Death by dieting isn’t necessarily a case of anorexia. In Adam Ross’s original yet perplexing debut novel, Mr. Peanut, a young wife is found murdered after she manages to lose more than 100 pounds. The murder weapon is a plate of peanuts, the number one suspect her heft-loving husband who swears he didn’t do it. Over the course of their 13-year marriage, Alice Pepin had tried … [Read more...]
Author’s quest to know lost dad revives tales of sadness
John Darnton was 11 months old when his father, Barney Darnton, was killed during World War II while reporting on the war in the Pacific for The New York Times. Almost a Family is a meticulous reconstruction of the lives of the Darnton family – the author, his older brother and their mom and dad. The book is, by turns, illuminating, gripping and sad. Growing up, the author … [Read more...]
The View From Home 24: New releases on DVD
Heartless (IFC) Release date: April 12 Standard list price: $17.99 A visionary director whose visions are all too infrequent, Britian’s Philip Ridley has made just three films in 21 years, making Robert Bresson look like a workaholic. His audience is tiny and seems unlikely to grow: His outstanding debut, The Reflecting Skin, has never been released on DVD in the United … [Read more...]
Music roundup: Orchestras stand out in Shostakovich, Mendelssohn
Boca Raton Symphonia (Sunday, March 20, Roberts Theater, Boca Raton) The Boca Raton Symphonia closed its most recent concert Sunday with one of its better recent performances, one that seemed well-suited to the orchestra’s current period of experimentation and expansion. Philippe Entremont, in his first year as conductor of the group, also appeared as piano soloist in the … [Read more...]
Splendid second cast shines in PB Opera’s ‘Nabucco’
The “A” cast may have sung Nabucco on Friday night for Palm Beach Opera, but on Saturday night I heard the alpha cast. The company alternates its principals in two casts for each of its full productions and the Saturday lineup featured five incredible voices, “B” cast or no. Giuseppe Verdi’s third opera, Nabucco, began the Romantic period in operatic composition. It nearly … [Read more...]
Zero’s story gives Brochu his finest ‘Hour’
Opportunity rarely knocks twice, but here it is rapping, offering another chance to see the remarkable Jim Brochu as actor-comedian-blacklist-victim Zero Mostel in the one-man show Zero Hour, opening tonight at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre through Oct. 24. Brochu first brought the show to the area in 2008, at the Broward Stage Door in Coral Springs, prior to his triumphant … [Read more...]
‘Low Down Dirty Blues,’ ‘Macbeth’ provide eclectic summer fare
Over the weekend, Florida Stage unveiled its new roomy, yet still cozy home at the Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse, inaugurated with a shapeless musical revue imported from Chicago, Low Down Dirty Blues. The show is enormously entertaining, thanks largely to its powerhouse four-member cast, but as with last summer’s erroneously named Some Kind of Wonderful, the nation’s … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: March 19-21
Art: You don’t have to go to art school to be an artist, or even be working at it all the time. Such is the case with Anthony Calicchio, who finds his inspiration in his culinary education and background as a second-generation restaurateur. In Café Frankie, he fashions masterful dishes with his basting brush, and the bistro’s walls are adorned with paintings he has created with … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Poetic ‘Buffalo,’ sharp ‘Song,’ shocking ‘Blasted’
After some of playwright David Mamet’s recent anemic attempts at whimsy (Romance, November), it is a pleasure to be reminded by his 1977 Broadway breakthrough, American Buffalo, how visceral and, yes, poetic he can be. The poetry is of the fragmentary, high-profanity, elliptical street type, but at Palm Beach Dramaworks, a trio of capable actors are demonstrating that the … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 23-26
Brian Kovachik with his best-of-show vase. (Photo by Katie Deits) Art: The Gallery at Palm Beach Community College’s Eissey Campus in Palm Beach Gardens currently is featuring Earthly Delights, a multimedia exhibition of art by members of The Palm Beach County Art Teachers Association. The exhibition is composed of recent paintings, sculpture, photography, and mixed media works … [Read more...]