One way to attract an audience, as the theory goes, is to create a show from songs they already know. Thus was born the jukebox musical, made of existing hits from a particular composer or performer. Needing a subject too, this soon led to the jukebox biography, which tells the story behind the music illustrated with those familiar songs. That explains the recent glut of … [Read more...]
The Wick’s ‘Milk and Honey’: See it for the music
In 1960, a promising young composer-lyricist was sent to Israel to soak up its atmosphere and culture in order to write a musical set in that plucky new nation. The songwriter was Jerry Herman and the show would be his Broadway debut --- Milk and Honey. It ran for a respectable 543 performances and, of course, has since been overshadowed by such Herman megahits as Hello, … [Read more...]
Stellar main characters stand out in Dramaworks’s ‘4000 Miles’
She frequently stumbles when reaching for the right word in conversation, and don’t bother trying to talk to her when she doesn’t have her hearing aid in. Still, for a 91-year-old, Vera Joseph is a remarkable woman. Based on playwright Amy Herzog’s own grandmother, she is the central character of 4000 Miles, an acclaimed off-Broadway work and Pulitzer Prize finalist from 15 … [Read more...]
Wick goes big with Herman’s Israel love story, ‘Milk and Honey’
Avi Hoffman did not take long to decide when the offer came from Boca Raton’s Wick Theatre to be in Milk and Honey, Jerry Herman’s 1961 Broadway debut. He has a special affection for this musical about a romance between a middle-aged couple, set against the turmoil of the early days of the state of Israel. For starters, he grew up in Israel, living there from 1969 to 1977, … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2022-23: The season in theater
Now that the COVID 19 pandemic is in the rearview mirror – we hope – South Florida’s theaters are looking ahead to their first full season of productions in several years. So below is a look at what is scheduled, taken in geographic order from north to south, from Jupiter to Coral Gables. Last season, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre was hit with a double whammy of COVID and … [Read more...]
It’s all about family: ‘4000 Miles’ opens Dramaworks season
Talk about an odd couple. Consider 21-year-old Leo, nearing the end of a cross-country bicycle trip, concluding in New York’s Greenwich Village, where his 91-year-old grandmother, Vera, lives. Arriving unannounced and unexpected at her apartment in the middle of the night, Leo embarks on a journey of discovery with a relative he hardly knows, an emotional trek at least … [Read more...]
‘Fun Home’: LW Playhouse gives breakthrough musical a fine reading
By Dale King Lake Worth Playhouse has officially opened its 70th season with a probing, thought-provoking production of Fun Home, a true-to-life musical theater adaptation of cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic novel memoir of her passionate search to find a connection between her and her deceased father – both of them gay. With music by Jeanine Tesori and a book … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2022-23: The season in theater
Now that the COVID 19 pandemic is in the rearview mirror --- we hope --- South Florida’s theaters are looking ahead to their first full season of productions in several years. So below is a look at what is scheduled, taken in geographic order from north to south, from Jupiter to Coral Gables. Last season, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre was hit with a double whammy of COVID … [Read more...]
FAU Theatre Lab’s retake on Red Riding Hood delights in wonder of theater
Vital to the vocal interaction between the performers in Allison Gregory’s Red Riding Hood and the preschool and elementary aged audience members at Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab is the tots’ familiarity with the classic fairy tale. Granted that they have never seen it presented in such an offbeat and playful manner, but --- at the opening matinee, at least --- they … [Read more...]
Guest troupe’s ‘La Cage’ a crowd-pleaser at Delray Playhouse
By Dale King A theatrical production long delayed by the COVID pandemic has finally opened for a two-weekend run at the Delray Beach Playhouse. Three months before DBP officially begins its 75th season, the venerable venue on Lake Ida turns its stage over to the Barclay Performing Arts Theater for a run of Jerry Herman's gender-bending musical, La Cage aux Folles. A … [Read more...]