From the opening pages of this engaging novel, Sue Monk Kidd grabs the reader’s attention with her compelling portrait of a slave-owning family in Charleston, S.C. The well-told story begins with the white parents giving their daughter Sarah her own slave as a present on her 11th birthday. Rebellious Sarah wants nothing to do with slavery, but the parents insist. The … [Read more...]
Invention on display at Fine Craft Show astounds
By Myles Ludwig Imagination is abloom at the Palm Beach Fine Craft Show at the Convention Center. It is a springy bouquet of masterfully individualized techniques and unexpectedly fused materials – textiles, woods, wire, mesh, beads, stone, ceramics, and glass and more — that have come together in a magical display of exciting, surprising forms that erase the imaginary line … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Terrific ‘Millie’; sensational ‘In the Heights’
The musical theater, that uniquely American invention, has come a long way in the past 90 years. But if you yearn for the good old days when musicals made little sense and their cartoonish plots were little more than excuses to get from one production number to the next, then, boy, has the Maltz Jupiter Theatre got a show for you. It is Thoroughly Modern Millie, based on the … [Read more...]
Strong lead performances stand out in FGO’s ‘Flute’
Because of its high content of fantasy and madcappery, Die Zauberflöte has always offered its presenters an irresistible opportunity to take any number of theatrical risks, confident that Mozart can take it. He can, and while the just-closed Florida Grand Opera production of Mozart’s great 1791 singspiel played it relatively safe from that standpoint, it nevertheless … [Read more...]
Pilobolus shows power of collective invention
Pilobolus finished off the Duncan Theatre’s 25th anniversary season in a way that few dance companies can. Engaging and satisfying on so many levels, one can clearly sense the unique creative force required to present such a satisfying program. The company functions as a collective, collaborating to create the works that are performed, and you can feel the hours they spend in … [Read more...]