By his own count, Theodore Bikel played Tevye the milkman in the enduring musical Fiddler on the Roof more than 2,000 times, more than any other stage performer. But unlike Zero Mostel, who originated the role on Broadway, the Vienna-born actor-activist-folk troubadour scrupulously avoided the Borscht Belt shtick that so frequently was attached to the character. “I’m so much … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: ‘Full Monty,’ ‘Fighting Over Beverley,’ ‘Rags,’ and ‘Sister Act’
In 1968, Broadway was aghast (and titillated) when a tribe of hippies went naked in Hair. Thirty-two years later, a handful of unemployed steel workers strip down to nothing onstage in The Full Monty and it is practically family entertainment. OK, I guess it depends on the family, but if you have a taste for untoned, scrawny, fat or aging bodies, then The Wick Theatre has the … [Read more...]
A strong debut from a promising writer
Ayana Mathis was stunned when Oprah Winfrey called recently to say that she had selected Mathis’s debut work of fiction, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, as her next book club selection. Mathis’s well-crafted first novel tells the story of Hattie Shepherd, a teenager who leaves Georgia in 1923 and heads north to Philadelphia in search of a better life. Hattie and her lazy, … [Read more...]
Cuban orchestra’s States debut impressive, populist
From the protests outside the Kravis Center to the activists handing out literature on the way to the parking garage, the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba drew plenty of outside attention Sunday afternoon as it wrapped up its first-ever American tour in West Palm Beach. Our nation’s policy wrangles with the island nearby may be on the verge of a new easing, if some of the … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 27-29
Theater: The theater event of the weekend is the debut of Parade Productions, a new company led by artistic director Kim St. Leon, which kicks off with Donald Margulies’ semi-autobiographical play Brooklyn Boy, at the Studio at Mizner Park, a flexible configuration playhouse on the site of the former International Museum of Cartoon Art. Jewish identity is often at the heart of … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 16-20
Art: Work in ceramics by a group of artists who all have connections to the University of Florida opens today at West Palm Beach’s Armory Art Center and runs through Aug. 28. The 13 artists, assembled under the rubric Motley Moxie, shared the same working environment or instructors at UF, but have widely varied approaches to clay. The artists, in alphabetical order, are Pavel … [Read more...]