Immersed, as we all currently are, in the scourge of coronavirus, the AIDS epidemic seems like such a distant memory. But nothing brings its horrors back with a jolt quite like the death Wednesday of activist-playwright Larry Kramer at the age of 84. The co-founder of the AIDS service organization Gay Men’s Health Crisis and founder of the more politically militant ACT UP, … [Read more...]
Jupiter teen, child star sees bright theater future ahead
For Skye Alyssa Friedman, there’s no down time, even in this moment of COVID-19. These days, the Jupiter resident is busy finishing her home-school classes, logging in to video classes on Zoom, interviewing with prospective colleges, reading plays, taking online dance classes and filming audition tapes. But perhaps that’s nothing new for the red-haired 18-year-old who’s … [Read more...]
FAU Theatre Lab readies second online monologue festival
By Dale King Zen Buddhists are notorious, perhaps apocryphally, for spending time pondering the sound of a single hand clapping. But the nearly 40 South Florida actors and artists gathered up last month by Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab for its first-ever Online Original Monologue Festival concluded their singular performances to the sound of no hands … [Read more...]
Streaming theater abounds for us shut-ins
Chances are, if you are reading this, you are an avid fan of the arts and are going through withdrawal pains, since all area theaters, concert halls, performing arts centers and movie houses have been closed by the dreaded COVID-19. And although internet-streamed performances are a poor substitute for the live stuff, a lot of writers, actors, singers and assorted … [Read more...]
Appreciation: Joseph Adler, dean of provocative South Florida theater
Joseph Adler, the producing artistic director of Coral Gables’ GableStage for its 20 years of existence, directed nearly every production by the company over that time. That he and the troupe were so successful in bringing provocative, compelling stage fare to South Florida can be seen in the 25 Carbonell Award nominations and 11 wins for best director he received during these … [Read more...]
Terrence McNally: Virus claims unique voice of the theater
For many people, the first face of the scourge known as COVID-19 will be Tom Hanks or perhaps Prince Charles, both of whom have gone public with the fact that they have tested positive for the pandemic virus. But the theater world, and his vast mainstream audience, is in mourning over the news that four-time Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally, 81, has died of … [Read more...]
Interrupted ‘Chorus Line’ was one of Wick’s best
Due to “an abundance of caution,” either self-inflicted or by governmental fiat, virtually every stage company in South Florida has postponed or canceled its March show, citing the dangers of communal theatergoing in this time of coronavirus. Then there is The Wick Theatre, which threw caution to the wind and opened its scheduled production of A Chorus Line, at least … [Read more...]
Appreciation: Mart Crowley, whose ‘Boys in the Band’ was LGBT landmark
Mart Crowley had only one hit play in his entire career, but, oh, what a hit it was. In 1968, he wrote The Boys in the Band, the first commercially successful stage work about gay men, who get together one evening for a birthday party and lash out at each other with acid-dripped quips. It ran off-Broadway for more than 1,000 performances, had a national tour and was … [Read more...]
‘Miss Saigon’ retains power in Kravis revival
Romance in wartime is a familiar topic of musicals, but few are as emotionally wrenching or politically charged as Miss Saigon. Controversial when it first arrived on Broadway in 1991 – more for its casting choices than its themes – the show has gotten beyond that cultural authenticity issue and beyond a fixation with its onstage helicopter to demonstrate its lasting … [Read more...]
Maltz cast shines in Simon’s ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’
There has never been, and in all likelihood will never be, an American playwright as commercially successful as the late Neil Simon. From his Broadway debut in 1961 with Come Blow Your Horn, he has convulsed audiences in laughter season after season. But it wasn’t until 22 years later, with Brighton Beach Memoirs, that he eased up on his joke reflex, explored his own … [Read more...]