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.
The American Civil War was not a laughing matter. But if anything, even slightly humorous, took place during the bloody War Between the States, it probably had something to do with a true-to-life participant in that conflict, a major general in the Union Army named Benjamin Franklin Butler.
If you haven’t read the Roald Dahl book that the musical Matilda is based on or seen its popular movie adaptation, you may be understandably wary of Slow Burn Theatre Company’s current production, since you may be tempted to write it off as a mere children’s show by virtue of its pint-sized protagonist.
After my first two shows back on the beat happened to be a pair of relatively light-hearted musicals, it was something of a relief to be taken on a deep dive back into the waters of moral and psychological complexity at Theatre Lab’s Overactive Letdown, a promising new play from the equally promising Miami playwright Gina Montet.
Not every theatrical troupe can handle the bold presentments, sexualized nuances and provocative, cutting-edge themes characteristic of a Tennessee Williams play.
After around a month out of town, the first show I hit now that I’ve finally landed back in good old South Florida was the Pembroke Pines Theatre Of Performing Arts’ production of Something Rotten, which is nowhere near as distasteful as its name implies.This 2015 musical is one that I don’t think has been seen too often in the area, if indeed at all, making it a worthier excursion for the curious than PPTOPA’s last pick, which was the more well-traveled Cabaret.
Many so-called “oldies” shows that come crammed with nostalgic songs from the 1950s and ‘60s, but which offer little diversity otherwise, run a pretty tight gamut – from “so-so” to “just OK.”
