Jeffrey Hartman and Amber Wagner in Ariadne auf Naxos. Palm Beach Opera’s last opera this season, Ariadne auf Naxos, was a singing triumph. The company brought together some of the freshest and best voices — all 16 of them — that ply their trade in the opera world today. I heard the second-cast stars on Saturday evening, sitting among a very new but appreciative audience. … [Read more...]
Young Nigerian artist explores dualities in Norton show
5 Umezebi St., New Haven, Enugu (2012) by Njideka Akunyili Crosby. By April W. Klimley It isn’t often that an artist comes along who says something new in an original way. But that’s just what Nigerian-born artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby has done. Her colorful mixed-media artwork makes big statements about the dualities of life, while intriguing the eye with their abstract … [Read more...]
Andrew Kato: In the driver’s seat at the Maltz
Back in the 1980s, a young, eager theater intern named Andrew Kato worked as a waiter at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre in Jupiter. Today, he runs the multi-million dollar regional theater on that site, having in November been named producing artistic director and chief executive of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. With that promotion comes a 10-year contract to oversee the … [Read more...]
Fine singers carry important weight of world premiere ‘Enemies’ at PB Opera
The two big questions for the new American work now in its world premiere at Palm Beach Opera are these: Does it succeed as a compelling piece of theater? And does it have a future? The answer to both of these questions is Yes, but for the second question, it may take some more work for the opera to have the kind of legs its producers and well-wishing audiences would dearly … [Read more...]
PBO Young Artists deftly take on Rorem’s ‘Our Town’
First, let wide acclaim go forth to this crop of Palm Beach Opera’s Young Artists, who took Ned Rorem’s difficult music for Our Town and made it palatable. Each and every one of them sang splendidly in librettist J.D. McClatchy’s adaptation of one of America’s most popular plays by Thornton Wilder. Brilliant direction by Fenlon Lamb gave real meaning to this excerpted and … [Read more...]
A remarkable night with a young trio
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...]
Three blues masters find the jamming is easy as a supergroup
Bandleaders in general, and blues bandleaders in particular, are notorious lone wolves -- stereotypical alpha males who often seek stardom by being songwriters, lead vocalists and their band’s primary soloists and dominating the spotlight. So how is it that three of them, all rising young blues stars with their own bands, combined forces to create a regional all-star group? … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: Goofy fun at Summer Shorts; moving ‘Lughnasa’ at Dramaworks
When you are trying to capture audience attention and tell a complete story in about 10 minutes, you might as well stick to comedy. That is apparently the lesson that Miami’s City Theatre has learned in its 18 years of producing Summer Shorts, an annual seasonal festival of playlets that accentuates the humorous and occasionally the out-and-out wacky. In recent years, Shorts … [Read more...]
Young Artists take PBO stage for Britten’s ‘Turn of the Screw’
Opera has a great bounty of composer anniversaries this year, with the 200th birthdays of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Britten. Britten had what would today be considered a relatively short life, dying at age 63 in 1976 after several years of heart disease-related decline, perhaps exacerbated by a bout of syphilis. He … [Read more...]
Maltz’s young campers get ‘Footloose’
The 1984 film Footloose, starring Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer, tells the story of a Chicago teenager, Ren McCormack, who moves to a small town where dancing and rock music are banned. Boosted by a catchy score, it was fairly successful on screen but has found eternal life in its 1998 adaptation for the musical theatre, becoming one of the most frequently performed of all … [Read more...]