Reviewers are by nature a skeptical bunch, so when former Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby announced ― some 22 years ago ― that she was reinventing herself as a musical theater performer and taking to the skies as Peter Pan, it seemed gimmick casting at best. Undaunted by critical doubters, she took her craft seriously, training to be an actress as diligently as she did as an … [Read more...]
The 2011-12 season in jazz: A feast for discerning listeners
A struggling economy won’t impact a jazz concert season as much as it does pop music. That’s because jazz is used to struggling more than pop to succeed. Sure, it’s a case of supply and demand -- if you charged three figures for even marquee jazz artists, you’d be lucky to get three figures in attendance -- but there’s more to it. A jazz performer will usually have more in … [Read more...]
‘Low Down Dirty Blues,’ ‘Macbeth’ provide eclectic summer fare
Over the weekend, Florida Stage unveiled its new roomy, yet still cozy home at the Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse, inaugurated with a shapeless musical revue imported from Chicago, Low Down Dirty Blues. The show is enormously entertaining, thanks largely to its powerhouse four-member cast, but as with last summer’s erroneously named Some Kind of Wonderful, the nation’s … [Read more...]