Perhaps more than anything, Atom Egoyan’s Remember is a visual thrift shop of bespoke signs and symbols from film and pulp-fiction lore. A letter, delivered clandestinely, containing dangerous instructions. A mysterious train ticket and a cache of money. A Glock 9-mm. revolver. Nazi paraphernalia. At least one, if not many, stolen identities. A quest to uncover the truth. … [Read more...]
Unforgettable lead performance marks ‘German Doctor’
A family of five travels down a single dirt road, endless desert on either side, toward a destination they must reach before dark. They don’t quite make it, a torrential storm batters their car, and they’re being followed by a mysterious stranger whose intentions are unknown to them. Both cars stop for a shelter at a remote shack, where raw meat hangs on hooks. If that doesn’t … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 7-9
Comedy: Jay Leno left his 22-year stint at the Tonight show on Thursday night with a teary farewell in which he referenced the loss of his parents and brother, and said his work colleagues were the only family he’d ever known. It was moving and unexpected, but he’s legendary in show business for his blue-collar approach to work, and only two days after saying goodbye, he’s on … [Read more...]
Boca Guild’s ‘Allergist’s Wife’ marks advance for company
Still trying to establish its status as a professional theater company, Boca Raton Stage Guild makes a major move in that direction with the selection of Charles Busch’s boulevard comedy, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, and the casting of two South Florida veteran actresses, Patti Gardner and Barbara Sloan, in the leading roles. In what was playwright Busch’s Broadway … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Oct. 21-23
Theater: West Boca’s Slow Burn Theatre Company, which is dedicated to edgy, offbeat musical theater, also knows how to have fun. And the 3-year-old troupe credits much of its popularity to last October’s tongue-in-cheek production of The Rocky Horror Show, the send-up of B-grade horror movies. So to open its season and help us ease into a Halloween mood, it is bringing Rocky, … [Read more...]
Verdi ‘Requiem’ marks important moment for Lynn, Master Chorale
Time was, and not all that long ago, that the only way South Florida could hear the Verdi Requiem in concert was to wait for the Florida Philharmonic to schedule it or hope that a big touring ensemble would put it on. This year, there have been two major local performances of this 1874 masterwork: Once in January at a concert by the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra, with … [Read more...]
MCB marks 25th anniversary with sparkling opener
The Miami City Ballet is nothing if not synonymous with the name Edward Villella, the founder and artistic director. Villella’s second act, after a long and distinguished career dancing with George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet, was the creation of Miami’s world-class ballet troupe, which he has grown and nourished over the past 25 years. His philosophy, like … [Read more...]
Distinctive program marks Platt’s farewell to Boca Symphonia
Alexander Platt’s final concert over the weekend as the principal conductor of the Boca Raton Symphonia was a good example of the kind of event that has distinguished his three-year tenure: fresh programming, young, rising soloists, and an affection for canonical works that allows him to see well-established pieces with new eyes. He’s been able to pass his sense of engagement … [Read more...]
‘Tetro’ marks Coppola’s return to bold, youthful form
If Tetro is the 70-year-old Francis Ford Coppola’s final film, it would be an elegant swan song to an accomplished career: an invigorating inhalation of arthouse air to remedy the commercial drudge work to which the director confined himself in the ‘90s. Indeed, the Francis Coppola of the late half of the late ‘00s harkens more to his rebellious, rulebook-eschewing, film … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 10-13
Art: The South Florida Cultural Consortium Media and Visual Arts Fellowship offers stipends of $7,500 and $15,000 to its winning fellows, and the $15,000 awards are the largest such awards given to individual artists by any local arts agency in the United States. Tomorrow night at Florida Atlantic University's Boca Raton campus, an exhibition of work by the 2009 fellowship … [Read more...]