You think Antonio Salieri had trouble competing with that wunderkind composer Mozart in Amadeus? That was nothing compared with the woes of Nick and Nigel Bottom, two Elizabethan playwrights stymied by the skill and acclaim of rock star wordsmith William Shakespeare in the cleverly comic musical, Something Rotten!, at the Broward Center through April 2. Imagine the chutzpah … [Read more...]
Perlman, at 71, plays to perfection at Broward Center
By Robert Croan A recital by Itzhak Perlman is inevitably a journey into perfection: virtuosity of the highest order, the sweetest tone imaginable, impeccable intonation, absolutely even scalework, mature musicianship and a pleasant stage persona to boot. At 71, the superstar Israeli-born violinist continues to provide all this and more in large measure. It would seem … [Read more...]
Lensky stands out in second cast of FGO’s ‘Onegin’
By Robert Croan Although composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was Russian through and through, his music was highly influenced by his mainstream European contemporaries. His orchestral writing was a continuation of the Germanic styles of Schumann and Brahms. Eugene Onegin – his most famous opera, first performed in Moscow in 1879 and newly presented by Florida Grand Opera … [Read more...]
Slow Burn’s ‘Titanic’ stuns with beautiful singing
By a curious coincidence, 20 years ago — in 1997 — movie theaters saw the arrival of the epic film Titanic and Broadway’s big hit musical was also about the flagship of the White Star Line, the “largest moving object in the world.” Spoiler alert: In both works, the mammoth ocean liner hits an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sinks. (What, you knew that already?) But that … [Read more...]
40 years after ‘Leftoverture,’ Kansas carries on, finds new audiences
By Christina Wood Fans of the ’70s progressive rock band Kansas will be gathering at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday night for the band’s Leftoverture 40th Anniversary Tour — and they won’t all be taking a trip down memory lane. While the majority of the band’s fan base can remember when the album Leftoverture — which will be played live in its … [Read more...]
Director McGrath found ‘Beautiful’ experience in shepherding King musical
Abby Mueller in Beautiful. Douglas McGrath, film director (Emma, Infamous), screenwriter (Bullets Over Broadway, Nicholas Nickleby) and occasional actor (The Insider, Small Time Crooks), was skeptical when first approached about writingBeautiful: The Carole King Musical. But then so was singer-songwriter King. “I didn’t want to do it,” he says bluntly, sitting on the … [Read more...]