“The art of making art” is a frequent fascination of playwrights, who find in the visual arts a metaphor for their own struggle of creation. Currently, by a fluke of scheduling, two such plays on the creative process are on view -- John Logan’s 2010 Tony Award-winning Red and Lee Hall’s The Pitmen Painters, from the following season on Broadway. Both are well-produced and … [Read more...]
Scarlett’s ‘Viscera’ a stunning triumph for MCB
Edward Villella is getting a tremendous sendoff as he eases out of his role as artistic director of the Miami City Ballet, the company he founded 26 years ago. And the rest of us? We get to revel in his company’s brilliant success. A packed house Saturday at the Kravis Center was treated to one of the world-premiere performances of Viscera, a piece created especially for the … [Read more...]
Music roundup: Forceful quartet, innovative choir, impressive pianist
Here are brief reviews from three recent concerts: Delray String Quartet (Dec. 11, Colony Hotel, Delray Beach): This foursome is on something of a roll as it enters its eighth season of concertizing. Next month it will give the world premiere of the String Quartet No. 5 by Kenneth Fuchs, and will contribute that work to an all-Fuchs disc for Naxos. It’s just released a … [Read more...]
The View From Home 33: New releases and notable screenings, Dec. 6 to 31
Bravo, once again, to maverick distributor Olive Films for releasing yet another brave, cinephilic film for a microscopic but dedicated audience. For many of my movie-obsessed brethren, the release this month of Jean-Luc Godard’s Histoire(s) du Cinema ($44.99) is the most exciting home-video news of the calendar year, a monumental achievement in experimental self-reflection … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 18-20
Art: This is the first weekend for three art exhibits that opened Thursday at the Lighthouse ArtCenter in Tequesta. The shows – Landscapes 2011; Fong Choo: The Artful Teapot Invitational; and the annual faculty exhibition – will run through the end of the year at the center. Choo, a master of the miniature teapot, is a Louisville, Ky.-based potter whose works emulate the Yixing … [Read more...]
Dramaworks prepares for ‘wow’ at its new Clematis Street space
On Nov. 11, when Palm Beach Dramaworks cuts the ribbon on the Don & Ann Brown Theatre -- the former Cuillo Centre for the Arts, the 12-year-old stage company’s new home -- it will be the culmination of three years of purchase negotiations and a $2 million renovation project. All for a performance space that producing artistic director Bill Hayes actively disliked in its former … [Read more...]
For Anna Kendrick, odds of stardom are better than 50/50
You could never accuse Anna Kendrick of avoiding offbeat projects. She copped an Oscar nomination two years ago as the cold-blooded tech geek in Up in the Air, a comedy about corporate downsizing. In 2007, she co-starred in a high school debate team tale with the off-putting title of Rocket Science. And this Friday she plays a novice therapist in the cancer comedy, 50/50. … [Read more...]
Maltz opens ticket sales for ninth season; FCBT tours Cuba
Tickets for the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s upcoming season are now on sale. The 2011-12 season, the theatre’s ninth, is titled The Best of Broadway, and opens with The 39 Steps (Nov. 1-13), a fast-paced thriller made famous in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film adaptation. Following this will be Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Nov. 29-Dec. 18), Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 29-Aug. 2
Theater: OK, you’ve procrastinated long enough. This is the final weekend for the world premiere production of Stuff at Boca Raton’s Caldwell Theatre. This cautionary tale of two eccentrically wasted lives, wealthy Harlem hermits Homer and Langley Collyer, is not only Davie playwright Michael McKeever’s best script in quite a while, but he gives a remarkably accomplished … [Read more...]
Vickrey’s world too fragile for the real one
Whimsy and wonder dominate in the world that Robert Vickrey creates in his painting. On first glance, there’s not much that is dark or foreboding. In fact, within moments of entering the exhibit, Robert Vickrey: The Magic of Realism, now on view at the Boca Raton Museum of Art until June 19, one feels, well, comforted. And that’s because the symbolic images are reassuringly … [Read more...]