Finding Neverland fails to soar to great heights

Finding Neverland fails to soar to great heights

Photo by Jeremy Daniel Here is the part of the national touring cast of Finding Neverland during a playful scene WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Sorry Tink. Your special fairy dust doesn’t transform Finding Neverland into the magical, soaring stage musical it could be. With its eye candy, child characters, live...

Read more
Flashdance: The Musical achieves mixed results at South Florida venue

Flashdance: The Musical achieves mixed results at South Florida venue

MARGATE, Fla. — Alexandra “Alex” Owens, the heroine of Flashdance: The Musical, is supposed to shine in the spotlight during the stage show’s last scene. She finally has the chance to wow the judges of the prestigious Shipley Dance Academy during her callback in a bid to become part of...

Read more
New staging of musical offers fresh take on a classic

New staging of musical offers fresh take on a classic

Maria (Jill-Christine Wiley) is at home amid the hills in Austria near the Nonnberg Abbey. FT. LAUDERDALE — Chances are, you’re familiar with The Sound of Music. But you’ll rediscover this classic musical anew once you’ve witnessed three-time Tony Award-winning director Jack O’Brien’s fresh, vital take on the beloved Rodgers...

Read more
They’re ‘On Their Feet’ in Miami

They’re ‘On Their Feet’ in Miami

Photo by Matthew Murphy Christie Prades and Mauricio Martinez play Emilio and Gloria Estefan in a national touring production of On Your Feet!  MIAMI — Exactly two years after the bio-musical On Your Feet! The Emilio & Gloria Estefan Broadway Musical opened for previews on Broadway, the first national touring production...

Read more
Simon’s one-liners are a nice respite in these frightening times

Simon’s one-liners are a nice respite in these frightening times

Photo by George Wentzler From left, Al Lewis (Peter Librach) and Willie Clark (Michael H. Small) don’t exactly see eye-to-eye in Broward Stage Door’s production of Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys. MARGATE — As you hear his one-liners zing from the mouth of one character to the ear of another,...

Read more
Get on the wild side with these Shorts

Get on the wild side with these Shorts

  (Photo by George Wentzler) Marquise Rogers and Lawrence Buzzeo appear in Give Me Space, one of the short plays in a South Florida co-production of Shorts Gone Wild 5   WILTON MANORS, Fla. — “I will obliterate those who oppress and repress people they do not understand,” the ambitious,...

Read more
Explosive production of Sam Shepherd play mirrors mayhem in Virginia

Explosive production of Sam Shepherd play mirrors mayhem in Virginia

(Photo courtesy of New City Players) Timothy Mark Davis (left) and Andrew Paul Davis appear in a scene from New City Players’ production of True West. FT. LAUDERDALE — In the wake of Saturday’s white supremacist rally and destruction in Virginia, New City Players’ production of Sam Shepherd’s True West serves...

Read more
Morality play about science, religion sizzles in GableStage production

Morality play about science, religion sizzles in GableStage production

(Photo by George Schiavone) Betsy Graver and Jovon Jacobs appear in a scene from GableStage’s production of Informed Consent   CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Art has the ability to make us feel a variety of emotions, including fear and helplessness. Consider the following from Deborah Zoe Laufer’s heartfelt, heartbreaking and unsettling...

Read more
PBD’s Sweeney Todd is riveting

PBD’s Sweeney Todd is riveting

Sweeney Todd (Shane R. Tanner) raises his razor high (Photo courtesy of Palm Beach Dramaworks).   WEST PALM BEACH — How do you sympathize with a barber who slashes the throats of his customers, instantly killing them and sending their remains down a chute for his partner-in-crime to bake them...

Read more

Adaptation of graphic novel set to music has world premiere

  PALO ALTO, Calif. — Award-winning Bay Area playwright and composer Min Kahng thought his discovery several years ago was “fascinating” and “unique.” It would be “fun and interesting” to adapt for the stage, he further believed. Kahng has done that. His adaptation of one of the first-ever graphic novels...

Read more