Reviews
Florida Grand Opera’s Lucia di Lammermoor Is To Die For
Florida Grand Opera promised a season of Divas to Die For, and it couldn’t have been more on point in that respect with its 77th season opener, Lucia di Lammermoor. Gaetano Donizetti’s bel canto masterpiece may not be as familiar to operagoers as some of the classics, but it’s a crowd pleaser with its 15-minute tour de force which plunges Lucia into hysteria, drama around every corner, and a Romantic score of beautiful melodies.
Dreamgirls Cast Scorches The Paint Off Broward Stage Door
If producers mount the musical Dreamgirls, it’s a given that they have hired as Effie some astounding young diva capable of punching a hole in the back of the auditorium with her melisma. Indeed, Broward Stage Door has the Cat 5 voice of Sarah Gracel to headline this 35-year-old rousing examination about the interplay of fame, pop music, racism and the dangers of pursuing the American Dream.
Island City’s Hir: How Do You Move Forward When You No Longer Know Where You Are
In this uncertain world, the ever-changing standards of what life is or even should be make it nearly impossible to chart a path forward when we have less idea what might be ahead than Columbus. That may be one of the takeaways – there are likely a half-dozen more — from the nightmarishly dark but hilarious 2014 comedy Hir bowing at Island City Stage.
Zoetic Stage Deals Perfect Hand With Parks’ Topdog/Underdog
The cat and mouse game in Zoetic Stage’s Topdog/Underdog moves as swiftly and cunningly as the two characters’ dexterity in the shell game, which in this case is three-card monte, a street hustle card con. This is already one of those must-sees.
Love Never Dies: This Phantom Sequel Is More Of A Soap Opera, But Webber’s Music Still Soars
Love Never Dies is a sequel if not the equal to Phantom of the Opera from Broadway Across America at the Broward Center, but Andrew Lloyd Webber’s attempt for lightning to strike twice, while inherently flawed, is undeniably a lush, gloriously passionate and entertaining exercise that is exactly what it wants to be.
‘Evita’ Plays To The Masses With Thoughtful Complexity
David Arisco has directed Evita for Actors’ Playhouse three times. So, what’s different this go ’round? Well, to hear him tell it, the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical, written four decades ago about a celebrity turned power hungry politico in mid 1940s Argentina is even more relevant than ever.
Maltz’s Born Yesterday Is A Progressive Take On A Classic Didactic 1940s Comedy
Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s season-opening rendition of Born Yesterday can’t pave over the script’s glaring weaknesses, but it amplifies the source material’s progressive strengths. Director Peter Flynn has mounted a handsome and drum-tight production anchored by a pair of note-perfect leads.
Hank Williams’ Bio Musical Lonesome Highway Is Engaging
From its upbeat tunes to soulful longings, Hank Williams: Lost Highway takes Riverside Theatre audiences on a revealing musical story about one of America’s most important country singers.
Multi-Cultural Our Town Underscores Its Universality
Amazingly, in 2017 with its video games, alt right-antifa strife and uber-sophistication, Our Town is still our town. And no more so than in Miami New Drama’s inventive and often touching production that underscores the values of community in a time when our country seems as divided as it has ever been.
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