Time was, and not all that long ago, that the only way South Florida could hear the Verdi Requiem in concert was to wait for the Florida Philharmonic to schedule it or hope that a big touring ensemble would put it on. This year, there have been two major local performances of this 1874 masterwork: Once in January at a concert by the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra, with … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Two by Tracy Letts
The cast of August: Osage County, at Actors’ Playhouse. By Hap ErsteinIn order to maximize the chances of being produced in these precarious economic times, most writers now limit themselves in their plays’ cast size and physical requirements.But every now and again comes an Angels in America or a Coast of Utopia, from playwrights who dare to think on a grand … [Read more...]
Opera review: Soprano Taigi shines in PB Opera’s ‘Tosca’
Chiara Taigi and Riccardo Massi in Tosca.By Greg StepanichGood singing can get an opera audience past uninspired acting, but when it comes to the heroine of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, it’s best to have someone who can do both well.And on Friday night, Palm Beach Opera did.In the Italian soprano Chiara Taigi, who opened its current run of Puccini’s “shabby … [Read more...]
Soprano Taigi shines in PB Opera’s ‘Tosca’
Good singing can get an opera audience past uninspired acting, but when it comes to the heroine of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, it’s best to have someone who can do both well. And on Friday night, Palm Beach Opera did. In the Italian soprano Chiara Taigi, who opened its current run of Puccini’s “shabby little shocker” from 1900, Palm Beach Opera had an actress whose Floria Tosca … [Read more...]
Film review: ‘Kaboom’ fizzles in tepid bath of juvenilia
Juno Temple and Thomas Dekker in Kaboom.By John ThomasonGregg Araki puts the “terrible” in enfant terrible.For more than 20 years, the filmmaker has staked his dubious claim as the foremost auteur of vacuous Gen-X movies about sexually experimental hipsters. With one notable exception – the disturbing and deeply moving Mysterious Skin, which boasted the … [Read more...]
Film feature: Two festivals cover the ground from indie to Andy
Paul Giamatti and Alex Shaffer in Win Win.By Hap ErsteinPalm Beach County used to be film-festival challenged, but now we have a glut of options for moviegoers who want to get away from a steady diet of studio fare and perhaps rub shoulders with some of the filmmakers. It is, after all, not a hard sell to get directors and actors to come to Palm Beach in the final, … [Read more...]
Music roundup: Orchestras stand out in Shostakovich, Mendelssohn
Philippe Entremont. (Photo by Alvaro Yanez)By Greg StepanichBoca Raton Symphonia (Sunday, March 20, Roberts Theater, Boca Raton)The Boca Raton Symphonia closed its most recent concert Sunday with one of its better recent performances, one that seemed well-suited to the orchestra’s current period of experimentation and expansion.Philippe Entremont, in his … [Read more...]
Music roundup: Orchestras stand out in Shostakovich, Mendelssohn
Boca Raton Symphonia (Sunday, March 20, Roberts Theater, Boca Raton) The Boca Raton Symphonia closed its most recent concert Sunday with one of its better recent performances, one that seemed well-suited to the orchestra’s current period of experimentation and expansion. Philippe Entremont, in his first year as conductor of the group, also appeared as piano soloist in the … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Romance and its aftermath, on three stages
J. Fred Shiffman and Kate Eastwood Norris in Ghost-Writer.By Hap ErsteinA former musician turned playwright, Michael Hollinger is clearly fascinated with the music of words.Such an interest was evident in his earlier play, Opus, about the search for harmony among the members of a string quartet. A similar verbal playfulness is present in his latest work, … [Read more...]
Book review: ‘Memory Palace’ a haunting story of illness, loss and remembrance
The Memory Palace: A Memoir, by Mira Bartok. Free Press, 305 pp., $25By Bill WilliamsNorma Kurap Herr was a talented musician when she started hearing voices at age 19. She struggled with schizophrenia for the rest of her life, and was in and out of psychiatric wards and often homeless before she died at age 80.In this new memoir Mira Bartok, one of Herr’s … [Read more...]