Monthly Archives: April 2013
Stage Door’s Jeffrey Feels Dated, But Funny And Touching
It’s weird but wonderful that two full decades after the height of the AIDS crisis that Paul Rudnick’s touching but hilarious satire Jeffrey now revived at Miami Beach Stage Door Theatre feels a bit like a period piece. The reason Jeffrey still works, Rudnick’s uninhibited wicked wit aside, is that the underlying themes are universal and timeless.
Theater Shelf: Drood, Bway to West End, Gilbert & Sullivan
Theater Shelf, a recurring feature, reviews recently-released books, CDs and DVDs of interest to theater lovers. Some are popular titles like a new Original Cast Recording, others are works you’ll be intrigued by, but didn’t even know about. By Brad …
Breaking News: Coconut Grove Playhouse Moves A Step Closer, But Debts Threaten Future
The creation of a new theater on the site of the Coconut Grove Playhouse came one step closer at midnight Monday when the state’s lease application process closed with only one party expressing interest — a partnership among Florida International University, Miami-Dade County and GableStage. But pending lawsuits threaten the future of the deal.
Slow Burn’s Sweeney Todd Is Competent But Not Thrilling
So much is right about Slow Burn Theatre Company’s scaling of that Everest of musical theater, Sweeney Todd, that there’s no shame to acknowledge that it’s a competent not a transporting production.
Colin McPhillamy Reads From His Book On Working In China
Colin McPhillamy is currently starring as the addled and doomed King in Palm Beach Dramaworks’ acclaimed of Exit The King, but the surreal nature of Ionesco’s play reportedly pales in comparison to his experiences directing and producing Western theater in …
Mad Cat’s Comedy Looks At Fashionista Isabella Blow
Editor, consultant and fashion icon Isabella Blow lived a tumultuous life that encompassed trend-setting style, two marriages plagued by infertility, championing designers like Alexander McQueen who then left her behind, coping with her brother’s drowning, battling ovarian cancer, trying electro-shock therapy to counteract depression and attempting suicide several times. So, of course, Mad Cat Theatre Company is turning her life into an entry in the annual South Beach Comedy Festival for two shows on Wednesday, April 17.
Avi Hoffman Leads Harrowing ‘An Iliad’ Reboot At Outre
An Iliad is a breathtaking solo show from Boca Raton’s Outre Theatre Company starring Avi Hoffman that exhumes Homer’s dramatization of the mythological Trojan War in terms we all can understand. There is colloquial language, modern-day references, video projection and audience interaction – even, occasionally, humor.
American Theater Critics Assn. Bestow New Plays Awards
The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) has selected Robert Schenkkan’s meditation on power and pragmatism, All The Way, as the recipient of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, recognizing playwrights for scripts that premiered professionally outside New York City during 2012. Schenkkan’s play about Lyndon Johnson’s dogged campaign to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 received the top award of $25,000 and a commemorative plaque during the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville on April 6. Two citations that carry $7,500 each were also presented to Lucas Hnath for Death Tax and Johnna Adams for Gidion’s Knot.