With most of our 401(k)s and stock portfolios hemorrhaging money and the economy apparently heading for a recession, you might think that Sarah Burgess’s dark-toned Dry Powder, a financial comedy, was written yesterday instead of 2016. Set mainly in the upscale offices of a New York capital management firm, amid the jargon-spewing and back-stabbing of its rival … [Read more...]
Boca Stage ends season with charming ‘America’s Sexiest Couple’
Unlike its recent seasons, Boca Stage has no Neil Simon plays in its current line-up. But with America’s Sexiest Couple, boy, does it come close. Its playwright, Ken Levine, is no stranger to sitcoms, having spent much of his career writing episodes of M*A*S*H, Cheers and Frasier. Still, this Levine stage comedy will bring to mind a couple of Simon classics --– Plaza Suite … [Read more...]
Maltz’s ‘Christmas Carol’ looks great, comes up short in story
When, in 1843, Charles Dickens published a novella called A Christmas Carol, he had no idea that 180 years later, scores of regional theaters across America would be producing stage versions of the durable ghost story. And for many of them, it would be an annual event, the biggest moneymaker of the season. Now following in that tradition is the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, with a … [Read more...]
Wick production winningly revives enduring charms of ‘Damn Yankees’
Baseball and musicals are two purely American institutions, so why not put them together, reasoned songwriters Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The year was 1955, and they had just struck gold with The Pajama Game, so Broadway was eager to see what they would come up with next. Improbably — in the way that most ideas for musicals seem improbable until they work — they became … [Read more...]
‘Nostalgia and heart’: Stars say you gotta have ‘Damn Yankees,’ at the Wick
Polled for their preferences in musicals, the Wick Theatre’s audience has consistently ranked 1955’s Damn Yankees very high. What is it about this Tony Award-winning show based on Douglas Wallop’s tongue-in-cheek novel, The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, that is so appealing? Jeffrey Moss, who directs the Wick’s production that begins performances Thursday, sums it up … [Read more...]
At Boca Stage, ‘Grand Horizons’ goes for the laughs
In the prologue to Bess Wohl’s Grand Horizons, before we learn that Nancy and Bill French have passed their 50th anniversary, we watch as they wordlessly ready their breakfast as a team, the familiar exercise of a much-married couple. So it is more than a little surprising when the first words out of her mouth are “I think I would like a divorce.” Responding without … [Read more...]
Boca Stage’s ‘Warrior Class’ a sharp lesson in The Swamp
Scratch the surface of a politician and chances are you will find scandal or at least dirty laundry that will render him unelectable for higher office. That is the cynical premise of Kenneth Lin’s taut, tight 80-minute civics lesson, Warrior Class, now receiving its area premiere at Boca Stage (formerly Primal Forces). The play’s battlefield ricochets between a … [Read more...]
‘To Life 2’ takes another look at Great Jewish-American Songbook
With very few exceptions, the composers of the Broadway theater during the 20th century were of Jewish heritage, some of them immigrants from Eastern Europe. That cultural anomaly was examined in song a year ago in a revue dubbed To Life, named for a number in Fiddler on the Roof. Since it proved popular with the audience at Boca Raton’s Willow Theatre, that show has now … [Read more...]
Maltz’s new ‘Dracula’ successfully Stokers the fires of silliness
To paraphrase that renowned philosopher Monty Python, “And now for something completely silly.” To open its 2019-20 season, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre has commissioned a new spoofy take on Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale, Dracula. Or more accurately, on the general idea of Dracula, since co-adaptors Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen gleefully concede that they never read … [Read more...]
Kultur Fest’s ‘My Fair Lady’ proves delightful
By Dale King When the Florida Atlantic University Libraries and the Jewish Cultural Society join forces to put together their annual Kultur Festival, they always come up with a fascinating sample of musical theater to kick off the event on FAU’s Boca Raton campus. The co-sponsors’ selection of My Fair Lady to open this year’s 10th annual celebration of Jewish music and … [Read more...]