By Dale King Lake Worth Playhouse has opened its season with All Shook Up, an energetic musical featuring Elvis Presley’s greatest hits, tucked very neatly into a dramatic frame based on William Shakespeare’s comedy, Twelfth Night. It rolls out so smoothly, you’d think the songs were written specifically for this show. Before long, nearly every cast member is sporting blue … [Read more...]
Community theater: Strong acting helps ‘Lovers’ at Delray Playhouse
By Dale King If you need a lightly comic play with a whimsical plot and likeable characters, you can usually find one among the dozens of shows crafted by Neil Simon. Delray Beach Playhouse has plucked Last of the Red Hot Lovers to open its 67th season. The play, which premiered in 1969 and was made into a movie three years later, hearkens back to the sexual revolution of the … [Read more...]
Community theater: Sparkling ‘Dinner’ wraps FAU’s summer rep
By Dale King Despite its length — just over three hours, including two intermissions — The Man Who Came to Dinner is a rapid-fire comedy that demands constant attention from the audience. The three-act play was written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart in 1939, and reflects the screwball comedy genre popular at the time. “The dialogue style of their comic pieces was … [Read more...]
Community theater: Standout cast makes ‘In the Heights’ sizzle
By Dale King In the Heights is a festive, tune-filled musical celebrating the toils and triumphs of the hard-working, money-strapped denizens of a largely Dominican neighborhood in north Manhattan. The show is pleasing midsummer-night audiences at the Lake Worth Playhouse. The play features a young, energetic and talented cast that brings a strong Latin touch to the … [Read more...]
Community theater: ‘Spamalot’ delights at Crest
By Dale King There was a time, not too very long ago, when the mention of Monty Python raised specters of irreverent humor, out-of-control mirth and a general demeanor of silliness. It was the post-Beatles era when Brits began to show their funny sides — sometimes literally — and the Python crew held sway on the stage of craziness, challenged perhaps only by Benny Hill. … [Read more...]
Community theater: An excellent slice of Simon’s early life
By Dale King Brighton Beach Memoirs could easily be subtitled Neil Simon’s Family in Crisis. But the playwright didn’t do that. Instead, he crafted a stellar autobiographical drama that melds whimsy with pathos, anger and, ultimately, forgiveness. He takes the time to develop the characters and spotlight their ability to deal with adversity without ripping apart the family … [Read more...]
Community theater: Charming ‘Sylvia’ closes Delray Playhouse season
By Dale King The literary device known as the “willing suspension of disbelief” is “an essential element when experiencing any drama or work of fiction,” said poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who coined the phrase in 1817. “We may know very well that we are watching an actor or looking at marks on paper, but we wilfully accept them as real in order to fully experience what the … [Read more...]
Community theater: Voices stand out in Lake Worth’s ‘Barnum’
By Dale King In his day, master showman Phineas Taylor Barnum could probably have followed you into a revolving door and come out ahead of you. Such was the reputation of the legendary P.T. Barnum, fast-talking wheeler-dealer, circus icon and consummate con man whose life is celebrated in the frantic and festive musical, Barnum, now playing at the Lake Worth Playhouse. The … [Read more...]
Community theater: An excellent ‘Last Romance’ at Delray Playhouse
By Dale King On the playbill, Joe DiPietro’s The Last Romance is described as a “comedy.” But the show, now being staged at the Delray Beach Playhouse, is not simply ha-ha funny. It is a deft combination of lamentations and laugher, a tribute to love in the golden years that’s neither a caricature nor an understatement. Three talented theater veterans, a young man back from … [Read more...]
Community theater: ‘The Foreigner’ delights at Lake Worth Playhouse
By Dale King Larry Shue’s play The Foreigner is a hilarious sum of its frequently farcical parts. The current Lake Worth Playhouse production, which combines touches of Forrest Gump, The Beverly Hillbillies and Mork and Mindy, continues through March 17. The heart, soul and funny bone of this show is the character Charlie Baker, played with over-the-top comic zeal by Jason … [Read more...]