Neil Patrick Harris in Company.Film: Can’t decide whether to go to the theater or to the movies this weekend? Do both, with the high-definition video of the recent concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, which was shamelessly promoted on last Sunday’s Tony Awards broadcast. It stars Neil Patrick Harris as marriage-challenged Bobby, which should restart the … [Read more...]
Theater appreciation: The volatile Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents (1917-2011).By Hap ErsteinWhen two-time Tony Award-winning writer-director Arthur Laurents died on Thursday, the theater and film world lost one of its great creative talents. And one of its most difficult.He died at his home in New York at 93, after a short illness. There will undoubtedly be an outpouring of praise for Laurents, particularly for his two most … [Read more...]
Theater review: Caldwell’s ‘Follies’ another gift to Sondheim fans
Melissa Minyard.By Hap ErsteinFor the third time in a year, the Caldwell Theatre has put the words and music of Stephen Sondheim onstage, emphasizing his intricate way with a song and his emotionally complex storytelling in its musical concert series.If the Boca Raton company’s current offering, 1971’s Follies, is not quite up to the delirious level of its … [Read more...]
Theater review: Caldwell’s ‘Into the Woods’ concert comes off splendidly
By Hap Erstein “I wish …”They are the first two and last two words of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods, an audacious and whimsical shuffle of lesson-laden Grimm’s fairy tales.It has long been my wish that a South Florida theater company would take up the challenge of presenting some of Sondheim’s innovative musicals, even though they require large … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 21-23
Starlight Blossom, by Elle Schorr, at the Ross Gallery of Art.Art: West Palm Beach’s newest art gallery debuts tonight as Guy Chaifetz transforms part of the building that houses The Edit Centre, his video editing and duplication service, into Ross Gallery of Art. Painting, sculptures and photographs will be featured by recognized artists such as … [Read more...]
Take our Sondheim trivia quiz — if you dare — and win ‘Into the Woods’ tickets
Stephen Sondheim.By Hap ErsteinIn honor of Broadway composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday and the opening of the Caldwell Theatre’s staged reading of his Into the Woods this Friday through Sunday, May 21-23, we fiendishly present our Ultimate Sondheim Trivia Test, geared to separate the obsessive fanatics from the casual fans.And the Caldwell has … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 7-13
Kaitlyn O'Neill, Matthew Korinko, Philip de la Caland Zachary Schwartz in Assassins.(Photo by Gemma Bramham)Theater: The brilliant composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim turned 80 in March, and did you even send him a greeting card? Well, you can make up for that lapse by attending Slow Burn Theatre Company’s salute to him with its aptly chilly, but … [Read more...]
Bulletin from Broadway No. 5: ‘Sondheim’ and ‘A Behanding’
Tom Wopat in Sondheim on Sondheim.By Hap ErsteinIt is the rare New York season that does not see a production of an existing Stephen Sondheim musical, but the brilliant composer-lyricist has not had a new show on Broadway since 1994’s Passion.So those of us who remain in awe of his abilities to push the boundaries of the musical theater have had to content ourselves … [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...]
ArtsBuzz: Caldwell to present concert version of Sondheim’s ‘Sunday’
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte (1884),by Georges Seurat (1859-1891).By Hap ErsteinIn his few short months on the job as artistic director of the Caldwell Theatre Company, Clive Cholerton has learned a great deal about “the art of making art.” So it should come as no surprise that he says his favorite musical is Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Pulitzer … [Read more...]