A historic Florida surfing image from the FAU exhibit. From left: Todd Holland, Scott McCranels, Rich Rudolph,Kelly Slater, Matt Kechele and Charlie Kuhn.(Photo by Tony Arruza) FAU gets grant for surfing exhibitThe University Galleries of Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters has been awarded a $16,596 matching grant from the Florida … [Read more...]
Music review: Larsen’s ‘Encircling Skies’ effective, engaging
By Greg StepanichI haven't seen many full houses at FAU's University Theatre over the years, but Saturday night's concert there was exceptional, and not just in that respect.The overflow crowd had come to hear the world premiere of a new piece by Libby Larsen, one of the country's best-known composers, whose official Website claims more than 200 works. Larsen, 58, wrapped up … [Read more...]
Music feature: Jazz educators keep the beat alive
Bassist Chuck Bergeron.(Illustration by Pat Crowley) By Bill Meredith"Jazz is not dead," Frank Zappa said in 1973, "it just smells funny."It's documented on the song Be-Bop Tango (Of the Old Jazzmen's Church), from the 1974 live album Roxy & Elsewhere. And the master satirist was playing with one of his jazziest ensembles, which included keyboard-and-vocal icon George Duke … [Read more...]
Theater review: ‘Company’ sparkles at FAU Festival Rep
Bruce Linser (front) and the cast of FAU's Company perform Side by Side by Side.By Hap ErsteinWhose plays would you say are more difficult to produce well, Shakespeare’s or Sondheim's?This summer’s Festival Rep at Florida Atlantic University features works by both stage giants, and Stephen Sondheim’s 1970 urban musical on relationships and marriage, Company, fares far better … [Read more...]
Theater review: FAU’s ‘Twelfth Night’ proves conceptually challenged
FAU's staging of Twelfth Night is set in 1920s Hollywood.By Hap ErsteinFlorida Atlantic University's 12th annual summer Festival Rep has romance on the brain this season, leading off with William Shakespeare’s comedy of gender confusion, mistaken identity and the resilience of love, Twelfth Night.On now in a production that is uneven at best, it will be joined at the end of … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: April 3-5
Things don't look so good for Mimi in Act IV of La Boheme.Soprano Norah Ansellem is Mimi, with Alessandro Liberatore as Rodolfo. Surrounding them are Carelle Flores, Timothy Mix, Eric Jordan and Christopher Bolduc.Opera: The Palm Beach Opera closes its season beginning this weekend with the world's most popular opera, Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme, in a staging by the great … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 26-March 2
Michael McKenzie, Brett Fleisher and Wynn Harmon in Dangerous.Theater: Prolific South Florida playwright Michael McKeever has noticed that his work has grown darker over the years, but never more so than his latest, titled simply Dangerous, a “deconstruction” of the classic French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which has spawned several film versions.McKeever sets his version … [Read more...]
Music feature: FAU scholar revives important Jewish operetta
(Left to right: Justin Rust and Aaron Kula of the Florida Atlantic University Libraries have created a new performing version of Avrom Goldfadn's Shulamis.)By Greg StepanichBOCA RATON -- Nine days into the bright new year of 1908, Avrom Goldfadn, "the Yiddish Shakespeare," died in New York City.A vast crowd … [Read more...]