After begrudgingly writing only the lyrics for his first two Broadway shows — West Side Story and Gypsy — the great Stephen Sondheim at last penned both words and music for 1962’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. A rare musical comedy that is actually funny, it ran 965 performances, a brief run by Phantom of the Opera standards, but it remains the longest run … [Read more...]
Literature provides connection in touching ‘Dorothy’s Dictionary’
Words and books are the cherished domain of Dorothy Ross, a former librarian now confined to a convalescent home with an unspecified but serious medical condition and failing eyesight. She is at the center of Dorothy’s Dictionary, a touching, charming, funny and sad new play by E.W. Lewis, now receiving its world premiere in a gently effective production at Florida Atlantic … [Read more...]
‘On Your Feet!’: Estefan jukebox musical not profound, but it is peppy
The creators of the musical biography of Gloria and Emilio Estefan knew what they had when they chose On Your Feet! as the show’s title, out of the many song hits she and her back-up band, the Miami Sound Machine, made famous. For the prime asset of this light-on-its-feet jukebox musical are the energetic dances that decorate the history of the Estefans’ personal and … [Read more...]
‘Dorothy’s Dictionary’: Premiere play at FAU explores power of literature, connection
Ellen Lewis is not really sure what started her writing Dorothy’s Dictionary, the two-character play that will have its world premiere at Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab next week (Nov. 19), but she knows she wanted to create a script about “books and words and libraries and the power of stories. All that is kind of what I’m made of,” she says. What emerged … [Read more...]
‘The Thin Place,’ at Boca Stage, is more puzzling than creepy
Unlike horror movies, which want to scare the bejesus out of us, Lucas Hnath’s cerebral ghost story The Thin Place merely wants to creep us out and perhaps have us think about the possibility of an afterlife. Whether or not you are persuaded by this curiously structured play, which demands several leaps of faith by its audience and ultimately ends on theatrical gimmickry, … [Read more...]
Reflecting Fools bring back political parody at fraught time
Among the victims of COVID-19, at least in the world of entertainment, has been the popular political satire troupe, The Capitol Steps, which could not survive the two years of performance pause. But since nature abhors a vacuum, a new company, dubbed DC’s Reflecting Fools, has cropped up to take its place. And since the Fools feature song parodies by Mark Eaton – who … [Read more...]
Maltz starts season off strong with sharp ‘Jersey Boys’
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...]