Will the Maltz Jupiter Theatre have to replace its carpeting after its four-week run of the ABBA jukebox musical Mamma Mia!, a show known for inciting audiences to dance in the aisles? “You can see them wanting to get out of their seats,” says performer Mary Mossberg, veteran of a national tour of Mamma Mia! and two other productions. “There’s an undeniable chemistry to … [Read more...]
Energetic cast makes it happen for Estefan bio ‘On Your Feet!’
Add the names of Gloria and Emilio Estefan to those of Frankie Valli, Carole King, Donna Summer and Cher, singers and songwriters whose lives have been enshrined lately in biographical jukebox musicals. For the Estefans, the show is called On Your Feet!, which ran on Broadway for a more than respectable 746 performances – nearly two years – from 2015 to 2017. Soon after … [Read more...]
‘Having Our Say’ offers powerful history, rebuke for our present
Actresses don’t usually like to reveal their ages, but we can assume that Avery Sommers and Karen Stephens are younger than 103 and 101, the ages they play in Having Our Say, the oral biographies of Sadie and Bessie Delany at Primal Forces theater in Boca Raton, beginning Jan. 11. The Delanys were two African-American sisters whose century-long lives span the … [Read more...]
Hap’s year in review: 2018’s best in film and local theater
Ten best lists are notoriously subjective, but here are my bests in film and theater for 2018. Go ahead, argue with me. Make my day. FILM 1. Green Book – Yes, it is an odd couple road trip movie, but director/co-writer Peter Farrelly (right, the guy who gave us Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary) takes those familiar tropes and turns them into a slyly … [Read more...]
At Broward Center, ‘Hamilton’ shows it deserves the hype
If only my American history teacher taught with the same energy, passion and wit that Lin-Manuel Miranda brings to the tale of founding father Alexander Hamilton, I might have paid more attention in class. Surely you have heard of the monumental success of Hamilton, a cultural phenomenon by any measure. The biographical musical won 11 Tony Awards as well as the Pulitzer … [Read more...]
Touring ‘Dolly!’ reminds us just how strong this show is
The year was 1964 when composer-lyricist Jerry Herman, playwright Michael Stewart and director-choreographer Gower Champion adapted Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker into one of the high points of what we now look back on as the golden age of the musical theater. The show, of course, was Hello, Dolly!, which became, for a while at least, the longest-running production … [Read more...]
Character is fuel for Kessler’s new ‘House on Fire’
The gravitational pull – and push – of family is at the heart of Lyle Kessler’s comic drama, House on Fire, now receiving its world premiere at Palm Beach Dramaworks after years of in-house development. Prodigal son Colman reluctantly returns to his Fishtown Philadelphia home, a baseball memorabilia-cluttered abode, after 10 years away from his toxic father. But now the … [Read more...]
‘Breadcrumbs’ skillfully explores deteriorating memory
As artistic director Keith Garsson’s Primal Forces stage company returns to Boca Raton this season, he is up to his usual opaque theater tricks with the area premiere of Jennifer Haley’s two-character play, Breadcrumbs. The audience is disoriented from the start as we meet Alida (Angie Radosh), a writer struggling with her thoughts, grasping to find the words she wants … [Read more...]
Ryan’s ‘Tar Beach,’ at FAU, is compelling but feels unfinished
As even 14-year-old Reenie – the narrator of Tammy Ryan’s memory play, Tar Beach, now on at Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab – senses, the summer of 1977 is a significant time, particularly for her coming-of-age in her hometown of Ozone Park, Queens. Amid a sweltering heat wave, serial killer Son of Sam lurks about, terrorizing teenage girls. Just as … [Read more...]
Struthers, young star help drive near-flawless ‘Annie’ at The Wick
Optimism. It is a quality in short supply across the land these days, but if it is something you crave, take a cue from a spunky carrot-topped orphan who inspires optimism in a Depression-era Hooverville of homeless souls as well as in FDR and his presidential cabinet. I’m referring, of course, to the musical Annie, currently receiving a near-perfect … [Read more...]