Optimism. It is a quality in short supply across the land these days, but if it is something you crave, take a cue from a spunky carrot-topped orphan who inspires optimism in a Depression-era Hooverville of homeless souls as well as in FDR and his presidential cabinet. I’m referring, of course, to the musical Annie, currently receiving a near-perfect … [Read more...]
Playwright Kessler tackles family conflict in world-premiere ‘House on Fire’
Although Lyle Kessler has been writing plays for the past 35 years, he is still best known for his early unconventional family play, Orphans, which has been produced around the world and was made into a 1987 feature film that starred Albert Finney. But Kessler has a new play that he feels can eclipse Orphans, another offbeat family drama called House on Fire, developed … [Read more...]
Stellar cast, good puppetry bring intriguing angle to Maltz’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’
Twenty-four years ago, the Disney organization made its first foray onto Broadway with a stage version of its Oscar-winning animated feature, Beauty and the Beast. Reviews were lackluster, often noting how literally the material was transferred to the theater, not unlike a theme park attraction. Still, the show became an extraordinary commercial success, running for more than … [Read more...]
Puppets add new dimension to classic ‘Beauty’ at the Maltz
With the Broadway successes of Avenue Q, War Horse and King Kong, puppetry is having an extended moment. For an art form dating back to 3000 B.C., it’s now getting its due as puppets take center stage at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s current production of Beauty and the Beast, the fairy tale of a young maiden who falls in love with a prince-turned-beast who can be freed only … [Read more...]
TV’s Struthers happy to be back on stage in ‘Annie’
Playing Gloria Stivic, daughter of Archie Bunker, on the ’70s sitcom All in the Family brought stardom and two Emmy awards to Sally Struthers. But at her core she is a stage performer. “I started out in live theater,” she says during a rehearsal break from Annie, opening this Saturday night at Boca Raton’s Wick Theatre. “I went to the Pasadena Playhouse College of … [Read more...]
At FAU, a ‘Frankenstein’ of the mind as well as body
By Dale King Student actors at Florida Atlantic University have brought the Frankenstein story to life in a frightening retelling of the novel written exactly 200 years ago by Mary Shelley, wife of English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and daughter of pioneering feminist thinker Mary Wollstonecraft. This show differs markedly from versions popularized since the … [Read more...]
‘Steel Magnolias’: Definitely not a pity party
Maltz Jupiter Theatre audiences have usually seen director Marcia Milgrom Dodge’s innovative work on musicals (The King and I, Fiddler on the Roof), but she jumped at the opportunity to stage Robert Harling’s tragicomic Steel Magnolias, about a handful of Southern women who gather each Saturday at a makeshift beauty salon. While fueled by comedy, their mettle is tested when the … [Read more...]
Boca’s own Rachel Bay Jones enjoying a career on the rise
Boca Raton-raised Rachel Bay Jones, a 2017 Tony and Grammy Award winner for her featured role as Heidi Hansen, mother of a teenage son whose social media lie goes viral, in the smash hit musical Dear Evan Hansen, had long been ambivalent about forging a theater career in New York. “I’m a Florida girl. I love nature, I love being out in the sunshine. Living in a gray city … [Read more...]
Wick’s ‘Pirates of Penzance’ comes together in winning topsy-turvy style
The year was 1980, when director Wilfred Leach and choreographer Graciela Daniele took the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance and gave it a comic, anything-for-a-laugh spin, captivating audiences in Central Park and later on Broadway. Surely the Wick Theatre’s Norb Joerder was taking notes, for he has recreated that Hellzapoppin’-style production, right … [Read more...]
Entr’acte does well by newer take on ‘Addams Family’
By Dale King The Addams Family has been around for just over 80 years, whether featured in single-panel cartoons by New Yorker artist Charles Addams, on television, in film, animated or on Broadway. Even folks not born when the TV series with John Astin and Carolyn Jones was broadcast from 1964-66 are likely to recognize the iconic theme – da-da-da-dum, snap, snap. Even … [Read more...]