A one-woman, one-act play with the prosaic title of 13 Things About Ed Carpolotti? It doesn’t sound like very promising source material for a musical, but see for yourself what an amusing, emotionally moving show it turned into, this weekend at Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab in its Making Musicals program. Composer-lyricist-adaptor Barry Kleinbort was commissioned … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 16-17
Film: The Academy Awards nominations were announced on Thursday and the following day, Mustang, France’s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category opened locally. Actually, it is a co-production of France and Turkey, the story of five young, coltish girls from a seaside Turkish village whose stern grandmother is intent on keeping them virginal until she is able to marry … [Read more...]
Veteran Broadway musical director Paul Gemignani offers insight at Dramaworks
Palm Beach Dramaworks takes its motto, “Theater to think about,” seriously, as seen in its current mainstage production, The History Boys. But it also likes to slip in some entertaining education in its ancillary programs, like Dramalogue, a series of live interviews, lectures and roundtable discussions that introduces the audience to some of the behind-the-scene artists who … [Read more...]
At Delray Playhouse, Russell winningly summons sass of Hattie McDaniel
By Dale King Hattie McDaniel packed a lot of living into 57 years. She wrote songs, sang on stage, radio and TV, performed in movies and on television, and is perhaps best known as the first African-American to win an Academy Award, for her stellar supporting role as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind. Singer-actress Evelyn Russell assumes the heart, soul and voice of the smart, … [Read more...]
At FAU Festival Rep: ‘She Loves Me’ sparkles, ‘Royal Family’ drags
In an effort to attract an audience to its Festival Rep, a South Florida summertime tradition for the past 17 years, Florida Atlantic University usually includes a musical as one of its two productions performed in rotating repertory. And the company of current theater students, recent graduates and a couple of professional guest artists often manages to pull off the musical … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: April 3-7
Art: Those of us who have lived in South Florida a long time know the power of the Everglades, a mysterious savanna that can instantly take you away from the life of the built urban environment and even today, provide some sense of raw origins in a state seemingly determined to destroy every last acre of its irreplaceable natural heritage. Photographers have been bewitched by … [Read more...]
The big noise from Naples: Bob Stone’s jazz band plays Delray
Bob Stone, the founder, musical director and drummer for the Naples Jazz Orchestra (www.thenjo.com), gained renown by leading his popular self-titled big band from 1976-1989 in Chicago. Yet he didn’t exactly move to the west coast of Florida 25 years ago intending to do the same thing. “I was hitting the road with some major artists then, and flying out of O’Hare International … [Read more...]
Fine cellist, homegrown music distinguish Estonian Symphony concert
Estonia was one of the three Baltic states suppressed by Soviet Russia in 1940. Thursday night at the Kravis Center, this tiny state of 1.5 million people sent a credible symphony orchestra of 76 players to perform music by Tormis, Dvořák and Brahms in the Regional Arts Concert Series. Independent since 1991, Estonia is closer to Finland geographically than Latvia and … [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...]
Rustic Brahms and engaging American Romanticism in chamber fest’s Week 1
Johannes Brahms had a healthy respect for the music of the past, and probably would have made a formidable professional musicologist had he chosen to go that route. Even in his earlier works there is an engagement with older forms that would bear fruit throughout his compositional career, until his very last work, a series of 11 austerely beautiful organ chorale preludes based … [Read more...]