Reviews

“Jack Goes Boating” sets sails with terrific performances

  Jack Goes Boating is having a moment in South Florida. The movie version of the off-Broadway hit by Bob Glaudini is currently playing in South Florida theaters, starring Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, who created the role of Jack.’ …

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Nilo Cruz’s “Color of Desire” a sometimes exhilarating, sometimes flat drama of post-revolution Cuba

It’s autumn 1960 in Havana and everyone swirls in a dance of self-delusion. The harsh realities of the previous year’s revolution are closing in on the wary Cuban working class and the clueless Americans who still treat the country as …

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Finely polished “Motherhood the Musical” is a smash hit with big potential

You can pose as a sophisticated cynic and pretend that the middle-brow charms of Motherhood the Musical don’t get to you, but your laughter and sniffles will give you away. The world premiere of Sue Fabisch’s feel-good celebration of the …

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Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein” musical is monstrous good fun.

Mel Brooks’ classic 1974 film Young Frankenstein comes to life on stage in a musical that’s less mad than madcap scientist. The musical lovingly recreates the film, a black-and-white spoof/homage to the Frankenstein films of the 1930s. The plot follows …

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24-Hour Theatre marathon a night to remember

The South Florida theater community refers to the Carbonell Awards ceremony as “theater prom” because everyone dons formal wear and parties late into the night. They should start referring to The Naked Stage’s 24-Hour Theatre Project as “theater kegger.” Now …

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Strong cast elevates creepy “Angel Eaters”

The first image of Johnna Adams’ The Angel Eaters is provocative–a tableau of Depression-era characters, looking stunned and haunted, standing in front of a broken-down farmhouse. The next image is of a young girl being embraced by an otherworldly woman. …

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Weak cast does little to strengthen “Steel Magnolias”

The Broward Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs is reviving Steel Magnolias, that iconic chestnut about the strong friendships between a group of Southern women, in a lackluster production that fails to illuminate the winning aspects of Robert Harling’s sentimental …

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Caldwell�s “Follies” scores with talented cast

The unavoidable limitations of the Caldwell Theatre’s stirring concert edition of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies will only make you ache for a full production. The single piano standing in for an orchestra, projections standing in for opulent sets, 13 actors standing …

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Rising Action’s amateurish “Fit To Be Tied” unfit for any stage

David Goldyn, producing artistic director of Rising Action Theatre, has a talent for creating theatre spaces. His previous storefront location in Oakland Park had a decidedly non-strip mall intimate ambiance. His new space on the Sunshine Cathedral campus in Fort …

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“Pandemonium” makes a beautiful noise at Arsht Center

If you close your eyes, the music wafting from the Arsht Center stage occasionally sounds as if an orchestra of oboes and trumpets is playing. But for most of two hours, Pandemonium delivers a glorious symphony of banging, slapping, toots, …

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