New ‘Our Town’ helps open our eyes to diversity
(Photo by Arnulfo Maldonado) Emily Webb (Thallis Santesteban) takes a moment for contemplation in Miami New Drama’s world premiere production of a new staging of Our Town MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Birth isn’t one of the major life cycle events at the center of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic Our...
Slow Burn’s less-is-more approach works with Tarzan
Photo by Rodrigo Balfanz Tarzan (Natale Pirrotta) and Jane (Lindsey Corey) share a moment in Slow Burn Theatre Company’s production of Tarzan. FT. LAUDERDALE — There are lighting effects galore (some overdone, some mood-enhancing by Thomas Shorrock) in Slow Burn Theatre Company’s mostly commendable, high-flying production of Tarzan: The Stage...
GableStage’s The Humans shines with humanity
Photo by George Schiavone Deidre Blake (Elizabeth Dimon) tries to get include “Momo” (Carol Caselle” in the family’s Thanksgiving gathering in GableStage’s production of Stephen Karam’s The Humans. Looking on, behind “Momo” is her son, Erik (Michael Gioia). CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Creepy, foreboding music leaves a chill in the...
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...
A unique stage experience is brought to vivid life
(Photo courtesy of Area Stage Company) Mallory Newbrough (Dora) and George (Robert Richards, Jr.) appear in a scene from Area Stage Company’s production of An Octoroon CORAL GABLES, Fla. — “If anything, the theatre is no longer a place of novelty,” says a character in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ An Octoroon. “The...
Oleanna proves powerful, provocative in Boca Raton
Photo courtesy of www.eveningstarproductions.org. Carol (Sara Elizabeth Grant) presents which she feels is damning evidence against her professor, John (Todd Bruno), in Evening Star Production’s staging of David Mamet’s Oleanna. BOCA RATON — Depending on your point of view, and how it’s directed and acted, David Mamet’s scorcher of a play,...
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,...
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,...
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...
Bad Jews can remind us of our naughty selves
Photo by Dennis Lyzniak Hannah Benitez and Joseph Paul Pino play feuding cousins in Main Street Players’ production of Bad Jews MIAMI LAKES — Unless you hail from South Africa, you might not have heard of a koeksister. A feature on www.salon.com describes it as “South Africa’s twisted and delicious...
