When I first saw Dame Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, in London in 1972, it was already a phenomenon that had run 20 years in the West End. And it had already warped into a campy tourist attraction played strictly for laughs. At the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, director Peter Amster (The 39 Steps) tries taking the material seriously, digging for the dark tale hidden beneath its … [Read more...]
Maltz’s ‘Foreigner’ takes top play at 39th Carbonells
A feather-light comedy and a dark musical were named the year’s best productions at Monday night’s 39th annual Carbonell Awards for excellence in South Florida theater. The Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s mounting of Larry Shue’s farce The Foreigner won in the play category and Miami’s Zoetic Stage prevailed among the musicals for Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Assassins. … [Read more...]
Mamet’s gritty ‘Glengarry’ impresses at Maltz
The real estate world of David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glen Ross is a cutthroat, dog-eat-dog business, where the salesmen are pitted against each other to see who will win a Cadillac and who will lose his job. It is Mamet’s jaundiced view of the American way of commerce, an all-male landscape brimming with testosterone and casual profanity. As seen at the … [Read more...]
Maltz leads PB County theaters with Carbonell nods
The Maltz Jupiter Theatre led all Palm Beach County professional theaters with 14 nominations for the 39th annual Carbonell Awards, recognizing production excellence throughout South Florida. Nine of those nominations were for the Jupiter company’s new look at the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The King and I. The other five were for its season opener, Larry Shue’s … [Read more...]
Maltz’s flashy ‘Wiz’: If it only had a heart
The Maltz Jupiter Theatre has produced some eye-opening new versions of classic musicals in recent seasons, often fueled by directorial concepts that lets us see the material in a new light. Think of the Jupiter company’s Hello, Dolly!, Music Man or the recent Fiddler on the Roof. The company has been a major success, artistically and financially, which allows it to devote … [Read more...]
PBC theaters, Maltz dominate 38th Carbonell nominations
Palm Beach County professional theaters, and particularly the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, dominated this year’s Carbonell Award nominations, which were announced Wednesday. Palm Beach companies received 62 nominations — nearly two-thirds of the total —followed by Miami-Dade with 28 and Broward with eight. The Maltz Jupiter Theatre, last year’s big winner, looks poised to have … [Read more...]
Maltz’s musical reflection on ‘Alice’ returns
Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice adventures have been musicalized many times. Of course there was the Disney animated cartoon from 1951 and a live-action film with songs by Steve Allen (1985). Liz Swados wrote a stage show, Alice at the Palace, that starred Meryl Streep 31 years ago and, Frank Wildhorn penned a version called simply Wonderland that ran briefly on Broadway two … [Read more...]
Maltz again dominates at Carbonell Awards
Maybe they should just call them the Maltz Jupiter Carbonell Awards. For the second year in a row, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre dominated the awards for professional theater in South Florida. Handed out Monday evening at the Broward Center were the 37th annual awards named for sculptor Manuel Carbonell, nine of which went to the Maltz Jupiter. An even more impressive measure of … [Read more...]
Maltz celebrates 10 years, and builds for a bigger future
In the midst of a theater scene where several significant stage companies have gone out of business lately, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre has been a remarkable success story — thriving critically, popularly and financially. And the rich keep getting richer. Saturday night, a gala celebrating the Maltz’s 10th anniversary raised $750,000 for the playhouse that has humble roots as … [Read more...]
Maltz, Slow Burn announce seasons; Fleming set for PB Opera fundraiser
In a study in contrasts, two Palm Beach County theater companies have announced their 2013-2014 seasons. One is based in north county, the other in south county. Both do mainly musicals, but one sticks to mainstream selections while the other prefers edgy fare. For its upcoming 11th season, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre will open with Frederick Knott’s classic mystery, Dial ‘M’ … [Read more...]