Dark for nearly a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center has announced firm dates for its seven-show 2021-22 Broadway series, beginning this November. The schedule includes two previously announced shows that had to be postponed when the performing arts center shut last March, Come From Away (now booked for Nov. 16-21) and Summer: The … [Read more...]
Appreciation: Jan McArt, the act who can’t be followed
To paraphrase a famous quote by Jerome Kern about Irving Berlin: “Jan McArt has no place in South Florida theater. She is South Florida theater.” Certainly she was producing and appearing in stage shows from Key West to Boca Raton when there was no other theater in the region to speak of. Most particularly, she built and ran the Royal Palm Dinner Theatre in Boca for 24 … [Read more...]
Remembrance: My ‘date’ with Cloris Leachman
It is a given that Cloris Leachman was a superb actress, as her Oscar for 1971’s The Last Picture Show, her eight Emmys for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Phyllis and other television roles attest. And then there are her silly and sublime collaborations with Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety. But Leachman, who died Wednesday of natural causes at … [Read more...]
Delray actress Katzman thrilled to be in big-screen DeNiro comedy
Palm Beach County has an emerging movie star in its midst. Making it official, Kate Katzman of Delray Beach was anointed with the Star on the Horizon Award at last month’s Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, where her latest big screen feature, The Comeback Trail, was the opening night attraction. “To be recognized like that is thrilling enough,” she says by … [Read more...]
‘Closer Than Ever’ compelling despite virtual limitations
For those who are yearning for the return of live theater – and that means most of us, doesn’t it? – MNM Theatre Company is jumping in to fill that void with a simple, but artfully affecting streamed production of Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire’s Closer Than Ever. This introspective and heartfelt revue has been produced many times in South Florida since its premiere … [Read more...]
New Kravis CEO excited about getting ‘dream job’
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...]
MNM’s virtual ‘Closer Than Ever’ reflects our uneasy times
When director Jonathan Van Dyke first moved to New York in 1990, the hot show off-Broadway was Closer Than Ever, a revue of “the anguish, amazement and human comedy of contemporary living” by lyricist Richard Maltby Jr. and composer David Shire. Van Dyke has fond memories of its intricately personal story songs, so when MNM Theatre Company’s plans to produce Bye Bye Birdie … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2020-21: The big films, with or without cinemas
Few things are as changeable as film release schedules in a coronavirus pandemic. Major movies like Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and Daniel Craig’s final James Bond flick, No Time to Die, have delayed their openings into 2021. Others – The Glorias, Mulan, Antebellum – have given up on theatrical showings entirely in favor of home video streaming. The good news for … [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...]
Pandemic pleasures: What I’m watching on the small screen
Before the shutdown brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, my life and free time were largely consumed by viewing and covering the latest theater openings and film releases. So when I would hear glowing reactions to long-form dramatic television series, I would make mental note of them, wondering when in the world I would ever have time to catch up and view them. … [Read more...]