Devastated by what he saw as the failure of his latest stage project and under siege from a persistent streptococcal throat infection, Georges Bizet suffered two heart attacks and went to his grave on June 3, 1875, at the early age of 36, never to know how successful that theater piece was to become. Or how successful he’d been in writing it. “In ‘Carmen,’ he hit gold,” … [Read more...]
How ‘The Grinch’ came to the theater
Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, was very stingy, almost Grinch-like, with the performance rights to his popular children’s books. But after the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Company had a big success with a musical version of his 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, written by its resident playwright Tim Mason, in 1994 the Geisel estate allowed the stage company to adapt his How … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: ‘Les Miz,’ ‘Man of La Mancha,’ ‘Uncertain Terms’
France’s Victor Hugo and Spain’s Miguel de Cervantes each wrote epic, complex novels that stand as national treasures, but to most people today they are best known through the stage adaptations that they spawned. Les Misérables and Man of La Mancha are two great examples of that singularly American genre — the musical — and by coincidence, both are currently on view in … [Read more...]
How Alzheimer’s robbed victim, healthy spouse of their lives
Harvey Gralnick was a 56-year-old esteemed doctor at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland when his wife and colleagues began noticing changes in his behavior -- forgetting things, getting lost, lashing out. A medical examination found nothing wrong, but two years later a physician suggested that Gralnick might be suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s. “I had never … [Read more...]
Robert Morse, and how he succeeded
He is featured in a documentary, Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age, to be screened in the 19th annual Palm Beach International Film Festival, and his résumé includes a handful of Hollywood films. Still, Robert Morse is not really sure why he will be receiving the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award. “I am absolutely overjoyed,” he says. “To be honored, whatever that means, … [Read more...]
Chamber concert offers fine 20th-century discoveries
Over the years, some of the better Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival concerts have presented a good blend of discovery and tradition. And so it was with the second concert in the festival’s 21st season this past weekend. The festival musicians sounded well-rehearsed and crisply confident at the Crest Theatre on Sunday, and delivered a fine afternoon of masterworks and obscure … [Read more...]