My first reaction to revisiting 9 to 5: The Musical – the 2009 Broadway hit based on Dolly Parton’s 1980 film – was “Oh the memories!” The musical had earned four Tony nominations (including best score and choreography) and I could see why. Brimming with salt-of-the-earth Parton music and lyrics, and book writer Patricia Resnick’s no-holds-barred feminist vitriol, it’s the ultimate female office worker’s revenge fantasy. A night out packed with passion, girl-power grit (shh… I shouldn’t use the term “girl”), forward-thinking ideas, and lots of humor – much like The Queen of Country herself. 

The name of playwright Maria Irene Fornes may not immediately resonate with South Florida’s theater-going public. But like many overlooked female geniuses throughout history, this is an oversight that needs to be rectified at once. And I’m confident it will be. Because Fornes – an early pioneer of the 1960’s Off-Off Broadway movement and originator of site-specific immersive theater – has been embraced by none other than our own creatively out-of-the-box superstar, Nicole Stodard, founder and artistic director of Thinking Cap Theatre (TCT).

I applaud The Wick Theatre for continuing to tap into many of our happiest memories at a time when we need them more than ever. Just entering their classy, luxurious venue and perhaps, like I did, indulging in rich chocolate gelato and coffee under crystal chandeliers in the lobby before the show, hearkens back to more relaxed and hopeful times.

When Slow Burn Theatre Company’s artistic director/choreographer Patrick Fitzwater welcomed the audience to his inaugural show of their 2023/2024 season, he asked how many of us had seen INTO THE WOODS before. Most hands went up. Obviously, Stephen Sondheim’s (music and lyrics) and James Lapine’s (book) two-time, Tony-award winner (for both new production and best musical revival) had a large South Florida fan base. Could Broward Center’s local regional professional theater live up to the memories of traveling shows or even Broadway? Fitzwater seemed to think so, going so far as to call this production their “most beautiful show ever”… though you might recall their last season boasted one groundbreaking blockbuster after another. 

I’m writing this just as word came in of a tentative deal that would end the Hollywood writers strike. Which is welcome news, of course, for our country’s creatives and, by extension for all of us, their audience. But I can’t help feeling sorry for everyone involved in the glittery, glamorous, immensely lucrative (for the rare few) … but also incredibly caustic and phony movie business.

Prolific playwright Stephen Brown may be heading toward his late thirties, but he looks at least a decade younger and has managed to retain incredible knowledge of and insights into all the angst and anger of teen and preteen life. Whether his plays revolve around the actions and passions of a troubled young boy or girl, they always ring true, inciting gasps of recognition from his audience. 

Everything’s coming up musicals nowadays … and no subject is taboo.  Almost feels like the more outrageous the premise, the more likely it is to become a huge hit. Take joyfully murderous “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” or Mel Brooks’ Nazi-themed comedy, “The Producers,” featuring “Springtime for Hitler in Germany” as examples. A few weeks ago, even the universally beloved Star Trek brand has seen fit to choreograph an entire episode as a musical. (Check out S2 E9 “Subspace Rhapsody” of the “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” series on Paramount+. I consider it both thematically and choreographically out of this world!) In this episode, original musical numbers are weaponized to save the known universe – but not before presenting one of the best and briefest explanations for the art form, i.e., a song reveals the singer’s deepest, true emotions.

Towards the end of A CHORUS LINE, FAU Festival Rep’s final production of the summer, a question is posed about whether musical theater will even survive. It made me smile knowing that this musical written by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, with music and lyrics by Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban, not only survived from April 1975 to April 1990 (the first Broadway show to exceed 6,000 performances!), but also won a Tony in 1984 for being Broadway’s Longest-Running Musical. In addition to Tonys for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score and more, a Pulitzer for Drama and a Best Musical Olivier Award to boot. So it’s hardly surprising that this American classic remains a favorite regional production choice to this day – embraced for its impressive dance numbers, memorable songs, and the raw revelations of its “chorus line” cast.

NYC-based playwright Stephen Brown is having quite the moment in South Florida. Boca’s Theatre Lab has/will run two of his recent plays and LITTLE MONTGOMERY (formerly known as “Country Girls”) is currently enjoying a Florida premiere by New City Players (NCP) at Island City Stage in Wilton Manors. If the name “Little Montgomery” rings a bell, you might have enjoyed listening to NCP’s highly creative serial podcast version back in 2020, at the height of the pandemic.