In 1994, a stark black-and-white cover of New York magazine asked, “Is Stephen Sondheim God?” The cheeky question tacitly acknowledged that the then 64-year-old was the reigning composer-lyricist of Broadway, perhaps of all time, and implied with a bit of wishful thinking that maybe he was immortal. Certainly his musicals, ranging from 1957’s West Side Story to 2008’s … [Read more...]
At LW Playhouse, ‘Earnest,’ with an LGBTQ Palm Beach twist
By Dale King Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest has been modified and repackaged in many different ways since it first hit the London stage on Valentine’s Day 1895. Lake Worth Playhouse has made its own modifications to the three-act production, pulling it into the 21st century, relocating it from England to Palm Beach County and toying with some of the gender … [Read more...]
‘Fully Committed’: At Levis JCC, one man’s scheduling nightmare
Did you ever try to get a 7:30 reservation to a trendy, high-end restaurant only to be told, somewhat derisively, that the establishment is “fully committed” for the next two months? Chances are, while wallowing in your disappointment, you never gave much thought to the travails of the out-of-work actor/reservations clerk on the other end of the phone. Well, playwright … [Read more...]
At Kravis, heartwarming ‘Come From Away’ packs emotional punch
Grab your vaccination card and your mask, the Kravis Center is back in business. And since its Broadway series is opening with Come From Away, the true-life tale of a tiny Canadian town that welcomed the bewildered passengers of 38 diverted airplanes on 9/11, you might as well pack a box of Kleenex too. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have inspired … [Read more...]
Boca Stage’s ‘Warrior Class’ a sharp lesson in The Swamp
Scratch the surface of a politician and chances are you will find scandal or at least dirty laundry that will render him unelectable for higher office. That is the cynical premise of Kenneth Lin’s taut, tight 80-minute civics lesson, Warrior Class, now receiving its area premiere at Boca Stage (formerly Primal Forces). The play’s battlefield ricochets between a … [Read more...]
Intimate pages: FAU Theatre Lab premieres ‘To Fall in Love’
A study by a Stony Brook University professor theorizes that if two people answer 36 probing and personal questions, then stare into each other’s eyes for four minutes, they will fall in love. Perhaps, but that is all playwright Jennifer Lane (Harlowe) had to hear to write a play dramatizing such an unusual exercise. That two-person play, To Fall in Love, receives its … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2021-22: The season in theater
This was supposed to be the first post-COVID theater season in South Florida, but the delta variant took care of that wishful thinking. Most stage companies are optimistic that they can produce something this season. Whether the audience will show up is another story. If all goes well, it could be an exciting year at the theater, with a new artistic director at … [Read more...]
Flimsy but hugely popular, ‘Mamma Mia!’ wins over Wick audiences
Popularity doesn’t always go hand-in-hand with quality. Consider Mamma Mia!, which ran nearly 14 years on Broadway, the ninth longest running show in the commercial theater. But this lazy jukebox musical is built from songs by the Swedish pop group ABBA that only occasionally coincide with the show’s credibility-stretching plot. Still, did I mention that it ran nearly … [Read more...]
Hyper ‘Starcatcher’ at LW Playhouse can’t outrun overlong material
By Dale King Lake Worth Playhouse has opened its 69th season with a frenetic production of Peter and the Starcatcher, a paean to Peter Pan that offers up a plausible prequel to J.M. Barrie’s 1904 children’s fable, elaborating on the tale of “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up” by focusing on friendship, leadership, fealty and a few other add-ons. The hectic performance combines … [Read more...]
Slow Burn’s ‘Songs for a New World’ makes the case for composer Brown
In 1995, audiences did not yet know composer-lyricist Jason Robert Brow. After all, he had not won his Tony Awards for best score (Parade and Bridges of Madison County). Nor had he written The Last Five Years, the two-character, backward-and-forward narrative musical that regional theaters all across the country have since embraced. But he had penned Songs for a New … [Read more...]