Author Archives: Bill Hirschman
Uneven Yellow Brick Road At Stage Door’s ‘The Wiz’
Soul and spirit are characteristics we would expect from a production of the multi-Tony-winning musical The Wiz. And, to be fair, Stage Door Theatre’s mounting is, at times, spirited, hip, sassy and soulful. Several scenes feature vivacious acting and expressive singing. But too often, this production is tedious and even moribund.
Painful Drama, Absurdist Comedy Commingle In Dramaworks’ House on Fire
The script and the production of Palm Beach Dramworks need some refining, but when it’s most in the pocket, the world premiere of Lyle Kessler’s House on Fire dances a delicate pas de deux between comedy and tragedy, tension and levity, verisimilitude and whimsy, operating in its own subgenre of magic realism aka screwball existentialism.
The Hamilton Survival Guide
The ground-breaking record-breaking Tony-winning Pulitzer-winning musical Hamilton is expected to attract unprecedented numbers of fans and newcomers when the national tour arrives at the Broward Center this month. But that raises a dozen logistical challenges, starting with where will as many as 2,600 people attending each show at the main Au-Rene theater find places to park, and how will officials handle potential traffic jams?
Angie Radosh Gives Harrowing Performance In Breadcrumbs
Angie Radosh’s face, not to mention her body language, provides an unimpeded view deep into the soul of a writer battling an inevitable descent into the spiral of Alzheimer’s disease in Primal Force’s unnerving production of Breadcrumbs. Her tour de force provides another of the don’t-miss acting performances of the season to date.
Family Strife, Motherhood & Hope In Theatre Lab’s Tar Beach
The emotional cauterizing of an already withdrawn teenager by a family dynamic of furious fights and fierce sibling rivalry forms the core of Tammy Ryan’s Tar Beach, receiving a sensitive examination from Theatre Lab.
Exploring The New Work: Dramaworks’ House On Fire
When a theater produces Death of a Salesman , it’s not unknown territory. The director can adopt, adapt or depart from what has been done before. But when it’s a world premiere such as Palm Beach Dramaworks’ upcoming Lyle Kessler’s House on Fire, there are no roadmaps other than the still evolving script about which even the playwright is making discoveries during rehearsal.
Tale As Old As Time — With Puppets: Beauty And The Beast
It’s unfair to the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s Beauty and the Beast — which is as thoroughly charming on its own merits as you could ask — but understandable that the focus is diverted to its use of puppets to portray the enchanted household objects. So, yes, the vision that Producing Artistic Director Andrew Kato and director John Tartaglia came up with does indeed work, .
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