Brilliance comes in threes, it appears. Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago, in the second concert of the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, three young men — Doori Na, violin; Joseph Lee, cello; and Sean Kennard, piano — thrilled the many concert attendees with their music-making. And indeed, their musicianship was remarkable. Coming together as individuals of astonishing skill … [Read more...]
Odd-couple quest for lost son becomes radiant human-interest story
Philomena opens with a poop joke, but it’s an erudite poop joke. Steve Coogan is hearing medical results from his doctor, and he’s told his stool sample is “outstanding,” which Coogan’s character takes as a compliment, until the doc clarifies that Coogan hasn’t provided the sample yet. So you see, it’s not scatological humor so much as phonic humor, playing off an amusing … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: ‘Fear Up Harsh,’ ‘The Timekeepers,’ ‘White Christmas’
Zoetic Stage is justifiably proud of its resident actors, the only true repertory company in South Florida. But even more important to the group’s success are its resident playwrights, notably Christopher Demos-Brown, whose works range from political drama (When the Sun Shone Brighter) to family comedy (Captiva) to his latest, Fear Up Harsh, a mournful tale of the aftermath of … [Read more...]
Drew Tucker: Arts Garage’s master of music and education
Drew Tucker may wear more different hats than anyone else involved in the Palm Beach County arts scene. The Boynton Beach resident, who turns 33 on Aug. 21, is director of education and outreach for both his own Tucker Academy for the Arts and the Delray Beach-based Arts Garage. He's also a drummer and percussionist, on everything from mallet instruments like the vibraphone, … [Read more...]
The View From Home 49: Bad guys, Westerns, and a violent mess
Warner Home Video has waited near Father’s Day to market and release two exceptional new Blu-ray collections of gangster cinema, old and (comparatively) new. If these are the kind of gifts the studio has prepared for dads, I’d happily take a Father’s Day every month. The Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Classics ($44.98) features four titles from the ’30s and ’40s, when Warners … [Read more...]
Sundays: Standing in the corner with Kafka
By Myles Ludwig I’m not surprised that Franz Kafka woke up one morning and imagined he was some kind of giant beetle. He needed someone to talk to. A writer’s life is a lonely life, particularly a writer who makes fiction or poetry. There you are with a world in your head, struggling with near impossibility of describing it perfectly, not only to yourself, but to someone … [Read more...]
Good Dvorak, Beethoven end Boca Symphonia season
The Boca Raton Symphonia closed its 2012-13 season Sunday with a too-little-heard major concerto and a genial reading of a major symphony, securing a solid planetary foothold amid the constellation of local chamber orchestras that appeared in the wake of the Florida Philharmonic’s Big Bang. Let by guest conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos, who directed the group last month at … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: April 5-7
Dance: The Miami City Ballet closes out its season at the Kravis Center this weekend with four performances of two well-loved ballets: Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering, set to music by Chopin, and Slaughter on 10th Avenue, part of Richard Rodgers’ score for On Your Toes, as choreographed by George Balanchine. If you can’t catch this fine company’s mounting of these two … [Read more...]
Emilie Autumn at Revolution: A night with the crumpets
By Kylie Phillips Simultaneous sun showers and sullen skies set a befitting air of dreary surprise Monday evening as Emilie Autumn, a classically trained violinist with a past as unstable as the weather, brought the dark allies of the Victorian era to the stage at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale. Autumn’s Fight Like a Girl Tour is named after her newest album, released … [Read more...]
Kuerti spellbinding in concerti with NY Chamber Soloists
About 2,000 music lovers filled the Kravis Center on Tuesday to hear the refined playing of the New York Chamber Soloists Orchestra ― 16 players, all at the top of their game, coming together to make the sweetest sounds. An early Haydn symphony, No. 6 (in D, Hob. I: 6), written in 1761 when the composer was 29 and newly hired by the Esterhazys, began the program. Subtitled Le … [Read more...]