By Dale King Delray Beach Playhouse is wrapping up its 75th anniversary season with a gem of a show, a production so nicely packaged and executed that it may remain on the minds of audience members until autumn brings a new roster of main stage performances. The showhouse on the east shore of Lake Ida is currently presenting Bernard Slade’s romantic comedy, Same Time, … [Read more...]
Delray Playhouse serves up sharp thriller with ‘Deathtrap’
By Dale King For a play that focuses largely on murder, Deathtrap is really a pretty fun show. Not good clean fun, though. This chilling whodunit penned by Ira Levin (Rosemary’s Baby, Stepford Wives) now playing at the Delray Beach Playhouse does involve the spilling of substantial theatrical blood. What’s probably most enjoyable about Deathtrap is the fact that it … [Read more...]
DB Playhouse’s ‘Respect’ a delightful tribute to the journey of women
By Dale King As the undisputed Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, has sung repeatedly with deep sisterly inspiration, all women want “is a little respect.” Eight ladies have taken to the stage at the Delray Beach Playhouse this month to “tell it like it is” — the history of women in America, that is, in a finely tuned, thought-provoking and often humorous story of how women … [Read more...]
Christie whodunit opens DB Playhouse season in witty style
By Dale King The Delray Beach Playhouse marks its 75th anniversary with the COVID-delayed opening of its 2021-22 season of mainstage productions, kicking off with A Spider’s Web, a delightfully wry and redoubtable Agatha Christie whodunit. The DBP, on the east shore of Lake Ida, fully opens in January with the addition of Lunch Club Matinees and a schedule of Classic Rock … [Read more...]
Sharp Delray Playhouse cast sizzles in ‘Stage Struck’
By Dale King The Delray Beach Playhouse has historically done a very good job producing mystery thrillers. Wait Until Dark comes to mind immediately. So does Agatha Christie’s A Murder Is Announced, which opened the 2018-2019 season. And folks with a longer theatrical memory may recall Blackout, an original work that premiered at the DBP in 1988 and encored just a few … [Read more...]
Good performances highlight DBP’s ‘Lost in Yonkers’
By Dale King Performers, sets, lights and activity have returned to the long-empty stage of Delray Beach Playhouse. And while coronavirus continues to stymie lifestyles, the DBP staff has “taken this shutdown to work behind the scenes, planning, cleaning, installing state-of-the-art air purification systems and many other items to cope with the new normal,” said … [Read more...]
Delray Playhouse takes loving look at Rodgers and Hammerstein
By Dale King Some Enchanted Evening is a celebration honoring one of the most noted and notable duos in the history of the American musical — Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Delray Beach Playhouse has dusted off the show conceived 37 years ago by Jeffrey Moss. The assortment of tunes from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s best shows – and a few of their duds – was first … [Read more...]
Community theater: Delray Playhouse offers fun night of farce
By Dale King If your fancy runs to lively, energetic stage productions, See How They Run is likely your cup of tea. As with most British farces, the operative word in the title is “run.” And that’s what the characters do in this raucous, whimsical story at the Delray Beach Playhouse. For its second show of the season, the Playhouse taps an interesting cadre of performers … [Read more...]
Community theater: Fine cast delivers strong ‘Carnage’ at Delray Playhouse
By Dale King Delray Beach Playhouse drops the curtain on its 2018-2019 theatrical season with the comedy God of Carnage, a 90-minute one-act that has entertained audiences around the world and received both the Tony Award and London’s Olivier Award as Best Play of the Year. The performance slowly but steadily morphs from a sophisticated discussion between two upwardly … [Read more...]
Community theater: DBP scores big with ‘California Suite’
By Dale King If you’re searching for some laughs to squelch the winter blues, look no further than the Delray Beach Playhouse. The venerable theater company has assembled an exceptional ensemble of actors to present Neil Simon’s California Suite, a quartet of playlets set in Suite 203-204 of the Beverly Hills Hotel. The show is regularly filling nearly every seat of the … [Read more...]