By now, many of us have seen CABARET at least once – typically performed on a large stage with flashy scenic design and memorable musical numbers. The 1967 megahit is also famous for its explosive style and controversial subject matter (personally decadent, politically horrifying), haunted by a sense of foreboding during the last gasps of the Jazz Age in 1929 Germany. A time when violent clashes between left and right and gathering stormclouds of a Nazi takeover were often met by blind disbelief, and escape into the hedonistic pleasures of seedy cabarets. Everyone was welcome in these underground clubs where locals of every stripe could revel in hilariously provocative skits and libations with their fellows before true Nazi depravity put the kibosh on all such pleasurable (albeit morally questionable) pursuits in the1930s. 

JAGGED LITTLE PILL is harsh, it’s real. It cuts, it stings, it challenges and resonates … crushes and exhilarates! The contemporary Tony Award-winning musical featuring the music and lyrics of Alanis Morissette’s landmark 1995 album – winner of four Grammy Awards and a worldwide sensation (number one in 13 countries with sales of over 33 million!) – has taken Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater by storm. Where professional resident Slow Burn Theatre Company is mounting the final show of its super-charged 16th season with all the high-energy song-and-dance numbers, magnificent vocals, superior staging, lighting and sound, one has come to expect from the highly rated theatrical company. And this latest production also features an explosive live orchestra! 

The first musical I ever saw was The Book of Mormon. A little over a decade ago, my best friend Salman and I secured student-priced, nosebleed tickets to see this crass, new show from the creators of South Park. We were high up in the Altria Theatre in Richmond, Virginia, so far from the stage that it was sometimes difficult to make out the finer points of the plot. But I remember crying from laughing so hard. I remember, very clearly, feeling that I had found love for something I hadn’t before: love for theatre.

A World Premiere Now Playing at The Foundry

“Could of” … “Should of” …. Hollywood, CA, is littered with ghosts of missed opportunities and roads-not-traveled to stardom. If our own obsessively creative and talented local playwright Ronnie Larsen – also founding producer/artistic director of Plays of Wilton (POW!) at The Foundry in Wilton Manors – had decided to write a typical “alternative universe” story, he would have had Mae West say YES to the Oscar-winning role of Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder’s legendary noir movie, Sunset Boulevard. 

Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre production of the well-known two act drama  “Dial M For Murder” lives up to its billing as a thrilling whodunit drama involving a planned murder that goes in a completely unexpected direction. The play is running now through Sunday, June 7 at the venue located in Coral Gables.

Playwright Jonathan Spector’s one act play “Eureka Day” is contemporary, given that the main topic of the play centers on whether a parent’s child needs to be vaccinated. On the surface, there seems to be no humor with this topic.

An oft-cited attribute of live theater is its ability to transport audiences into the hearts, minds, and lived experiences of the actors. More than just opening a window into another place and time, when good actors fully embody their roles, they also viscerally invite us into their character’s very soul. At its highest altruistic level, theater can foster understanding and compassion for individuals who are different – whether culturally, socio-economically or, as in this case, biologically neurodivergent.