You can understand why Debra Messing (of TV’s Will & Grace) was drawn to play Ernestine, the central character of Noah Haidle’s new multi-generational comic drama, Birthday Candles. The character spans 90 years – from age 17 to 107 – from high schooler to great-grandmother, from young love to heartbreak and divorce to unexpected late life romance. It is a role with built-in … [Read more...]
In New York: Exhilarating ‘Six’ gives Henry’s wives unstoppable grrrl power
Within seconds, the audience for the high-energy faux-history lesson, Six, is whipped into a rock concert frenzy. Except for a couple of ballads, that frenzy does not let up for the show’s brief, but exhausting 80-minute running time. And you wouldn’t want it any other way. The title, of course, refers to the half-dozen wives of the English King Henry VIII. By a quirk of … [Read more...]
You’ll be glad you met Esther in Dramaworks’ powerful ‘Intimate Apparel’
Playwright Lynn Nottage has two Pulitzer Prizes to her credit (Ruined and Sweat), but Esther Mills of Intimate Apparel is arguably her most memorable character. Esther is a seamstress who makes delicate lingerie, corsets and other intimate apparel for clients ranging from Mayme (Krystal Mosley), a black prostitute, to Mrs. Van Buren (Gracie Winchester), a white society … [Read more...]
Sharp, funny ‘Scoundrels’ a welcome reminder of Maltz’s skill
They call it musical comedy, but few shows are actually laugh-out-loud funny. One exception is Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the tale of a couple of unscrupulous con men out to fleece rich women on the French Riviera. It earns its audience guffaws thanks to the unexpected lyrics of composer David Yazbek — who else would come up with the almost-rhyme of “castle” and … [Read more...]
‘Overactive Letdown’ a harrowing look at postpartum mental anguish
Although it seems unlikely that playwright Gina Montet had this in mind with her new play, Overactive Letdown, anyone who sees her exploration of post-partum psychosis would then be loath to have a baby. After all, Christine and Mark are a smart, well-educated, caring couple, excited about their imminent parenthood and yet ill-equipped to cope with its demands. For while … [Read more...]
The Civil War, played for laughs: Boca Stage’s sharp, funny ‘Ben Butler’
Comedy depends on the element of surprise. And the most surprising thing about Ben Butler, Richard Strand’s Civil War tug-of-war over a runaway slave who seeks asylum at a Union army post, is that the dire situation is played for laughs. The play is full of verbal wit, delivered with verve by a capable four-member cast at Boca Stage, under the crafty direction of the … [Read more...]
A history lesson with love and nuance: Dramaworks cast, director prep ‘Intimate Apparel’
Be Boyd, an associate professor in the theater department of Orlando’s University of Central Florida, teaches the plays of two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, but has yet to stage one of her plays professionally. That is until now, when she directs Intimate Apparel at Palm Beach Dramaworks, opening Friday, April 1. She eagerly agreed to the assignment, calling … [Read more...]
FAU Theatre Lab takes on dark side of childbirth in ‘Overactive Letdown’
The birth and care of a newborn baby is usually depicted in plays and movies as a blessed event. But Miami-based playwright Gina Montet knows that is not always the case. So, after researching the subject and having children of her own, she wrote Overactive Letdown, a look at the dark side of childbirth. An audience favorite at the 2020 New Play Festival of Florida Atlantic … [Read more...]
‘Sh-Boom!’ offers mild 1950s fluff at The Wick
When Marilynn Wick, executive managing producer of her eponymous Boca Raton theater, pulled the plug on a planned mounting of the musical Damn Yankees for financial reasons, she went looking for a less expensive, easier-to-produce show. And as the saying goes, “You get what you pay for,” in this case a piece of 1950s jukebox fluff called Sh-Boom! Life Could Be a Dream. That … [Read more...]
‘Anastasia’: Projections help bring magic to Russian what-if story
One of the great “what if” tales of stage and screen wonders what if Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, the youngest princess of the Russian Romanovs, did not die with her family in 1918 during the bloody Russian Revolution. And what if she resurfaced 10 years later to reunite with her dowager grandmother and claim the clan’s fortune? The story has fascinated audiences for … [Read more...]