Whenever a character as iconic as Superman is revisited, the creative visions behind it rarely see past the conservative knee-jerk reaction to regurgitate the hero’s origin story. Which means each “new” take treads familiar narrative ground. Like the latest cover version of a populist classic, we know the melody and lyrics, but we still want to know what the new artist … [Read more...]
History and art meet on Clematis Street
A splash of public art has recently appeared in unexpected places in downtown West Palm Beach’s Clematis Street District. Thanks to support from the Downtown Development Authority and the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, six formerly graffiti-laden metal electric utility boxes have received an art makeover as part of the city’s Art in Public Places initiative. The six … [Read more...]
A look at Broadway’s best, and our fearless Tony predictions
On the eve of the 67th annual Tony Awards, recognizing the season’s bests, here are reviews of some of the season’s standout productions: Matilda: If there were an award for best British import with highest level of hype, this engaging, but often unintelligible musical from the Royal Shakespeare Company would win hands down. It did win London’s Olivier Award and looks poised … [Read more...]
Strangeness dominates juried show at Boca Museum of Art
The joy of writing about art comes from the same place I imagine a curator’s joy comes from: discovering something truly interesting. I was hoping to find this among the 149 pieces encompassing the 62nd All Florida Juried Competition and Exhibition at the Boca Raton Museum of Art. The show attracted more than 1,600 submissions. What I saw was art reflecting strangeness and … [Read more...]
Sundays: The tyranny of opinion
By Myles Ludwig The another night at a casual and lively dinner party with friends and family, hot dogs and hamburgers, amid the conversations about the relative merits of TV shows, streaming or live, cable or satellite, cord or no cord, a friend turned to me and asked: What is your opinion of Bashar Assad? I was surprised to hear myself say: “I have no opinion.” It’s not … [Read more...]
‘Cock’: Battle of words enlivens question of sexual identity
There is an art to upping a play’s controversy quotient with its title. Certainly Stephen Adly Guirgis knew he was stirring up trouble and attention when he called his 2011 stage work The Motherf***** with the Hat. The same probably goes for British writer Mike Bartlett, who named his verbal tug-of-war play Cock, a title that the exceedingly prudish New York Times refused to … [Read more...]
The View From Home 48: A great French comic’s film legacy
Unavailable for more than four decades thanks to legal disputes and film stock degradation – take your pick – the five feature films and three shorts from French auteur Pierre Étaix have finally been digitally restored and released on home video, and they’re absolutely irresistible (Criterion, $43.83 Blu-ray, $36.83 DVD). A clown both before and after his surprisingly limited … [Read more...]
The Tony nominations: Who’s afraid of being snubbed?
This season’s Tony Award nominations were announced Tuesday morning, and the teeth-gnashing and head-scratching has begun. Because there are so many fewer eligible productions than there are, say, films vying for Oscar recognition, the snubs and surprise inclusions are much more remarkable. Typically, when stars from other media make the financial sacrifice of starring on … [Read more...]
Strong Britten should be the start of something important for PBO
It is not too much to say that Palm Beach Opera inaugurated a new and exciting era for itself this week with its two presentations of Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. And as it happens, it was quite a good production, with strong singing, smart staging and good orchestral playing of a very challenging score, and the company can justly be proud of it. But the most … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: April 12-14
Music: One of the most interesting aspects of the current cultural Zeitgeist is its emphasis, particularly among the young, on marrying entertainment to social change. Thus cometh the first-ever Tortuga Festival hosted by the marine conservation group Rock the Ocean on Fort Lauderdale Beach this Saturday and Sunday. To focus attention on the plight of the world’s seas, … [Read more...]