Alison Bechdel is deeply conflicted about her relationship with her father. As she puts it early in the remarkable musical Fun Home, “My dad and I were exactly alike. My dad and I were nothing alike.” That seeming contradiction defines the crux of the show, Alison’s struggle with her sexual identity and anguish over coming out as a lesbian to her parents. … [Read more...]
Two playwrights take center stage in world premiere ‘Billy and Me’ at Dramaworks
Two years ago, Palm Beach Dramaworks’ producing artistic director Bill Hayes was doing his usual detailed research in preparation for staging William Inge’s Pulitzer Prize winner, Picnic. And he came upon the intriguing fact that Inge saw a tryout performance of The Glass Menagerie by a young, brash writer with the unlikely name of Tennessee Williams. Seeing that play … [Read more...]
Current theater: Twisted ‘Broken Snow;’ bubbly ‘Beehive’
A dark, twisting and twisted tale called Broken Snow inaugurates the professional theater program of JCAT at the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center in North Miami Beach. With a decade of community and children’s theater under its belt, the company makes a polished debut into Carbonell Award-eligible productions, even if the subject matter of Ben Andron’s world premiere … [Read more...]
Stripped-down ‘1776’ reveals show’s thinness
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, the hip-hop hit musical about the first secretary of the Treasury and its massive success, has forever relegated Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone’s 1776 to be “that other show about our Founding Fathers.” Yet this tale of how the contentious Continental Congress debated declaring independence from Great Britain is Palm Beach … [Read more...]