Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan in The Trip. Film: Fans of director Michael Winterbottom’s Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story are likely to get a kick out of the ad lib road comedy The Trip, for he has again enlisted the duo of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in a sly verbal romp. As in the earlier film, the two British actors play themselves, or at least a comic … [Read more...]
Opera review: Baritones win the day at PB Opera’s vocal competition
Joo Won Kang won first place in the advanced division.By Greg StepanichFor the Grand Finals of the Palm Beach Opera’s annual vocal competition this year, technical accomplishment appeared to matter most to the panel of four judges.Baritone Joo Won Kang of Seoul, South Korea, won the top prize in the advanced division (for ages 24-30), and bass-baritone Brandon … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: April 8-12
The Arrival (2008), by Jose Alvarez.Art: The Norton Museum of Art has opened an exhibit of contemporary art featuring works by artists whose perception of the world around is refracted in unusual but precise ways. Altered States, which opened Saturday and runs through July 17, shows work by four artists – Jose Alvarez, Yayoi Kusama, Fred Tomaselli and Leo … [Read more...]
Opera review: Staging, weak Cavaradossi mar second cast of PBO’s ‘Tosca’
Tiffany Abban.By Rex HearnThere are times when the stronger regional opera companies mount Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca to exploit every emotion: love, hate, seduction, torture and betrayal. Each is accented and the audiences go home satisfied.This was not one of them.Palm Beach Opera’s version, directed by Massimo Gasparon, had none of the blood lust … [Read more...]
Opera review: Soprano Taigi shines in PB Opera’s ‘Tosca’
Chiara Taigi and Riccardo Massi in Tosca.By Greg StepanichGood singing can get an opera audience past uninspired acting, but when it comes to the heroine of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, it’s best to have someone who can do both well.And on Friday night, Palm Beach Opera did.In the Italian soprano Chiara Taigi, who opened its current run of Puccini’s “shabby … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: March 4-6
TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course No. 17 (2007), by Dick Durrance II.Art: If you’ve got a hankering for hitting the links but can’t get to it right now, perhaps an ongoing exhibit at the Lighthouse ArtCenter in Tequesta will help slake your fairway thirst. Gary Wiren’s nonpareil collection of golf memorabilia is on display along with paintings, photographs and … [Read more...]
Opera review: Second ‘Cosi’ cast shows off voices of great promise
Patricia Risley and Joel Prieto in Così fan Tutte. By Rex HearnThis refined, delicate, good-looking production of Mozart’s Così fan Tutte, with swaths of brilliantly lit open spaces, marble statues and lovely costumes, harks back to productions at the Salzburg Festival in 1982 -- even down to the same sunshade beach umbrella.There’s nothing wrong with that: … [Read more...]
Opera review: PB Opera’s ‘Cosi’ well-sung, craftily staged
Sabina Cvilak and Jurgita Adamonyte in Così fan Tutte.By Greg StepanichThe Palm Beach Opera is closing its three-year survey of the Mozart-Da Ponte operas with a somewhat minimalist but well-staged and ably sung production of Così fan Tutte.Friday night found a cast of young, handsome singers working inside a Stephen Lawless reading of the opera that was easy to … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 25-27
Sabina Cvilak, David Adam Moore, Matteo Peirone, Norman Shankle and Jurgita Adamonytein Cosi fan Tutte.Music: Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote three operas with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Palm Beach Opera has presented the first two – Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni – over the past two seasons. Tonight, the company presents the last of the Mozart/Da Ponte … [Read more...]
Opera review: Inventive production, fresh singers make most of PB Opera’s ‘Orfeo’
Anthony Roth Costanzo in Orfeo ed Euridice.By Greg StepanichYou have to give Palm Beach Opera credit for knowing how to fall back on basic theatrical precepts when faced with having to present fewer mainstage productions than it wants to.Actually, it’s hard to tell that this is a company that has cut one full production, so varied and diverse have been the shows offered … [Read more...]