Andrew Samonsky and Elizabeth Stanley in the national tour of The Bridges of Madison County. (Photo by Matthew Murphy) In 1992, everywhere you looked, people were reading Robert James Waller’s pulpy romance novel, The Bridges of Madison County. But Broadway composer-lyricist Jason Robert Brown was not one of them. “I hadn’t read the novel. I’d seen about 15 minutes of the … [Read more...]
Master of the bass in spotlight at upcoming Pompano jazz fest
Bassist and New York City resident Tom Kennedy may not be one of the headliners at the upcoming star-studded Sea of JazzFest, but the 54-year-old will be one of the most versatile musicians in a sea of them at Pompano Beach Ampitheatre. The event includes saxophonist Phil Woods, trumpeters Randy Brecker and Terell Stafford, vocalist Tierney Sutton, flutist Hubert Laws, … [Read more...]
Composer, lead performers triumph in ‘Bridges,’ closing too soon
Increasingly, the Broadway stage has turned into a theme park, full of lightweight musicals anchored by spectacle and special effects. That is fine, when appropriate for the material — you wouldn’t want to see Aladdin without its magical bells and whistles, would you? — but the problem is that these shows crowd out the simpler, more artful, adult musicals. Musicals such as The … [Read more...]