Amy Elane Anderson, Wynn Harmon and Tom Wahlin Chemical Imbalance.By Hap ErsteinAfter a string of recent successes, Boca Raton’s Caldwell Theatre has stumbled badly with its current production, Chemical Imbalance, a spoof of Victorian theater conventions in general and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde specifically.Artistic director Clive Cholerton’s introductory remarks make it clear … [Read more...]
Theater review: ‘Sunday’ concert version succeeds at Caldwell
The cast of Sunday in the Park With George, in rehearsal.By Jan Engoren Clive Cholerton, the new artistic director of the Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton, is nothing if not a risk-taker.If the first two shows he’s produced – including the world premiere of an extraordinary melding of dance and song called Vices: A Love Story – didn’t make that point, his new one surely does: a … [Read more...]
Theater review: ‘Whipping Man’ provides searing parallel tales of emancipation
Nick Duckart, John Archie and Brandon Morris in Matthew Lopez's The Whipping Man.By Hap ErsteinThe surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The beginning of Passover, 1865.The intersection of these three events are the crux of a compelling, if improbable tale by Matthew Lopez, The Whipping Man, the second straight theatrical coup … [Read more...]
Theater review: Bold, original ‘Vices’ lights new fire at Caldwell
Marcus Bellamy and Holly Shunkey in Vices: A Love Story. (Photo by Sean Lawson)By Hap ErsteinHave you ever heard cobwebs being dusted off a theater company?It sounds exactly like Vices: A Love Story, the world premiere musical that yanks the Caldwell Theatre into a new era and announces the arrival of Clive Cholerton as the Boca Raton stage troupe’s new artistic director.That … [Read more...]
Theater feature: Caldwell’s chief betting on world-premiere ‘Vices’
Marcus Bellamy and Holly Shunkey in Vices.By Hap ErsteinNote to restaurant waiters: Be nice to your fellow workers. You never know when one has a new musical you will want to produce one day.And conversely, if you have a musical you want to see staged, you never know when one of your co-workers will one day run a theater.That is how Vices: A Love Story, opening today at the … [Read more...]
Theater review: With ‘Something’s Afoot,’ Caldwell stubs its toe
Michael Shawn Lewis, Elizabeth Dimon and Lisa Manuliin the Caldwell Theatre's Something's Afoot.(Photo by Sean Lawson)By Hap ErsteinBOCA RATON -- Throughout its history, the most outstanding element of Caldwell Theatre productions has been its scenic designs, nearly all by the tirelessly inventive Tim Bennett.So you have to wonder with the murder mystery musical spoof … [Read more...]
ArtsPaper Interview: Michael Hall, artistic director of the Caldwell Theatre
Michael Hall, founding director of the Caldwell Theatre.(Illustration by Pat Crowley)In early March, the Caldwell Theatre’s founding artistic director, Michael Hall, announced that he was stepping down into retirement after 34 years at the Boca Raton nonprofit resident professional theater.Three weeks later, Hap Erstein of Palm Beach ArtsPaper sat down with Hall to discuss his … [Read more...]
Commentary: Caldwell’s Michael Hall steps down
Michael Hall, left, and Clive Cholerton at the 2006 dedicationof the Count de Hoernle Theatre in Boca Raton.By Hap Erstein It is the topic that most founding artistic directors have to eventually grapple with -- finding a successor for themselves. It must be particularly hard for Michael Hall, who has devoted most of his adult life to running Boca Raton’s Caldwell Theatre, the … [Read more...]