Film: In 1981, composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim and director Harold Prince adapted a Depression-era play on the ironies of show business success, Merrily We Roll Along, and opened it on Broadway to such critical and popular indifference that it destroyed their much-acclaimed string of musical collaborations. Now, 35 years later, original cast member Lonny Price looks at the … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 16-18
Music: George Frideric Handel premiered his oratorio Messiah in April of 1742 in Dublin, where it was put on for a hospital benefit. It was an Easter piece, but over the years it’s become an indelible part of Christmas in the English-speaking world. There are several places this weekend to get your Messiah fix, with performances tonight at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 9-11
Film: If you are suffering from withdrawal pains waiting for the next screenplay from glib, hyper-articulate Aaron Sorkin, this weekend brings the next best thing. It’s Miss Sloane, a terrific, smart new film about inside Washington, as seen through the machinations of the city’s most wily, win-at-any-cost lobbyist, Elizabeth Sloane. Flame-haired firebrand Jessica Chastain … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 3-4
Theater: Frequent patrons of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre already know of the remarkable talents of Matt Loehr (three-time Carbonell Award winner for Crazy for You, The Music Man and Hello, Dolly!), but this physically comic song-and-dance man has never been better showcased than in Me and My Girl, the Maltz’s latest production knockout. This British musical from 1937 follows the … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 19-20
Art: Surrealist art hasn’t been a current style for some time, but there are still practitioners out there, one of them being Jacques de Beaufort, who teaches at Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth. Last night, a retrospective of his work opened at the new Box Gallery on Belvedere Road in West Palm Beach, within shouting distance of the interstate and Dixie Highway. The Box … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 12-13
Theater: I kid playwright Michael McKeever whenever I see him, asking whether he has completed another play this week. The South Florida writer-actor-designer is not only extremely prolific, but as his output has deepened and grown more dramatic, he has shown signs of his arrival as a major voice in the theater. A case in point – but merely the latest – is his play After, … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 4-6
Art: The disgraceful election season of 2016 is, thankfully, almost over, and this year on the presidential level, there has been little to no discussion of actual issues. Equally thankfully, some real discussion is available on the question of African-American male life in an exhibition now on through Dec. 18 at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach. Question Bridge: … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 16-18
Theater: Many a musical has made fun of the process of making musicals. Think The Producers or Something Rotten! Now, from off-Broadway in 2007 comes the improbable Gutenberg! The Musical!, a two-man spoof of a pair of over-zealous, but alas untalented, musical theater writers. Yes, they have written a show about the inventor of the printing press and movable type, which, let’s … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 3-5
Film: Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti was making his 2011 comedy Habemus Papam when his mother became seriously ill, and now the filmmaker returns with one of the best films to be released here this year, Mia Madre, that draws on that experience. Margherita Buy plays a filmmaker trying to make a movie about a strike who has to deal with a number of crises including the hack … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Aug. 19-21
Music: The Argentine violinist Tomás Cotik, who has made a strong career for himself with well-received discs of music by Schubert and Piazzolla, will be departing South Florida at the end of this month to take a job teaching at Portland State University in Oregon. His exit from the local scene is a real loss, but before he goes, he’ll be giving two concerts of music from his … [Read more...]