Now that the COVID 19 pandemic is in the rearview mirror --- we hope --- South Florida’s theaters are looking ahead to their first full season of productions in several years. So below is a look at what is scheduled, taken in geographic order from north to south, from Jupiter to Coral Gables. Last season, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre was hit with a double whammy of COVID … [Read more...]
‘Summer’ revives disco queen’s energy, but lazy book is anything but hot stuff
In the same way that Andy Warhol predicted we will each have 15 minutes of fame, it is starting to look like every pop singer-songwriter and vocal group will have a biographical jukebox musical. And while some fared poorly on Broadway – Summer: The Donna Summer Musical lasted a mere eight months in New York – there is such a demand for product at performing arts centers across … [Read more...]
Where ‘Officer and a Gentleman, The Musical’ belongs: Not on stage
Opting for pre-sold familiarity, so many musicals these days are based on popular movies. But not all of them justify the insertion of songs into the story line, serving more as filler than increased emotional impact. Take An Officer and a Gentleman, The Musical, or rather, don’t bother to take it. Based on the 1982 Richard Gere-Debra Winger flick about the Naval Officer … [Read more...]
Maltz gets underway in new house; companies announce 22-23 season
After two postponed productions and a third delayed by a week, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre opened in late March with critical acclaim for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and for its renovated and expanded playhouse. With much of the stress of construction deadlines over, producing artistic director Andrew Kato paused long enough to discuss the new, improved theater and the upcoming first … [Read more...]
‘Anastasia’: Projections help bring magic to Russian what-if story
One of the great “what if” tales of stage and screen wonders what if Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, the youngest princess of the Russian Romanovs, did not die with her family in 1918 during the bloody Russian Revolution. And what if she resurfaced 10 years later to reunite with her dowager grandmother and claim the clan’s fortune? The story has fascinated audiences for … [Read more...]
New Kravis CEO: Let’s program for the community
Cue the arrival of the new Kravis Center chief executive officer. Take two. When the longtime head of the West Palm Beach performing arts center, Judith Mitchell, announced that she was retiring, it triggered a nationwide search for her successor. Eventually, Terrence Dwyer, a veteran southern California arts manager, was selected, but he lasted a mere five months during … [Read more...]
COVID postpones ‘Summer,’ ‘Gypsy’ as omicron takes its toll
COVID-19 is playing havoc with local theater schedules. Breakthrough omicron cases have been reported within the company of the touring show Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, which was scheduled to play the Kravis Center this week as part of its Broadway series. The show has now been rescheduled for May 20-26, with tickets for the new performance dates to be mailed out … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2021-22: The season in theater
This was supposed to be the first post-COVID theater season in South Florida, but the delta variant took care of that wishful thinking. Most stage companies are optimistic that they can produce something this season. Whether the audience will show up is another story. If all goes well, it could be an exciting year at the theater, with a new artistic director at … [Read more...]
New Kravis programming director sees big potential for growing audience
Georgiana Young was perfectly content in her job as vice president of marketing and sales at Miami’s Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Then she got a call from Lee Bell. She was aware that Bell, senior director of programming at the Kravis Center for the past 24 years, had announced his intention to retire, so she felt she owed him a call or maybe lunch. But Bell … [Read more...]
Without a clear villain, ‘Art Heist’ at Kravis comes up short
The Kravis Center has been understandably dark for the past 14 months, shuttered by the indoor social distancing requirements of the COVID-19 pandemic. If only it could find a show that fits the current health and safety criteria, the West Palm Beach arts complex could open its doors again. Maybe “open its doors” is the wrong term, for the center’s first glimmer of … [Read more...]