While Florida Grand Opera had plans to stage George Frideric Handel’s “Agrippina” as the finale of its 80th anniversary season, it was the location selected for the performances that ultimately shaped the production.
“Agrippina” is on stage at the Miami Scottish Rite Temple opening Saturday, May 14 through Thursday, May 19.
By turns humorous and harrowing, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord is a relatively new play by Alexis Scheer currently making its South Florida premiere at Zoetic Stage—and it’s a play that its audiences are pretty damn unlikely to forget. It’s also a play that somewhat recalls Zoetic’s 2019 offering The Wolves in its sometimes overlapping mile-a-minute-dialogue and its focus on the sometimes messy reality of teenage girlhood.
Though it’s a question of aesthetics that sets off the action in the play Art by Yazmin Reza, Empire Stage’s current offering, the debate between friends that then ensues seems to have less to do with the meaning of art than with the absurdities of human ego. When dermatologist Serge buys what appears to be a completely white painting (though, as is repeatedly discussed to great comedic effect, it apparently also features some “fine white diagonal lines,”) his best friend Marc simply cannot make sense of how this action is in accord with the person he thought he knew.
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.
It’s just another show day as I sit in my dressing room. Our room is filled with laughter and music as we get ready for our show. It’s one hour before show time and emotions are high. We are in the middle of a run and I feel really good about my performance and show so far. Our stage manager calls five minutes to sound check, then SUDDENLY, someone yells, “REVIEWS ARE IN!” Anxiety, excitement, and fear are the three emotions that come to mind. Did they LIKE me? Did they HATE me? Did they NOTICE me? I think to myself… oh gosh, this is my first big lead and these reviews could make or break me. What if I get a horrible review, will I ever be cast again? Or am I finally going to be recognized for all of my hard work? Should I read this before my show? Probably not the best idea because it might mess with my performance… but one little peek won’t hurt.
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.
I guess it’s true what they say, time really does FLY when you are having fun.
As I sit here and try to reflect on the past year of South Florida Theater Magazine and life in general, I have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that it really has been a full year.
The Wick Theatre and Costume Museum recently hosted the 2022 Star Maker Awards for the National Society of Arts & Letters (NSAL) of Florida, which raised more than $47,000 to support the Boca Raton-based nonprofit’s mission of supporting local emerging performing and visual artists.
