Author Archives: Bill Hirschman
The Lion King Roars Back Into The Broward Center With Much Of The Original Magic Intact
Disney, for all its theatrical sins, deserves credit for at least one benefit: You can see what your parents were talking about when they raved about the magic of some theatrical piece from back in the day. Because the return of The Lion King shows Disney knows how to keep that magic alive.
Breaking News: Florida Grand Opera To Cancel Next Season In Broward Without $400,000
Large-scale opera productions would disappear from Broward County during the 2015-2016 season if area patrons and corporations do not pledge at least $400,000 by the end of this month, the Florida Grand Opera announced late Tuesday afternoon
Cutting Edge Mad Cat Still Challenging Audiences As It Nears 15th Anniversary
Mad Cat Theatre Company’s approaching 15th anniversary is cause to assess its place in the local arts scene. Mad Cat may not have been the first company in South Florida to produce the thespian equivalent of rock n’ roll theater. But it was among the first and it remains the sole survivor of that vanguard.
Report From New York: Scorching Disgraced Is Classic Thought-Provoking Theater
Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer-winning Disgraced is a scalding rebuke to anyone who thinks that any section of our society has come to an intellectual or emotional homeostasis about social, cultural and geopolitical divisions.
Talkin’ In The Green Room With… John Manzelli
Welcome to a regular, if intermittent feature: Irreverent, lighthearted question & answer sessions with some of South Florida’s best known professionals Producer, director, fight arranger, educator, arts advocate, and artistic director, John Manzelli has been best known in recent years …
Disney’s Precisely Manufactured Beauty And The Beast Tour Can Still Charm An Audience
This sharply honed, finely tuned, precisely executed national tour of Beauty and the Beast piece of theater inexplicably does not seem stale. If there isn’t an overflowing sense of soul pouring from the stage, no one is coasting; everyone is throwing every shred of craft they possess into it. You know it works because the opening night audience went crazy at the curtain call.
Report From New York: Seaworthy The Last Ship Shouldn’t Be Allowed To Sink
Back in the day, whenever that was, a Broadway musical that had a raft of virtues but wasn’t a perfectly satisfying piece had a good chance of running an entire season. But with astronomical running costs and ticket prices, such survivals are rare these days. The Last Ship is currently a test case whether that paradigm is still possible.
Report From New York: You Can’t Take It With You Still Celebrates The Free Spirit
You Can’t Take It With You features some inspired performances (and some surprisingly disappointing ones) in a production with a sagging first act completely redeemed by two acts of jocularity if not hilarity.
Report From New York: The Real Thing Remains A Puzzlement
Tom Stoppard’s play about the war between head and heart in romance, The Real Thing, is reputedly his most accessible. Yet on my fourth connection with it through the revival at Roundabout Theatre Company, it still doesn’t cleanly despite a starry cast.
The Best Of Times Is Now: Memorable Moments Of 2014
Here’s a look back at 2014 including a very subjective subjunctive reductive list of outstanding shows, performances and developments guaranteed to make someone unhappy they were not on the list. Take comfort in that there was so much good work that this is the crème de la crème de menthe.
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