Each year in Palm Beach County, after a summer lull that seems endless, art starts happening again like Snow White gently waking from her sleep, bright-eyed, bushy tailed and — thanks to some local wizards — with remarkably plumper lips and a less-furrowed brow. After all, we do live in a veritable fantasyland of opulence and wealth and the “season” motivates us all to break … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2012-13: South Florida hard to beat for book festivals
South Florida, believe it or not, has now been a leading literary region for nearly 30 years. Yes, publishing remains centered in New York, and Los Angeles may have its charms for authors and their fans. But we boast four of the best book festivals in the nation, beginning with the biggest, Miami Book Fair International in November, and ending with perhaps the most original, … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2012-13: Loss of JAMS hurts, but jazz season looks strong
The biggest news regarding the 2012-2013 South Florida jazz concert season may also be the most unfortunate. The 13-year-old, West Palm Beach-based Jazz Arts Music Society (JAMS), which presented a series of annual concerts at the Himmel Theater at CityPlace in West Palm Beach that were fixtures within these previews, decided in late July to suspend the series until further … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2012: The films of fall
The good news is that the fall film season is a superhero-free zone, unless you count the government agents who rescued a small group of American hostages in Iran or the operatives who tracked down and killed Osama bin Laden. Autumn films will still be packed with action, but you will not have to check your brain at the door. In fact, your brain will get quite a workout with … [Read more...]
Astanova, Ling lead Palm Beach Symphony to sparkling season finale
It was hard, seeing all those instrumentalists downstage on a closed-in pit at the Kravis Center, not to think of the long-gone Florida Philharmonic. And perhaps that ultimately was the point of the Palm Beach Symphony’s benefit concert Tuesday night at the Kravis Center, which featured a terrific reading of the Dvorak Eighth Symphony as conducted by a major international … [Read more...]
Music roundup: Forceful quartet, innovative choir, impressive pianist
Here are brief reviews from three recent concerts: Delray String Quartet (Dec. 11, Colony Hotel, Delray Beach): This foursome is on something of a roll as it enters its eighth season of concertizing. Next month it will give the world premiere of the String Quartet No. 5 by Kenneth Fuchs, and will contribute that work to an all-Fuchs disc for Naxos. It’s just released a … [Read more...]
Kravis’ 2011-12 season features fare for low, high brows
You’ve heard of the three Bs -- Bach, Brahms and Beethoven? Well, the Kravis Center has announced that next season it will present the three Ls -- Larry the Cable Guy, Larry King and a tribute show called Elvis Lives. Uh, didn’t the Kravis used to be a center for the performing arts? The West Palm Beach complex will be celebrating its 20th anniversary season beginning this … [Read more...]
Tchaikovsky quartet ends Delray SQ season in winning style
On the verge of an eighth season that will include a new recording and a world premiere, the Delray String Quartet sounded confident, polished and vibrant as it finished up its seventh season Sunday afternoon in Miami. Closing its fifth and final series of programs at St. Stephen’s Espicopal Church in Coconut Grove, where the competition from the Taste of the Grove festival … [Read more...]
‘Next Fall’ marks Hall’s return to Caldwell director’s chair
s More than a year and a half ago, Caldwell Theatre co-founder Michael Hall handed off the artistic reins of the Boca Raton stage company he had run for 36 years. But he suspected it was just a matter of time before we would be back directing a production there, and that time is now. Opening Friday evening is Hall’s staging of Next Fall, the Tony Award-nominated play from … [Read more...]
The View From Home 18: New releases on DVD
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story (Criterion) Release date: Dec. 14 Standard list price: $88.99 Released just 11 days before Christmas, Criterion’s America Lost and Found: The BBS Story box set is the holiday season’s ultimate gift to cinephiles. The six films contained in this collection encompass one of American cinema’s most rambunctious, mavericky collectives, … [Read more...]