At age 35, John Wood left the world of business, a decision he chronicled in Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. Now he has written a sequel titled Creating Room to Read. One cannot help but admire Wood’s obvious determination to combat illiteracy in underdeveloped nations in Asia and Africa. While vacationing in Nepal in 1998, Wood visited a primary school that had a … [Read more...]
Fine comedians, strong singers fire PBO’s ‘Cenerentola’
Sometimes there’s nothing quite as satisfying on stage as seeing a few good clowns do their best to make a Saturday night fly by. The Palm Beach Opera’s current production of Giaochino Rossini’s La Cenerentola has, in addition to a hugely impressive performance by the celebrated mezzo Vivica Genaux as the title character, some very fine comedy in its two and half hours. It’s … [Read more...]
Now in 21st year, Broward Center targets educational efforts
A performance calendar, online ticketing and membership options are musts on the website of any performing art center, but not all have a tab marked “Education.” And of those, few play the educator role as aggressively as the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. A student discussing Charles Dickens in class will go on to watch A Christmas Carol live on stage and return to … [Read more...]
Dramaworks prepares for ‘wow’ at its new Clematis Street space
On Nov. 11, when Palm Beach Dramaworks cuts the ribbon on the Don & Ann Brown Theatre -- the former Cuillo Centre for the Arts, the 12-year-old stage company’s new home -- it will be the culmination of three years of purchase negotiations and a $2 million renovation project. All for a performance space that producing artistic director Bill Hayes actively disliked in its former … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Oct. 14-18
Art: Starting Tuesday, two important shows at local art museums open, shows that will be running into the early weeks of January. The Flagler Museum on Palm Beach offers the story of how Henry Flagler’s railroad made it all the way to Key West a century ago. Over a seven-year period beginning in 1905, construction workers braved five hurricanes and mosquito-borne disease to … [Read more...]
The 2011-12 season in opera: Even in tough times, companies innovate
South Florida’s opera companies are keeping things busy and innovative this coming season even as the economy continues to take its toll on audiences, box office – and even a whole series of matinees. Still, there’s enough intriguing opera ahead to interest fans and casual attendees, and for them to see some bright new talent take some big steps. Here’s what’s happening on … [Read more...]
Broadway Postcard No. 2: Timely reminders of the AIDS epidemic
The sun came out Monday in New York, a lovely crisp, cool day, but I spent most of it inside, thinking about AIDS. I spent the evening at one of the final previews of the revival of Larry Kramer’s impassioned, angry, autobiographical The Normal Heart, written in 1985, when the syndrome was a death sentence. Little factual was known about its cause or containment, let alone a … [Read more...]
‘Source Code’ almost a masterpiece, save for flawed ending
‘Tis the season for romantic science-fiction parables about attractive young men prohibited, through their stories’ elaborate conceits, from accessing the brunette beauties who are ready and willing to jump their bones. In Source Code, which opens wide Friday, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan are a lot like Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau, their … [Read more...]
‘Completely Hollywood’ gives its actors plenty of room for laughs
Twenty-three years ago, three irreverent wags devised a breakneck evening of comedy, The Compleat Wrks of Wlm Shkspr (Abridged), which mercilessly spoofed the timeless works of the Bard yet -- here’s the inspired part -- required almost no knowledge of his plays and characters. No wonder it became an international hit, spawning subsequent giggle fests about the Bible, American … [Read more...]
‘The Infidel’ takes on religion with some solid laughs
A debate is raging in this country over what it means to be Muslim. The ethnic comedy The Infidel will hardly resolve things, but it least it tosses some leavening humor at the question. Following its debut in the spring at the Tribeca Film Festival and its subsequent limited runs in New York and California, director Josh Appignanesi’s send-up of religious stereotypes opts … [Read more...]