Author Archives: Bill Hirschman
FGO Hosts Moving If Flawed Tale Of Gay Cuban Poet-Dissident
The true-life narrative in Before Night Falls is profoundly powerful and undeniably affecting: Reinaldo Areneas, the gay Cuban poet, inspired by the beauty of the island but brutally oppressed by the government, escapes to America only to find that the loss of his homeland is as crippling as the loss of freedom had been.
Climb On The Raft With Huck And Jim In Slow Burn’s Big River
Classic American values of friendship, tolerance, freedom and a sense of subversive independence are lovingly and joyously resurrected in Slow Burn Theatre Company’s Big River, a revival-like celebration of an America that likely never existed but speaks to what we wish we had been and represent what we once hoped we’d be.
Working To Ignore The Ghosts In Maltz Jupiter’s Revival Of Gypsy
When a theater revives the musical Gypsy as the Maltz Jupiter Theatre is doing this month, there is always the ghost in the room. So the challenge for director Marcia Milgrom Dodge and her favorite leading lady Vicki Lewis is to preserve the iconic tropes while putting their unique fresh stamp on a work.
Stand Up, Wick Theatre’s Guys And Dolls Is Rockin’ The House
One quiet fear of frequent theatergoers is that some well-meaning troupe will bungle a piece they love and override precious memories with mediocrity. Well, breathe easier. The Wick Theatre’s rendition of Guys and Dolls, widely considered one of the best musical comedies ever written, is as buoyant and spirited a triumph as a fan could wish.
M Ensemble Returns Again To Canady’s Brother of the Dust
Blood may be thicker than water, but Brothers of the Dust at M Ensemble asks whether it’s thicker than land or greed or, crucially, dreams. M Ensemble presented this family drama three years ago with the same director and lead, but that familiarity has paid off with a deeper, more assured and more affecting experience for the audience than the first rendition
Something Larger Than Life Is Missing In Riverside’s Mame
Although Jerry Herman’s music and lyrics come alive again in Riverside Theatre’s production of Mame, there’s something missing. The larger-than-life part of this production is not eccentric Mame Dennis…it’s the scenery.
Wick Slates Drowsy Chaperone, Brigadoon, Singing’ In The Rain
The Wick Theatre in Boca Raton hopes that musicals connected to popular films will be an alluring draw in its fifth season, based on the three of the five titles it announced this week. But the season also includes a hilarious comedy calculated to appeal to its mainstream audience’s taste plus a revue of Jerry Herman music.
Danny Kaye Musical Entertains But Danny Himself Is AWOL
The Kid From Brooklyn, a bio-musical about Danny Kaye at Broward Stage Door, is blessed with strong singers, likable performers, a peppy period score, a fine live band, a few touching moments and other virtues – everything but one missing element. Danny Kaye.
Off-Beat ‘Love And Human Remains’ Fails In Its Ambition
While Infinite Abyss deserves praise for attempting the abysmal script for Love and Human Remains, they simply cannot force this intentionally bizarre journey rife with explicit sex, nudity, blood and emotional violence to seem like anything but a ham-handed amateurish mess.
Can It Happen Here? Mad Cat’s Surreal Take on Vaclav Havel Plays Will Unnerve Patrons
Mad Cat Theatre’s production of Vaclav Havel’s one acts Protest and Audience draw uncomfortably relevant visions of repressive totalitarian society.
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