Joe Adler and the cast of Blasted, which won Best Play for GableStage at Monday night's Carbonell Awards.By Hap ErsteinLast night’s 35th annual Carbonell Awards ceremony had a curious, unscripted recurring theme -- actor Todd Allen Durkin’s private parts.I guess we should have seen it coming -- the theme, not the naughty bits -- since he did appear full … [Read more...]
Theater preview: Tonight, Carbonells honor best in South Florida theater
By Hap ErsteinTonight, the South Florida theater community gets together for the 35th annual Carbonell Awards, the citations for excellence among area professional theaters that has been shrouded in controversy in recent years.Last year, as you may recall, the awards board of directors announced the program would be suspended to study and fix the perceived … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: A one-woman star turn and five guys with a small problem
Donna McKechnie.By Hap ErsteinSome of us measure time by the careers of stage stars. It has been 50 years since Donna McKechnie’s Broadway debut, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, where she appeared as an office worker dancing Bob Fosse’s quirky steps.It has been 35 years since A Chorus Line opened on Broadway, winning her a Tony Award as the … [Read more...]
Theater review: Fine performances mark nuanced, subtle ‘Collected Stories’
Barbara Bradshaw and Kim Morgan Dean in Collected Stories. (Photo by George Schiavone)By Hap ErsteinMost productions of Donald Margulies’ wily, articulate drama Collected Stories portray the relationship between renowned short story writer Ruth Steiner and her persistent protégé Lisa Morrison as the literary equivalent of All About Eve. For despite her seeming … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 19-22
Bjorn Lomborg in Cool It!Film: Somehow the matter of global warning has become a political football, perhaps in part because it veracity was expressed so eloquently by former Vice President Al Gore in his Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth. Now comes what is essentially a rebuttal film, Cool It!, in which Danish environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg argues that a … [Read more...]
Theater review: ‘Completely Hollywood’ gives its actors plenty of room for laughs
Christian Rockwell, Erik Fabregat and Antonio Amadeoin Completely Hollywood (Abridged).By Hap ErsteinTwenty-three years ago, three irreverent wags devised a breakneck evening of comedy, The Compleat Wrks of Wlm Shkspr (Abridged), which mercilessly spoofed the timeless works of the Bard yet -- here’s the inspired part -- required almost no knowledge of … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 10-14
Untitled 4, by Jessie Rebik.Art: Five female artists explore the human figure in an upcoming exhibition called the Figuratively Speaking Invitational at The Art Gallery on the Eissey Campus of Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens, and there’s much more to it than is first apparent. The artwork consists of classical-styled paintings, modeled and … [Read more...]
Theater review: Mosaic’s ‘Dying City’ a gripping, vital two-hander
Erin Joy Schmidt and Ricky Waugh in Dying City.(Photo by George Schiavone)By Hap Erstein Talk about switching gears. After planning to produce the entertaining, but empty British farce Boeing-Boeing, Plantation’s Mosaic Theatre abruptly changed course to present instead Christopher Shinn’s shifting, shifty contemporary drama, Dying City.It was a smart move for … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Poetic ‘Buffalo,’ sharp ‘Song,’ shocking ‘Blasted’
John Leonard Thompson and Dennis Creaghan in American Buffalo.By Hap ErsteinAfter some of playwright David Mamet’s recent anemic attempts at whimsy (Romance, November), it is a pleasure to be reminded by his 1977 Broadway breakthrough, American Buffalo, how visceral and, yes, poetic he can be.The poetry is of the fragmentary, high-profanity, elliptical street type, but at Palm … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 26-March 4
Gezim Myshekta as the title character in Palm Beach Opera's Don Giovanni.Music: Palm Beach Opera’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni opens tonight, and it could mark a real departure for the company. That’s because it’s secured the services of Stefano Poda, an up-and-coming Italian director who’s created major buzz with his recent productions, including a Thaïs for Turin that … [Read more...]