WXEL radio becomes WPBI with close of sale to APMFORT LAUDERDALE – Classical South Florida, the American Public Media radio subsidiary, said it has completed the purchase of WXEL-90.7 FM.The Boynton Beach-based radio station’s new call letters are WPBI. The Minneapolis-based company bought WXEL radio last year from Barry University in Miami Shores for about $4 … [Read more...]
Theater review: Summer Shorts No. 16 leaner, shorter and funnier than ever
Top: Ceci Fernandez, Stephen Trovillion and Jai Rodriguez; bottom: Finnerty Steeves and Gregg Weiner, in Mickey Herman Saves The $#&@ World. (Photo by George Schiavone)By Hap ErsteinThere was every reason to be worried about this year’s Summer Shorts, the 16th annual collection of stage vignettes that has become a much-anticipated seasonal fixture in … [Read more...]
Theater review: Tonys broadcast one of best in years, but plays deserve more time
Neil Patrick Harris sings It’s Not Just for Gays Anymoreon Sunday night’s Tony Awards telecast.By Hap ErsteinIt was a great night for smiling proselytizers and equine puppets.Of course, I’m referring to The Book of Mormon and War Horse, which cemented their hit status by taking a victory lap at last night’s 65th annual Tony Awards telecast, grabbing nine and five … [Read more...]
Music review: Pianist Uryvayeva makes good showing in complete Chopin Etudes
Sofiya Uryvayeva, in a photo from her website.By Greg StepanichFrederic Chopin created art amid exercise when he wrote his two collections of Etudes (Opp. 10 and 25, and not counting the three he wrote in 1839 for Fetis), and with the exception of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes, they far outdistance every other such pedagogical work of their … [Read more...]
Pianist Uryvayeva makes good showing in complete Chopin Etudes
Frederic Chopin created art amid exercise when he wrote his two collections of Etudes (Opp. 10 and 25, and not counting the three he wrote in 1839 for Fetis), and with the exception of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes, they far outdistance every other such pedagogical work of their time. Perhaps the monumentality of the challenge – like doing the complete 48 of Bach’s … [Read more...]
Music feature: Bak Middle teams with Juilliard for week of jazz workshops
The Bak Middle School for the Arts Jazz Band.By Bill MeredithUntil recently, you weren’t likely to hear mention of the local Bak Middle School of the Arts and the Juilliard School in New York City within the same sentence.Starting Monday, that will officially change when Juilliard’s world-class faculty and graduate students come to Bak to educate 81 students, … [Read more...]
The View From Home 27: New releases and notable screenings, June 14-30
By John ThomasonIs there anything quite like the early films of Todd Haynes?Before he graduated to star-studded Hollywood casts and respectable HBO miniseries (this year’s Mildred Pierce), Haynes was a provocative enfant terrible whose early experimental films upset narrative status quos and pushed censors’ buttons. His 1987, 43-minute docudrama – for lack … [Read more...]
Art review: Vickrey’s world too fragile for the real one
Lacy’s Sparkler (2008), by Robert Vickrey. By Jenifer M. VogtWhimsy and wonder dominate in the world that Robert Vickrey creates in his painting. On first glance, there’s not much that is dark or foreboding. In fact, within moments of entering the exhibit, Robert Vickrey: The Magic of Realism, now on view at the Boca Raton Museum of Art until June 19, … [Read more...]
Theater feature: The Broadway season in review, and Hap’s Tony predictions
Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad in The Book of Mormon.By Hap ErsteinRecession? What recession? If the economy was in the doldrums this year, Broadway sure didn’t know about it.For the commercial theater season in New York that ended May 29, Broadway shows drew $1.08 billion in ticket sales, up 5.9 percent from last season to post record-breaking grosses.Of … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 10-15
Nick Thurston and Geoffrey Wigdor in White Irish Drinkers.Film: Writer-director John Gray (credited with creating TV’s Ghost Whisperer) grew up in Brooklyn and his latest feature film, White Irish Drinkers, feels like it has autobiographical elements in its coming-of-age tale of a young, sensitive artist trying hard not to sucked into the world of crime of his … [Read more...]