We all love the many joys that modern trends bring us over the holiday season. Netflix’s wintery romcoms? Add to watchlist immediately. Seasonal tunes sung by the radio’s favorite pop artists? On repeat, of course. However, there’s something so magical about embracing the holiday traditions of yesteryear, too. This winter, the Delray Beach Playhouse does just that with their festive production of Winter Wonderettes. Directed by Elizabeth Guerra, the jukebox musical takes audience members back to 1968, where Harper’s Hardware Store is hosting its annual company Christmas party. When Santa goes missing, best friends Betty Jean (Lili Mueller), Cindy Lou (Hannah Almanzar), Missy (Jessica Perry) and Suzy (Amber Arevalo) step in to save the day, regaling the crowd with their honeyed harmonies and catchy renditions of popular holiday songs! Can the Wonderettes make the party a success after all?
I love how ONE SUMMER IN BROOKLYN: The Musical’s producer Lisa Walkowitz (who’s also the founder/president of Not Your Average Theater Group that is presenting this world premiere) introduced the show on their Facebook page: “They say you can never go home again … so … we brought Brooklyn to Boca.” It certainly was a delight for many former New Yorkers (like myself), or anyone who remembers the 1960s, to enter Boca Raton’s Willow Theatre at Sugar Sand Park and be met by early sixties’ tunes and a looming full-stage projection of the Brooklyn Bridge. Followed by revolving photos of happy, mostly young couples on Coney Island Beach and Steeplechase Park with its famous Ferris wheel and rides.
Playwright Delia Ephron’s openness to finding love in her 70s after a long 35 year marriage ended is the central focus of her autobiographical one act drama LEFT ON TENTH, running now through Dec. 21 at GableStage in Coral Gables.
On the surface, ‘Clue: Live on Stage’ appears to be a story about solving a murder mystery and sounds like it will be a whodunit dramatic mystery with the audience being on edge until the mystery is solved.
Except the reality of this play is different as audiences will see as “Clue: Live on Stage” is running now though Sunday, Dec.7 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami as part of the Broadway in Miami series this season.
Despite thousands of books, films and plays written about The Holocaust and specifically the deaths of millions of Jews in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi Germany from 1933-45, one would think that all that needs to be expressed about Auschwitz has been accomplished. But there is evidence that changes that perspective. The one act drama “Here There are Blueberries” by playwright Moises Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, running now through December 14 at Miami New Drama’s Colony Theater in Miami Beach, focuses on the Nazi Germany perpetrators. The central focus of the play is on the discovered Hocker photo album, a scrapbook of photos taken by a Nazi officer stationed at Auschwitz during the 1940s.
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.
On the surface, the story behind playwright Larry Gelbart’s (who is most well-known for creating the television series “M.A.S.H.) two act comedy “Better Late”, running now through November 30 at Empire Stage in Ft. Lauderdale, is about how husband Lee (played by actor Geoff Freitag) and wife Nora (Patti Gardner) have to cope with having a new resident in their home, Nora’s ex-husband Julian (Peter W. Galman) on a temporary basis.
Aristotle’s quote, “No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness,” seems right on the mark for Man of La Mancha, a story conceived by Miguel de Cervantes. What drives mankind to reach greatness: power, determination, perhaps even madness?
Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote in two parts: the first in 1605 and the second part in 1615.It is important to understand some background material to put the play in its proper perspective.
Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Twas the Night Before…, presented as part of the Kravis on Broadway series, arrives with all the trimmings one expects from a holiday spectacle. It is festive, colorful, family friendly, and polished in a quintessential one would expect from a world-renowned troupe like Cirque. Yet beneath the glitter, the show’s story is loosely sketched that, if you were to strip away every bauble related to Christmas, replace it with Alice in Wonderland or any other whimsical world, and very little would change. Whether this is a virtue or a missed opportunity depends entirely on what you want from your holiday outing.
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.
