If the name “Trotsky” barely rings a bell, blame Stalin. Trotsky was a major player in Russia’s 1905 Revolution, 1917’s October Revolution, and on, a lifelong agitator for permanent, worldwide social revolution, Marxist political theorist, journalist and war correspondent. In his day, the Trotsky name was as recognized as Lenin’s. Leon Trotsky never stopped advocating for the working class … from prison, from exile, wherever he landed. He accumulated quite the extensive resume.

We can all use a little more Harvey Fierstein in our lives. The multi-Tony (and more) award-winning actor and playwright who many of us recognize from recent local productions of “La Cage Aux Folles,” “Kinky Boots,” and “Newsies,” and from his film work in everything from “Hairspray” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” to the Emmy Award-winning documentary, “The Times of Harvey Milk,” first made his name with “Torch Song Trilogy,” a three-act play that runs over four hours. Nonetheless, this underground hit about the life, loves, and woes of a Jewish drag queen living in New York City transferred to Broadway in 1982 where it achieved landmark status for the LGBTQ community by winning two Tony Awards – for Best Play and Best Actor – the latter also going to the playwright, who starred in the lead role. 

The imaginative mind of Area Stage Artistic Director Giancarlo Rodaz continues to thrill audiences as the stage captures the sights and sounds of an African jungle in the Area Stage production of the two-act musical “Tarzan: The Stage Musical”, running now through August 10 in South Miami.

As was the case with Rodaz’s company staging the musicals “Annie”, “Beauty and the Beast” “Oliver” and “The Little Mermaid”” over the years, the unforgettable memories audiences take away from Rodaz’s productions is the feeling you are part of the world of the stage setting, In “Tarzan The Stage Musical” you can feel and hear the jumping, thumping and aerial dynamics of the gorillas and Tarzan moving and leaping in so many scenes.

You can tell it’s the Age of Aquarius by the sounds currently emanating from Lake Worth Playhouse. With the “unofficial” opening of their 2025-2026 season, the community theater has decided to take down their buns and ponytails while picking up joints and tabs with Hair. A musical set in the times of burgeoning counterculture, the production embraces a different way of life; one more familiar with the arts and aesthetics, one desperately needed now.