There is a breed of theatergoers who are prejudiced against – and will eager tell you they cannot abide – musicals. Understandably, they gravitate to stage companies like Palm Beach Dramaworks, which built its considerable reputation on the production of classic American plays. But through some calculation that summertime is more fitting for lighter fare, the West … [Read more...]
For Dramaworks, ‘Spitfire Grill’ is the little musical that could
A stage company like Palm Beach Dramaworks, known for “theater to think about,” could hardly make a lightweight choice for its first musical produced within a subscription season. So it selected The Spitfire Grill, a 2001 off-Broadway show based on an acclaimed – but also little seen – independent film about hope and redemption. “‘Spitfire Grill’ is probably one of the … [Read more...]
Zoetic serves up fine, compelling ‘Curious Incident’
For a work brimming with pure theatricality, few plays can top The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the tale of an autistic teenage boy’s struggle to make sense of the world around him. Following critical and popular successes in London and on Broadway, the play is now available for stylistic reinterpretation by resident companies, which must have been catnip for … [Read more...]
Big box office winners also dominate Oscar nominations
After a year when the Motion Picture Academy scrubbed its bad idea to create an Oscar category for Most Popular Picture, some of the highest-grossing films were nominated for the top statuette of 2019. Black Panther became the first superhero movie to earn a Best Picture nomination, poised to compete against two other mainstream popular high box office films – Bohemian … [Read more...]
Maloney sensational as Fanny Brice in Wick’s ‘Funny Girl’
Barbra who? For more than half a century, theater companies have shied away from producing Funny Girl, the biographical musical of Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice, in part because whoever plays the leading role would be subjected to comparisons with Ms. Streisand. Apparently Boca Raton’s Wick Theatre was unfazed by that hurdle and, boy, have they found an … [Read more...]
Capsule reviews: Four movies at the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival
Here are capsule reviews of four films showing in the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, which opens Sunday and runs through Feb. 12. The Last Resort: What begins as a nostalgic look at the changing face of Miami Beach turns much darker in The Last Resort, a history of the 1970s cultural transformation of the area as seen through the lenses of two fascinated young … [Read more...]
Jewish Film Festival returns, landing important premieres
For the past three decades, January in Palm Beach County has been synonymous with an international array of Jewish-themed movies. And beginning Sunday, the 29th annual Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival screens 33 such selections – many of them world, Florida or county premieres – at four venues over 21 days. This will also be the sixth such event for … [Read more...]
Maltz’s ‘Mamma Mia!’ exuberant and delightful
There’s a party going on at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, a high-energy, high-stepping blast grafted onto a score of pre-existing hit songs by the Swedish pop rock group ABBA. And it goes by the name of Mamma Mia! As long as you do not mind that this show’s musical numbers only occasionally seem specific to the story line, you can have a giddy, good time at Mamma Mia’s … [Read more...]
Forgetting Barbra to reveal Brice is actress’s challenge in Wick’s ‘Funny Girl’
Arguably more than any other musical, memories of 1964’s Funny Girl have been so dominated by its original Broadway star – Barbra Streisand – that there has never been a major revival of the show. But audiences at the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton voted the Jule Styne-Bob Merrill musical biography of vaudeville vocalist and clown Fanny Brice (1891-1951) the show they most … [Read more...]
Actresses make ‘Having Our Say’ an unmissable conversation
With presentational monologue plays – either one-person shows or sweet duets like Emily Mann’s Having Our Say – the question usually comes to mind, “Who are these characters talking to?” But in the case of Sadie and Bessie Delany, two centenarian African-American sisters who break the theatrical fourth wall from the start of their rambling, but endearing verbal tour of … [Read more...]