Is there a difference between an officer and a gentleman? To some degree, at least, that’s a question posed by the musical An Officer And A Gentleman, which is based on a well-known 1982 film that I actually wasn’t familiar with before receiving an invite to the musical update currently on view at the Kravis Center.
The jukebox musical, Breaking Up is Hard to Do, now playing at the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton, offers the audience a double shot of nostalgia. Not only does it feature 18 terrific tunes written and/or sung by Juilliard-trained ‘50s and ‘60s rock star Neil Sedaka, but it also revisits the era of Catskills comedy with a couple of romantic love stories that blossom at Esther’s Paradise, a Borscht Belt hostelry about to wrap up its summer of fun with a tune-filled Labor Day spectacle.
In the years before the COVID pandemic, it wasn’t out of the ordinary for drama students at Florida Atlantic University to conclude their theatrical seasons with the production of a Shakespearean work.
First produced in 1956 and based on an even earlier 1913 play by George Bernard Shaw, My Fair Lady has certainly been around long enough to have become a recognizable part of the cultural canon. But if you make it to the Kravis Center’s current production of the musical, which is playing there until this April 24th, you should come prepared for a few major surprises.
It’s hard to know quite what to make of a play like This Is Our Youth, Area Stage’s current theatrical offering. First staged in 1996 and set in 1982, it’s a play that is at once very much of its time, with references to the Reagan White House and a conspicuous lack of cell service, yet very much universal in its portrayal of the aching aimlessness of uncertain youth, a limited scope that is perhaps both a strength and a limitation.
A captivating play written by a lawyer with 50-plus years of experience – a drama encapsulating the essentials of a deadly environmental lawsuit — recently concluded a brief series of tautly-told productions at the Mizner Park Cultural Center in Boca Raton.
Works that are considered classics are usually works that became classics for a reason. And this is definitely true of Guys And Dolls, a 1950’s musical currently onstage via MNM Theatre Company that has passed the test of time and gone on to become one of the most beloved staples of the canon in the seventy years since.
The word “intimate” almost feels like an understatement when it comes to Palm Beach Dramaworks’ production of Lynn Nottage’s seminal 2003 play Intimate Apparel. Loosely inspired by a photograph Nottage found of her seamstress great grandmother, the play takes place in early 20th century New York and gives us a glimpse into the life of Esther Mills, a Black woman who has spent her life sewing intimate apparel for ladies and living unattached in a humble boarding house.
As long as you’ve come to the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s first production back in its newly renovated theatre space in search of a good time rather than anything more substantial, you’re unlikely to be disappointed by Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
