I had a busy day yesterday, seeing two shows and doing two interviews. Finally feel like I'm up to speed with the pace of the city. First stop was lunch with multiple Tony Award-winning director Jack O'Brien (Hairspray, The Coast of Utopia, Henry IV) at a reliable and convenient theater district joint, Angus McIndoe's. He's very smart and articulate, has lots of projects in … [Read more...]
Postcard from New York No. 3: ‘Newsies’ has legs
Being the conscientious reviewer that I am, I spent Monday morning watching the 1992 movie Newsies, in preparation for seeing the much-touted stage version Monday night. Having revitalized its core business of animated features with such Alan Menken musicals as The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, Disney tried a live-action musical 20 years ago with this fact-based … [Read more...]
Postcard from New York No. 2: ‘City Club’ and ‘The Columnist’
Saturday, the day I arrived, was sunny and slightly brisk. Sunday was continuous rain and much colder. The theater also was inclement. Few Broadway shows perform on Sunday night, so I headed off-Broadway to the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village, where a new musical called The City Club had its final preview prior to opening Monday evening. With so many shows opening … [Read more...]
Postcard from New York No. 1: A Saturday doubleheader
I am up in New York for a week to take a bite of the Broadway season, 12 shows in nine days. Ah, the sacrifices I make for the sake of my readers. By most accounts, it is a dismal year for musicals, with lots of screen-to-stage transfers, but little inspiration in the bunch and certainly no Book of Mormon -- still the hottest ticket in town a year later -- among them. We'll … [Read more...]
Late review: South Florida Symphony at the Crest
Editor’s note: Here is a late orchestral review from last month. Technical difficulties prevented it from being posted until now: South Florida Symphony (March 11, Crest Theatre, Delray Beach) The South Florida Symphony has had something of a rocky history over the past couple years, with short funding and repeated complaints about overdue payments to its freelance personnel. … [Read more...]
At the Four Arts: Three music reviews
Editor’s note: Here are late reviews from three concerts at the Society of the Four Arts. Technical difficulties prevented them from being posted earlier. Nordwest Deutsche Philharmonic (March 14) Visiting orchestras often come to our balmy shores this time of year; 20-city tours exhaust the best of them, riding on buses around the Florida peninsula. It was not so with the … [Read more...]
Song of destiny? Seraphic Fire awaits Grammy results
By the time the last notes of J.S. Bach’s great B minor Mass have sounded at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Boca Raton on Sunday afternoon, the audience will know whether it has been listening to a Grammy-winning ensemble. Seraphic Fire, a concert choir founded 10 years ago in South Miami, is one of the few local classical ensembles to have been honored with Grammy nods. … [Read more...]
Singer Holmes celebrates inspirations, PB Pops celebrates 20th
The last time Clint Holmes appeared with the Palm Beach Pops, he sang Broadway show tunes and songs associated with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. “The audience went crazy. We got a high volume of letters requesting him back,” says David Quilleon, executive director of the Pops. This season, the Pops celebrates its 20th anniversary, having given its first concert in 1992 … [Read more...]
Focus on past stands out in film’s 10 best of 2011
Leave it to someone’s doctoral thesis to explain why this year at the movies there are two films that look back on the early days of the art form (The Artist, Hugo) and so many others also focused on the past, from biographies of Marilyn Monroe (My Week with Marilyn), FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (J. Edgar) and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (The Iron Lady) to … [Read more...]
A day of art overdose: Scenes from Art Basel, 2011
One day is too much and a week isn’t enough. After a full day and night (until 2 a.m.) of seeing Art Basel Miami, one installation and too much walking, one comes to realize that there is so much art, so many shows, galleries, lectures, that even a week would not be enough. Satellite, gallery shows and events are spread throughout the metropolitan area, and parties at hotels, … [Read more...]