When the sublime, sophisticated songsmith Cole Porter collaborated with Brits P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton on the enduring confection Anything Goes, the time was 1934, seven years after Show Boat demonstrated that musicals could take on weighty material. Porter and his writing team – which eventually included play doctors Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse – knew perfectly … [Read more...]
Powerful ‘Time Alone’ at Boca Stage charts two kinds of imprisonment
Anger and pain are the shared emotions that link widow Anna Jackson and convicted killer Gabriel Wayland. They also share the stage — but never the same space — in Alessandro Camon’s powerful play of dueling monologues, Time Alone. Beyond their well-earned rage, these two lost souls have another unexpected connection, revealed only in the final moments of the 90-minute … [Read more...]
‘Sweet Charity’ a sparkling must-see at the Maltz
Sweet Charity, the tale of three-named Charity Hope Valentine, the dance hall hostess with a heart of gold and terrible luck with men, requires a triple-threat performer who can sing, dance and act, seemingly without effort. After all, the show’s original director-choreographer, Bob Fosse, created the show in 1966 for his wife and muse, Gwen Verdon, the reigning female star of … [Read more...]
Grim energy of ‘Hadestown’ brings Kravis audience to its feet
By Dale King Hadestown, the grim, garishly compelling musical that fuses characters from Greek mythology with imagery from a hellishly demonic industrial underworld, continues through Sunday at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. On opening night Tuesday, a full-house audience rewarded the starkly entertaining performance with a sustained … [Read more...]
Dramaworks reaffirms relevance of ’12 Angry Men’ in searing production
By Sharon Geltner “One man is dead. The life of another is at stake. I urge you to deliberate honestly and thoughtfully. If there is a reasonable doubt --- then you must bring me a verdict of ‘not guilty.‘” The judge’s instructions open Twelve Angry Men, the classic American drama by Reginald Rose, set in a dingy conference room in 1954. The Palm Beach Dramaworks … [Read more...]
‘Aladdin’ is a world of wonders in Kravis run
By Dale King The latest iteration of Aladdin, one of the oldest and most told and retold tales in literary history, is being performed through Friday at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. The production, based on Walt Disney’s 1992 animated film, is festooned with colorful characters, a pleasing, often powerful musical score and amazing … [Read more...]
‘Villainous Company’ a taut three-hander for Delray Playhouse opener
By Dale King Delray Beach Playhouse certainly loves a mystery. The venerable showhouse on the shore of Lake Ida opens its 76th season with a production of Villainous Company, a show whose title literally screams that something illicit is afoot. And it certainly is, as the audience gradually, but, in the end, surely finds out in this 90-minute production played with no … [Read more...]
With strong central performance, Wick’s ‘Cinderella’ still works its magic
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, which first enchanted TV audiences in 1957, is based on a fairy tale by Charles Perrault that has been captivating children of all ages since it was first written in 1697. Nevertheless, when the musical was poised to make its Broadway debut in 2013, playwright Douglas Carter Beane was enlisted to give the script a makeover, injecting … [Read more...]
‘Forum’ a loose-limbed delight at the Maltz
The late, great Stephen Sondheim is best remembered for his boundary-busting musicals brimming with angst and ambivalence. But you would never guess that from the first Broadway show to feature both his music and lyrics, 1962’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Sunny and silly, yet displaying early evidence of Sondheim’s verbal mastery and penchant for … [Read more...]
Older, but still relevant: ‘Twelve Angry Men’ heads to Dramaworks
Although written 68 years ago, Reginald Rose’s jury room melodrama Twelve Angry Men is surprisingly apt to our current social and political Zeitgeist. So says Palm Beach Dramaworks’ producing artistic director William Hayes, who had been planning to revive the play two years from now during the stage company’s 25th anniversary season. “With all that’s going on, the gender … [Read more...]