The Italian Straw Hat (Flicker Alley) Release date: April 6 Standard list price: $23.99 In the movies and the theater, the institution of marriage is not often a melodious tradition, with infidelity and domestic strife serving as effective dramatic devices for more than a century. But day-to-day wedlock is downright harmonious compared to the ceremony leading up to it. … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Three shows demonstrate strength of South Florida season
Depression-era escapism proves to still be potent entertainment as Cole Porter’s 1934 enduring hit Anything Goes splashes across the stage of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. Surely it cannot be because of the flimsy story line, even if it got a major overhaul in 1987 by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman, who simply added new wince-inducing jokes. No, the material works almost … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Poetic ‘Buffalo,’ sharp ‘Song,’ shocking ‘Blasted’
After some of playwright David Mamet’s recent anemic attempts at whimsy (Romance, November), it is a pleasure to be reminded by his 1977 Broadway breakthrough, American Buffalo, how visceral and, yes, poetic he can be. The poetry is of the fragmentary, high-profanity, elliptical street type, but at Palm Beach Dramaworks, a trio of capable actors are demonstrating that the … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Oct. 15-21
Theater: The girl who gave the world the indelible foghorn version of Tomorrow as the star of Annie back in 1977 is a 45-year-old theater veteran now, and tonight in Jupiter she takes on the world premiere of a new musical revue, Love Is Love, written by Annie lyricist Martin Charnin and composer Richard Gray. Charnin also directs the show, which has been in development for a … [Read more...]
ArtsPreview 2009-10: The season in theater
Despite the still rocky economy, the region’s professional theaters appear to remain bullish on programming, with few signs of caution or budget-pinching in the season ahead. All eyes remain on Caldwell Theatre Company, which is coming off of a critically acclaimed summer under new artistic director Clive Cholerton, who continues to shake the cobwebs off the Boca Raton … [Read more...]
‘Whipping Man’ provides searing parallel tales of emancipation
The surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The beginning of Passover, 1865. The intersection of these three events are the crux of a compelling, if improbable tale by Matthew Lopez, The Whipping Man, the second straight theatrical coup for new Caldwell Theatre artistic director Clive Cholerton. Set in … [Read more...]
‘Mamma Mia!’ is a hit – and a miss
That much-maligned theater stepchild, the jukebox musical, is built from used parts, involving the meticulous selection and insertion of existing songs into a story line to make a cohesive whole. But if a careless mess like Mamma Mia! can run for years on Broadway, generate road companies all over the globe as well as spawn a wildly successful movie version, why would anyone … [Read more...]
‘Viva Bourgeois!’ cannily brings Moliere to Graceland
Only a mind like Mad Cat Theatre Co.’s Paul Tei, steeped in both the classics and pop culture, could have come up with Viva Bourgeois! Instead of the troupe’s usual newly minted plays aimed squarely at its young audience of 30-somethings, Tei reached back to 17th-century France for his inspiration. How do you get contemporary theatergoers to relate to Moliere’s social … [Read more...]
‘Knish Alley’ good concept, but play needs work
Part historical fiction and part shameless collection of vintage punch lines, South Floridian Tony Finstrom’s Knish Alley is a good idea for a play still waiting to be developed. The script, being premiered at Coral Spring’s Broward Stage Door, has already had several readings at area theaters, yet it still seems at least one draft away from being ready for production. … [Read more...]
‘Private Lives’ a witty, refreshing summer tonic
Caroline Strong and Wynn Harmon in Private Lives. Perhaps as important as romance to a successful relationship is a well-matched pair of witty bickerers. And maybe that is as good a definition of love as you could hope to find. At least that is the philosophy of Noel Coward in his 1930 classic comedy, Private Lives, now receiving a robust, satisfying production at Palm Beach … [Read more...]