Reviews
Arts Garage’s Woody Sez Is Affable, Moving Songbook
Of course, any musical revue of Woody Guthrie’s work must end with the anthem “This Land Is Your Land.” What the musical revue Woody Sez at Arts Garage does is put that expression of patriotism and brotherhood in a sobering context of Guthrie’s chastening life experiences.
Sarah Kane’s Cleansed Is Violent, Surreal Offering
Like Kane’s Blasted at GableStage in 2010 and 4:48 Psychosis at Naked Stage in 2008, Cleansed defies reactions that involve verbs such as “liked” or even “appreciated.” Even more than those other two plays, this minimalist script given flesh and form by the imagination of director Nicole Stoddard is a harrowing and frankly upsetting descent into Hell jammed with random sadistic violence targeting those who dare love.
Sirois/Alliance Off Center of Nowhere Is Funny Sit Com Hiding Serious Theme
On the surface, David Michael Sirois’ Off Center of Nowhere is what would result if the Neil Simon of the 1970s wrote a rollicking comedy about teen pregnancy, abortion and racism, laced with a lot of profanity. The Alliance Theatre Lab’s world premiere is sit-com funny until it intentionally slams the audience into a concrete wall that will leave most observers stunned. That’s when you realize Off Center is really about the limits of how far people can bend their moral for loved ones before breaking. How unconditional is unconditional love?
Director & Star Deliver Fresh Hello Dolly As If It’s Brand New
There’s a brand new musical comedy you’ve never seen before playing at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. It’s something called Hello, Dolly! and if you think you’ve seen it before, we’ll argue with you. Because director/choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge and leading lady Vicki Lewis invest the Jerry Herman-Michael Stewart warhorse with a freshness that nearly obliterates the iconic images created by Gower Champion and Carol Channing.
Say Goodnight Gracie Brings Burns and Allen’s Story Back to South Florida
It’s grossly unfair to expect an actor to impersonate an icon who remains vivid in the audience’s memory, but watching the most recent incarnation of Rupert Holmes’ biographical Say Goodnight Gracie at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, you just keep wishing George Burns was there.
Tharp’s Come Fly Away Isn’t Theater But It’s Entertaining
Twyla Tharp’s surrogates in Come Fly Away effortlessly swirl and slide across the stage like you think you do in your dreams – and to sound of Sinatra yet, crooning “The Way You Look Tonight.” This 75-minute dance recital – it arguably doesn’t qualify as musical theater because there is not a shred of overarching plot – is an undeniably enchanting evening playing at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach this week and moving to Arsht Center in Miami next week.
Mosaic’s Death and the Maiden Is Taut Psychological Thriller
Torture, vengeance and morality take center stage in Death and the Maiden, a suspenseful thriller now receiving a riveting production at Mosaic Theatre in Plantation.
Promethean’s Swan Song, The Unseen, Is A Hell Of An Exit.
The cruel irony is that The Unseen, the last show before The Promethean Theatre closes its doors forever, is one of the finest productions that the company has mounted in its eight-year history. Craig Wright’s tale depicting two political prisoners tortured in a Kafkaesque dungeon is one of the most incisive explorations of existentialism since Waiting For Godot and No Exit. But the script is elevated to agonizing, visceral life by actors Antonio Amadeo, Andrew Wind and Alex Alvarez, led by the inestimable insight of director Margaret M. Ledford.
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