Audrey II (center) is flanked by Sergio Cannata (left) and Jim Tyminski in Little Shop of Horrors at the Delray Beach Playhouse. By Dale King The comedy rock musical Little Shop of Horrors has a way of growing on you, especially the production now being staged at the Delray Beach Playhouse. Veteran director and artistic boss at DBP, Randolph DelLago, has drafted a talented … [Read more...]
PBO’s ‘Ariadne,’ ‘B’ cast: Wagner, Young Artists stand out
Jeffrey Hartman and Amber Wagner in Ariadne auf Naxos. Palm Beach Opera’s last opera this season, Ariadne auf Naxos, was a singing triumph. The company brought together some of the freshest and best voices — all 16 of them — that ply their trade in the opera world today. I heard the second-cast stars on Saturday evening, sitting among a very new but appreciative audience. … [Read more...]
PBO’s ‘Ariadne’; ‘A’ cast: Top-to-bottom vocal strength lifts Strauss confection
Wendy Bryn Harmer and Brian Jagde in Ariadne auf Naxos. The audience response Sunday afternoon to Palm Beach Opera’s final presentation of Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos wasn’t the kind of enthusiastic ovation a more familiar opera from the Italian repertory would have won. But if they weren’t crazy about the opera itself, the troupe deserved all the warm approbation … [Read more...]
Talented cast makes most of weak score in Wick’s ‘Curtains’
Angie Radosh in Curtains. (Photo by Amy Pasquantonio) There are multiple murders in the backstage mystery musical Curtains, yet it is one of the most light-hearted shows ever written by the long-running collaboration between composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb. The team that gave us such milestone, dark-toned materials as Cabaret, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman … [Read more...]
Olson leads strong cast in Broward Stage Door’s ‘Gypsy’
By Dale King The musical Gypsy is a compendium of ultimates and ultimatums. It focuses on a quintessential stage mother who tries like crazy to squeeze stardom into her two daughters, yet she pitches a fit when the young ladies find fame and seem to leave her in the dust. The 1959 musical, based loosely on the memoirs of famed stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, and pulled together for … [Read more...]
Community theater: Strong cast keeps ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ wacky
By Dale King Lake Worth Playhouse is riding the crest of some first-class theatrical productions this season. The one that drops the final curtain on its three-week engagement Sunday is one of the best, a classic dark comedy from the 1930s that still packs lots of laughs today. Arsenic and Old Lace is one of a dozen plays by Joseph Kesselring — and easily his best. The 1941 … [Read more...]
Community theater: Sharp cast gives ‘Other People’s Money’ grit, tension at Delray Playhouse
By Dale King Other People’s Money is a gritty drama, a modern-day tale of greed and financial seduction with just a smidgen of mirth. The 1989 play by Jerry Sterner attracted sold-out crowds to the Delray Beach Playhouse through most of its three-week run, which ended Sunday. The production focuses on the planned hostile takeover of a long-established, but out-of-date, … [Read more...]
Community theater: Fine cast boosts Delray Playhouse’s ‘Pajama Game’
By Dale King The Pajama Game may not be the newest or flashiest musical to hit Broadway. But the tune-filled 1954 show has long theatrical legs, some truly comic moments, a story with timeless appeal and a score that engendered some standards. The show, now being staged at the Delray Beach Playhouse, deals with labor troubles at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory, where worker … [Read more...]
PBO’s ‘Macbeth,’ first cast: Chioldi, Boross impressive; Panikkar a discovery
Even though the Giuseppe Verdi of Macbeth is not the Verdi of Don Carlo or Otello, one hears the earlier score today with a shock of understanding why this composer’s work seized the ears of his contemporaries: It is bold, fierce and unrelentingly exciting. It helps if the performance in question of the opera does it justice, of course, and fortunately, Palm Beach Opera’s … [Read more...]
PBO’s ‘Macbeth,’ second cast: Check’s Lady is a powerhouse
Palm Beach Opera’s production of Verdi’s Macbeth, based on Shakespeare’s drama of the same name, won thunderous applause Saturday night. Hardly uplifting, with so many murders and blood everywhere, it is the music that carries it along and raises it to exultant levels of high art. Shakespeare’s view of Macbeth has little historical basis in fact. Verdi was 33 when he wrote … [Read more...]