PALM BEACH GARDENS – Mainstreet at Midtown, based at the Borland Center for the Performing Arts, has launched the county’s first festival of “swede” films and is now accepting entries. A “swede” is an intentionally awful remake of an established film, and since 2008, festivals of the parodistic shorts have taken place in Fresno, Calif., and Tampa Bay. SwedeFest Palm Beach will … [Read more...]
‘Once,’ ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ lead Tony nominations
As with all awards programs, but probably more so with Broadway’s Tony Awards, the announcement of nominations says more about who was snubbed than who got the nod. In a so-so season on Broadway -- particularly for new musicals -- the good news is that there were enough productions to fill the categories and still leave enough major names off the nominations lists to get … [Read more...]
Peter Lord and his band of merry stop-action pirates
Grown men don’t usually play with clay, but Peter Lord has made quite a tidy career doing exactly that. A co-founder of Aardman Animations, the Bristol, England studio that gave the world the Wallace & Gromit series, Lord co-directed and co-wrote the 2000 feature Chicken Run and directs The Pirates! Band of Misfits, in theaters today -- all in playful stop-action. Fascinated … [Read more...]
Manzarek-Rogers are hit-and-miss at Bamboo Room
On paper, a band co-led by former Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek and former John Lee Hooker slide guitarist Roy Rogers might not seem likely. But when their common agent suggested the pairing, the two collaborated on their 2011 debut CD Translucent Blues (Blind Pig), a dark yet accessible take on modern blues-based musical structures. After all, the 73-year-old Manzarek was … [Read more...]
Kline and Kasdan: Two cut-ups making their sixth film together
Just as director Martin Scorsese has had a longtime collaboration with Robert DeNiro and, more recently, with Leo DiCaprio, filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan has made six features with Kevin Kline. Their work together began with 1983’s The Big Chill, includes such varied movies as Silverado, Grand Canyon and French Kiss, and continues with Darling Companion, which will be released … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: April 7-10
Theater: Fresh from its Carbonell win for the best production of a play in 2011 (All My Sons), Palm Beach Dramaworks opens its first foray into the works of South Africa’s Athol Fugard, Master Harold … and the boys, the first of what producing director William Hayes expects will be an annual exploration of plays on the theme of racial conflict. Written in the midst of his … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: ‘Woody,’ ‘Dolly!’ and ‘Working’
Those looking for tell-tale signs of Florida Stage in Lou Tyrrell’s latest venture, The Theatre at Arts Garage, need look no further than the new company’s first full production, the biographical revue Woody Sez. A close first cousin to Woody Guthrie’s American Song, which played at the predecessor troupe’s Manalapan home 18 years ago, the newer show is more folksy than … [Read more...]
The VIP Art Fair: E-commerce comes to the Salon
The Web has enabled the advent of the pajama-clad, online shopping experience, but can e-commerce work in one of the world’s most lucrative retail markets? The founders of the VIP Art Fair — James and Jane Cohan, owners of the James Cohan Gallery in New York and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Jonas and Alessandra Almgren — believe so. They’ve created the world’s first virtual, … [Read more...]
Principals make FGO’s ‘Rigoletto’ do justice to Verdi
Florida Grand Opera’s third production of the season, Verdi’s Rigoletto, closes tonight at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, and if you can catch it before it leaves, you’ll catch a really fine operatic evening, and see a young soprano on her way up. FGO produced this 1851 Verdi classic only six years ago, and the current mounting is the ninth in the company’s … [Read more...]
Szot’s cabaret show lovely and well-planned, but a little distant
Although the boundary between the opera and musical theater worlds can be ambiguous, few opera singers have crossed over to success in musicals. One who certainly has is Brazilian-born baritone Paulo Szot, 2008 Tony Award winner in the expansive revival of South Pacific. With one crossover under his belt, he has been afforded the opportunity to make a similar mark in the … [Read more...]