Looking back on 2012, it seems that it was a year of standout musicals and Pulitzer Prize winners at the theater. Institutionally speaking, we lost the Caldwell Theatre, as well as Promethean and the Mosaic, but there were also gains, like Parade Productions, the Plaza Theatre, Outré Theatre Co. and The Theatre at Arts Garage. Here are my 10 favorites from the year: 1. … [Read more...]
FGO names Sarasota Opera’s Danis as its new CEO
MIAMI ― A new general director and chief executive officer will lead the Florida Grand Opera in the 2012-13 season. Susan T. Danis joins the Florida Grand Opera on Oct. 9. Danis is the fourth general director and CEO in the opera’s 72-year-history. Robert Heuer, the company’s CEO for 32 years, retired in May. A self-proclaimed “opera geek,” Danis spent almost 14 years … [Read more...]
Fresh-faced brothers kick off Royal Room series with charm to spare
Most of the headliners at the Colony Hotel’s Royal Room, the premier cabaret venue in South Florida, are seasoned performers, which is to say long in the tooth. The exception is the twin act of Will and Anthony Nunziata, a pair of fresh-scrubbed, curly-haired 28-year-olds who sing the American Songbook and Broadway standards, almost all written before their time. Back at the … [Read more...]
Fresh-faced brothers kick off Royal Room series with charm to spare
Most of the headliners at the Colony Hotel’s Royal Room, the premier cabaret venue in South Florida, are seasoned performers, which is to say long in the tooth. The exception is the twin act of Will and Anthony Nunziata, a pair of fresh-scrubbed, curly-haired 28-year-olds who sing the American Songbook and Broadway standards, almost all written before their time. Back at the … [Read more...]
Now in 21st year, Broward Center targets educational efforts
A performance calendar, online ticketing and membership options are musts on the website of any performing art center, but not all have a tab marked “Education.” And of those, few play the educator role as aggressively as the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. A student discussing Charles Dickens in class will go on to watch A Christmas Carol live on stage and return to … [Read more...]
ArtsPreview 2010-11: The season in film
We are willing to look ahead at future film releases, but only as far as the end of the calendar year. Even then, the crystal ball gets fuzzy, as these release dates are highly likely to change as Hollywood strategizes and counter-programs. Nevertheless, there are bound to be Oscar nominees within these subjective picks of what will hit screens in the next three months … [Read more...]
The View From Home 12: New releases on DVD
Appointment With Danger, Dark City and Union Station (Olive Films) Standard list price: $19.99 Release date: July 27 Apparently, DVD labels distributed the memo well: 2010 is the year for classic film noir. Last month Columbia released its Film Noir Classics Vol. 2 collection (SLP $44.99), an essential five-disc set that included Fritz Lang’s Human Desire, Phil Karlson’s The … [Read more...]
Expect ‘Hurt Locker,’ Bullock, Bridges to take Oscars
And then there were 10. No, not by a process of elimination, but by inflation. I’m talking about the new, probably not improved, look for the Academy Awards, with its revised voting dynamic for best picture. Not only are there 10 nominees for the top Oscar, but members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be ranking their 10 choices, with number one choices … [Read more...]
Anne Frank, literary genius
The Diary of Anne Frank is arguably one of the most widely read and influential books of the last century. Author Francine Prose has now penned a brilliant analysis, in which she asserts that the diary is a “work of literature” that has not been given its due. “How astonishing,” Prose writes, “that a teenager could have written so intelligently and so movingly about a … [Read more...]
Carbonell Awards in jeopardy
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008 The topic on the minds of most of the South Florida theater community at the moment, that has heated flurries of e-mails zapping back and forth through cyberspace, is the proposed suspension and likely subsequent demise of the controversial Carbonell Awards. Without consulting with or giving advance notice to the army of volunteer nominators and … [Read more...]