South Florida can go for years without a production of songs by Stephen Sondheim, but this summer will see two back-to-back. First there was Palm Beach Dramaworks’ superb concert version of A Little Night Music and now MNM Productions gives us a reconceived Side by Side by Sondheim, the musical revue from 1977, directed by Bruce Linser with musical direction by the ubiquitous … [Read more...]
Postcard From Broadway No. 5: ‘Bullets Over Broadway’ fizzles
One reason I usually come to New York this week each year is that it marks the deadline for Tony Award eligibility, and many shows open at the last opportunity, like doing homework in home room just before it is due. But the main reason is to catch The Easter Bonnet Competition, a two-day event that marks the end of the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS fundraising season. To … [Read more...]
Radiant ‘Neruda Songs,’ zesty Beethoven Ninth close Cleveland residency
The five songs for mezzo-soprano and orchestra that Peter Lieberson composed in 2004 to the poems of Pablo Neruda have taken on something of a sacred aura since the death of Lieberson’s wife, Lorraine, in 2005. With Lieberson’s own death in 2011, also from cancer, the Neruda Songs wear a cloak of tragedy once you know their back story, much as Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder … [Read more...]
‘Sister Act’: An agreeable dose of nunsense
It is a show business axiom that nuns are inherently funny. And nuns learning to get in touch with their show biz side are even funnier. Those seeking evidence of that notion need look no further than the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg movie, Sister Act, or ― since it is currently on view at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale ― the stage musical of the same name based on the … [Read more...]