With the Broadway successes of Avenue Q, War Horse and King Kong, puppetry is having an extended moment. For an art form dating back to 3000 B.C., it’s now getting its due as puppets take center stage at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s current production of Beauty and the Beast, the fairy tale of a young maiden who falls in love with a prince-turned-beast who can be freed only … [Read more...]
‘Downton Abbey’ settles in at CityPlace for the season
For Anglophiles and fans of the PBS series Downton Abbey, wait no longer – the characters, the costumes, the Old World glamour and melodrama are arriving in South Florida in time for season. Just off a successful New York City run, NBCUniversal International Studios, along with Imagine Exhibitions, is bringing Downton Abbey: The Exhibition to CityPlace in West Palm Beach, … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2018-19: Books
South Florida has a perhaps surprisingly strong books culture, and not just because it has been home to major writers such as Ernest Hemingway and Zora Neale Hurston. It also is home to Books & Books, a remarkably successful Miami-based chain of independent bookstores, and as the Miami Book Fair it helped found has grown, newer players have appeared on the scene to celebrate … [Read more...]
Delray’s Spady Museum celebrates Harlem Renaissance, poet Hughes
What’s it like to hear “Stormy Weather” performed by Ethel Waters at the Cotton Club in 1920s Harlem or Cab Calloway belt out his classic “Minnie the Moocher”? Or perhaps listen to Billie Holiday as she sings at the Hot Shot Club? Or, how about swinging the night away at the Savoy Ballroom, the largest dance hall in Harlem, known for its rootin’-tootin’ root beers and best … [Read more...]
Unlikely partnership of comedian and cellist born on an airplane
In an unlikely pairing that is getting top reviews, actor Bill Murray, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live and films like Ghostbusters and Lost in Translation, has joined forces with a classical music trio led by renowned German cellist Jan Vogler, his wife and violinist, Mira Wang, and pianist Vanessa Pérez in a mélange of songs, music and literary readings. They … [Read more...]
Festival of the Arts Boca offers Battle, Perlman, Tinti, Haass, ‘E.T.’ — and Bill Murray
With its starting dates moved up a couple weeks this season, the 12th annual Festival of the Arts Boca opens Feb. 23 with a renowned American operatic singer and closes March 4 with a classic Steven Spielberg movie accompanied by a live orchestra. Opening the festival at the Mizner Park Amphitheater will be soprano Kathleen Battle, a five-time Grammy Award winner who will … [Read more...]
Canvas outdoor art show coming to Lake Worth
The week before Art Basel descends on Miami on Dec. 7, the Canvas Outdoor Museum Show will descend upon the city of Lake Worth from Nov. 26 to Dec. 2. Founded in 2015 by art curator Nicole Henry, the event has run in West Palm Beach for the past two years. Canvas artists will turn the city’s streets into an outdoor museum, with giant murals, shipping containers, art … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Film Festival focuses on the independent lens
Over the years, the Palm Beach International Film Festival has had its share of celebrity visits and Hollywood glam. But that’s not what Randi Emerman wants you to remember about the 17th edition of PBIFF. “The focus of this year’s Palm Beach International Film Festival (PBIFF) is on the film,” says Emerman, director of the festival. “Pure and simple, our emphasis is on … [Read more...]
For 25 years, Duncan Theatre has been cutting-edge
If you lived in Palm Beach County 25 years ago, to get your culture fix you went to the Duncan Theatre in Lake Worth or the “leaky teepee,” the familiar name for the West Palm Beach Auditorium, which earned that name from its pointy roof and less-than-watertight conditions. The leaky teepee lives on in lore and memory, but the county’s cutting-edge performing arts house, the … [Read more...]
Maltz Jupiter Theatre celebrates decade, looks to endowment
All in all, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s 10th anniversary season is shaping up to be a milestone for the largest regional theater in South Florida. The Maltz recently passed the 7,000-subscriber mark, counts 70,000 theatergoers annually, and earlier this month announced the launch of a $10 million endowment campaign. Last month, the theater received 25 Carbonell nominations, … [Read more...]