Author Archives: Bill Hirschman

Ronnie Larsen’s Musical ‘Come Out! Come Out!’ Shows Promise

Gay men, characterized as deviants in 1920s New York City, populate prolific playwright Ronnie Larsen’s new musical, Come Out! Come Out! at the Wilton Theatre Factory. Come Out! Come Out! is experiencing its world premiere in a vivacious production with promise, but needs more development.

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Miami New Drama Tunes Up Debut Of Wonderful World — A Louis Armstrong Bio-Musical

Energy suffuses rehearsals for Miami New Drama’s world premiere musical about Louis Armstrong A Wonderful World – not a revue but a highly-theatrical biography in which Armstrong’s famous numbers are infused as part of the plot or as character-revealing reveries.

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Maltz’s Brighton Beach Memoirs Makes Strong Memories

Home is the place where they have to take you in, to paraphrase Robert Frost. It’s also the place where every family dynamic plays out — love, resentment, growing pains, conflict, chaos, worry and secrets — as shown in the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s superb production of Brighton Beach Memoirs, smoothly directed with a first-class cast, the Maltz production hits all the high notes

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Upcoming Brighton Beach Memoirs Is Different Neil Simon

With the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s upcoming Brighton Beach Memoirs, director J. Barry Lewis says people need to “come forward with a new perspective on what a Neil Simon play is, not just what you think.”

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Satisfying Beauty And The Beast Will Keep The Adults Entertained As Well As The Kids

While the Broadway Palm production of Beauty and the Beast at Lauderhill Performing Arts Center will elicit giggles from the kids, this local edition is a surprisingly satisfying evening even for the adults thanks to fine voices, a live band and a cast that is fully invested in the work – not simply overacting for the less demanding children.

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Hamilton Remains Fresh, Vibrant Masterwork On Return Visits

Does it ever get boring being in the room where it happens?

No, it does not, as illustrated from the moment Aaron Burr begins recounting the story of this lad from the Caribbean who became one the United States’ Founding Fathers in the tight, engrossing production of Hamilton at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts through March 15.

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Riverside Tackles Neil Simon’s Multi-Faceted Lost In Yonkers

Something unexpected is on Riverside Theatre’s mainstage: A straight play. That’s right, no big box office-guaranteed lavish, toe-tapping musical Instead, patrons are getting well-developed characters, witty banter, heart-rending confrontations and the satisfaction of a good play well done in Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers.

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Beckett’s Existential Happy Days Gifts Triumphant Performance

Thinking Cap Theatre’s stunning production of Beckett’s Happy Days, offers an unmitigated triumph of a performance by Karen Stephens expertly molded by Nicole Stodard, but to say this absurdist bleak work is not for everyone is a gross understatement. Some will downright hate it. Others will be transfixed. Few will escape without considering whether how we use the time of our lives is meaningless.

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’20-21 For Primal Forces, Maltz Jupiter And Headlining Arsht Bway Tours: Hadestown

Another round of 2020-2021 season announcements has arrived with some promising titles — this time from Primal Forces and the Maltz Jupiter Theatre – plus a headline-making offering from Broadway Across America at the Arsht Center: Hadestown.

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Original Diego & Drew Come Out 2nd Time at the Broward Center

In 2016, the interactive gay wedding theatrical experience Diego & Drew Say I Do had a successful run at the Broward Center. Now it’s back for a second go ’round. It has grown up just a bit with a stronger cast and better comic timing throughout.

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