Most fairy tales see the world in extremes of good and evil or right and wrong. But leave it to Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, in their musical constructed from intertwined fables, Into the Woods, to consider the ambiguity in these stories, asking us to look at matters from the witch’s viewpoint or the much-maligned giant’s perspective. Is it that adult take on stories … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: ‘Woody,’ ‘Dolly!’ and ‘Working’
Those looking for tell-tale signs of Florida Stage in Lou Tyrrell’s latest venture, The Theatre at Arts Garage, need look no further than the new company’s first full production, the biographical revue Woody Sez. A close first cousin to Woody Guthrie’s American Song, which played at the predecessor troupe’s Manalapan home 18 years ago, the newer show is more folksy than … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: March 17-18
Film: One of France’s greatest exports is surely actress Audrey Tautou, the winsome creature of Amelie and The Da Vinci Code. She current stars in a sweet little film called Delicacy, playing a recent widow having difficulty starting over after her husband’s sudden death. The last thing she wants is the attentions of an awkward geek at work who declares his love for her. Before … [Read more...]
Theater’s Ingham bestows love of drama, language on students
By Tom Tracy With the aid of his daughter Francesca, who was assisting him on a recent Monday by queuing up the DVD player, Barrie Ingham introduced his students to a series of films clips from movies based on the writings of George Bernard Shaw. For Ingham, a veteran stage and television actor and Royal Shakespeare Company honorary associate, understanding great texts means … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Splendid ‘Next to Normal,’ promising ‘Brooklyn Boy’
With so many musicals these days based on popular movies, it is hardly normal to encounter a show based on an original story, let alone the dramatic tale of a family mired in the grip of a member’s bipolar mental disorder. Call it instead Next to Normal, the 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical from the talented new songwriting team of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. While they are … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Life as a wrestling ring, or a cabaret, old chum
At one end of Palm Beach County, at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, we are told that “Life is a cabaret, old chum.” At the other end, at Boca Raton’s Caldwell Theatre, it turns out that life is actually more like professional wrestling. The latter news flash comes from Kristoffer Diaz’s The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist that examines the scripted … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Two compelling visions of dysfunction
Even with the stamp of approval of the Pulitzer Prize and the name recognition that comes with a film version that starred Joanne Woodward, Paul Zindel’s stage play The Effect of Gamma Rays in Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds is rarely revived. It is a fragile tale of a young girl’s survival despite a bitter, abusive mother, a play that could easily be derailed in lesser hands, but … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Nov. 25-30
Film: Yes, it does sound like an oxymoron -- “A Martin Scorsese family film” -- particularly when the family is not the Mafia. But put Hugo on your viewing list and you are likely to enjoy the many pleasures of the great director, more versatile than he is usually given credit for, taking his first foray into adapting children’s lit for the screen. Set in Paris in the 1930s, it … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: From ‘Red’ to the ghoulish black of ‘Addams Family’
“What do you see?” demands intense abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko, referring to the massive red canvas with two darker red vertical lines that dominates the stage. He is speaking to his new assistant, a would-be artist named simply Ken, hired to do all manner of grunt work, freeing up Rothko to ruminate, cogitate, bellow and, only occasionally, paint. And he is … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Oct.28-30
Film: Director-screenwriter Jeff Nichols (Shotgun Stories) has made an involving yet disturbing new film about one man’s gradual drift into mental illness, Take Shelter. Michael Shannon (Bug, Reservation Road) again plays a guy who may not be playing with a full deck, a construction worker whose life becomes unraveled when he begins having nightmares about a coming apocalyptic … [Read more...]