Even for a theater company like Palm Beach Dramaworks whose mission is exploring the major plays of the American stage, it took them a decade and a half to approach Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, one of the great works of the 20th century. “The organization had to be ready, I had to know for the most part who my cast was going to be,” says producing artistic … [Read more...]
Maltz’s ‘Foreigner’ takes top play at 39th Carbonells
A feather-light comedy and a dark musical were named the year’s best productions at Monday night’s 39th annual Carbonell Awards for excellence in South Florida theater. The Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s mounting of Larry Shue’s farce The Foreigner won in the play category and Miami’s Zoetic Stage prevailed among the musicals for Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Assassins. … [Read more...]
‘Menopause’ writer takes on drama of relationships
As playwright Robert Anderson once put it about writing for the theater, “You cannot make a living, but you can make a killing.” It seems unlikely that he ever met Jeanie Linders, who penned the international phenomenon Menopause the Musical, but he inadvertently described her mega-success with the “girls-night-out” revue about the female life passage of middle age. The show, … [Read more...]
Physician takes alternative medicine to task, witheringly
In 1977, Joey Hofbauer, age 7, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes. Doctors said that chemotherapy and radiation would give the boy an excellent chance of survival. But the parents decided, instead, to treat their son with laetrile, an unproven natural remedy made from apricot pits. Three years later Joey was dead. In 1987 the Food and Drug … [Read more...]
‘Robot & Frank’ lures big names to dementia-caper flick
When looking for material for his directorial feature debut, Jake Schreier recalled a short film he had produced at New York University. Called Robot & Frank, it was a brief, offbeat heist flick grafted onto a tale of dementia and a caregiver automaton. The short had been the thesis project of his longtime friend and budding screenwriter Christopher Ford. “It was something I’d … [Read more...]