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.
Perhaps the fact that I find myself genuinely conflicted as I try to assess David Mamet’s Oleanna is actually something of a mark in its favor. After all, as opposed to the many perfunctory crowd-pleasers that do little to challenge convention, this script offers plenty of food for thought, ensuring an intellectually stimulating experience for practically all audience members regardless of what they come away thinking about the work.
Since the biblical story of Adam and Eve, differences between men and women have been personified in many plays, as South Floridians have seen in recent years with the numerous performances of playwright Rob Becker’s “Defending the Caveman” for many decades.
Many comedians, including actor/comedian Peter Fogel, will tell you that the funniest things that make people laugh are the absurd realities that happen to all of us every day. The veteran 62-year-old Fogel from Delray Beach has struck gold with his recollection of his life as a Jewish middle-aged bachelor who has yet to marry in his one man play “Til Death Do Us Part…You First,” to be performed August 12 at 8 pm at ArtServe in Fort Lauderdale.
New initiative Women of Wilton (WOW)—a project of Ronnie Larsen of Plays of Wilton and Nicole Stodard of Thinking Cap Theatre—is getting off to a great start with a seriously wow-worthy production of Last Summer at Bluefish Cove. Written during the late 70s and first produced in 1980, this play by openly lesbian playwright Jane Chambers was considered monumental for its time. This is primarily due to the fact that it was one of the first commercially successful works to portray gay women as full-fledged, well-rounded human beings as opposed to tortured by self-hatred or as stereotype-ridden caricatures.
“Wonder” might be an understatement of just how awestruck I was by Alice in Wonderland: A Musical Cirque Adventure. Conceived and directed by Deena Marcum Selko and featuring an original score by Quentin Chiappetta, this acrobatic extravaganza recently blew into the Adrienne Arsht Center courtesy of Moth Entertainment, a company that “creates live stage shows designed to connect with audiences of all ages.”
Actors/singers Natalie Cordone and Shawn Kilgore team to perform in the cabaret show “Vegas Baby: Hits of the Headliners” on Saturday, August 5 at Aventura Arts & Cultural Center in Aventura.
Before there was man, there was boob. Or at least that’s the way that Defending the Cavewoman retells the creation myth in its opening few moments, positing that Eve originally had a third such appendage out of which God then formed her a companion. It’s a clever enough feminist revision of the original story, and an engaging way to introduce audiences to the show’s amusing irreverence and basic concerns.
Lake Worth Playhouse, a staple in the community of Palm Beach County, located in downtown Lake Worth, began its 2023-2024 season this past week with a rendition of “West Side Story,” the classic musical retelling of Romeo and Juliet. In the musical, the story takes place in a slum of New York where two rival gangs are warring over dwindling territory, but there are racial implications in this aggression, as well. The youth actors and actresses that made up the ensemble and cast brought their characters to life in a way that made this production feel different, special in a unique way that only local theater can give you.
