Go ahead, Google it. There really are reborning dolls, vinyl playthings that have been transformed to resemble human babies with as much realism as possible, often employed as substitutes for recently deceased children. Don’t feel bad if you were unaware of the real-world curiosity. Neither were the cast members of Reborning, a creepy little stage play by Zayd Dohrn opening at … [Read more...]
Fine new voices make mark at PB Opera’s waterfront opener
The third free opera concert at the waterfront given by Palm Beach Opera was an artistic success. But who were the artists? Getting off to a good start with the national anthem and Bernstein’s Candide overture, conductor Greg Ritchey then introduced the wonderful Metropolitan Opera baritone Michael Chioldi and the next singer, Robert Watson, but forgot to name the other … [Read more...]
‘A Little Chaos’ is all wood and no flowers
So far, Alan Rickman’s A Little Chaos is the year’s best candidate for Most Misleading Movie Title. Would that even a little chaos infringe on this calcified costume romance about nothing much more than the design of a water cascade and outdoor ballroom in the Gardens of Versailles in 17th-century France. This movie is what happens when the irrepressible thrills of modernist … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ ‘Casa Valentina’
Slow Burn Theatre forged its reputation producing offbeat, underappreciated musicals, like Bat Boy, Urinetown and Parade. Whether it is a switch of missions or simply a pause, the Boca Raton troupe recently served up the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning Rent and is now having fun with the very entertaining Little Shop of Horrors — the 1982 hit that remains the most … [Read more...]
Little magic in Disney’s shallow, sour ‘Saving Mr. Banks’
There is exactly one scene in the two hours of Saving Mr. Banks that feels real, organic and truthful. It happens about two-thirds of the way into the picture, when P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), the irascible creator of the Mary Poppins books, taps her feet to the very first rehearsal of Let’s Go Fly a Kite by Richard and Robert Sherman (Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak), in a … [Read more...]
Little area golfers in documentary think big
Although Palm Beach County has plenty of celebrities, it is rare for a movie to feature prominently two local residents. But that is the case with The Short Game, a new documentary opening this weekend at the Muvico Parisian complex, about 7-year-old golfers from 54 countries around the globe competing in the World Championship of Junior Golf at North Carolina’s manicured … [Read more...]
Sundays: I’ve got a little listicle
By Myles Ludwig Some days I wake up and think the world is coming to an end. Maybe not the material world as we know it, but the world of popular culture, the world in which celebrity pregnancy overshadows genocide as a global news event and zombies are exalted. Popular culture is a phenomenon that used to be marked by an unwarranted appreciation of the lowbrow, the … [Read more...]
Maltz to bring movie classic a little closer (bring your poncho)
Traditionally, the first four rows of a theater are the most sought after seats, unless you are attending a show by The Flying Karamazov Brothers ― those comic jugglers of hazardous objects ― or the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s production of Singin’ in the Rain. For audience members at the Maltz seated close to the stage will be issued waterproof ponchos to protect them during the … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Splendid ‘Next to Normal,’ promising ‘Brooklyn Boy’
With so many musicals these days based on popular movies, it is hardly normal to encounter a show based on an original story, let alone the dramatic tale of a family mired in the grip of a member’s bipolar mental disorder. Call it instead Next to Normal, the 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical from the talented new songwriting team of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. While they are … [Read more...]
‘Adjustment Bureau’ has little edge, but it’s enjoyable
If most of Philip K. Dick’s writing was ahead of its time, the latest movie adaptation of his work, The Adjustment Bureau, is behind it. The movie transforms Dick’s ̓50s short story The Adjustment Team from a politically conscious story about free will and Cold War panic to a quaint, love-conquers-all story about free will and following your heart, consequences be damned. It … [Read more...]