By Dale King The musical Cabaret is dark and forbidding, much like its setting, Berlin in the 1930s, when Adolf Hitler and his minions began their horrific mission of turning Germany into a gutter of hate. Grad students from Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Theatre and Dance wrap up their two-play Festival Rep series this summer with a masterful retelling and … [Read more...]
#MeToo and the young actress: Three FAU thespians view the road ahead
By Janis Fontaine The #MeToo movement that exploded onto the cultural scene in 2017 with allegations of sexual misconduct against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein – who was indicted this week on rape charges in New York – has upended the careers of major figures in entertainment, media and government, among other professions. Palm Beach ArtsPaper sat down in April with … [Read more...]
‘Merry Wives,’ done reality TV-style, delights at FAU
By Dale King Among the dusty, shopworn show biz mottos kicking around the darkened back rooms of theatrical venues is the phrase, “Always leave them laughing.” That’s undoubtedly how we’ll remember this year’s class of fine arts students from Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Theatre and Dance, who conclude their 2017-2018 season this weekend with a raucously … [Read more...]
Gogol it: FAU’s ‘Government Inspector’ shows good satire never really dates
By Dale King Student actors in Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Theatre and Dance have finally been loosed from a hurricane-prompted delay that postponed the opening of their 2017-2018 season from October to the period just before Thanksgiving. As a result, the political satire, The Government Inspector, written by Nikolai Gogol in the mid-1830s and adapted … [Read more...]
FAU Festival Rep’s ‘Sense’ and ‘Woods’ entertain and nourish
The best theater pieces involve characters who want something very badly. Perhaps that is what links Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical, Into the Woods, which are the cornerstones of this year’s Festival Rep on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus. In the former, two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, yearn for … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 30-July 2
Theater: This weekend, the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine fairy tale mash-up, Into the Woods, joins a stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, in repertory at Boca Raton’s Florida Atlantic University for its 2017 Festival Rep, the 20th annual showcase of the drama department’s graduate student pool. Bruce Linser, a local Sondheim maven, directs the sophisticated … [Read more...]
Happily ever after? FAU’s ‘Into the Woods’ takes on the question
In the often lightweight genre of musicals, composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim has tended towards the grim, in shows about a homicidal barber, presidential assassins and America’s opening and despoiling of Japan. Then there is his Grimm musical, Into the Woods, written with his Sunday in the Park with George collaborator James Lapine. Its first act, which interweaves several … [Read more...]
FAU’s ‘Spitfire Grill’ finds winning balm in Gilead
By Dale King The Spitfire Grill, the lively contemporary musical that completes its two-weekend run at the Studio One Theatre on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton on Sunday, is not a humorous show, despite the up-tempo, often knee-slapping rhythm of its score and an aw-shucks ending that drops on the audience like the plummeting temperature of a … [Read more...]
Fine performances make for gripping ‘Anne Frank’ at FAU
By Dale King The Diary of Anne Frank – the powerfully told memoir of a young Jewish girl, her family and associates forced to hide for nearly two years to escape Nazi persecution during World War II – is one of the most famous and haunting stories to emerge from the horrific Holocaust years. Performed with great passion and depth by students from the Department of Theatre … [Read more...]