Author Archives: Bill Hirschman

Female Army Combats Colonialism in The Dahomey Warriors

For the majority of white Americans, the word “colonialism” is an abstract term usually confined to history courses. But in Layon Gray’s consciousness-expanding drama The Dahomey Warriors, foreign powers occupying your homeland becomes a palpable personal three-dimensional tragedy at M Ensemble’s tale of an African tribe whose military was comprised of women.

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The Temptations Musical is Inarguably a Tempting Treat

Bio-jukebox musicals hinges on the strength of the music and the audience’s connection. Music takes you back to where you were and who you were. The exuberant production of Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts checks all those boxes.

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Be More Chill Is Uneven (But Mega-Pop) Sci-Fi Fantasy About the Hell of Being a Teen

A nerdy teenager struggling with being an outsider takes a pill with a dangerous computer that advises him on dealing with high school hell in Area Stage Company’s intriguing but flawed sci-fi fantasy musical Be More Chill which has been a huge hit with the target peer group.

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Once On This Island Is Glorious Tale of Storytelling And Song

Get yourself down to where Slow Burn is delivering a gift you’ll prize for a long time to come: Once On This Island is a glorious evening of storytelling and song, myth and magic infused with joy, passion and a deep belief that love is that saving grace of complex human existence.

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Armature Combines Race, Politics & Sex In Call For Change

Armature premiering at Island City Stage explores racism, politics, homosexuality, marital relations in tale suffused with humor and tragedy. The deeply committed work of the cast, co-directors and design team delivers the guts of Andrew Kramer’s overarching earnest call to aggressively address the social challenges of the day. But this admirable production illustrates the script still need a bit more work.

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Grease May Be The One You Might Want From MNM

Grease certainly is the word as the classic rock ‘n’ roll musical glides its way into a solid staging as the first joint production of MNM Theatre Company, North End Theater Company, and the City of Lauderhill. Add also the words energetic, entertaining and engaging as Grease’s enthusiastic cast takes its audiences back to the tunes and attitudes of 1959.

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FGO Streetcar’s Glorious Score & Superb Voices Not Quite A Meld With Tennessee Williams

Blessed with a glorious score and soaring arias, you would think that André Previn’s take on A Streetcar Named Desire would be a triumph as Florida Grand Opera’s first major production in two years. But as well worth it may be seeing, the collision of high-toned opera and Tennessee Williams’ theatrical drama simply do not meld into a single artistic whole.

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Rx: The Cure For What Ails You

For older audiences who see the number of expensive pills they take each morning magically multiply over the years, the wicked satire of Big Pharma in the otherwise romantic comedy Rx is welcomed at Boca Stage. But as cutting as Rx can be (one dotty scientist says “If I knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research”) the Rx that playwright Kate Fodor prescribes for the modern malaise is, yes, love.

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Love, Like Snow, Swirls Through Gentle Comedy ‘Almost, Maine’

The celebration of love in many permutations – from first connections to farewells – swirls around the stage like the snow and the aurora borealis lights in Palm Beach Dramaworks’ gentle, sometimes comic, sometimes bittersweet, consistently touching Almost, Maine. The vignettes about the quirky residents creating, testing, dissolving relationships is shot through with the hope that love can be found or rescued.

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A Deeper Look Inside Dramaworks’ Almost, Maine

There is a fifth crucial performer not mentioned in the playbill for Palm Beach Dramaworks’ upcoming production of “Almost, Maine.” High above the residents on a chilly Friday night in late January in the titular small town, a parade of lights flickers like the bottom of a multicolored curtain.

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