small. During the past year, when most resident stage companies were idled by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maltz was busy demolishing its theater chamber and rebuilding an improved, larger complex to the tune of $36 million. The new theater could eventually house pre-Broadway tryouts, and in a later phase an expanded … [Read more...]
TV’s ‘Shirley,’ Cindy Williams, to debut one-woman retrospective at Wick
A not-so-funny thing happened to Cindy Williams on her way to the Wick Theatre. COVID-19. Not only did the comedienne most closely associated with the long-running sitcom Laverne & Shirley contract the deadly virus — she’s fine now — but the production of Nunsense that would bring her to Boca Raton had to be canceled. As Williams recalls, it was Dan Goggin, the … [Read more...]
Dramaworks emerging from lockdown with robust 2021-22 season
Early last year, when the pandemic we have come to know as COVID-19 first hit, disrupting the nation’s live theaters, closing their doors and halting their seasons, Bill Hayes of Palm Beach Dramaworks did the opposite of almost every other non-profit stage company. “One thing I had noticed very early on is many non-profits were immediately soliciting for funds,” says the … [Read more...]
Without a clear villain, ‘Art Heist’ at Kravis comes up short
The Kravis Center has been understandably dark for the past 14 months, shuttered by the indoor social distancing requirements of the COVID-19 pandemic. If only it could find a show that fits the current health and safety criteria, the West Palm Beach arts complex could open its doors again. Maybe “open its doors” is the wrong term, for the center’s first glimmer of … [Read more...]
Oscars 2021: Radical reinvention was good thing for awards show
It sounds heretical to say this, because the pandemic has taken such a toll on the film industry this year, but COVID-19 is the best thing to happen to the Academy Awards broadcast. The virus and its social distancing protocols, which previously sank the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and other awards programs prompted Oscars producer Steven Soderbergh – an Oscar winner … [Read more...]
Hap’s Oscar predictions, 2021 edition: ‘Nomadland’ will take top flick
Following a year of COVID-caused theater closings and postponed blockbusters, the Motion Picture Academy will try to put a positive spin on the industry this Sunday evening when the 93rd annual Oscar winners are announced. Understandably, it will not be the usual ceremony. For starters, the main venue will be Los Angeles’s iconic Union train station – featured in such major … [Read more...]