Prisoners opens like an episode of Law & Order: SVU and concludes, some two and half hours later, like a gothic horror film that would have won the approval of Edgar Allan Poe. Somewhere along the way, as the audience ascends film’s spiral staircase of twists and turns, with its many false leads, red herrings, blown fuses and unanswered questions, it nearly achieves the mythos … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Lovely ‘Fantasticks’; uneven ‘Twelfth Night’
Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s The Fantasticks, the longest-running stage show in modern history at 17,162 consecutive performances, seems an easy show to produce, but it is hardly foolproof. I once saw a production that made the fatal mistake of enlarging its simple, elegant, piano and harp accompaniment to a full-size orchestra, adding a chorus of seven and lots of … [Read more...]
Now in 21st year, Broward Center targets educational efforts
A performance calendar, online ticketing and membership options are musts on the website of any performing art center, but not all have a tab marked “Education.” And of those, few play the educator role as aggressively as the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. A student discussing Charles Dickens in class will go on to watch A Christmas Carol live on stage and return to … [Read more...]
Odd ‘Informant!’ relies on Damon’s star turn
Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh is like a box of chocolates. You’re never sure what you are going to get. His recent releases -- the epic political biography Che and the low-budget independent art film on the world of call girls, The Girlfriend Experience -- have virtually nothing in common with his newest film, The Informant!, a jaunty comedy about a real-life … [Read more...]