Estelle Parsons, 87, a former head of the Actors Studio, will be playing wily Mathilde Girard in Israel Horovitz’s My Old Lady at Palm Beach Dramaworks from Friday (Dec. 5) to Jan. 4. An Oscar winner for Bonnie and Clyde, a five-time Tony nominee including last season’s The Velocity of Autumn and a longtime regular on the television sitcom Roseanne, she spoke recently with Hap … [Read more...]
New ‘Phantom’ looks great, but it’s still soulless
After 11,159 performances on Broadway, and billions of dollars of ticket sales worldwide, it is probably time to halt the critical carping and accept that theatergoers love the kitsch-heavy, empty spectacle that is The Phantom of the Opera. The producer of the theatrical blockbuster, Cameron Mackintosh, has such faith in the drawing power of this beauty-and-the-beast tale that … [Read more...]
Brilliant lead performance elevates sensitive, sincere ‘Theory’
OK, so there are a few cringe-worthy moments in The Theory of Everything, a muted and respectful biopic about an intellectually towering icon. The real Stephen Hawking, who is played in the film in a career-defining embodiment by Eddie Redmayne, would not stand for the sentimental score that attends the aftermath his on-screen diagnosis of ALS — the sweeping sadness that … [Read more...]
Late review: Delray SQ vividly brings Herrmann, Ravel to opener
Bernard Herrmann was proud of the film scores he wrote for Alfred Hitchcock, and some of the music the American composer created in the 1950s and 1960s for the British master of suspense has become justly celebrated in its own right. The Delray String Quartet opened its 11th season Nov. 2 at the Colony Hotel in Delray Beach with a program of three works that included a suite … [Read more...]
‘The How and the Why’: Powerful ideas, stronger emotions
The theater sells ideas, and television sells soap. At least that used to be the case. But TV seems to be enjoying a new golden age, as exemplified by playwright Sarah Treem’s chief writing credits for the small screen – HBO’s psychoanalysis series, In Treatment, and Netflix’s acclaimed look at politics, House of Cards. “I always wanted to be a playwright,” Treem said by … [Read more...]
News briefs: An opera startup, a new director, an education grant
Bartók for Halloween: New opera company mounts ‘Bluebeard’ If you’re not really in the mood for zombies on Halloween, a new arts group in West Palm Beach has something else you might be interested in: An operatic masterpiece. Opera Fusion, a startup founded by soprano Birgit Fioravante and bass Dean Peterson, will present Béla Bartók’s one-act Bluebeard’s Castle at the Lake … [Read more...]
How Alzheimer’s robbed victim, healthy spouse of their lives
Harvey Gralnick was a 56-year-old esteemed doctor at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland when his wife and colleagues began noticing changes in his behavior -- forgetting things, getting lost, lashing out. A medical examination found nothing wrong, but two years later a physician suggested that Gralnick might be suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s. “I had never … [Read more...]
Pianist Hersch dazzles in Arts Garage solo show
Pianists who play solo concerts, even ones who have made their names in jazz, realize that they're best-served to have some classical acumen because of the inherent recital expectations of an unaccompanied atmosphere. In that regard, New York City-based Fred Hersch arrived at the Arts Garage in Delray Beach well-armed Friday night. The Cincinnati native, who turns 59 on … [Read more...]
‘Men, Women and Children’ too preachy to deserve any likes
Earlier this year in this publication, I forgave Jason Reitman for Labor Day, because every great director delivers a clunker now and then. But after viewing his latest, Men, Women and Children, it seems evident that his Midas touch has turned to lead. Unlike Labor Day, however, Men, Women and Children is a movie of hulking ambition, an attempt to comprehend the 21st-century … [Read more...]
Figueroa reaching ahead and reaching out at Lynn Philharmonia
When the student orchestra at New York’s Juilliard School gives concerts, audiences have to line up beforehand to get a ticket. But with free admission, it’s a pretty good deal. So when Guillermo Figueroa, who studied the violin at Juilliard, came to Lynn University to take over the conservatory orchestra, he was astounded and pleased to discover that its audiences in Boca … [Read more...]