For some reason, the string quartets of Felix Mendelssohn don’t have the currency on our chamber music stages that their quality deserves. But all six of them, as well as the separate pieces for string quartet, are marvelous works, and it was with one of these pieces that the 23rd iteration of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival wrapped up last weekend. It’s also worth … [Read more...]
The View From Home 59: Hawking’s history, a gruesome morality tale, coming of age in the South, and more
A Brief History of Time: For years, Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time has been sitting on my shelf, its spine ashamedly uncracked, waiting for the hypothetical day when I have hours of time on my hands and the irrepressible desire to read sentences six times before possibly comprehending them. Forgive me if I’d gallop a bit quicker toward completing an 84-minute movie … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: ‘Once’ far more than enough; ‘Wiesenthal’ lacks drama
There used to be a skit in the parody show Forbidden Broadway that declared the show Thoroughly Modern Millie to be the worst best musical in Tony Award history. But that was before Once. Winner of the top Tony in 2012 — a weak season for musicals by any measure — this simple love story between a Dublin vacuum cleaner repairman/rock star wannabe and an angelic Czech immigrant … [Read more...]
Symphonia makes fine showing at Eissey with Platt, Schubert
It was a pleasure to see Alexander Platt back at the helm of The Symphonia Boca Raton last week, and to see the orchestra trying out a new venue at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens. But seeing the conductor who led the band for three of its nine seasons would not have been as pleasurable had the music not been as good as it was, in particular in his choice of a … [Read more...]
Theater roundup, Part 2: ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ ‘The ‘D’ Word’
As classical acting training programs know, if you learn to speak the lines of Shakespeare, you can then perform the words of contemporary playwrights. Alas, it does not work in reverse, as Outré Theatre Company, a relatively new troupe that has had success with modern scripts and edgy musicals, learns with its clumsy attempt at mounting Will S.’s Much Ado About Nothing. For … [Read more...]
Arts calendar: March 1-April 4, 2013
(Note: Events are listed through April 4 and were current as of Feb. 18. Please check with the presenting agency for any changes. Ticket prices are single sales. Most of the presenting organizations offer subscription plans. Entries may be changed as the month proceeds for cancellations, corrections of errors, or addition of other events.) Art Exhibits Ann Norton Sculpture … [Read more...]
Jazz’s Arriale shows mastery, growth at Arts Garage
A cynic might discern that the recent rush of solo jazz piano releases is more cost-cutting than musical, since only one artist needs to get paid while the CD costs the same afterward as one recorded by a full band. Some of the top jazz pianists from around the world, from Frenchman Jean-Michel Pilc to Japanese sensation Hiromi to American Lynne Arriale, have capitalized on … [Read more...]
Lauderdale Film Fest enters 26th year feeling expansive
The oldest consecutively running such event in Florida, the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival (FLIFF), returns this week for its 26th incarnation, with an ambitious lineup and a far-reaching program. Opening Friday and running through Nov. 11, FLIFF features six world premieres, 15 U.S. premieres, 61 Florida premieres and more than 150 films from more than two dozen countries, … [Read more...]
The 2011-12 season in jazz: A feast for discerning listeners
A struggling economy won’t impact a jazz concert season as much as it does pop music. That’s because jazz is used to struggling more than pop to succeed. Sure, it’s a case of supply and demand -- if you charged three figures for even marquee jazz artists, you’d be lucky to get three figures in attendance -- but there’s more to it. A jazz performer will usually have more in … [Read more...]
ArtsPreview 2010-11: The season in jazz
South Florida's creative jazz concert calendar is always a case of feast or famine, and there's usually more of a feast south of Palm Beach County. That's partly because there's a stronger jazz nightclub presence in the Fort Lauderdale and Miami areas than on the practically nonexistent West Palm Beach scene. And while the Kravis Center is every bit the equal of the performing … [Read more...]