This time around, it was the past that was the highlight of the program when Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre came back into town Feb. 28 to perform again at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Revelations, choreographed by founder Alvin Ailey almost 60 years ago and the undisputed cornerstone of the company’s repertory, was the backbone of the evening. Though the … [Read more...]
Late review: New World soloists show orchestras are in good hands
Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas’s creation, the New World Symphony, founded 29 years ago, is based in Miami Beach. It replaced Russia’s St. Petersburg Phiharmonic on Feb. 20 in the Kravis Center’s Regional Arts series. Four concertos were programmed with soloists from the New World’s academy, which prepares players for leadership roles in major American orchestras. I was … [Read more...]
More mature Lang Lang does well by Liszt, less so by Granados
By Dennis D. Rooney Following his U.S. debut with the Chicago Symphony in 2000, Lang Lang came in for a hail of critical brickbats, some of which I lobbed myself, on account of his flashy shallowness, crassness and mannerisms. I once heard him in a Brahms First Concerto in Carnegie Hall with conductor James Levine, each of whom eagerly sought to be more mannered than the … [Read more...]
Tharp evening needed more highlights of her work
I imagine that I was not the only one who went to the Kravis Center to see the Twyla Tharp 50th Anniversary Tour show on Feb. 17 with the expectation that I would see an array — a sampler — of her best hits. But instead, there were just two works on the program: Preludes and Fugues, which was created especially for the tour, and Nine Sinatra Songs (1982) which is probably … [Read more...]
Audience samba is joyful postscript to energetic Brazilian dance show
The 24 performers of Balé Folclórico da Bahia entered the Rinker Playhouse — as we did — from the outside and stood right next to us as they sang. Bathed in a warm, reddish light and dressed in the traditional white clothes and head wraps of the Northeast of Brazil, they sang with a gentle fervor and we felt their presence intimately. Presenting Bahia Of All Colors, … [Read more...]
Kozhukhin, Philadelphia Orchestra stun Kravis full house
The Kravis Center was packed Tuesday night, with every seat sold for a visit from the Philadelphia Orchestra. Well-dressed Philadelphians turned out in their hundreds to support the 93 players of their world-famous orchestra although the program had no sugar-coated “lollipops.” It was an all-Russian evening: Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto and Shostakovich’s Fifth … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 10-12
Art: While the United States has had a sometimes uncomfortable relationship with European art and its forms, it has never lacked for a vital folk art scene. That art came into particular prominence during the country’s adolescence in the 19th century, and it’s that art that’s on display starting Saturday at the Society of the Four Arts and running through March 26. On exhibit … [Read more...]
French dance troupe’s acrobatics astonishing
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...]