Two years ago, Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park won the Pulitzer Prize for its reconsideration of the landmark drama, A Raisin in the Sun, and his heretical suggestion that perhaps race relations have not progressed as far as we think they have. Now comes Palm Beach Dramaworks to exhume the earlier breakthrough play by Lorraine Hansberry, with its more authentic bitterness and … [Read more...]
Comment: Arts Garage successful, so of course, it’s threatened
Perhaps only a conspiracy theorist could come up with a scenario where a fledgling arts center revives and enhances a region's jazz, blues, Latin, hip-hop, musical education and theater scenes, only to literally be sold out. But this is South Florida. And the Arts Garage (http://artsgarage.org) ― the 18-month-old Delray Beach venue that's distinguished itself by presenting … [Read more...]
New curator to bring fresh eyes to Norton’s American collection
“I like to put things in a historical context. I think like my father,” said Ellen Roberts, the new Harold and Anne Berkley Smith Curator of American Art at the Norton Museum of Art, about why she loves being a curator. “He’s a 20th-century European intellectual historian.” This kind of thinking will help in her new post, where she’ll document and educate the public and … [Read more...]
Rarities and masterworks, freshly played by Utrecht quartet
The city of Utrecht in Holland has a music conservatory that draws unto it teachers of high caliber. Students from all over the world cross its portals. Only two of the members of this version of the Utrecht String Quartet studied there, but they honor the school by taking its name. Renowned for searching for forgotten repertoire, the Utrecht opened the program at the Flagler … [Read more...]
‘Traviata,’ Cast 2: Sarah Joy Miller triumphs as Violetta
There were many young people at Saturday’s performance of Palm Beach Opera’s La Traviata: They came to hear tenor David Miller, a member of Simon Cowell’s Il Divo group, who’ve sold 37 million CDs already. He did not disappoint, giving the lead performance of his life as Alfredo. Miller’s tenor is warm and well-produced. He is very convincing as a singing actor and his finest … [Read more...]
Political, personal meld intriguingly in ‘Royal Affair’
Like Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, Nikolaj Arcel’s prestige drama A Royal Affair tells of a real-life arranged marriage between a foreign teenager and a narcissistic monarch, and for a while, it pulses with the same sense of feminist rage. Just as in Antoinette, the new Queen Caroline (Alicia Vikander) doesn’t love the king – that would be Christian VII, of Denmark (Mikkel … [Read more...]
Kornbluth finds career — and religion — in monologues
Josh Kornbluth is the original Red Diaper baby, a fact that’s given him much material for his work as a monologuist. Raised in New York by Communist parents, Kornbluth moved to Boston in his early 20s and took a job as a copy editor for the alternative newspaper The Boston Phoenix. He briefly attended Princeton University but dropped out before graduating, and only recently … [Read more...]
‘Camelot’: A once and future good idea
The void created by the demise of the Caldwell Theatre Company is still felt on the local arts scene, but at least artistic director Clive Cholerton’s concerts of musicals have found a home at Palm Beach Dramaworks. Newly dubbed the Musical Theatre Masters Series, it launched this weekend with Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s Camelot and other selections appear to be … [Read more...]
Dance companies reimagine Romeo, chronicle women in workplace
It would be difficult to count the number of different artistic adaptations of the story of Romeo and Juliet that have appeared since William Shakespeare’s play first trod the boards in the late 16th century. But its apparently permanent appeal likely stems from its central idea of an all-consuming love, and, well, that’s something we can all relate to. “It’s a tragic story, … [Read more...]
McFerrin, Blanchard headline Jazz Roots celebration
Real or perceived, a divide between jazz and classical music has always appeared to exist. One style is an American art form spawned by the blues; the other originated in Europe. One involves mostly small groups, the other largely orchestras; one embraces improvisation, the other strictly adheres to time-honored written notation. But ask multiple Grammy-winners like vocalist … [Read more...]