In a study in contrasts, two Palm Beach County theater companies have announced their 2013-2014 seasons. One is based in north county, the other in south county. Both do mainly musicals, but one sticks to mainstream selections while the other prefers edgy fare.
For its upcoming 11th season, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre will open with Frederick Knott’s classic mystery, Dial ‘M’ for Murder (Oct. 27-Nov. 10), followed by a pair of blockbuster musicals from the 1970s, Annie (Dec. 3-22), about that comic strip little orphan’s search for her parents, and A Chorus Line (Jan. 14-Feb. 2), the Pulitzer Prize-winning look at auditions for the ensemble of a Broadway show.
Next up at the Maltz will be Jon Robin Baitz’s recent New York hit drama, Other Desert Cities (Feb. 16-March 2), about a dysfunctional Southern California family coping with its writer daughter’s personal secret-laden memoir. Ending the season will be Rodgers and Hammerstein’s enduring East-West clash of styles and wills, The King and I (March 18-April 6). Subscriptions to the Maltz’s mainstage season start at $187, available by calling (561) 575-2223.
In West Boca Raton, Slow Burn Theatre Company will be launching its fifth season in the fall, beginning with Next to Normal (Oct./Nov.), a rock musical about a suburban family coping with a bipolar mother. That will be followed by Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry’s Parade (Jan./Feb, 2014), a fact-based tale of the lynching of an Atlanta man wrongly accused of murder.
Also on the company’s schedule is Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus’s much-revised musical Chess (April/May), about a world chess tournament and the Cold War. Slow Burn’s summer show will be High Fidelity (April/May), based on Nick Hornby’s novel about a Brooklyn record store owner re-evaluating his life and past relationships after his girlfriend leaves him. Ticket prices are still to be determined. Call (866) 811-4111 for more information.
Opera’s Fleming does Palm Beach Opera fundraiser
WEST PALM BEACH – Renée Fleming, one of the world’s leading opera singers, will help raise funds in March for Palm Beach Opera with an appearance at a private dinner.
Fleming will appear at a special invitation-only event March 19 at the home of philanthropist Mary Montgomery in Palm Beach following a cocktail party and dinner.
The event will be presented in conjunction with the Richard Tucker Music Foundation.
Fleming, who last appeared locally two years ago as a headline event at the Festival of the Arts Boca, continues to have a busy international career, adding Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos to her repertoire last year for a production in Baden-Baden. Strauss roles are a particular favorite of the Rochester, N.Y.-born singer, with recent appearances in Arabella at the Paris Opera and Der Rosenkavalier at Munich.
She opened her season with a Desdemona for the Metropolitan Opera’s Otello, and later this year she sings Blanche in Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire at Lyric Opera of Chicago, followed in June by the Countess in Strauss’ Capriccio for the Vienna Opera House.
More information about the Fleming appearance is available by calling Lisa Huertas, Palm Beach Opera’s director of development, at 561-835-7558 or by email at lhuertas@pbopera.org.
Seraphic Fire signs with CAMI
MIAMI ― The Miami-based professional choir Seraphic Fire has signed with Columbia Artists Management, one of the leading arts management companies in the world.
“The entire Seraphic Fire team is thrilled to join CAMI’s roster,” said Joey Quigley, the choir’s managing director and brother of founder Patrick Dupre Quigley. “We are so excited to bring our art to the rest of the world. CAMI’s large network of contacts will allow Seraphic Fire to achieve greater recognition in cities across the globe.”
Now in its 11th season, the choir was nominated for two Grammy awards last year and signed a deal to have its recordings distributed by Naxos of America.
“We are excited to begin this new partnership with Seraphic Fire,” said Benjamin Maimin, vice president and national booking director for CAMI. “We look forward to sharing their outstanding voices and innovative programming with audiences around the world.”
Insiders say CAMI and the choir are working to assemble a national tour this December. The choir, which added a regular series at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Boca Raton last season, next performs Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas from Feb. 22 to 24.
Seraphic Fire will be the only American choir on CAMI’s roster, which also includes the New York Philharmonic, the Boston and Detroit symphonies, pianist Lang Lang and Metropolitan Opera director James Levine.
Kravis gets $1 million gift from Gardens couple
WEST PALM BEACH – The Kravis Center received a $1 million grant last month from a Palm Beach Gardens couple that will be used to fund arts education programs.
Barbara and Jerome Golden’s gift was announced at a fundraising gala Jan. 21.
“Barbara and Jerome Golden have been generous supporters of the Kravis Center for 17 years. In fact, this is our second million-dollar gift from this generous couple,” said William Meyer, chairman of the performing arts center’s board of directors, in a prepared statement.
“This gift to support operations will help grow our arts education program for the 50,000-plus kids the Kravis Center serves every year,” he said. Barbara Golden is a member of the board of directors and chairs its education committee.
Also last month, the center announced the details of its 2013-14 Regional Arts concert series, which will go on sale March 22.
Highlights include violinist Joshua Bell with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Orchestra (March 16, 2014) in music of Beethoven; JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philarmonic (Feb. 9, 2014) with pianist Philippe Bianconi; and Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (Feb. 25-26, 2014) with pianist Olga Kern.
Violinist Itzhak Perlman appears in recital Dec. 18, and there are visits from the Estonian National (Nov. 13), Venezuela (Nov. 21), Moscow City (Jan. 13, 2014), Haifa (Jan. 29, 2014), Australian Chamber (March 13, 2014) and Israel Philharmonic (March 24, 2014) orchestras. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (Jan. 19, 2014) appears with pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, with Mikhail Pletnev (Feb. 10, 2014) welcomes cellist Johannes Moser.