Florida Stage had one of its biggest successes in its penultimate season with Israel Horovitz’s gritty drama, Sins of the Mother. And it seemed headed for another hit with the playwright’s Fighting Over Beverly, set to feature two-time Tony Award winner Frances Sternhagen, but the company closed its doors before that could happen. Still, as artistic director Louis Tyrrell says … [Read more...]
2012’s 10 best in a standout year for film
Most years at the movies there is a clear front-runner for awards and a struggle to fill the other nine slots in a 10 best list. For 2012, however, there are more than two handfuls of first-rate films and no clear number one in the ranks. Here is a highly subjective look back at what made the year just past a standout for moviegoing: 1. Lincoln: A cerebral history lesson of … [Read more...]
2012: A banner year for musicals and Pulitzer Prize-winning plays
Looking back on 2012, it seems that it was a year of standout musicals and Pulitzer Prize winners at the theater. Institutionally speaking, we lost the Caldwell Theatre, as well as Promethean and the Mosaic, but there were also gains, like Parade Productions, the Plaza Theatre, Outré Theatre Co. and The Theatre at Arts Garage. Here are my 10 favorites from the year: 1. … [Read more...]
Homegrown Impressionists make for striking Four Arts show
Gone is the perfectly white snow. Instead, a tint of light green, pink, violet and blue break up the monotonous purity. Sloppy features, cutoff figures and messy sceneries replace the refined finish and safe realism. Impressionism entered the French scene in the 1870s and got everyone obsessed with light and color. Before it, you could say painting was like a controlled … [Read more...]
Pianist Simmons brings new savvy to the old business of classical music
When she took part in the Musical Awakenings educational outreach program for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Jade Simmons tended to take the students she saw by surprise. “It takes you into 20 schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with a mostly minority demographic,” said Simmons, who as an African-American female is a rarity in the world of classical … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2012-13: A season of change for local opera
After years of retrenchment and cutbacks, the area’s opera companies are moving ahead in positive directions in the coming season. Although both South Florida companies haven’t added back the productions they once cut, there are signs of a return to artistic daring, and the Sarasota company is offering a world premiere of an American opera. And the popular high-definition … [Read more...]
For Kingston, in the beginning was the word
Maxine Hong Kingston first became aware of the importance of language when she went to kindergarten in Stockton, Calif., where she grew up the child of Chinese immigrants. “I spoke Chinese only until I started school,” Kingston says by phone from her home in Oakland, Calif. “I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying. I couldn’t communicate.” That first experience of … [Read more...]
Seraphic Fire concert shows greatness of American choral foundation
There’s something profoundly satisfying about hearing early American choral music, even if the listener doesn’t identify with the white Protestant tradition that informs it. Drawing on the modes of the British Isles and harmonized in a plain-lumber, honest-nails fashion, it speaks to our national history in a way that calls up images of hardworking, straightforward people in … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2012-13: Few classic rockers in this pop season
The end of classic rock as we knew it continues in the 2012-2013 South Florida concert season, since few of the usual suspects like the Eagles, Allman Brothers Band, Tom Petty, U2, Bruce Springsteen or Crosby, Stills and Nash will be present. Sure, there’s a specialty show by The Who (a Quadrophenia run-through) and an appearance by retro-rock singer Chris Robinson, although … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2012-13: South Florida hard to beat for book festivals
South Florida, believe it or not, has now been a leading literary region for nearly 30 years. Yes, publishing remains centered in New York, and Los Angeles may have its charms for authors and their fans. But we boast four of the best book festivals in the nation, beginning with the biggest, Miami Book Fair International in November, and ending with perhaps the most original, … [Read more...]