Performances

A Very Different But Fully Satisfying ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

Other than the outlines of Harper Lee’s plot, do not go to the superb national tour of To Kill a Mockingbird at the Broward Center expecting echoes of the cherished movie. The style, structure, approach, even subtle thematic emphases have been reimagined to create its own incisive offering, well-distanced from the 1962 film.

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Wicked Still Defying Gravity

So much has been written about Wicked—now 20 years on Broadway and making its umpteenth stop in South Florida—it seems like defying gravity to find something fresh to say about this popular musical. But that’s easy when Wicked’s latest incarnation is as entertaining as the production at the Arsht Center and transferring to the Kravis Center. 

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Slow Burn’s Practically Perfectly Delightful Mary Poppins

Of course, Mary Poppins does fly in Slow Burn Theatre Company’s glorious production at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. As the song goes, this Mary Poppins is “Practically Perfect,”

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Sharp Inquest Into Gender Politics At Heart Of Oleanna

Skilled direction and excellent performances plumb the deep currents in Oleanna, currently on stage at Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach. In fact, Riverside’s production is as sharp and pointed and keenly drawn out as is the very play itself.

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Boca Stage’s Different Take The Odd Couple (Female Version)

The zingers in Boca Stage’s female version of The Odd Couple sound familiar but hardly stale like something left in Olive Madison’s refrigerator for who knows how long. Rather, you welcome the wisecracks as you would greet a dear old friend whom you haven’t seen in ages. Perhaps that is because we badly need laughter in a world in which bad news seems to surround us.

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Moving Zoetic Stage’s Musical Is Far More Than Next To Normal

This Zoetic production of Next To Normal – easily one of the finest in its history — blesses the audience with a deeply affecting meld of fluid staging, glorious music and five superb performances clustered around an incandescent one by Jeni Hacker as Diana that exceeds superlatives.

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Please, Sir, We Want Some More: Maltz Jupiter’s Magical Oliver!

It’s expected the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s Oliver! would be a tuneful, well-executed evening. But those mild adjectives would not begin to do this justice to a benchmark for this company. This easily scores as a vibrant celebration brimming with life, lovingly delivered with talent and skill wrapped in joy.

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Teens Deal With Tumultuous ’80s in Defacing Michael Jackson At Miami New Drama

Michael Jackson never appears in the incisive Defacing Michael Jackson, although his influence is infused into the journey at Miami New Drama stage. But Aurin Squire’s insightful tale recreates a portrait of black teenagers growing up in the tumultuous Opa-Locka in 1984 amid race riots and the transformation from ghetto to multi-ethnic suburbia.

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Wick’s Damn Yankees Is a Joyful Return to Classic 1950s Musical

If you’re younger than Boomers and wonder what it felt like seeing a musical in the 1950s, or if you’re older and you yearn for what you saw in the 1950s, then take full advantage of the time machine humming at the Wick Theatre, a satisfyingly faithful revival of Damn Yankees, the kind of long fly to the bleachers as pin-striped athletes high-step to infectious hoedown music using bats instead of canes.

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Pretty Woman The Musical’s Echoes of the Film Should Please the Movie’s Fans

You’ll probably love Pretty Woman: The Musical if you adored the 1990 hit movie that launched Julia Roberts’ career. The story about a hooker who lands a fabulously rich guy and lives happily ever after is ripped almost word for word from the film.

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