The Maltz Jupiter Theatre and the Wick Theatre are both grappling with a dilemma. Each has selected a classic musical – 1949’s South Pacific and 1947’s Brigadoon, respectively – because of its intrinsic dramatic and musical quality. But how do you approach such a show, knowing that your audience has probably already seen it, often many times over? To director Gordon … [Read more...]
FAU’s student troupe tosses off a breezy ‘Rivals’
By Dale King Those sometimes antic, but always creative student actors at Florida Atlantic University have come up with some truly entertaining shows the past couple of years. Many, including the current production, take audiences back to the days of late 18th-century England, when manners really mattered and gentlemen wooed ladies with charm, grace and occasional … [Read more...]
Powerful ‘If I Forget’ stuns at GableStage
These days, we cling to our memories, worried that without them we will drift into dementia. But in his latest controversial book, fictional professor of Jewish studies Michael Fischer argues that American Jews need to forget – forget the Holocaust and stop obsessing over it for the sake of their mental health and general well-being. Not surprisingly, perhaps, he … [Read more...]
Vulgar, shocking ‘Reservoir Dolls’ brings Tarantino to Pompano
By Dale King Reservoir Dolls, Outré Theatre Company’s live stage performance inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 film, Reservoir Dogs, casts female actors in the roles portrayed in the movie by men. While the concept of imagining how women would act in similar ultra-violent situations is intriguing, the show – playing at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center through Sunday — is … [Read more...]
Sharp FAU cast does well by Gunderson’s ‘The Revolutionists’
There are several things you can count on in a play by Lauren Gunderson. It will center on women with a feminist bent, it will have crisp, witty dialogue yet make plenty of serious points and it will self-reflectively keep reminding us that we are watching a play, what theater folks call “meta.” Certainly that is the case with The Revolutionists, a tongue-in-cheek … [Read more...]
Kander and Ebb catalog gets entertaining take at Delray Playhouse
By Dale King Musical revues have become popular fare at community and regional theaters of late. They’ve been staples the past few years at Broward Stage Door Theatre, particularly themed compilations created by Michael Leeds and/or Kevin Black. The Wick Theatre had such success with a show called Beehive last year that one of its performers, Mallory Newbrough, has been … [Read more...]
Fierce punch of ‘Cabaret’ still lands
It’s tawdry and sleazy, and you wouldn’t want it any other way. That describes director Sam Mendes’ take on the hard-hitting, yet melodic, leer at the rise of Nazism in pre-war Berlin, Cabaret, now playing at the Kravis Center through Sunday. Harold Prince staged the original 1966 Broadway production of the John Kander-Fred Ebb-Joe Masteroff show based on the … [Read more...]
Skilled Dramaworks cast energizes undemanding ‘Golden Pond’
More so than most plays that have been adapted into movies, On Golden Pond has been under the shadow of its popular 1981 film. Not only did it win Oscars for stars Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, but the father-daughter conflict at the work’s core mirrored that of Fonda and his own daughter, Jane. Perhaps that is why Palm Beach Dramaworks attempted to distance itself … [Read more...]
Multi-racial ‘On Golden Pond’ aims to be about story, not skin color
At Palm Beach Dramaworks, the cast of Ernest Thompson’s popular 1979 play, On Golden Pond, is multi-racial by design, but director Paul Scancato (Collected Stories) does not want you to focus on that aspect of the production. “For me, it’s ultimately about telling the story of the Thayers,” he says. “The audience might initially think, ‘Oh, it’s going to be … [Read more...]
Stellar leads, soaring score make Slow Burn’s ‘Bridges of Madison County’ worth a visit
It is remarkable how music and its emotional uplift can elevate a story. A case in point is Robert James Waller’s potboiler best-selling romance novel, The Bridges of Madison County, which became an only slightly less gooey film starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. Yet in the hands of composer-lyricist Robert Jason Brown, this steamy tale of an affair between an Iowa … [Read more...]