The Party, renegade Briton Sally Potter’s first film in six years, is shot in a flat and unpretty black-and-white — no luminous chiaroscuro here. Rather, it’s a harsh and dressed-down cheapie, populated by actors whose drooping faces and worry lines betray minimal makeup. It reflects of a time in movie history when directors eschewed color for economy, not artistry. Shot … [Read more...]
FAU’s student troupe tosses off a breezy ‘Rivals’
By Dale King Those sometimes antic, but always creative student actors at Florida Atlantic University have come up with some truly entertaining shows the past couple of years. Many, including the current production, take audiences back to the days of late 18th-century England, when manners really mattered and gentlemen wooed ladies with charm, grace and occasional … [Read more...]
At 91, Tony Bennett shows he can still make magic
An adoring capacity crowd greeted the artist formerly known as Anthony Dominick Benedetto on Monday as the ageless, 91-year-old vocalist confidently strode onstage at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts’ Dreyfoos Hall in West Palm Beach. And why not? As Tony Bennett, the singer has earned 20 Grammy Awards, the most recent for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Tony … [Read more...]
Mørk, Orpheus CO masterful in Shostakovich concerto
By Dennis D. Rooney The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra played the same program here Tuesday at the Kravis Center as it had in New York’s Carnegie Hall the previous Saturday evening; Handel’s Water Music Suite opened it and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite concluded it. In between came the local premiere of Out Came the Sun by Shuying Li, an Orpheus commission that was its … [Read more...]
Well-cast ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ sparkles at Rinker
In 1982, long before movies became the source of most stage musicals, the puckish songwriting team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken took as their inspiration a schlocky sci-fi flick from the low-budget factory of Roger Corman. To them, Little Shop of Horrors, the tale of a man-eating plant from outer space that changes the life of a nebbishy flower shop clerk, had doo-wop … [Read more...]
Broadway’s Tune readies for Maltz one-nighter
“I would just love to do a musical comedy. I think the world needs a wonderful new musical comedy.” The speaker is Tommy Tune, the 10-time Tony Award-winning performer-director-choreographer who ruled Broadway in the 1980s and 1990s, churning out a succession of original hit musicals like Nine, Grand Hotel and The Will Rogers Follies. But it has been decades … [Read more...]
RSNO, brilliant Benedetti make for exceptional night of music
Founded in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra in Edinburgh, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra added the word “National” in 1951 and in 1977, when Queen Elizabeth II became its patron, the word “Royal” took precedence as its prefix. Over the years great conductors have led the orchestra: Sir John Barbirolli, Walter Susskind and George Szell to name three. Its principal … [Read more...]
Songs, performers, but not script, make ‘Beautiful’ a success
Like most biographical jukebox stage shows, the strength of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is in its nostalgic score of song hits, which constitutes the soundtrack of the Baby Boomer generation’s youth. The script, which chronicles King’s early life and career, as well as that of her husband-lyricist Gerry Goffin and their friendly songwriting competitors, Cynthia Weil … [Read more...]
‘Motherland,’ at FAU, takes Brechtian look at War on Poverty
Allison Gregory set out to write a play inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children, generally considered one of the great stage works of the 20th century. The only thing is she knew almost nothing about it. “I had never read it or seen it. I knew zero about Brecht, really,” concedes Gregory. “I’ve never even seen a Brecht play. I’ve never studied Brecht. … [Read more...]
The January Scene: Notable events for the month
Here is a quick overview of some of the notable events on tap for January, some of which will be explored in more detail in future ArtsPaper stories: Shakespeare in the Park Festival (Mizner Park, Jan. 6-8) Shakespeare Miami is teaming with the city of Boca Raton to present three free mountings of The Merchant of Venice at Mizner Park in the first week of the new … [Read more...]