Author Archives: Bill Hirschman

Alliance’s Brothers Beckett Is Even Better Second Time

The initial production two years ago of Brothers Beckett, an insider’s reportage on Millennial angst, was not an artist’s sketch at the Alliance Theatre Lab. But its current revival feels far more like a fully-realized, finely-detailed work as if the painter went back in to enhance its virtues.

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Stage Door Hosts Tuneful Revue Of Jerry Herman Showstoppers

But legendary Broadway composer/lyricist Jerry Herman has spent his life as an unapologetic champion of leaving audiences after two hours feeling diverted. So diverting is the right word for the venerable revue of his ouvré, Jerry’s Girls, at Broward Stage Door, a procession of 38 hits and lesser-known songs from at least eight shows including Hello, Dolly! and Mame .

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Funny But Baffling Body Awareness Bows At Island City/Empire Stages

This observer had trouble sussing out the cerebral depths that playwright Annie Baker intended in her quite funny meditation Body Awareness at the Island City Stage/Empire Stage production. Fortunately, witty dialogue, intriguing performances and insightful guidance from director Michael Leeds make for an entertaining evening if not a completely comprehensible or cohesive one.

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Joy In The ‘Hood; Dreaming In The Heights

It’s been a long, long time since a locally-produced musical has thrust inside an audience’s collective chest to touch its heart like Actors’ Playhouse’s triumphant production of In The Heights. Several shows this season have produced near raves among critics and audiences, but this production is cause once again for recalibrating your standards.

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Actors Playhouse Announces Part Of 2013-2014 Season

Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle theatre has announced four of the six shows for the 2013-2014 coming season in Coral Gables.

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Maltz Theatre’s Millie Is Thoroughly Frothy Fun

If it’s about as substantial as cotton candy that doesn’t stick to your ribs very long, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s co-production with the Papermill Playhouse of Throughly Modern Millie is a delightfully sweet confection whipped up by some very talented folks.

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Added Openings Nights, Dramaworks Hopes To Get Lucky, Blue Man Fills Miami Slot

Quick Hits Two one-actor shows have been added to this month’s calendar in the last few days, one about noted Floridian Zora Neale Hurston and the other about Nazi hunter Simon Weisenthal. Karen Stephens, who did acclaimed work as multiple …

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Flashdance’s Skill And Energy Trumps Formula And Material

With hardbodies gyrating in knife-sharp choreography to infectious music, Flashdance The Musical is a happy surprise in which undeniable skill, energy and talent trump material about as subtle as sledgehammers bashing steel plates into shape.

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Breaking News: Nan Barnett Named Exec Director At National New Play Network

Nancy Barnett, former managing director of Florida Stage which focused on mounting new plays, has been named executive director of the National New Play Network, a leading champion in developing new works among non-profit theaters. She takes the post in May.

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BRTG’s Chicago Is Entertaining But Needs More Razzle Dazzle

A muted clarinet makes beautiful music, but sometimes what’s called for is the blare of a clarion trumpet and the insolent snap of a snare drum. That’s the problem facing the almost but never quite satisfying Boca Raton Theatre Guild production of the Kander & Ebb musical Chicago.

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