Latest Articles

  • Irreconcilable Viewpoints Clash In Outre’s The Christians

    All too apropos for our bitterly divided time, Outré Theatre Company’s intellectually stimulating production of Lucas Hnath’s The Christians asks what happens when two sincerely held but diametrically opposed viewpoints inescapably clash.

  • Indecent Exemplifies What Theater Can Be & Why We Go

    Palm Beach Dramaworks’ Indecent is precisely the kind of thrilling evening that glories in what theater can be – a unique art form that cannot be matched by anything on film, anything hanging on a wall, anything reproducible on an mp3 or an mp4.

  • Vogel Encourages Dramaworks To Use Indecent Script As Blueprint Not Straitjacket

    Paula Vogel welcomes, even celebrates how imaginative directors and committed casts use her work as a starting blueprint for their own explorations. She is pleased that this week the team at Palm Beach Dramaworks will unveil their particular vision of Indecent, just one of 20 productions that have been or are being mounted around the country last season and this season.

  • Glad To Be Conned By Stage Door’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

    It’s a genuine compliment when a critic doesn’t particularly look forward to a show based on past productions and recordings – and then reassesses his antipathy based on seeing a fresh new production. So it’s saying something that Broward Stage Door’s Dity Rotten Scoundrels is a pleasing romp.

  • GableStage’s Admissions Asks Liberals What Happens When It’s Your Own Ox Being Gored?

    GableStage’s Admissions is one of the more uncomfortable evenings of theater that avowed liberals and proud progressives will sit through any time soon. It holds up an unsparing mirror that asks whether such advocates will stay true to their ideals when the consequences directly affect them and their families.

  • Dracula’s Prey At Zoetic: No Helpless Fainting Victims Here

    In Zoetic Stage’s premiere Dracula, the vampire is a sexist pig (as are several men in the play). The protagonists are strong-willed proto-feminists. Together, they embody a society struggling with re-envisioning what self-empowered women can and should be. Michael McKeever’s script as directed by Stuart Meltzer presents social commentary told with droll, wry and self-aware humor, and the retelling of the classic horror narrative.

  • Havana Music Hall: The Story Of Those Who Stayed Behind

    It would be intriguing and accurate, but misleading to say that Havana Music Hall, the hopeful Broadway musical about Cuban artists before and after the Revolution, is the brainchild of 72-year-old New Jersey-born Jewish insurance salesman Richard Kagan. He conceived it, wrote the tuneful score, and is bankrolling a $2 million cost. But he credits a half-dozen others who imbued it with the pungent ethnic flavor and cultural insights he learned second hand.

  • Saying Goodbye To Iris Acker

    The memorial celebration of Iris Acker will be held Monday at The Wick Theatre in Boca Raton with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. and the celebration starting at 7 p.m. Playwright, producer and patron Tony Finstrom wrote a piece about his memories of her forged during their relationship. He asked us to publish it.