What do you get when you put a young French pharmacist and an old faded faded photograph together? In this case, an evening-length work called What The Day Owes The Night, which unleashed more than an hour of reality-defying, non-stop action performed by 12 bare-chested, muscular men. Intense, personal and physical, Compagnie Hervé Koubi (after finally resolving some visa … [Read more...]
Songs, performers, but not script, make ‘Beautiful’ a success
Like most biographical jukebox stage shows, the strength of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is in its nostalgic score of song hits, which constitutes the soundtrack of the Baby Boomer generation’s youth. The script, which chronicles King’s early life and career, as well as that of her husband-lyricist Gerry Goffin and their friendly songwriting competitors, Cynthia Weil … [Read more...]
For director McGrath, King musical was a ‘Beautiful’ experience
Editor’s note: This is a feature Palm Beach ArtsPaper ran last year about the musical Beautiful when it came to the Broward Center. It’s been updated slightly, and we’re running it again to preview the show in its current run at the Kravis Center. Douglas McGrath, film director (Emma, Infamous), screenwriter (Bullets Over Broadway, Nicholas Nickleby) and occasional actor … [Read more...]
Fine footwork can’t save thin, lazy ‘Dirty Dancing’
In various revised forms and on various continents, the touring stage version of Dirty Dancing has been on the road since 2004, without ever coming close to playing Broadway. And as seen at the Kravis Center this week, the show does have that “not ready for prime time” sense about it. The 1987 movie from which it is drawn was a surprise hit, largely because of the chemistry … [Read more...]
The Hapsters: A look at 2016’s theater low lights
We didn’t plan it this way, but this year’s Hapster Awards for (mostly dubious) achievement in South Florida theater has a running theme of companies closing their doors or curtailing operations. And you thought we only had the presidency of Donald Trump to depress us. WE’D BETTER BE REALLY PATIENT Sign posted over the water fountain at The Palm Beaches Theatre in … [Read more...]
KLR Trio soldiers on with charming Zwilich, fine Mendelssohn and Schubert
Celebrating 40 years of concertizing this season, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio arrived at the Kravis Center for two days of concerts Dec. 14 and 15. Pianist Joseph Kalichstein, wearing all black, spoke eloquently of the group’s founding when they played the inaugural concert for President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Kalichstein also teaches at the Juilliard School of … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 9-11
Film: If you are suffering from withdrawal pains waiting for the next screenplay from glib, hyper-articulate Aaron Sorkin, this weekend brings the next best thing. It’s Miss Sloane, a terrific, smart new film about inside Washington, as seen through the machinations of the city’s most wily, win-at-any-cost lobbyist, Elizabeth Sloane. Flame-haired firebrand Jessica Chastain … [Read more...]
Dancers, choreographer Wheeldon lift ‘American in Paris’
Few new Broadway musicals these days are strong on dance, perhaps because so many of the great director-choreographers have passed away or retired. That void makes the arrival of An American in Paris — based on the 1951 movie musical — all the more worthy of celebration. It ushers into the director’s chair the Royal Ballet’s Christopher Wheeldon, who demonstrates that he knows … [Read more...]
Hornist, conductor stand out at Mozarteum concert
The Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg came to the Kravis Center on Saturday night and made a lasting impression on the well-heeled audience of about 1,600 concertgoers who would not let them go until they heard an encore. And that encore was no ordinary sugar-sweet lollipop, but the great final movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. And they played it with a verve and … [Read more...]
‘American in Paris’: Iconic score, film reimagined for Broadway
Twenty-three years after George Gershwin composed an orchestral piece called An American in Paris — and 14 years since his death — the work became the climax of an Oscar-winning movie of the same name. Continuing his posthumous productivity, that film was transformed into a Broadway musical last year to major acclaim, spawning a national tour which arrives at the Kravis Center … [Read more...]