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...
Outre Theatre Company shows boldness in staging timely 1984
(Photo by Shannon Ouellette) Jennipher Murphy as Julia and Seth Trucks as Winston in 1984. POMPANO BEACH — There’s no question “Big Brother” is staring at us in Outre Theatre Company’s production of the disturbing, thought-provoking George Orwell classic 1984. It runs through July 30 at the Pompano Beach Cultural Arts Center....
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...
New City Players’ Twelfth Night is highly entertaining, but achieves mixed results
Ernesto Gonzalez as Sebastian (Photo by Ryan Arnst) FT. LAUDERDALE — Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is classified as a comedy, and for good reason: There’s plenty of mischief and merry making, which merge to form a frolicking night of theater. It ends (mostly) happily. But there’s a darker side to the...
Provocative dark comedy seeks to light a fire under audiences regarding climate change
(Photo by George Schiavone) MIAMI SHORES — A “hurricane party” hardly refers to a celebration involving University of Miami sports teams in the new, clever, satirical comedy Firemen are Rarely Necessary, set partly in Miami in a not-too-distant future. Normally when a mammoth hurricane is about to make landfall in...
World premiere about musical masterwork as related to life performed with flair by Island City Stage
WILTON MANORS, Fla. — Shakespeare wrote “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” But have you ever found yourself wishing that you were the director of your life – one with the power to say something like, “OK, let’s stop right there and...
San Francisco showcases its vibrant, diverse theater scene
SAN FRANCISCO — Talk about looking ahead… A group of theater professionals and members of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA, americantheatrecritics.org) were discussing the importance of keeping the Bard and his work vital for years – specifically, 400 years. Although William Shakespeare would be more than 400 years old...
New City Players offers plenty of proof of cast members’ skill in production of relateable, powerful play
FT. LAUDERDALE –For the majority of us, our parents are among the closest, most familiar, dear and rock-solid support people in our lives. They made us, after all. Without us even knowing it, however, our parents can take on other characteristics: unpredictable, mystifying and scary. We may wonder: Which characteristics and...
This lighthearted ‘Legend’ will whisk you away from your worries
CORAL GABLES, Fla. Go ahead, poke fun at drag queens all you want. Call them weirdos, freaks or any other name to express your disapproval at their lifestyle or your inherent dislike of them, for whatever reason. The bottom line is that at least twice now in the make-believe world...
South Florida theater company offers a winning production of It Shoulda Been You
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Even if everything’s calm and orderly “behind the scenes,” moments before a bride and groom walk down the aisle, you never know what drama might be unfolding among the guests. Aunt Delores might be a wreck in a happy kind of way, crying profusely as she...
