The 1941 entrance of the Norton Museum of Art. WEST PALM BEACH — The Norton Museum of Art, which has been closed since May 30 to prepare for a three-year construction project, will reopen Tuesday, with admission free until late 2018. The Norton is undergoing a major overhaul and expansion under the direction of the eminent British architect Norman Foster. The museum’s … [Read more...]
FAU closes season with gritty ‘Lear’
By Dale King Student actors from the Department of Theatre and Dance at Florida Atlantic University wrap up their 2015-2016 performance season this weekend with performances of what many consider to be William Shakespeare’s greatest play, King Lear. The show opened last week to a sellout crowd at the Studio One Theater on the Boca Raton campus. Based on a Celtic folk tale, … [Read more...]
Unlikely musical, ‘13 Things,’ pops up at FAU Theatre Lab
A one-woman, one-act play with the prosaic title of 13 Things About Ed Carpolotti? It doesn’t sound like very promising source material for a musical, but see for yourself what an amusing, emotionally moving show it turned into, this weekend at Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab in its Making Musicals program. Composer-lyricist-adaptor Barry Kleinbort was commissioned … [Read more...]
FAU students bring the bawdy to ‘Country Wife’
By Dale King Oh, you rascally Restorationists. You aristocratic, anti-Puritan tricksters of late 17th-century England. You sure know how to show a lady a good time — sexually, that is — even if it’s at the expense of their unsuspecting, seemingly dimwitted husbands. That’s essentially the plot of William Wycherley’s 1675 play, The Country Wife, now being presented by … [Read more...]
‘Ionescopade’ at FAU achieves delight in absurdity
By Dale King Prolific absurdist playwright Eugène Ionesco didn’t like Ionescopade, A Musical Vaudeville, when first he saw it. Mildred Kayden, who wrote the music and lyrics for what she herself deemed “a very strange play,” said the Romanian-born, French-raised author swore he would never speak English again because the absurd musical raised his own absurdity to an even … [Read more...]
FAU creates Theatre Lab; Tyrrell named director
By Dale King Louis Tyrrell is going back to school -- literally. The founding artistic director of the former Florida Stage in Manalapan who went on to create the Theatre at Arts Garage in Delray Beach following the previous venue’s 2011 bankruptcy, is launching a new educational initiative. Six months after resigning from his Theatre at Arts Garage post last March, Tyrrell … [Read more...]
Community theater: FAU delivers riveting ‘Holy Ghosts’
By Dale King Student dramatists at Florida Atlantic University are always finding plays that feature such bizarre themes and characters that they’re unlikely to end up on the stages of mainstream theatrical venues. So it is with Holy Ghosts, a production centering on mankind’s struggle to balance the need for religious tolerance with our strong inclination to reject faiths … [Read more...]
FAU Summer Rep: A kinder, gentler ‘Bonnie and Clyde’
By Dale King Bonnie and Clyde, the Musical, may not be the most memorable show ever staged at Florida Atlantic University. But it could easily be the most unusual. It certainly prompts the cast to overcome a sluggish script and sometimes intrusive backstory with their excellent acting and exceptional vocal skills. The tuneful recollection of the famed outlaws who achieved … [Read more...]
FAU Summer Rep: A powerful, draining ‘August: Osage County’
By Dale King It took no small act of courage for Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Theatre and Dance to kick off Festival Rep 2014 with the attention-demanding black comedy, August: Osage County. It’s also courageous for university dramatists to present the Tracy Letts play so soon after the 2013 release of the film version that starred Meryl Streep and Julia … [Read more...]
FAU’s Kultur Festival celebrates Jewish culture through the arts
Aaron Kula put the finishing touches on his final composition for the sixth annual Kultur Festival concert — called 2nd Avenue Jazz’n Jive — 30 minutes before a reporter arrived to talk to him. The concert, performed by the Klezmer Company Orchestra (KCO), is the centerpiece of the eight-day festival at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, which celebrates Jewish … [Read more...]