Theater: Playwright Lauren Gunderson wrote the redneck comedy Exit, Pursued by a Bear that Theatre at Arts Garage produced a couple of season ago, but try not to hold that against her. She is back with a much smarter script, I and You, about a couple of high school teens who meet over an English class assignment, and as with many formulaic romantic comedies, they banter and … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 13-14
Music: Time was when December meant the first opera of the season in West Palm Beach, but while those days have retreated into the past, that doesn’t mean the month goes by without Palm Beach Opera. This afternoon, the company presents its second free Waterfront Concert at the Meyer Amphiteatre in downtown West Palm Beach, with a full orchestra, singers and chorus. Tenor James … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 26-27
Film: Scratch a proficient sketch comedian and you will usually find a performer capable of dramatic roles as well. Consider Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader of Saturday Night Live fame who handle darker material with impressive skill in a new independent film, The Skeleton Twins. It has its amusing sequences – most of which are crammed into the promotional trailer – but the story … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 20-21
Music: Veteran songwriter and bandleader Tom Petty returns to his home state tonight with a concert at the Cruzan Amphitheatre with his longtime band, the Heartbreakers; he’ll be joined by the British pop icon Steve Winwood, who has played with Petty for years. Petty has created a durable collection of tunes that are not only an indelible part of the soundtrack of the 1970s, … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 12-14
Music: The British have a great classical music tradition, but their jazz chops are just as strong. The latest example is chanteuse Polly Gibbons, who makes her American debut tonight at the Arts Garage before continuing on to New York and Boston. She’s got one of those husky, dark singing voices that wraps nicely around a standard like “After Hours,” and it’s worth noting … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Aug. 23-24
Music: Soon, the season will be upon us and there will be almost too many things to cover in the music world. At this time of year, you can find smaller, intimate shows if you know where to look, such as the Boca Steinway Gallery this afternoon. Pianist Asiya Korepanova, a strong and interesting player, returns to the gallery for a concert of music from her native Russia, … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 27-29
Art: Kyoko Hazama is a contemporary Japanese artist who specializes in creating sculptures from washi paper, and she brings to her delicate art a wonderful sense of whimsy. From a Quiet Place, an exhibit of her tiny sculptures at the Morikami Museum running through Aug. 31, features many small scenes involving a winsome-looking Japanese girl in the company of extraordinary … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 6-8
Film: Filmed in exquisite, though bleak black-and-white by Polish writer-director Pawel Pawlikowski, Ida is a curious hybrid of Holocaust tale, road trip movie and odd couple drama. The title teenage character is a nun-in-training who is ordered to meet her only living relative, a distant aunt named Wanda, before she can take her vows. So Ida treks to meet Wanda and from her … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 30-June 1
Theater: Broadway plays rarely tour anymore, so even last year’s Tony Award winner, Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, became available to regional theaters like GableStage to produce and give their own spin to. Russian playwright Anton Chekhov hovers over the lives of three contemporary siblings — the offspring of lit professors with a penchant for … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 16-18
Theater: The Wick Theatre has been anything but consistent in its debut season, but when it is good, it is very, very good. That describes its final show on the season, the Tony Award-winning Fats Waller revue, Ain’t Misbehavin’. It helps considerably that director-choreographer Ron Hutchins gathered a company of seasoned veterans of the show, then stuck closely to the original … [Read more...]