Author Archives: Bill Hirschman
Dramaworks Delivers Harrowing Long Day’s Journey Into Night
At the marrow of Eugene O’Neill’s masterpiece Long Day’s Journey Into Night at Palm Beach Dramaworks is its compassionate sorrow that the ultimate human tragedy is the death of hope. The final tableau of four devastated souls irrevocably adrift in the fog-bound damnation of inescapable failures and unconquerable frailties is an endgame so harrowing that the audience can hardly breathe.
Tears And Laughter Mark Riverside’s Over The River
It might drip with sentimentality, but Riverside Theatre’s Over the River and Through the Woods will nudge out a few tears and win you over, due in no small part to the handsome and well-acted production.
New Theatre’s World Premiere Footprints Is Earnest But Awkward History Lesson
The world premiere of Miamian Sandra Riley’s badly flawed Footprints at New Theatre clearly establishes the playwright’s deep love and extensive research into the early history of South Florida and the efforts of a real-life married couple to preserve its natural wonders over 35 years. But theater is not a history lesson, even when taught through the lives of loving creative souls who encourage each other’s dreams.
Dancers and Singers Propel Thrilling West Side Story
Actors’ Playhouse pulls out all the stops to mount its annual winter centerpiece production. Director David Arisco molded a troupe of actor-singer-dancers who deliver a vibrant evening remarkable for its prolonged sections of power and verve.
Love Or Hate Wildhorn, Marquee’s Jekyll & Hyde Has Two Powerful Performances
Sometimes, as with Marquee Theater’s Jekyll & Hyde, the performances are so powerful that you forget the material isn’t worthy. Wildhorn’s pop-infused power ballad-addicted aesthetic divides fans. But there’s no ambivalence in this company’s enthusiasm and strong performances of Ben Sandomir in the title roles and, Alexandria Lugo as Lucy, the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold and vocal-chords-of-steel.
World Premiere Unlikely Heroes’ Family Drama Segues From Light Humor To Emotional Savagery
If Arthur Miller were also a doctor on the side, he might have written a play like Unlikely Heroes. A family drama full of long-harbored resentments and new ones stemming from intimate secrets revealed, this world premiere on view at Boca Raton’s Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center also hinges on a potentially fatal condition that will require an organ donation
Arts Garage’s Reborning: An Emotionally Adrift But Provocative Psychodrama
Arts Garage’s Reborning is a thought-provoking work hints at many weighty topics—the anxieties of pending motherhood, the conflicting desires to both nurture and destroy, the futility of trying to re-create what is lost—but none are fleshed out to a degree of dramaturgical satisfaction.
Lovely Music But The Magic Is Missing At Stage Door’s Carnival
Broward Stage Door’s edition of Carnival, featuring one of the loveliest scores in the canon, under Dan Kelley’s experienced hand features a hard-working cast, some of whom have fine voices doing adequate justice to the gorgeous score and lyrics, but that alchemical enchantment just isn’t there.
Report From New York: Hanging In For The Long & Winding Run
But our recent visit to Broadway took in shows running nearly a full season or even longer – and they seem as vibrant as the reviews said they were on the day they opened: The King and I, An American In Paris and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
Slow Burn Theatre’s Violet Blossoms But Doesn’t Bloom
Fine talent, stirring music and Slow Burn Theatre’s enthusiasm elevate the musical Violet, but the material has consistent void somewhere deep down in this musical’s emotional investment.
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