Author Archives: Bill Hirschman
Broward Stage Door’s Dramedy Butterflies Are Free Is Diverting Enough But Doesn’t Soar
The script for 1969’s Butterflies Are Free, holds up much better than you’d expect at its revival at Broward Stage Door. But while Stage Door’s edition under director Michael Leeds is a pleasant enough afternoon’s diversion of humor and emotion, it’s never terribly compelling and the whole thing could use more pizzazz to make it feel satisfying.
Civic Leaders Evolving Alternate More Ambitious $45 Mil Plan For Coconut Grove Playhouse
A proposal resurrecting the Coconut Grove Playhouse as a $45 million theater complex likely run by the Arsht Center is being solidified by civic leaders headed by Mike Eidson, chairman of the Arsht’s trust. The previously undisclosed strategy eclipsesthe current county commission agreement to build a smaller facility on the site of the renowned 50-year-old theater.
Theater Shelf: Sheldon Harnick, Melissa Errico, Jekyll & Hyde & Jekeyll & Hyde & Jekyll &….
Theater Shelf, a recurring feature, reviews recently-released books, CDs and DVDs of interest to theater lovers. Some are popular titles like a new Original Cast Recording, others are works you’ll be intrigued by, but didn’t even know about
Talkin’ In The Green Room With…. Michael Leeds
Michael Leeds is a director, teacher, actor, dancer and songwriter, but this interview shows he is a raconteur with a storehouse of stories ranging from the woman who did an I Love Lucy bit for her audition, to the time he may have upstaged Elizabeth Taylor while wearing a panda suit.
Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy Comes Home To Broward
Jungle Fantasy is one of a dozen Cirque Dreams’ productions that surround pretty impressive circus acts in otherworldly music, fluid lighting and spectacular costumes filled out by ultra-buff bodies. This edition has played all over the world since 2008 but it’s the first time that Neil Goldberg’s Pompano Beach-based company has brought it home to Broward.
Arsht’s Sensory H2OMBRE Brings Moister Meaning To The Phrase Immersive Theater
Worldless, disconnected, as neutral and interpretable as a Rorschach ink blot, H2OMBRE is a Cirque du Soleil-like show designed by and aimed at people raised on comic books and fantasy flicks. Anyone seeking a conventional definition of theater will be appalled. But this creation will close in on sheer nirvana for those seeking an immersive experience akin to a South Beach club erected at Comic-Con.
GableStage’s The Whale Is A Shattering Paean To Human Decency And Hope
Samuel D. Hunter’s The Whale at GableStage focuses on a morbidly obese man wanting to reconnect with his abandoned daughter before his imminent death. But the darkly funny and affecting play — awash in profanity, cynicism, alienation and fatalism — reveals itself to be about hope rooted in the innate decency inside scalded souls.
How To Gain 600 Pounds In Five Minutes: Gablestage’s The Whale
A five-foot tall assembly of beige bags hangs in the corner of Gablestage’s cramped communal dressing room, vaguely shaped like a tan version of the marshmallow monster from Ghostbusters. No one has yet christened this fat suit created for The Whale, but even without actor Gregg Weiner inside it, it feels like it’s a character.
A PaperStreet Web Design
