Flamingo Gardens (specifically the 10 acres when you enter) that’s normally closed at night is now open – and all lit up! This year, South Florida’s renowned botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary was chosen to host WINTER WONDERLAND and I, for one, consider these historic gardens to be an ideal location for resurrecting the sorely missed, family tradition of evening strolls through holiday light displays. All those magnificent tall trees along the winding paths serve as perfect limb “hangers” for shooting stars, lantern globes, and glittery iridescent streamers. And it’s so much fun to get lost – if only temporarily (because the roads circle back) – on hidden pathways of discovery. Like passing under an igloo-shaped work of art that looks like it dropped from outer space or suddenly confronting flashy-lit pink flamingos and other cute, bright LED-lit animals, clutching gift boxes or ornaments.
When it comes to that all-American artform of “the musical,” you can’t go wrong by visiting or revisiting a blockbuster show from its heyday of the 1940s and 1950s. So when one happens to be playing in our area, run to see it because, no matter the subject, you’re guaranteed a highly entertaining and competently produced experience!
You might even be surprised – as I often am – at how many songs and ideas that have become an intrinsic part of our popular culture first appeared in a golden-age musical. The Pajama Game, based on Richard Bissel’s 1953 novel 7 ½Cents, debuted on Broadway in 1954, ran for 1,063 performances, and won three Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The popular creation of musical theater legends boasts a book by George Abbot and Richard Bissel, music & lyrics by Jerry Ross and Richard Adler, and dance by Bob Fosse in his choreography debut. Then, as if to prove the staying power of the show’s score, choreography, and message, The Pajama Game went on to win another Tony in 2006 for Best Revival of a Musical.
What happens when you get a group of our most talented local divas together in a musical that’s notorious for skewering the very genre that made their name? You get a mind-blowing explosion of show-stopper applause moments, that’s what, in a show that couldn’t get any better if it tried.
Most of the highly experienced, award-winning actors that Island City Stage’s artistic director Andy Rogow assembled for his 14th season opener, RUTHLESS! The Musical, have performed together before. So they’re old hats at tapping into extra creative energy from one another. And I could sense them having the time of their lives when they let it all rip – reaching for a personal vocal best when they burst into song. Winning still more “energy” and applause from their audience.
Puppet shows for adults, anyone? You bet! Just ask Broward Centerfor the PerformingArts whose Au-ReneTheater has been taken over by puppets of late. And not just any puppets – realistic-looking animals usually found in zoos – life size, often ferocious or regal, sometimes friendly and kind. Still, I wouldn’t rush to introduce them to the Sesame Street set.
When the producing artistic director of one of the premiere new play destinations in the country can’t get a new play he’d read years back out of his head – we can be assured it’s going to be a winner! I’m speaking, of course, of none other than Matt Stabile, the dynamic creative force behind Theatre Lab, the professional theatre company of Florida Atlantic University (FAU). And his latest new play production, which survived a Covid-era delay to arrive at just the right time for the right actors, designers and crew … not to mention coinciding with the year’s theme of exploration and seeing the world through another’s eyes. Stabile proudly presents THE CITY IN THE CITY IN THE CITY by Matthew Capodicasa as the opener of their 2025/26 MainStage Series (and the Lab’s 18th world premiere!).
First I must extend my deepest gratitude and admiration to Florida AtlanticUniversity Department of Theatre and Dance and its generous donors (including presenting sponsors Florida-Israel Institute, Palm Beach County Federations and Executive Producer Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters) for having the vision and, given today’s fearful, repressive climate, dare I say chutzpah to promote Israeli artists. And for their support of artistic excellence and international exchange via a two-week Boca Raton residency program between world-class Jerusalem Ballet and their own dance students (who are also scheduled to spend two weeks training and collaborating with the company in Jerusalem next summer).
The natural order of popular theater tends to follow this formula: Find a best-selling book, turn it into a hit film, then get a top lyricist and composer to create the score for a smash Broadway musical. Yann Martel’s uniquely philosophical treatise/adventure story of a novel, Life of Pi, became a worldwide sensation in 2001 (with sales of over ten million). A successful, visually striking film, directed by Ang Lee, followed in 2012. But the three-Tony-winning theatrical version of LIFE OF PI, which opened on Broadway in 2023 to enthusiastic acclaim by critics and audiences alike, and whose National Tour is now playing at the Au-Rene Theater of Broward Center (only from October 21 – 26), is no musical.
At Wednesday’s matinee, Kimberly Wick’s (production supervisor/costumes/properties manager) upbeat words of welcome to The Wick Theatre & Museum Club’s 12th Season confirmed their highly successful formula of providing audiences with the best “Oldies but Goodies.” What better show to personify this mission than staging the world’s longest running musical! THE FANTASTICKS is an off-Broadway legend that ran for 42 successive years at the same theatre, since 1960, was awarded the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre in 1991, then took off across the country (boasting some 250 new productions yearly), including a 2006-2017 off-Broadway revival. Based loosely on the 1894 play “Les Romanesques” by Edmond Rostand, the musical boasts a Book & Lyrics by Tom Jones and Music by Harvey Schmidt.
They say “truth is stranger than fiction” but if the plot of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: The Musical were a work of fiction, it would never fly. I’m also using “fly” here literally for that’s how we are introduced to the young high-flyer who posed as a pilot and was ultimately caught at an airport, about to board a plane. From the age of 16 to 18 (early 1960s, in our storyline), he was the youngest, most prolific, and genius conman to ever have gotten away with two years of multiple professional identities (Pan Am co-pilot, surgeon, lawyer – though he did later study and pass the bar exam) along with printing millions of dollars-worth of counterfeit checks.
Leave it to New City Players (NCP) to find the perfect “new” (to South Florida audiences) play to open their milestone Tenth Anniversary Season. The ambitious young theater company, which began with bold idealistic dreams of making a difference in the community through “must-attend-live” creative theatrical engagement and performances, has definitely arrived! By presenting both classics and originals, along with lesser-known fantastic finds, they’ve reaped dedicated followers of all ages and walks of life, prestigious local awards, and ongoing critical acclaim.
