As any geometry student knows, pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. But as the musical comedy Waitress demonstrates, pie can be shortest distance to happiness. Diner waitress Jenna Hunterson (Christine Dwyer) happens to also be an extraordinary baker of pies, which bring her customers much satisfaction — exactly the feeling that is absent … [Read more...]
Exemplary Maltz cast brings Ibsen up to date
Sequels are the all-too-frequent domain of the movies, but relatively rare in the theater except for Shakespeare and his history plays. Still, Henrik Ibsen seemed to be expecting a follow-up to A Doll’s House, with its famous final door-slamming ending, one of modern drama’s most renowned cliffhangers. What did happen to Nora Helmer after she walked out on her husband … [Read more...]
Boca Jewish Film Festival grows, set to open third season
Heading into its third annual event, March 10-31, the Judy Levis Markhoff Boca Raton Jewish Film Festival has already proven popular with south county movie mavens. “We’ve grown tremendously,” reports Wendy Honig, the festival’s artistic director. This year’s festival will screen 44 films from 20 countries, including U.S. and Southeast premieres, and three submissions to … [Read more...]
Nora’s back: Ibsen revisited, at the Maltz
In 1879, when feminist Nora Helmer – the main character in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House – slammed the front door and walked out on her husband and family, it is generally agreed that she opened another door, to the start of modern drama. Ibsen’s play ended there, but what happened to Nora afterwards, as she tried to forge a life as a single woman in a Norwegian society … [Read more...]
Hap’s fearless Oscar predictions: Malek, Close, ‘Green Book’
According to the showbiz bible Variety, this is the most wide-open Oscars race in decades, with no conclusive front runner emerging from the preliminary awards. Yet that does not stop me from predicting tonight's winners, just in time for you to place a bet with your neighbors or bookie. By the end of a probably long evening, here is what the list of those clutching gold … [Read more...]
Snedeker gives master class in acting with chilling ‘Blonde Poison’
There are six million stories in the Holocaust, but few as vivid and complex as that of Stella Kubler Goldschlag, the so-called Blonde Poison. That is also the title of Gail Louw’s one-person performance piece currently receiving its area premiere at Primal Forces. From her Berlin apartment in the 1990s, where Stella is preparing to be interviewed by a German-born, … [Read more...]
One-woman ‘Blonde Poison’ explores Holocaust ambiguity
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...]
Where everybody had an Uncle Joe: Making ‘The Last Resort’
Fresh from its area premiere at the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, a popular documentary of the history of Miami Beach, its transition from a retirees’ community to a hip, young multicultural club scene, and the two local photographers who chronicled its heyday, The Last Resort, arrives in theaters this Friday. Co-directors Dennis Scholl and Kareem Tabsch both grew up … [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...]