Stephen Sondheim’s feeling about Actors Playhouse’s production would far exceed satisfaction

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — During a performance of the current Actors Playhouse’s splendid production, a thespian was interrupted soon after he began singing one of the musical’s songs. But nobody was perturbed, or even slightly bothered. In fact, some audience members chuckled. That’s because the musical is unlike many others...

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Pulitzer-winning playwright gives vivid voices to inner thoughts in series of monologues about war, sexism

MIAMI, Fla. — “If men could hear the voice in my mind, I’d probably be punished,” the teenage girl dressed as a boy from an early age says in Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz’s “Farhad or The Secret of Being.” Lucky for her, we as the audience members are the...

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Area Stage conservatory program’s ‘A Chorus Line’ is sensational

CORAL GABLES — There are perhaps no words in “A Chorus Line” that resonate so strongly with an audience today– roughly four decades after the Pulitzer-Prize and Tony Award- winning musical’s creation — than “I Hope I Get It.” Whether you’re unemployed, hoping to get a promotion, win an award,...

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Zoetic Stage’s current production filled with palpable ‘Passion’

MIAMI, Fla. — “What is love,” the song released in 1993 by Haddaway asks. You won’t find simple, black and white answers in “Passion,” the 1994 Tony-Award-winning chamber musical receiving a production full of honest emotion, soaring, captivating singing voices, backed by a small but clear-sounding orchestra, superb acting and,...

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‘The Dumb Waiter’ is smart theater

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Silence isn’t always serene or golden. Look no further than the works of British playwright Harold Pinter for a type of silence with an undercurrent of menace and tension. As the lack of sound permeates the air, there’s a foreboding sense that something terrible is imminent....

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University of Miami’s current production is probably ‘As You Like It’

CORAL GABLES — If you’re like many people, the hectic atmosphere amid the “the real world,” takes a toll after a while. You need an escape to a serene setting to relax, slowly think through problems and possible solutions while allowing yourself to breath easily, unwind and even have fun....

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Arsht’s 2016-17 season is ‘Beautiful,’ royal and ‘Wonderful’

At this time around next year, something beautiful will appear at the Adrienne Arsht Center in downtown Miami as part of the 2016-2017 Broadway in Miami series. Two shows after “Beautiful–The Carole King Musical” plays the Arsht, “Something Wonderful” will take over the stage; a touring production of the latest,...

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‘Matilda The Musical’ dark, delightful

FT. MYERS, Fla. — There’s a scene in the visually-enthralling, dark and delightful “Matilda the Musical” in which Roald Dahl’s little heroin delights the town librarian with a tale that, in some ways, mirrors what happens in the musical. The librarian’s disturbed by a part of the tale. “It’s only...

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Precocious young boy is a reviewer/cheerleader for the theater

He’s a 7-year-old theater reviewer who: A) loves Shakespeare’s poetry and B) can articulate what many adults might wonder after witnessing Samuel Beckett’s absurdist, seemingly meaningless play “Waiting for Godot.” Oh, and he interviewed stars on the red carpet before last year’s Tony Awards telecast in June. He was 6,...

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Actors Playhouse triumphs again with ‘West Side Story’

CORAL GABLES — After Actors Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre staged the iconic, beloved musical “West Side Story” in 1997, the widely and deservedly respected and honored regional theater won a Carbonell Award for “Best Production of a Musical.” Expect at least a nomination for another such award, which recognizes...

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