Puerto Rico-born Marcos Santana has long admired the musical West Side Story, yet he finds it unbalanced. “The Jets definitely have more presence through the entire play than the Sharks,” he says, referring to the American street gang versus those who grew up in his native island. “I still love this show, but there was always something inside of me saying, ‘This … [Read more...]
Loehr, Kleiner shine in sensational ‘Crazy for You’ at The Wick
Legendary composer George Gershwin died in 1937, but that has not stopped the creation of three major book musicals featuring his songs in relatively recent years. The best of them is surely 1992’s Crazy for You, a clever romantic comedy with the emphasis on the comedy, thanks to a jokey script by Ken Ludwig. But to work, the show needs a charismatic hoofer in the male lead. … [Read more...]
Kultur Fest’s ‘My Fair Lady’ proves delightful
By Dale King When the Florida Atlantic University Libraries and the Jewish Cultural Society join forces to put together their annual Kultur Festival, they always come up with a fascinating sample of musical theater to kick off the event on FAU’s Boca Raton campus. The co-sponsors’ selection of My Fair Lady to open this year’s 10th annual celebration of Jewish music and … [Read more...]
At Kravis, ‘Waitress’ is a sweet helping of comfort food
As any geometry student knows, pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. But as the musical comedy Waitress demonstrates, pie can be shortest distance to happiness. Diner waitress Jenna Hunterson (Christine Dwyer) happens to also be an extraordinary baker of pies, which bring her customers much satisfaction — exactly the feeling that is absent … [Read more...]
Exemplary Maltz cast brings Ibsen up to date
Sequels are the all-too-frequent domain of the movies, but relatively rare in the theater except for Shakespeare and his history plays. Still, Henrik Ibsen seemed to be expecting a follow-up to A Doll’s House, with its famous final door-slamming ending, one of modern drama’s most renowned cliffhangers. What did happen to Nora Helmer after she walked out on her husband … [Read more...]
Nora’s back: Ibsen revisited, at the Maltz
In 1879, when feminist Nora Helmer – the main character in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House – slammed the front door and walked out on her husband and family, it is generally agreed that she opened another door, to the start of modern drama. Ibsen’s play ended there, but what happened to Nora afterwards, as she tried to forge a life as a single woman in a Norwegian society … [Read more...]
Student theater: Compelling ‘Mill Fire’ at FAU
By Dale King Mill Fire is a horrific, haunting and deeply emotional play, a story of Birmingham, Ala., a steel town on the skids circa 1977; a massive, deadly fire and explosion in an apparently malfunctioning steel mill furnace that kills five workers; and the chaos the disaster inflicts on a community whose populace is already at the edge of upheaval. The script, by … [Read more...]
Snedeker gives master class in acting with chilling ‘Blonde Poison’
There are six million stories in the Holocaust, but few as vivid and complex as that of Stella Kubler Goldschlag, the so-called Blonde Poison. That is also the title of Gail Louw’s one-person performance piece currently receiving its area premiere at Primal Forces. From her Berlin apartment in the 1990s, where Stella is preparing to be interviewed by a German-born, … [Read more...]
One-woman ‘Blonde Poison’ explores Holocaust ambiguity
In searching for plays for Primal Forces’ return to Boca Raton this season, artistic director Keith Garsson wanted to find a Holocaust-themed work, but not the usual downbeat drama in shades of black and white. He has found it in Blonde Poison by Gail Louw, based on the true story of Stella Kubler, who looks back on her younger self in Nazi Germany when she both saved many … [Read more...]
‘Les Miz’ still packs a wallop in Kravis touring show
Since the touring production of Les Misérables currently at the Kravis Center’s Dreyfoos Hall was created to celebrate the musical’s 25th anniversary, that means it has been on the road for eight years by now. But you would never know it from the razor-sharp, tight and extremely well-sung performance that opened the weeklog run Tuesday evening. True, the physical … [Read more...]