Tag Archives: Laura Hodos

We’re Still Here: A Look Back at South Florida Theater 2022

Quite a come back year: World premieres, epic musicals, moving two-character dramas, you name it. Here’s not so much a “best of the year” list – no such list can be reliable or complete – but a random recognition of outstanding performances, productions, trends and just moments that theaterlovers will carry with them into 2023.

Posted in Features | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Story of a Life Traces Harrowing Journey of Alzheimer Caregivers

It’s an obvious truism that most theater art – from dialogue to the lighting design – is partly a product of the artists’ past experience. But playwright-director Amy London’s Story of a Life, a harrowing examination of generations caring for loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, is ripped directly from the marrow of her own painful past.

Posted in Features | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Theater Artists Struggle With Unique Fears, Fallout And Uncertainty From Virus Drama

Six months into the pandemic, theater artists are struggling with a profoundly damaging dimension particular to their purgatory-like limbo: The calling that gives their lives meaning requires interaction with other people in the same room. Late this summer, 33 South Florida storytellers agreed to draw back the curtain on their backstage battles that form the spine of an all too real three-act drama.

Posted in Features | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sparkling Wit Suffuses Island City’s Veronica’s Position

Creatures with the kind of quick wicked wit you only wish you had, the kind who rarely let pass the opportunity for a pithy exit line, populate Rich Orloff’s Veronica’s Position in Island City Stage’s thoroughly entertaining production.

Posted in Performances, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Slow Burn’s 9 to 5 Carries A Little Extra Spin In #metoo Era

When the 9 to 5 bowed in 1980 , the movie about women rebelling against being taken advantage of was downright funny, even if the injustice and sexism it depicted was universally acknowledged as all too common. The musical version revived by Slow Burn Theatre Company is still pretty funny, but in the wake of the #metoo movement, it inherently contains a bit more topspin on the revenge fantasy against behavior now deemed inexcusable.

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Freaky Friday Is Fun For Kids, But Resonating For Adults

Put aside your expectations that the musical Freaky Friday is going to be yet another manipulative Disney raid on its popular film titles, designed primarily for those who fondly recall one of three cinematic versions. Instead, Slow Burn Theatre Company has delivered a thoroughly enchanting evening, one of most polished and downright fun productions it has offered in recent years.

Posted in Performances, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wick’s Drowsy Chaperone Is A Sterling Send-up of Classic Bway

The Wick Theatre’s marvelous and contemplative rendition pulls off The Drowsy Chaperone with boundless charm and effortless sophistication. The Wick has enjoyed its share of highlights over the past five years, but this Drowsy Chaperone might just exceed its 42nd Street and Oklahoma! as the young company’s pinnacle.

Posted in Performances, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Riverside Theatre Building Its Own Housing For Visiting Artists

The Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach has come up with a solution—build its own housing for professionals which has become a major expense for many theaters.

Posted in Features | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Company Has Shining Moments, Falls Short Of What Could Be

MNM’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking musical Company is intermittently lit with incandescent performances worth the price of admission by themselves, but the overall piece disappointingly lacks crispness, passion and, until the last 10 minutes, heart.

Posted in Performances, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Go Find Your Grail With Arthur & Company At MNM’s Spamalot

The MNM production of Monty Python’s Spamalot is silly and stupid.
Thank goodness. This edition of one of the funniest musicals of the past couple of decades revels in, savors, exults, wallows in the anarchic wacky vibe enshrined in the source material, the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Posted in Performances, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment