Tag Archives: Patti Gardner

Wick’s Fiddler Suffused With Joy, Sadness & Memorable Tevye

the Wick has been trying for 10 years to acquire the rights to stage Fiddler. Well, the time has finally arrived. But tickets may be hard to obtain; Fiddler on the Roof is an immensely popular show. A large, talented cast of performers, several of them recognizable faces from other South Florida theater productions, invests the Wick’s mounting with joy and sadness.

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Boca Stage’s Different Take The Odd Couple (Female Version)

The zingers in Boca Stage’s female version of The Odd Couple sound familiar but hardly stale like something left in Olive Madison’s refrigerator for who knows how long. Rather, you welcome the wisecracks as you would greet a dear old friend whom you haven’t seen in ages. Perhaps that is because we badly need laughter in a world in which bad news seems to surround us.

Posted in Performances, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ordinary People Face Global Meltdown In Theatre Lab’s Tragi-Comedy Last Night In Inwood

In movies, “ordinary people” facing a dystopian challenge miraculously find courage and composure. We would be more like the extended family slowly coming unglued in Theatre Lab’s premiere of Last Night in Inwood as civilization disintegrates.

Posted in Performances, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

GableStage Reopens With Superbly Mounted The Price

GableStage’s Joseph Adler died shortly after his direction of The Price was cut short by the pandemic. His successor, Bari Newport, took his notes, cast, creative team and infuses it with her own sensibilities. The production would make Joe proud. Theater to make you think about your own lives. Newport’s insightful direction of superb actors navigates the dense story of past sibling strife that has crippled their present.

Posted in Performances, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Studying Themselves Instead Of Lines, SoFla Artists Look At Lessons From Pandemic

Many artists define themselves by a calling that relies on faith that their art form will always be there. But in 2020, the foundation of their sense of who they were and what they believed made their lives worthwhile vanished. They were forced into introspection about the primacy of their profession and their art in their lives. Here, they reveal what they learned about South Florida theater and especially themselves.

Posted in Features | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Story of a Life Traces Harrowing Journey of Alzheimer Caregivers

It’s an obvious truism that most theater art – from dialogue to the lighting design – is partly a product of the artists’ past experience. But playwright-director Amy London’s Story of a Life, a harrowing examination of generations caring for loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, is ripped directly from the marrow of her own painful past.

Posted in Features | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Theater Artists Struggle With Unique Fears, Fallout And Uncertainty From Virus Drama

Six months into the pandemic, theater artists are struggling with a profoundly damaging dimension particular to their purgatory-like limbo: The calling that gives their lives meaning requires interaction with other people in the same room. Late this summer, 33 South Florida storytellers agreed to draw back the curtain on their backstage battles that form the spine of an all too real three-act drama.

Posted in Features | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ordinary Americans Digs Into Tragedy Of Blacklisting

GableStage’s co-production with Palm Beach Dramaworks of the world premiere of Ordinary Americans traces TV icon Gertrude Berg as she battles blacklisting, featuring stellar performance by Elizabeth Dimon.

Posted in Performances, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Andy And The Orphans: Funny, Poignant And Unsettling

Resulting from Down syndrome as an adult, Andy’s simple, blunt and truthful verbal reactions to the complex statements and relationships swirling around him slice through the theater space and the artifice of the play form itself with a painfully accurate if non-judgmental slash in Primal Forces’ powerful Andy and the Orphans, which is as incisively affecting as it is quite, quite funny.

Posted in Performances, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Neil Simon’s Gingerbread Lady: Harrowing Descent Into Alcoholism — With Laughs

Neil Simon’s dark comedy The Gingerbread Lady gets a fine production at Primal Forces featuring a bravura performance from Patti Gardner.

Posted in Performances, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment