Every day that goes by confirms we are now living in a dystopian future projected by sci-fi writers of the past. George Orwell’s iconic 1984 appears to resonate in our year of 2024 the most. The job of the book’s protagonist is to erase and rewrite history – daily. He works for the “Ministry of Truth” where facts are basically made up and no one can escape “Big Brother” surveillance. Everyone’s interior living and outdoor space is surrounded by screens that both see them and constantly broadcast fake news while regularly scheduled rallies rev up emotions for revenge upon the day’s perceived enemy. Sound familiar?

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel – a complex, intriguing combination of music, life experience (both good and bad) and fantasy – is playing at the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton.  A morality tale about the power of redemption set against a carnivalesque background, it was the second musical created by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics) – the duo that debuted as a team with Oklahoma a year or so earlier.

By Alison Glass

Spectacular! Spectacular! Christian Douglas dazzles as his composer namesake in this heady stage production inspired by the final act of Australian director Baz Luhrmann’s Red Curtain trilogy. 

“Welcome, you gorgeous collection of reprobates and rascals, artistes and arrivistes, soubrettes and sodomites.” 

Music historians and lecturers always credit Black gospel, rhythm & blues, along with boogie woogie and jazz, for giving birth to America’s 1950’s rock ‘n’ roll craze – a perennially popular music genre to this day. I’ve attended several such scholarly talks, but getting it with your brain is nothing like feeling it in your gut … and soul. That’s why MEMPHIS, the musical that’s creating a sensation over at Broward’s hottest new musical venue, the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center (LPAC), made me wonder: “Where has this phenomenal show been all my life?”

Written by Christine Dolen

Originally published on artburstmiami.com.

Aristophanes’ 411 B.C. “Lysistrata,” in which the women of Greek city-states try to end the Peloponnesian War by withholding sex until peace is achieved, is an ancient Greek comedy that endured because of its author’s brilliance and the timeless truth-telling it contains.

Currently on through an extended run, Palm Beach Dramaworks presents “The Cancellation of Lauren Fein,” a world premiere of a play; a tragedy in a modern era of accountability. Written by Christopher Demos-Brown, this play provides a thought-provoking story of a collegiate professor with privilege being held accountable for her insensitivity. It is a story of stereotypical characters fearing cancel culture, with no rise or break for their transgressions, resulting in tragedy for all.

Written by Christine Dolen

Originally published on artburstmiami.com.

Playwright, director and actor Layon Gray has a talent for getting inside so many different facets of Black life and history – and for taking engaged audiences on that journey with him.

Miami’s M Ensemble, the state’s oldest Black theater company, has just begun its 53rd season with a production of Gray’s The Girls of Summer.

As has been the case with past Area Stage productions of the family musicals Annie, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, once again Area Stage Artistic Director Giancarlo Rodaz has immersed the audience into the stage in the company’s unique presentation of Oliver!, running now through February 25 at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami.

The middle child is often considered the quiet one, and nothing special in the family.  Slow Burn Theatre Company’s mid-season blockbuster hit SISTER ACT – which comes on the heels of earning a Carbonell for programming and a record-breaking season – has turned “middle malaise” upside down by managing, once again, to make their exhilarated audiences feel this is their “best show ever!” Till they see the next one, of course.