A viral pandemic and an economic downturn have made for a tight job market, yet Terrence W. Dwyer, former chief executive officer of Southern California’s Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts, has landed a plum position during these challenging times. Last week he was named the new CEO of West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center, taking over for the retiring Judy Mitchell, who has … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2020-21: Classical shows shrink, but concerts still plentiful
South Florida’s classical music community is surely one of the nation’s most vibrant, with at least seven regularly appearing orchestras playing from Key West to Fort Pierce, two opera companies, three chamber music series, a nationally known concert choir, and a season that in the winter months sees many of the touring stars of the Northeast come down to shake off the … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2020-21: COVID stifles dance, but live shows set for 2021
By Dale King Performance stages throughout South Florida that would normally host all sorts of dance programs this time of year are silent, dark and vacant. Producers have dismissed dancers, sent staff home and barred patrons from entry as COVID-19 has rudely slammed the door on art forms of all genres. While most dance companies have replaced live shows with online … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2020-21: Theaters mostly in hiding for season
Although Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared the state’s playhouses safe to reopen, the area’s theater companies are less than comfortable with the notion of getting up and running again. Most have canceled their 2020-2021 seasons, some in favor of a presence online with streaming options. A few have pushed their openings to next year with a shortened season of offerings. And … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2020-21: Female stars dot 2021 jazz landscape
Jazz takes a measured approach to the 2020-2021 South Florida concert season, eschewing the current, COVID-19-ravaged year in favor of optimism starting in early 2021. Which makes for an abbreviated schedule, yet one filled with younger, international distaff performers. Those include Japanese pianist Yoko Miwa, Canadian trumpeter and vocalist Bria Skonberg, and East … [Read more...]
Area’s theaters exploring the question: What now?
Optimism tempered by uncertainty is the mood of area theater companies, which project several possible scenarios for re-opening their playhouses and getting back to producing shows, based on what the government will allow. While champing at the bit to be up and running, to have subscribers and single-ticket buyers return, their plans to restart vary over time, with options that … [Read more...]
Kravis Center’s only CEO to retire after 30 years at top
By Dale King Judith Mitchell was hired as fundraising director for the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in 1989 when the 10.5-acre venture was simply an under-construction dream of local philanthropists intent on creating a major performance venue in downtown West Palm Beach. A bit more than 30 years later, inside the elegant showplace that now stands on … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2019-20: ‘Hamilton’ might be hottest ticket, but area theaters have plenty of worthy shows planned
There are plenty of interesting productions looming in the area this season, but the hottest ticket is unquestionably Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, at the Kravis Center in late January and then the Arsht Center the following month. Do what you have to to get tickets. You didn’t need that right arm anyway. A year ago, the Stage Door Theatre was readying a move to a larger, … [Read more...]
Broadway baby: ‘School of Rock’ cast member, 10, tells of life on the road
Like many a New Yorker, 10-year-old Alyssa Emily Marvin considers South Florida to be her second home. After all, her great-grandmother was a longtime volunteer at the Kravis Center until recently and her cousin is a rabbi at Temple Beth El in Boca Raton. And on Wednesday, Alyssa makes her Kravis debut as Marcy, one of the kid rocker back-up singers in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s … [Read more...]
At Kravis, ‘Waitress’ is a sweet helping of comfort food
As any geometry student knows, pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. But as the musical comedy Waitress demonstrates, pie can be shortest distance to happiness. Diner waitress Jenna Hunterson (Christine Dwyer) happens to also be an extraordinary baker of pies, which bring her customers much satisfaction — exactly the feeling that is absent … [Read more...]