From lyricist Mark Eaton, one of the team behind the long-running political satirical musical comedy revue Capitol Steps, comes DC’s Reflecting Fools, a similarly themed song–and-dance focusing on the madness of our current political landscape. This touring production can be caught at the Kravis Center For The Performing Arts until this November 6th, making it a timely pick ahead of midterm elections (and by the way, this is your reminder to go vote ASAP if you haven’t turned in your ballot!)
Jersey Boys, the jukebox musical that opens the 2022-23 season at the elegantly renovated Maltz Theatre in Jupiter, dramatizes the formation, success and eventual break-up of the 1960s rock ‘n’ roll group, The Four Seasons, an ensemble that time, money woes and misfortune have not expunged.
Check YouTube. You can find a video of lead singer Frankie Valli performing earlier this year at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.
But Jersey Boys is a lot more than a simple story. It’s a paean to some kids who concocted a musical style while singing on street corners in New Jersey, then bucked it up by adding a youngster with a four-octave vocal range to create “the sound” that would go on to change a generation.
Michael Ursua, the multi-talented pianist, actor, theater director and performance craftsperson, among other titles, moved from his native Santa Ana, California, to South Florida when he was about 10 years old. Or, as he put it in a recent interview, “I went from Disneyland to Disney World.”
The Disney connection is particularly appropriate for the artisan of many talents. After learning to play piano at age 11, and sharpening his acting chops by doing community theater, he later signed on for three consecutive gigs on the Disney Magic cruise ship – as a main stage entertainer and a writer. Before disembarking the final year, “I put together a reboot of several character experiences.”
Didi Romero’s enthusiasm is palpable even through the Zoom webcast. The moment she joins the call, she is all jokes, chronicling how she had mistakenly prepared for the interview the day prior, and reenacting her surprise and confusion when she saw an unopened zoom link staring back at her from her computer screen. You wouldn’t know that at the time of the interview, the 23-year-old actress had been in isolation because of an unfortunate positive covid test- her energy shone despite the sickness. Don’t let this short pause fool you- she’s had a jam-packed 2022, touring the country with the Aragon Tour of the hit pop musical SIX, a concert retelling of the lives of the six wives of King Henry VIII.
Before I offer you an introduction to the stellar season planned by New City Players, the Fort Lauderdale company I was invited to join in November of 2020: to say that the past two years haven’t been the easiest ones for the group may be a bit of an understatement. Aside from the pandemic’s far-reaching and long-lasting effects on the theatre industry as whole, an internal conflict during the summer of 2021 briefly threatened the company’s future, necessitating a concerted effort by company members to ensure their work could continue.
Acclaimed Miami-based dance pioneer, Karen Peterson, and her mixed-ability KPD Dancers are back in South Florida this week to highlight their Fourth Annual Forward Motion Dance Festival and Conference of Physically Integrated Dance (FM4).
The shows will feature the KPD ensemble and another troupe, Full Radius Dance. Both groups focus on the work of disabled and non-disabled performers, joining together on stage to craft unusual and entertaining pieces.
From award winning South Florida Actor/Writer/Director, Paul Louis, comes the film, “Army Men”.The dramatic short film is based on a true story about Louis’ childhood friendship, which ended in tragedy. “Army Men” tells the story of a middle aged Miami based artist who returns to the tough battlefield of his childhood neighborhood in Queens, NY, only to be haunted by the memories of his late best friend.
Louis says it’s a story of friendship, loss and regret, and hopes to bring awareness of mental illness, especially in children.
Thinking Cap Theatre is back in action at the eclectic Mad Arts Gallery with an equally eclectic exploration of The Importance Of Being Oscar. This play was written and first performed by Irish actor Micheál Mac Liammóir as a one-man show in 1960, with the title being an allusion to one of the best-known works of literary icon Oscar Wilde.
Here, though, the piece has been reimagined by the directorial vision of Nicole Stodard to become a three-actor endeavor. While it’s up to them all to help channel Oscar’s spirit, it’s Ronnie Larsen who’s mostly tasked with portraying the man himself, as well as a few other key figures. He is joined onstage by Bree-Anna Obst and Travon Pierre, each of who play multitudes of characters from Wilde’s life as well as those that appear in reenactments of his work.
Palm Beach Dramaworks’ season has started up with a production of 4,000 Miles, a play by Amy Herzog that first premiered off-Broadway in 2011 and became a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize. And though the script itself may have its fair share of both bright moments and baffling pitfalls, this production has a notable advantage of having two incredible performances at its center. One of those is that of rising star Gabriell Salgado as Leo, a lost young man who has found himself washing up at the NYC apartment of his grandmother Vera, who is played by accomplished stage veteran Patricia Connolly, the other obvious standout.
They may say that misery loves company; but, company or no, I can imagine it would be quite hard to come away from Empire Stage’s current production of Miseryanything but satisfied. Based on the Stephen King classic, this spooky play is a perfect fit for the Halloween season, providing the requisite horror-style thrills but ultimately making a more lasting impact due to the chillingly believable nature of key antagonist Annie Wilkes.
