There is something about Florida Grand Opera’s current production of Nabucco that brings out what I imagine to be the atmosphere of its first groundbreaking performances in 1842. It may have to do with the way the set and the costumes combine with the conviction of the performers, the prominence with which the chorus is used, or the ferocity of fresh discovery that its … [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...]
Boca Museum’s ‘Pop Culture’ gives us images of what we really are
Like a giant slap in the face, the new Pop Art exhibition at the Boca Museum of Art wakes us up from a long hibernation filled with compulsive consumerism habits, celebrity infatuation and overindulgence. The effect, however, is momentary. It may not be enough to change our ways, but faced with a giant hot dog made of mosaics, a thought does come to mind: How did we get to … [Read more...]
10 years on, Palm Beach Poetry Festival keeps delivering
“I can’t believe it’s been 10 years,” says Miles Coon from his home in Delray Beach. “Well, I can and I can’t.” Coon, founder of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, likes to say that poetry “is the most human form of expression and spans all cultures and eras.” And for a decade, he’s been running a week of literary activity that shows just what that means. Beginning Monday, the … [Read more...]
Jewish Film Festival gets fresh direction, looks for growth
Ellen Wedner, a veteran of the arts scene in Miami for two decades, has moved two counties north to direct the Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival. Running eleven days from Jan. 16 to 26, the 24-year-old festival will screen 37 films in western Delray Beach and Palm Beach Gardens. Hap Erstein spoke with Wedner about her festival philosophy and the changes she is … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 10-13
Art: Few forms of art are as cheeky and yet communicative as Pop Art, and this weekend, the Boca Museum of Art opens a three-month exhibition of works by artists who not only have come to define the movement but are well-known by non-specialists as well: Keith Haring, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, among others. They made careers out of adopting the styles and sometimes the … [Read more...]
‘Malala’ a powerful story of crime, recovery and faith in ideas
Many will recall the electrifying speech delivered last summer at the United Nations by a 16-year-old Pakistani girl who had been shot by the Taliban. Her crime? She had publicly advocated education for girls at a time when the Taliban was burning down schools and threatening girls and teachers. I Am Malala offers a gripping account of that awful day when a Taliban fanatic … [Read more...]
Community theater: Lake Worth Playhouse does fine by Elvis jukebox musical
By Dale King Lake Worth Playhouse has opened its season with All Shook Up, an energetic musical featuring Elvis Presley’s greatest hits, tucked very neatly into a dramatic frame based on William Shakespeare’s comedy, Twelfth Night. It rolls out so smoothly, you’d think the songs were written specifically for this show. Before long, nearly every cast member is sporting blue … [Read more...]
PB Chamber Fest makes a promising new beginning
When the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival got started back in July of 1992, its organizers were pleasantly surprised to see so many people in that first audience at the Duncan Theatre. Perhaps that will be the case when the festival looks back on its first fall series, which opened earlier this month at Lynn University and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Lake Worth. The … [Read more...]
Chameleon ends season with worthy revival of forgotten composer
It’s surely the case that most of the readers of this review have never heard of the Swedish woman composer Elfrida Andrée (1841-1929), whose career ran into the standard gender roadblocks of the Victorian era into which she was born. But Andrée’s music is well worth hearing, and last Sunday (May 12), the Chameleon Musicians chamber music series in Fort Lauderdale closed its … [Read more...]