By Myles Ludwig We learn a lot early in our lives, even when we don’t know we’re learning. Those early impressions of childhood set the standards that accompany us for the rest of our lives, for better or worse. We don’t understand them then, and if you’re at all sensitive to the sashaying vagaries of your moods, you can choose to remain a prisoner in the cellular structure … [Read more...]
Sundays: When the only ones for us were the mad ones
By Myles Ludwig Too old to be lost, too young to be found, we were caught between the bohemians and the Beats when Jack Kerouac’s On the Road was published in 1957. With Walter Salles’ movie version of the novel now opening in Palm Beach County, it seems appropriate to recall the book and how important it was to my generation. On its face, the novel is a rambling, … [Read more...]
The View From Home 47: New releases on Blu-ray and DVD
The straightforward matter-of-factness is right there in the title: A Man Escaped (Criterion, $31.86 Blu-ray, $23.99 DVD). It’s in the past tense, so you know before starting Robert Bresson’s 1956 prison-break masterpiece – based on the memoirs of Andre Devigny, a French POW during World War II – that the protagonist will succeed. For Bresson, suspense has no appeal; it’s all … [Read more...]
At Dramaworks, an Ionesco of thought more than laughter
Just as the rich and famous have to put on their pants one leg at a time, just like the rest of us, even kings have to face mortality, just as we all do. So it goes for King Berenger I, the title character of Eugène Ionesco’s absurdist tragicomedy, Exit the King, on view currently at Palm Beach Dramaworks. Berenger, a character who also shows up in Rhinoceros, is the alter ego … [Read more...]
Priscilla, queen of the costume parades
It is no intended slight of the high camp musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to note that its prime assets are its costumes, the wittiest, most eye-popping wardrobe you will probably ever see on a legitimate stage. Fortunately, designers Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner, who won an Oscar for the over-the-top duds of the 1994 movie of Priscilla, had the assignment of dressing … [Read more...]
Hiromi: Master of the mashup, jazz piano-style
If you’re already a fan of Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara, then you'd probably be on a first-name basis with her even if she didn’t go by just Hiromi for recordings and touring. And if you’ve been a fan throughout her 10-year recording career, the association likely started with XYZ, the opening song from her 2003 Telarc debut CD, Another Mind. Talk about a first … [Read more...]
Cary Polkovitz: The painter turns writer
By Colleen Dougher West Palm Beach painter Cary Polkovitz has never been big on telling the stories behind his paintings. He’d rather let people conjure their own tales and share them with him. It's not that he’s opposed to storytelling. As an avid reader with an affinity for outlandish, fantastical tales, he wove many a tale himself in his bartending days, and told some … [Read more...]
Women-oriented short films play Delray in Lunafest
Lunafest, a traveling film festival established in 2000 by Luna, the “whole nutrition” line of snack bars for women, comes to the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach on Friday for a one-night-only screening. In conjunction with the Junior League of Boca Raton, the event is a fundraiser for the Junior League and for the Breast Cancer Fund, which is dedicated to eliminating … [Read more...]
At the symphony II: Tenor joins returning performers for PB Symphony gala
For its gala fundraiser Thursday night at the Mar-a-Lago Club, the Palm Beach Symphony brought back two of its guest stars from last year, the Russian-American pianist Lola Astanova and conductor Jajha Ling of the San Diego Symphony. The orchestra also introduced to area audiences a fresh talent, Brazilian tenor Thiago Arancam, who sang a selection of arias and songs from the … [Read more...]
Sundays: The game of friendship
By Myles Ludwig Writing about a friendship is a lot more difficult than it seems. Yes, one can write about the mutual gifts and the rewards. But writing about the thing, the stuff that holds it all together as one travels through life is a little like trying to define love or capture dark matter or a miasma in a photograph ― you know it’s there, but you can’t see it, touch it, … [Read more...]