Actor-activist-folk troubadour Theodore Bikel turned 90 in May, the year he celebrated 75 years in show business. Born in Vienna in 1924, he fled Austria with his family 14 years later as the Nazis occupied his native land. So he knows firsthand what it is like to be uprooted from your home, just as Tevye the dairyman — a role Bikel has played more than 2,000 times — was in … [Read more...]
Millions of steps, and great dancing, in MCB’s Program II
By Tara Mitton Catao From the moment the Kravis Center curtain rose the night of Jan. 26 until it closed, the Miami City Ballet dancers took off, matching the torrent of musical notes heard with a multitude of steps seen. From the turbulence of Stravinsky, through the delightful sound of Schubert and winding down with the crooning voice of Frank Sinatra, the company danced up … [Read more...]
Powerful ‘I and You’ at Arts Garage saves a surprise for last
The second shoe to drop in Theatre at Arts Garage’s “Celebration of Women’s Voices” season is Lauren Gunderson’s compact, crafty two-hander, I and You, which arrives with the badge of this year’s $25,000 Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award. Reviewers, perhaps more than civilian theatergoers, enjoy being surprised and Gunderson more than obliges on … [Read more...]
Lainie Kazan happy to be working, and teaching, too
Fifty years ago, a svelte, sultry Brooklynite named Lainie Kazan rose to national attention understudying Barbra Streisand in the Broadway musical, Funny Girl. Over time, she grew more zaftig, but she still is a singer to be reckoned with and she has made her mark in films as the archetypal Jewish mother. She will be recognized for the latter on Thursday at the Donald M. … [Read more...]
Tedeschi and Trucks’ Sunshine music festival set for Boca on Jan. 18
The lead vocalist in the Tedeschi Trucks Band is powerhouse namesake singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi — yet its primary mouthpiece for press interviews is the group's other namesake guitarist, her husband Derek Trucks. Both will be front-and-center when their 11-piece act headlines the third annual installment of their own creation, the Sunshine Music & Blues Festival, on Jan. … [Read more...]
Timely and absorbing, ‘Selma’ brings man and movement alive
At an advance screening of Selma in Boca Raton this week, there was something in the air that deviated from the normally passive experience of moviegoing. A communal energy hung as thickly as smog in the air-conditioned auditorium. Some of it was hopeful: Audience members clapped along to the protest songs on the movie’s soundtrack, shook their fists when appropriate, and … [Read more...]
Timely and absorbing, ‘Selma’ brings man and movement alive
At an advance screening of Selma in Boca Raton this week, there was something in the air that deviated from the normally passive experience of moviegoing. A communal energy hung as thickly as smog in the air-conditioned auditorium. Some of it was hopeful: Audience members clapped along to the protest songs on the movie’s soundtrack, shook their fists when appropriate, and … [Read more...]
Sondheim, Streep and visual wizardry unite for ravishing ‘Into the Woods’
I have the regret or the pleasure, depending on where you’re coming from, to admit that I’ve never seen Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods onstage. It’s a regret because it’s a grievous blind spot for any theater critic, but it’s a pleasure because I can view Rob Marshall’s film adaptation with the fresh eyes of discovery — and without the burden of screaming blasphemy! at the … [Read more...]
With ‘Chorus Line,’ Delray arts center becomes a producer
For the first 24 years of its existence as an entertainment hub for Delray Beach, the Crest Theatre — a component of the Delray Beach Center for the Arts — has relied on touring shows and imported acts for its eclectic performance mix. But now, in the popular arts complex’s 25th anniversary season, Delray Beach Center president and CEO Joe Gillie embarks on a risky experiment, … [Read more...]
‘Citizenfour’: Chilling and important, but shapeless
Laura Poitras’ Citizenfour, about the revelations of Edward Snowden and her involvement in them, is a vital historical document. With the bulk of the film taking place in Hong Kong, where Poitras and Glenn Greenwald interviewed Snowden for a little more than a week in the summer of 2013, Citizenfour is a careful account of spy-novel-style machinations, journalistic ethics, and … [Read more...]