Of the many musicals by the late, great Stephen Sondheim, some are more grisly (Sweeney Todd), more esoteric (Pacific Overtures) and more personal (Merrily We Roll Along), but few are as audience-friendly and ultimately profound than Into the Woods. Collaborating with James Lapine, the master composer-lyricist mashes up several familiar fairy tales – Cinderella, Red … [Read more...]
Slow Burn offers hugely entertaining ‘Honeymoon in Vegas’
Slow Burn Theatre Company was established in 2009 with the express intent of producing contemporary, challenging musicals that few troupes in South Florida would attempt. Sure enough, it went out on a limb with its inaugural show, Bat Boy, earning the admiration of the critical community for its artistic and financial risk-taking, and audiences soon followed. When the … [Read more...]
Slow Burn’s lovely ‘Once on This Island’ another winner for company
Two seasons ago, Slow Burn Theatre almost produced the epic Stephen Flaherty-Lynn Ahrens musical, Ragtime, but COVID got in the way. Perhaps they will get back to that show one day, but fans of the songwriting team should be pleased with the company’s current musical offering, Once on this Island, a spirited tale of the power of love, class distinctions and godly interventions, … [Read more...]
Slow Burn’s production turns so-so ‘Shrek’ into a winner
How can you tell that the pot-bellied, antenna-eared green ogre named Shrek and assertive, yet incurably romantic Princess Fiona are meant for each other? They fart and burp with compatible pride. In the shorthand of musical comedy – well, in Shrek, the Musical at least – that means love. Chances are you know that already from the 2001 Oscar-winning Dreamworks … [Read more...]
Stellar leads, soaring score make Slow Burn’s ‘Bridges of Madison County’ worth a visit
It is remarkable how music and its emotional uplift can elevate a story. A case in point is Robert James Waller’s potboiler best-selling romance novel, The Bridges of Madison County, which became an only slightly less gooey film starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. Yet in the hands of composer-lyricist Robert Jason Brown, this steamy tale of an affair between an Iowa … [Read more...]
‘Tarzan’ not worth Slow Burn’s effort
When a theater company’s mission is to explore underappreciated Broadway musicals, it is probably inevitable that at some point it would select a show without any previously unrealized assets. For Slow Burn Theatre Company, that time is now and the show is Tarzan, the Musical. Give director-choreographer Patrick Fitzwater credit for investing such resources and energy into … [Read more...]
Slow Burn’s ‘Titanic’ stuns with beautiful singing
By a curious coincidence, 20 years ago — in 1997 — movie theaters saw the arrival of the epic film Titanic and Broadway’s big hit musical was also about the flagship of the White Star Line, the “largest moving object in the world.” Spoiler alert: In both works, the mammoth ocean liner hits an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sinks. (What, you knew that already?) But that … [Read more...]
Slow Burn’s ‘Avenue Q’ shines in Broward venue
For its new home at the Broward Center and presumably a new audience, Slow Burn Theatre Company is remounting a couple of popular shows from its former West Boca venue. And in the case of the current Avenue Q redo, again directed and choreographed with assurance by Patrick Fitzwater, the more casual and intimate environment of the Adbo River Room helps the subversive puppet … [Read more...]
Slow Burn makes a success out of ‘Hunchback’
Now in its second season at the Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater, Slow Burn Theatre Company has grown assured enough to tackle four large-scale musicals, including Titanic, Big River and Aida. All three of those were long-running Broadway hits, the opposite of what the adventuresome company used to consider its mission to be, apparently a bow to more mainstream commercial … [Read more...]