Katherine Seldin as Miranda and Kevin Crawford as Prospero in The Tempest.By Hap Erstein Twenty years ago, in Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival’s second season, the company took its first crack at The Tempest, the tale of an exiled Milanese duke who seeks revenge on his enemies through sorcery.Playing young Prince Ferdinand back then was 20-year-old Kevin Crawford, … [Read more...]
Theater reviews: ‘Low Down Dirty Blues,’ ‘Macbeth’ provide eclectic summer fare
Sandra Reaves-Phillips, Mississippi Charles Bevel,Felicia P. Fields and Gregory Porter in Low Down Dirty Blues.By Hap Erstein Over the weekend, Florida Stage unveiled its new roomy, yet still cozy home at the Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse, inaugurated with a shapeless musical revue imported from Chicago, Low Down Dirty Blues.The show is enormously … [Read more...]
Theater review: Shakespeare fest’s ‘Midsummer’ shows company comfortable in new home
The Rude Mechanicals, in Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival's A Midsummer Night's Dream.By Hap ErsteinAs it turns 19, the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival eases into its new home, the Seabreeze Amphitheatre at Jupiter’s Carlin Park, and it also eases into a more relaxed style of performing the Bard’s work.Earlier in its history, the Festival would reflexively select an exotic … [Read more...]
Theater feature: Shakespeare fest finds itself living a ‘Dream’
Kevin Crawford and Kris Parker in A Midsummer Night's Dream.By Hap ErsteinEighteen years ago, the fledgling Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival first performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the crowd-pleasing comedy that the company returns to this year to inaugurate the new Seabreeze Amphitheatre in Jupiter’s Carlin Park.“It’s unheard of for a Shakespeare company to go that long … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 9-12
Pete Byrne of Naked Eyes.Art: Last month, the Norton Museum of Art launched Art After Dark, a program of nighttime art appreciation and entertainment set for the second Thursday of every month.The first Art After Dark on June 11 was very successful, with more than 540 people making their way to the West Palm Beach museum. Tonight, it's Midsummer Night's Mystery at the Museum, … [Read more...]
Theater review: Faulty connection in ‘Dead Man’s Cell Phone’
Natasha Sherritt as Jeanin Dead Man's Cell Phone.By Hap ErsteinOver its 19 years of operation, Palm Beach Shakespeare Company has always sought the quirky, even when producing the works of its namesake playwright. So it was probably inevitable that it would gravitate to the offbeat metaphysical scripts of Sarah Ruhl.But curiously, its rendition of her increasingly popular … [Read more...]
ArtsBuzz:’Dead Man’s Cell Phone’ at nexus of technology, love
Natasha Sherritt in Sarah Ruhl's play, Dead Man's Cell Phone.By Hap ErsteinWhen Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival producer-director Kermit Christman went looking for a contemporary play for the company’s spring show at the Eissey Campus Theater in Palm Beach Gardens, he relied on technology to do the search.“I sat down and went to Google,” he said, looking for a new play from … [Read more...]