In searching for plays for Primal Forces’ return to Boca Raton this season, artistic director Keith Garsson wanted to find a Holocaust-themed work, but not the usual downbeat drama in shades of black and white. He has found it in Blonde Poison by Gail Louw, based on the true story of Stella Kubler, who looks back on her younger self in Nazi Germany when she both saved many … [Read more...]
‘Les Miz’ still packs a wallop in Kravis touring show
Since the touring production of Les Misérables currently at the Kravis Center’s Dreyfoos Hall was created to celebrate the musical’s 25th anniversary, that means it has been on the road for eight years by now. But you would never know it from the razor-sharp, tight and extremely well-sung performance that opened the weeklog run Tuesday evening. True, the physical … [Read more...]
At FAU, a compelling look at a Nazi resister
Our history books depict the German people as mostly going along with the Third Reich, offering little pushback to the rise of the Nazi Party. But a group of students at the University of Munich, the so-called White Rose Society, offered resistance in the form of an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign. As you might assume, they were eventually crushed by Hitler’s … [Read more...]
Community theater: DBP scores big with ‘California Suite’
By Dale King If you’re searching for some laughs to squelch the winter blues, look no further than the Delray Beach Playhouse. The venerable theater company has assembled an exceptional ensemble of actors to present Neil Simon’s California Suite, a quartet of playlets set in Suite 203-204 of the Beverly Hills Hotel. The show is regularly filling nearly every seat of the … [Read more...]
Dramaworks brings ‘Spitfire Grill’ to life in first-rate fashion
There is a breed of theatergoers who are prejudiced against – and will eager tell you they cannot abide – musicals. Understandably, they gravitate to stage companies like Palm Beach Dramaworks, which built its considerable reputation on the production of classic American plays. But through some calculation that summertime is more fitting for lighter fare, the West … [Read more...]
For Dramaworks, ‘Spitfire Grill’ is the little musical that could
A stage company like Palm Beach Dramaworks, known for “theater to think about,” could hardly make a lightweight choice for its first musical produced within a subscription season. So it selected The Spitfire Grill, a 2001 off-Broadway show based on an acclaimed – but also little seen – independent film about hope and redemption. “‘Spitfire Grill’ is probably one of the … [Read more...]
Zoetic serves up fine, compelling ‘Curious Incident’
For a work brimming with pure theatricality, few plays can top The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the tale of an autistic teenage boy’s struggle to make sense of the world around him. Following critical and popular successes in London and on Broadway, the play is now available for stylistic reinterpretation by resident companies, which must have been catnip for … [Read more...]
Maloney sensational as Fanny Brice in Wick’s ‘Funny Girl’
Barbra who? For more than half a century, theater companies have shied away from producing Funny Girl, the biographical musical of Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice, in part because whoever plays the leading role would be subjected to comparisons with Ms. Streisand. Apparently Boca Raton’s Wick Theatre was unfazed by that hurdle and, boy, have they found an … [Read more...]
Maltz’s ‘Mamma Mia!’ exuberant and delightful
There’s a party going on at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, a high-energy, high-stepping blast grafted onto a score of pre-existing hit songs by the Swedish pop rock group ABBA. And it goes by the name of Mamma Mia! As long as you do not mind that this show’s musical numbers only occasionally seem specific to the story line, you can have a giddy, good time at Mamma Mia’s … [Read more...]
Forgetting Barbra to reveal Brice is actress’s challenge in Wick’s ‘Funny Girl’
Arguably more than any other musical, memories of 1964’s Funny Girl have been so dominated by its original Broadway star – Barbra Streisand – that there has never been a major revival of the show. But audiences at the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton voted the Jule Styne-Bob Merrill musical biography of vaudeville vocalist and clown Fanny Brice (1891-1951) the show they most … [Read more...]