Long before show business personalities had to worry about stalkers, fledgling country music star-to-be Patsy Cline forged a friendship with an emotionally needy Texas divorcee. The latter, a bubbly redhead named Louise Seger, became enamored of Cline’s twangy song stylings, heard on the radio and seen on television, never guessing where her musical obsession might lead. … [Read more...]
Tony nominations led by ‘Hadestown’; some snubs surprising
It was a busy year on Broadway this season, which means that many Tony Award categories were expanded, but also that several prominent shows and performances were snubbed when the nominations were announced this morning. Hadestown, a jazzy contemporary retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice legend, led the field with 14 nominations – nearly every category for which it was … [Read more...]
‘Lion King’ brings Kravis into circle of joy
By Dale King Big city residents often lament: “It’s a jungle out there.” Through May 5, audiences in Dreyfoos Hall at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts can shout: “It’s a jungle in here” as Disney’s The Lion King leaps onto the stage. A mix of fantastic and fantasy, this awe-inspiring performance set amid the greenery and savagery of an African grassland … [Read more...]
Standout performances lift FAU’s ‘Next to Normal’
By Dale King Leave it to students in the master of fine arts program at Florida Atlantic University to wrap up their first season — one that featured some shockingly emotional, nerve-twisting, heart-wrenching productions — with a shockingly emotional, mentally twisted finale. The show, Next to Normal, is a frank portrayal of a family in psychological crisis. The tale of … [Read more...]
Financial woes force Broward Stage Door Theatre to shut down
By Dale King About a year ago, the Broward Stage Door Theatre celebrated the fact that it was moving from its run-down, two-stage, bunker-style cement building at the rear of a shopping plaza on West Sample Road in Margate to a new, more modern, state-of-the-art theater, the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center a dozen or so miles south of the old site. The nearly … [Read more...]
Soggy, sluggish ‘Harlowe’ disappoints at FAU Theatre Lab
“Yes, it really rains onstage!” That was the promotional tagline for the stage adaptation of Singin’ in the Rain and the most interesting thing about Jennifer Lane’s Harlowe, a listless little play about healing, currently receiving a watery world premiere production at Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab. As the audience enters the intimate Lab space, a … [Read more...]
At GableStage, a somber, powerful ‘The Children’
Lucy Kirkwood has life-and-death issues on her mind in her clever, thought-provoking drama The Children, but she is wily enough to wrap her themes inside a very human character study. And at GableStage, which is giving the work its area premiere, director Michael Leeds brings this somber little play to life with Laura Turnbull, Angie Radosh and David Kwiat – three of the … [Read more...]
Community theater: Jerry Herman revue delights at DB Playhouse
By Dale King Showtune, a marvelous collection of melodies crafted by Broadway composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, is entertaining near-full houses at the Delray Beach Playhouse. A half-dozen vocalists — some DBP veterans, others newer to the stage at the east end of Lake Ida Park — are assigned the task of bringing Herman’s works to life. The quick-moving program is … [Read more...]
Maltz’s ‘West Side Story’ has fresh take, all of show’s original power
Classic shows from the ’50s and ’60s – the so-called golden age of musical theater – keep being revived and often given a directorial spin to add a new viewpoint or to fall more in line with contemporary attitudes. Think of the modern opening touch in the recent Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, the more Shavian ending wordlessly attached to My Fair Lady or the new, … [Read more...]
Close to perfect ‘Fences’ stuns at Dramaworks
William Hayes has long wanted to produce August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Fences, but felt he had to wait until Palm Beach Dramaworks was capable and ready to take on such a challenge. Boy, is the company ready now. Onstage through April 21 is a virtually perfect rendering of Wilson’s 1950s play in his 10-play cycle that charts the evolving black experience … [Read more...]