Many shows in South Florida have had to be canceled or postponed because of the COVID pandemic, but the Wick Theatre’s production of the musical Gypsy has toughed it out and barreled on – just like its leading character, Mama Rose Hovick, the ultimate stage mother. Veteran director Norb Joerder has dozens of shows to his credit, but he has never experienced anything … [Read more...]
Maloney sensational as Fanny Brice in Wick’s ‘Funny Girl’
Barbra who? For more than half a century, theater companies have shied away from producing Funny Girl, the biographical musical of Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice, in part because whoever plays the leading role would be subjected to comparisons with Ms. Streisand. Apparently Boca Raton’s Wick Theatre was unfazed by that hurdle and, boy, have they found an … [Read more...]
Forgetting Barbra to reveal Brice is actress’s challenge in Wick’s ‘Funny Girl’
Arguably more than any other musical, memories of 1964’s Funny Girl have been so dominated by its original Broadway star – Barbra Streisand – that there has never been a major revival of the show. But audiences at the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton voted the Jule Styne-Bob Merrill musical biography of vaudeville vocalist and clown Fanny Brice (1891-1951) the show they most … [Read more...]
Fierce reading of Rose drives strong ‘Gypsy’ at Maltz
As imported ringers go, Vicki Lewis continues to be a welcome visitor to the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. The 5-foot-1 “bundle of dynamite” – to borrow a phrase from her current triumph in Gypsy – has won over audiences here in such unlikely roles as the pushy title matchmaker in Hello, Dolly! and comic villainess Miss Hannigan in Annie. But neither performance quite prepared us … [Read more...]