BOCA RATON – Broadway star Audra McDonald and an appearance by Miami Beach’s New World Symphony are among the concerts scheduled for the seventh incarnation of the Festival of the Arts Boca, officials said today. The festival, which marries the worlds of literature and music each year at venues in and around Mizner Park, is set for March 7-16. A partial schedule of writers was … [Read more...]
Broadway Postcard No. 7: Boca team backs sharp ‘Born Yesterday’
This afternoon I got to see the handiwork of those three young chargers from Boca Raton -- Philip Morgaman (27 years old), Frankie J. Grande (28) and Brian Kapetanis (28) -- the lead producers of the new revival of Born Yesterday that opened last Sunday night to very favorable reviews. That was the opening I missed taking a three-hop flight to New York by way of Detroit. It … [Read more...]
Broadway Postcard No. 6: War is hell, but ‘War Horse’ is terrific
Avenue Q arrived on Broadway some eight years ago with its snarky, often off-color humor to claim that puppet shows are not necessarily mere kids’ stuff. That heretical suggestion has now been confirmed forever by the emotionally charged War Horse, an epic tale of a young man and his trusty steed, set against the horrors of World War I. A transfer from the National Theatre of … [Read more...]
Broadway Postcard No. 5: ‘Mormon’ is best musical of the season
Trey Parker and Matt Stone have been freaking out television’s Standards and Practices folks (a/k/a censors) for almost 15 years with their purposely profane animated series South Park, so it should come as no surprise that their first Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon, will never get any awards for good taste. They should, however, clear off their mantelpieces for the … [Read more...]
Broadway Postcard No. 4: Astonishing Rylance, lame ‘Picture’
Mark Rylance may just be the best actor working in the theater today. You might agree if you saw Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem, a powerful, but somewhat overwritten three-hour marathon drama about an iconoclastic former daredevil stunt rider and occasional drug dealer who rails against the world. Rylance originated the role of Johnny “Rooster” Byron at the Royal Court Theatre … [Read more...]
Broadway Postcard No. 3: Three Boca producers, and struggling with Stoppard
Tuesday was an even better weather day in New York, with the temperature climbing into the 80s, and locals shedding their clothes like it was the second coming of summer. My dance card was busy with interviews and, in the evening, a much-anticipated viewing of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia. But first, always in search of a Florida angle on the Broadway season, I met and spoke with … [Read more...]
Broadway Postcard No. 2: Timely reminders of the AIDS epidemic
The sun came out Monday in New York, a lovely crisp, cool day, but I spent most of it inside, thinking about AIDS. I spent the evening at one of the final previews of the revival of Larry Kramer’s impassioned, angry, autobiographical The Normal Heart, written in 1985, when the syndrome was a death sentence. Little factual was known about its cause or containment, let alone a … [Read more...]
Broadway Postcard No. 1: Scratch the dim sum brunch
Whatever you’re doing today, you’re having a better day than I am, I assure you. Today was my travel day, heading to New York for my annual end-of-season Broadway show trip. For the past month, I have been combing through the listings, strategizing, negotiating with press agents, planning eight days of theatergoing. And because I was starting with a Sunday matinee (Sister … [Read more...]
Broadway season was strong in new plays, weak in musicals
You know the drill by now. Sunday night’s Tony Awards ceremony will do its best to put a happy face on the Broadway season, but in fact, this was the worst year for musicals in a long time. Note the Best Score category, which could only find two musicals to nominate and had to settle for singling out two plays for their incidental music. Of the four shows nominated for Best … [Read more...]
Bulletin from Broadway No. 8: ‘Race’
I had a 6:30 p.m. flight home Saturday, so I wasn’t going to see a matinee, the first time a play would be on that I was not in a theater seat. But a press agent recommended I see David Mamet’s latest play, Race. It’s only 100 minutes long including intermission and I’d heard good things about it, so why not, I figured. Well, one reason is Mamet’s most recent output, a couple … [Read more...]