Author Archives: Bill Hirschman

Theater Shelf: Tony Nominations For Musicals Represented on CD

The 2013-14 Broadway season has produced a wide variety of scores from musicals that we are fortunate to have had recorded commercially. Indeed, the season has been marked by a notable raft of very well recorded cast albums that will be reflected at the Tony Awards, many marvelously packaged.

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Area Stage’s [title of show] Is Musical Theater Geek Heaven

If you know who Alice Ripley is, if you recognize the name of the musical Brooklyn, then [title of show] at Area Stage Co. was written for you. While its scruffy charm should amuse a general audience, this musical satire is theater geek heaven crammed t with humor rooted in Broadway inside baseball lore.

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Estrogen-Infused Cougar The Musical at The Plaza Theatre Goes Limp Due To Cliched Script

There’s fun to be had at Cougar The Musical at The Plaza Theatre because of the cast, but don’t expect a lion’s roar — this Cougar hungers for better material.

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Island City Stage’s The Pride Joins Worlds Apart Eras With Skillful Perfection

Island City Stage’s production of the thought-provoking The Pride understands the beauty and depth of this remarkable play —and, done right here, makes us question our history, both individually and collectively.

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Outre Kills It With Bleak, Minimalist True-Crime Musical

Thrill Me, a stunning musical about the child murderers Leopold and Loeb, closes out Outre Theatre Company’s season with a two-man, one-act piece noteable for offbeat immediacy and barebones potency of a feverish fringe festival favorite.

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A Fresh New Argentina, Of Sorts, For Evita At The Arsht

This national tour of the 2012 Broadway revival of Evita is a strong fresh edition that gives the raw material a thorough makeover but does not deconstruct the piece. The experience is helped immeasurably by the clarion voices of the lead actors. The only facets missing most of the time are the electric sizzle and raging passions that marked earlier productions.

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Naked Stage Unleashes Mercurial Emotions In Miss Julie

For a century, August Strindberg’s tragedy Miss Julie has been interpreted as a seesaw of power exercised through class and sexual politics. But in Naked Stage’s operatic production, as lives lie in ruins, everyone ultimately is revealed a slave, never a master, when they toy with those three elements.

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New Theatre Neatly Untangles A Gordian Knot In Gidion’s Knot

This is why we go to theater. New Theatre’s Gidion’s Knot – wrenching, thought-provoking, shocking, visceral in ways no film can be– exemplifies why we spend time in dark rooms watching live people pretend to be people they’re not.

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Memory Is the Real Villain In Zoetic’s The Great God Pan

The unreliability of memory — and the resulting doubt and guilt — swirl through Zoetic Stage’s finely crafted production of The Great God Pan.

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High School Theater Students Take Home Cappies Awards

High school theater students from 18 public and private schools throughout Broward and Palm Beach counties took home awards from the 12th annual Cappies Awards Gala held Monday, hosted by the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

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