Pompano Player’s matinee production of Steel Magnolias on Saturday, November 8, was poignant and witty, with plenty of southern charm. Before researching Robert Harling’s play, several thoughts came to mind. Does this script stand the test of time? The answer is a resounding yes. Steel Magnolias premiered on Broadway in 1987. The original movie, with its amazing cast, hit theaters in 1989 and received three Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. The story reappeared on the big screen again in 2012 with an African American cast featuring Queen Latifah and Alfre Woodward. What gives this heart-wrenching drama its unique durability? Maybe its unique name, Steel Magnolias, contributes to its attraction. The contradiction of terms doesn’t match until you look at it from the perspective of these strong women: women as delicate and fragile as magnolias and as tough as steel at the same time. This cast took both aspects to heart, showing their own unique strengths, with grit and vulnerability.

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!). 

Actresses Emily Van Vliet Perea, Kimberly Dorren Burns and Laura Turnbull all shine as the lead characters (Percy, Shelby and Hannah respectfully) in the two act musical “The Spitfire Grill” by composers Fred Alley and James Valcq, running now until November 2 at Actors’ Playhouse in Coral Gables.

First I must extend my deepest gratitude and admiration to Florida Atlantic University 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).

Actor Mark H. Dold reinvented himself as 19 different people in the one-act comedy  “Harry Clarke” at Gablestage that is mostly funny, but with dramatic overtones. Playwright David Cale’s one man play challenges the audience to ponder whether “Harry Clarke” is a hero, villain, a mythical character or whether a man originally named Phillip Brugglestein from the Midwestern United States is now the born and bred wealthy Harry Clarke from London, England.

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts opened its 2025–2026 Broadway season on Tuesday, October 21, with The Wiz, a spirited revival of the beloved 1975 musical that reimagines The Wizard of Oz through a distinctly Black cultural lens. Anticipation filled the Dreyfoos Hall as theatergoers settled in for what promised to be a dazzling start to the season. With its mix of soul, funk, and gospel influences, The Wiz has long been celebrated for its exuberance and affirming message of courage and self-discovery. Yet, despite a strong start and a promising premise, opening night was hindered by significant technical difficulties that disrupted the performance’s rhythm and energy.

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. 

Wrapping up its opening weekend at the Arsht Center in Miami, Miami City Ballet’s Peck: Miami in Motion offers an evening devoted entirely to the work of Justin Peck, one of the most visible choreographers exploring contemporary ballet. The program features three of his ballets: “Year of the Rabbit,” “Chutes and Ladders,” and “Heatscape.” These trace more than a decade of Peck’s creative output. An homage to the choreographer, the performance on opening night was both beautiful and forgettable; I was left thinking on certain moments, already losing trace of the awe that usually lingers after the final bow.

Would you kill for a hit? With my mom, South Florida Theater’s own wonderful Mindy Leaf 

Does art imitate life, or does life imitate art? That eternal question slinks across the boards in Deathtrap, Ira Levin’s devilishly clever thriller now playing at Empire Stage courtesy of exciting new theatre company on the block, Upstage Productions. Directed by DK Kondelik, this new staging takes the classic four-Tony nominated 1978 play—a wicked satire of ambition, authorship, and ego—and gives it fresh voltage, its twists snapping like trapdoors underfoot. What begins as a witty drawing-room mystery unfurls into a gleeful study of human deceit, Clue meets hall-of-mirrors fever dream.