Having created the most successful entertainment in history, pulling in an estimated $5.6 billion, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and his producer Cameron Mackintosh can afford a new redesigned and refreshed take on Phantom of the Opera, taking advantage of the advances in technology since the quasi-operatic musical opened on Broadway 29 years ago. Whether you are an … [Read more...]
RSNO, brilliant Benedetti make for exceptional night of music
Founded in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra in Edinburgh, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra added the word “National” in 1951 and in 1977, when Queen Elizabeth II became its patron, the word “Royal” took precedence as its prefix. Over the years great conductors have led the orchestra: Sir John Barbirolli, Walter Susskind and George Szell to name three. Its principal … [Read more...]
MCB closes season with lively, elegant Program 4
Miami City Ballet finished its season at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts with Program Four — an upbeat and lively show — that presented two Balanchine works and a Paul Taylor work from its repertory. But it was the first work, Divertimento No. 15, performed with elegant and confident finesse, that was the true jewel of the evening. The 1956 work that George … [Read more...]
‘Revelations’ still best thing about Ailey show
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...]