You’ll always remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard about JFK’s assassination. The attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11. Or Florida Stage declaring bankruptcy, closing its doors and ceasing operations forever. OK, that third one is not as momentous as the other two, but it came as almost as big a surprise. At least I was caught flat-footed by the news, … [Read more...]
Florida Stage files bankruptcy, shuts its doors
Next week, Florida Stage was supposed to launch its 25th anniversary season, beginning with the return of the musical biography Ella and continuing with a slate of world and regional premieres. But the operative words are “was supposed to,” for the West Palm Beach company devoted exclusively to new work filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and ceased operations with the … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 3-7
Art: Two photographers – Alan Winslow and Morrigan McCarthy – traveled 11,000 miles by bicycle across the United States beginning in 2008 to gather opinions about the environment, get to know their fellow Americans, and, of course, take pictures of them. They put together a show of this work (Project Tandem) that’s now touring the country, and through June 18, their … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 6-8
Music: This weekend, Florida Grand Opera is running more like a repertory company than its normal mode of one show at one time. Its productions of David DiChiera’s Cyrano and Mozart’s Don Giovanni are running tomorrow and Sunday afternoon, respectively, at the Ziff Ballet Opera House in downtown Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center. Cyrano, based on the Edmond Rostand play about the … [Read more...]
This year, Oscars have 10 best pictures worthy of the category
Going into today’s release of Academy Awards nominations, it looked like a two-horse race between The Social Network and The King’s Speech -- both superior pictures -- and nothing about the announcements from Hollywood changes that. Both movies, of course, made it into the field of 10 for Best Picture and they will also be competing head-on for Best Director (David Fincher … [Read more...]
Florida, regional critics agree: ‘Social Network’ was year’s top film
There is no dominant front-runner for this year’s Best Picture Oscar, but you would never know that from the polls of the Florida Film Critics Circle and the Southeastern Film Critics Association (the two groups I belong to as a voting member). Both tapped The Social Network, David Fincher’s account of the founding of Facebook, as the best film of 2010 and, as happens only … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 13-14
Art: The art of Raymond Pettibon is intimately tied to the punk culture of California, which perhaps isn’t surprising considering that his brother, Greg Ginn, founded Black Flag. This weekend at Florida Atlantic University, the college hosts Raymond Pettibon: The Punk Years 1978-86, featuring drawings and designs done for Black Flag and other bands including Sonic Youth and the … [Read more...]
Florida Stage tackles the art of raising ‘Cane’
Two years ago, Palm Beach County was under dire drought conditions, with a water supply estimated to last only 21 days. It was a desperate situation, but how do you create a play about it without it seeming like a, pardon the expression, dry discourse? That is the challenge that Florida Stage has taken on with Cane, the opening play of its 24th season, a world premiere that is … [Read more...]
PB Poetry Festival begins somberly, ends in joy
In the dark times, will there also be singing? Yes, there will be singing. About the dark times. -- Bertolt Brecht A somber tone dominated the sixth edition of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, with the distinguished faculty focusing on “poems of witness” and elegies for the dead. Yet by Saturday, the busy last day of the festival, the atmosphere had turned almost … [Read more...]
Out among the quirks at Art Basel
The larger-than-life, realistic sculptures by the Canadian artist Evan Penny caused a stir at last year's Art Basel, with his nude self-portrait selling within the show's first days. At this year’s Art Basel, Penny is proving just as provocative. Penny’s sculptures aren’t simply lifelike reproductions, even though it may seem so when you first see them. From a different … [Read more...]