Seattle-born vocalist and guitarist Chris Cornell delivered a tidy 90-minute solo set at the Fillmore Miami Beach on Wednesday, blending acoustic intimacy, grunge guitar tunings and a church revival fervor. Attired in the post-grunge formal wear of jeans and a white T-shirt and surrounded by seven different guitars, the frontman for Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog and … [Read more...]
First-time filmmaker Hyde-White takes on ‘Hamlet’ – and father’s legacy
Which is a more foolhardy mission? Rehearsing Shakespeare’s greatest play, Hamlet, in only three days or making your directing debut by filming those rehearsals on a ramen-noodle budget? Judge for yourself by checking out Three Days (of Hamlet), screening Friday evening, April 13, at the Palm Beach International Film Festival. As Alex Hyde-White, who directed the production as … [Read more...]
The View From Home 32: New releases and notable screenings, Nov. 8-30
American director Alex Cox remains most famous for the first two films he ever made: 1984’s Repo Man and 1987’s Sid & Nancy. He’s continued to be active for more than two decades since, though you wouldn’t know it from the lack of distribution his films have received – Cox seems content with making cult movies for microscopic audiences. A crueler critic might suggest that he … [Read more...]
Civil rights awareness adds substance to enjoyable ‘The Help’
Since Hollywood has virtually given up on making dramas, let alone serious female-centric films, the arrival of a quality release of some substance like The Help is remarkable. And in the summer yet. This tale of black domestic workers in the homes of white families in Jackson, Miss., in pre-civil rights 1962, first gained fans from Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 novel. Now adapted … [Read more...]
A first look at Dramaworks’ new home; Maltz seeks student actors
With no summer show this year, Palm Beach Dramaworks has been out of the media eye lately, so it invited the local theater press -- and a few politicos -- for a tour of the renovations of the Cuillo Centre in West Palm Beach, to demonstrate that it was on schedule to open Dramaworks’ new permanent home on Nov. 11 of this year. Yes, 11-11-11, for you numerology fans. According … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 17-20
Film: When Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter, he never imagined it would become the inspiration for a high school comedy such as Easy A, but screenwriter Bert V. Royal plants his tongue firmly in cheek and comes up with a wise, wise-assed morality tale set at Ojai (Calif.) High, about a misfit named Olive who lies about losing her virginity and gets swept up in a … [Read more...]
First PB chamber festival concert shows group establishing canon
Pieces of music come and go, sometimes just once before disappearing, sometimes aired out only every once in a while like an unfashionable sweater found in the depths of Grandfather’s closet. But many of these works are pieces of real merit, and it’s up to performing organizations to start turning old and new rarities into repertory. The musicians of the Palm Beach Chamber … [Read more...]
Pianist Gilbert impressive in Chopin evening
Unlike many younger musicians these days, Leonard Gilbert doesn’t go in for a lot of demonstrative behavior at the keyboard. The 19-year-old Canadian pianist, who recently won first place in his country’s Chopin Piano Competition, shows admirable form at the instrument, letting his fingers and arms do the bulk of the work as he plays. And as his recital Saturday night at the … [Read more...]
Maltz’s first-rate ‘Yonkers’ a fine slice of Simon
This has not been a very good theater season for Neil Simon, who suffered a stunning flop with the revival of his Brighton Beach Memoirs in New York last month. Reviews questioned whether the most successful comic playwright in America’s history in still relevant, though I suspect the play’s failure to find an audience had more to do with the production’s lack of star power … [Read more...]