There may be no better way to tee off an evangelical conservative than to emblazon the bumper of your Prius with one of those “Jesus was a liberal” stickers. The politicization of the Son of God is a perennially popular topic, with both sides picking and choosing to support their theses. But in Martin Scorsese’s still-controversial The Last Temptation of Christ (Blu-ray, … [Read more...]
Handsome ‘Romeo’ largely successful at PB Opera
Palm Beach Opera was working out some kinks Friday night as it tried on the theatrical clothes of a new production, but in the end, it achieved a satisfying and reasonably compelling telling of a classic love story. Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, a tuneful, sentimental example of French Romantic opera at its most endearing, is the third production in the West Palm … [Read more...]
Tyrrell returns to the field with new Arts Garage series
Do not expect the high level of production values that Lou Tyrrell, founding producing director of the late, lamented Florida Stage, delivered with regularity at Manalapan and at the Kravis Center, when he unveils his new venture -- The Theatre at Arts Garage -- this Tuesday night. Still, his commitment to American playwrights and to developing new work for the stage will be … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 3-5
Art: Tomorrow, the Society of the Four Arts opens a new exhibit that takes its art viewers into the world of the Old West. Recapturing the Real West: The Collections of William I. Koch includes about 500 items, most of which have not been seen but have been loaned to the society by Koch, the industrialist, sailing champion and founder of Oxbow Energy Group. The collection … [Read more...]
Letter From Los Angeles 3: How I learned to stop hurting myself and get the win-win
Among my friends is a woman who moved here from Boston. Twenty-five years later, she still makes a point of putting Long Beach in her prayers. Our route to lunch often takes us along Alamitos Bay, where snow-capped peaks of purple mountains are a backdrop for the recreational waterway and its iconic red swim buoys. Before anyone picks up a fish taco, my friend thanks God for … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Oct. 14-18
Art: Starting Tuesday, two important shows at local art museums open, shows that will be running into the early weeks of January. The Flagler Museum on Palm Beach offers the story of how Henry Flagler’s railroad made it all the way to Key West a century ago. Over a seven-year period beginning in 1905, construction workers braved five hurricanes and mosquito-borne disease to … [Read more...]
The 2011-12 season in books: PB Poetry Fest now a prestige draw
It’s amusing now to think that a mere generation ago South Florida was considered a cultural wasteland were people did not read. Today the region is blessed with several of the most influential – and fun! – book festivals in the nation, if not the world. Take the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, for example. The youngest of the region’s literary events, in only eight years it has … [Read more...]
With Gosling behind the wheel, ‘Drive’ is neo-noir masterpiece
It is perhaps becoming a cliché to say that the latest performance by Ryan Gosling is a revelation, because he’s already had at least two revelatory performances – in Half Nelson and Blue Valentine – in his relatively short tenure as a leading man. How many times can somebody, uh, revelate over such a brief career? But it seems like the more we’re exposed to Gosling, the more … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 27-June 1
Theater: Ed Asner as Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It is one liberal icon playing another liberal icon in the one-man show FDR, opening a brief five-day run at the Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton beginning Wednesday evening. The play, written by Roosevelt scholar Dore Schary (Sunrise at Campobello), looks at the public man who presided over the country during the Great Depression … [Read more...]
Strong debut by young thespian makes ‘Secret Garden’ worth cultivating
More interested in spiritual rebirth than the usual romance that fuels musicals, with a score more attuned to British folk melodies than Tin Pan Alley hits, you can understand why 1991’s underrated The Secret Garden is rarely revived these days. And then there is the casting challenge of its main character, 12-year-old Mary Lennox, the suddenly orphaned tot saddled with … [Read more...]