Author Archives: Bill Hirschman

High at Parker Playhouse Finds Salvation in Kathleen Turner

There’s no taking your eyes off of Kathleen Turner for a minute as she commands the stage in Matthew Lombardo’s addiction-focused play High. While the star vehicle has some fairly unexceptional dialogue and a clichéd plot, which certainly contributed to its closing on Broadway a mere five days after it opened last April, Turner uses all the tricks in her veteran actress’s tool box to ensure that her audience hangs on every line. And they do. But while she is a force to be reckoned with in her role of the foul-mouthed, unconventional Sister Jamison “Jamie” Connelly, it’s not enough to lift High to angelic proportions.

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Bill Hirschman
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Kathleen Turner’s Commitment to Play About Addiction Stems From Her Own Past

Kathleen Turner doesn’t shy from acknowledging that her devotion to the play High, a harrowing look at the world of addiction, is somewhat rooted in her own battle with alcoholism. “I think I have some information,” she said with wry understatement on Tuesday, the day before she opens the play at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale. “I certainly was abusing alcohol when I was fighting RA (rheumatoid arthritis.).”

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Bill Hirschman
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Color Blind Casting Poses No Obstacle To Filipino-American Dancing As British Billy Elliot

Initially, it’s impossible to ignore that 15-year-old actor J.P. Viernes leaping and soaring through the musical Billy Elliot is not a typical youngster in a downtrodden unsophisticated mining village in northeast England in the 1980s. John Peter Viernes, with a broad grin and flashing eyes, is inescapably a Filipino-American with caramel-colored skin and half-moon eyes. But by all accounts, his infectious charisma, joyous dancing and sheer acting skills successfully banish most audience members’ resistance to the color-blind casting within a few minutes.

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Bill Hirschman
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Miami Made Features Off-Beat Works By Mad Cat, The Project Theatre and Mark Della Ventura

Mad Cat Theatre Company’s Paul Tei, Alliance Theatre Lab’s Mark Della Ventura and The Project [theatre], all known for their edgy approach and Gen X/Y/Z-oriented material, are featured in free offerings this weekend at the crockpot of regional performance arts festival, Miami Made.

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Bill Hirschman
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Broward Stage Door’s Disappointing My Fair Lady Lacks Magic and Charm

This edition of My Fair Lady at Broward Stage Door is a disappointing muddle other than a few adequate performances under the direction of the usually reliable Michael Leeds. The first two thirds of this evening is mostly a listless, lackluster effort. Surprisingly, the quality improves so significantly in the final third of the show that you wonder if they switched out the casts. But by that time, it’s too late. Even at its best moments, and it has some, there’s no magic, no charm.

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Bill Hirschman
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Lombardo Play “High” About Addiction Gets Resurrection Tour With Kathleen Turner

It was surreal even by theater standards: Michael Lombardo’s drama about addiction High had broken box office records in its world premiere at Hartford’s TheaterWorks. And here they were, on opening night on Broadway in April 2011, already certain in the knowledge that the production was doomed. The result goes on display next week at Parker Playhouse, the second stop on High’s resurrection tour – this time co-produced by Lombardo.

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Bill Hirschman
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Playwright Matthew Lombardo’s Essay Coming Clean For “High”

This essay was written as a playwright’s note for his play High, opening this week at the Parker Playhouse.

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Bill Hirschman
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Theater Shelf: Show Tunes, Comic Operas and Singers Gordon MacRae & Howard Keel

Theater Shelf, a recurring feature, will review recently-released books, CDs and DVDs of interest to theater lovers. Some will be popular titles like a new Original Cast Recording, others will be works you’ll be intrigued by but didn’t even know about. Show Tunes: The Songs, Shows and Careers of Broadway’s Major Composers – Fourth Edition

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Bill Hirschman
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News Items: Dreyfoos’ Metamorphoses, Alliance’s Onesies, Kultur Festival

Onesies, short plays by David Michael Sirois and Mark Della Ventura, will provide the centerpiece of a fund raiser for the Alliance Theatre Lab, hosted at GableStage at 7:30 p.m., Monday, March 5.

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Bill Hirschman
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Art About Art About Art: Dramaworks’ Pitmen Painters

Art as an ennobling sanctification for both the artist and the observer whose interpretation completes the symbiotic circle is just one of a dozen themes swirling around Palm Beach Dramaworks’ stimulating production of The Pitman Painters.Dramawork’s skilled ensemble of character actors led by director J. Barry Lewis delivers a thought-provoking, if not especially emotionally moving, evening of theater.

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Bill Hirschman
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