Tag Archives: Mark Della Ventura

Playhouse’s Noises Off Is Inherently Funny, But Uneven

Noises Off is one of the funniest farces written in the English language and a solid match for Actors Playouse talents. The laughs are plentiful, but this production didn’t wring everything out of this piece that you’ve seen done elsewhere.

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A Theatrical State Of The Union For South Florida Fall 2016

A different season advance: Quietly, oh so quietly, the 2016-2017 theater season in South Florida is shaping up to be as notable for tidal growth, contraction, ebb and flow as it is for the actual productions scheduled.

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Punchline’s So Timely 50 Shades Of Hillary Is Raucous, Irreverent

Regardless of your politics, Punchline Theatre Company’s 50 Shades of Hillary is a treat to relish for the machine-gun comedy and the high octane performances of these four remarkable actors.

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Punchline’s I Love You Because Indicates Promising Future

Punchline Theatre Company’s adorably scruffy puppy of a msuical comedy about modern relationships, I Love You Because succeeds because every aspect — from the performances to the direction to the material itself — is so appealingly and earnestly presented with both self-deprecating humor and unguarded heart.

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Punchline’s #Unhappy Hour Is Intriguing Field Trip Into World Of South Florida Millennials

Because they write what they know, the five playwrights of Punchline Theatre Company’s #Unhappy Hour provide another peek into the evolving saga of Millennials in America in the 21st Century – South Florida Division. It’s an unusual imaginative slice-of-life that is engaging and illuminating despite that some facets work better than others.

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Looking Back At South Florida Theater’s 2015: Taking Chances Financially And Artistically

2015 produced a wild variety of snapshots to paste in the theatrical scrapbooks: a male Dolly Levi, a homicidal dimwit slicing carrots, a kidnapper forcing her captives to learn nonsense, a tsunami engulfing a Japanese village, a green-gunked survivor of toxic sludge singing love songs to his blind librarian girlfriend. You know, just another year for regional theater in South Florida.

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Not Your Grandma’s Theater: The 2015-2016 Season In SoFla

South Florida theaters still mount familiar warhorses, but the 2015-2016 season is proof that companies realize the future of theater is to attract pre-retirement audiences with shows steaming fresh out of Manhattan, edgy intellectually challenging works, imaginative takes on familiar titles, regional premieres of shows you only read about in The New York Times over the past few years and some shows you have never heard of, period.

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Start Spreadin’ The News: Mad Cat, Della Ventura, Dramaworks, Actors’ Playhouse, Zoetic, Stage Door, Island City, Theatre League

There is so much news in South Florida theater this summer that we’re going to run our own version of a glib as we tick off the headlines of much, but not even half, of what’s happening in the region and involving its artists and audiences.

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Can You Spell Hilarious Or Poignant? Slow Burn’s Bee Can

Slow Burn Theatre Company gives the perennial favorite The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee as excellent a production as we’ve seen of it, hitting the perfect balance between the hilarious and poignant, marked with a child’s exuberance for living and an adult’s compassion for the angst over the process of losing innocence.

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Trot Out The Superlatives For Actors’ Playhouse’s Ragtime

As far as large-scale Broadway musicals, Ragtime stands as Actors’ finest mainstream work ever, as accessible and satisfying as it is passionate and thoughtful. Anyone who cares about musical theater, or theater in general, should make a special effort to see this production.

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