And queens return to NWS THUR 4/28 Gustav Mahler was a crotchety young man. In his twenties he agonized for five long years over his Symphony No. 1 in D Major (Titan), which was, for its day, a schizophrenic tour de force, rocking back and forth between calm and fury,…
It’s difficult to decide which moment is the most disturbing in The Loman Family Picnic, now in a masterful production at the Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton. Is it the opening, with a haggard housewife continuously repeating her desperate mantra — “Ilovemylife, Ilovemylife, Ilovemylife” — as she stares at a…
Kyle, a likable young man with a slightly geeky aura, sits alone at the edge of the stage and talks disarmingly to the audience. He is an astronomer, so he talks about the stars. He loves poetry too. Most of all, though, he loves Zoe — his first high school…
Comedy of Errors: This uneven take on Shakespeare’s early comedy is an odd mingling of the hapless and the intriguing. The old tale of mistaken identity among not one but two sets of identical twins is given a film noir look from the Forties, a choice that has visual appeal…
Adler Guerrier’s solo show “loss/entry/return,” a series of works on paper and photographs at Fredric Snitzer Gallery, presents an artist in transition. At first glance the exhibit made me think of fireman Guy Montag’s remark in Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451: “It’s all about the intellect.” Guerrier has always been an…
Beyond Geometry: Experiments in Form, 1940s-70s: There are still a few days left to see this amazing exhibit, which provides a fresh look at some of the most significant connections among contemporaneous works produced in America, Europe, and Latin America during this 40-year period. Worth noting: Max Bill’s Tripartite Unity,…
Back for a seventh year, the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival kicks off an early hot summer with ten days of movies, parties, and pride. Indies and majors from here and from abroad come together April 22 when Craig Lucas’s highly anticipated The Dying Gaul opens the festival as…
It is both quite a coup and a kooky touch to have landed Bea Arthur as the gala diva of ceremonies of the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. The Tony-winning, Emmy-hoarding, age-defying human rights activist and entertainment dynamo will perform a short version of her acclaimed one-woman show, And…
“No more soccer!” declares small-time thug Sing (writer-director-star Stephen Chow) as he vigorously stomps on a child’s ball. In the context of Kung Fu Hustle, it’s a pathetic attempt by Sing to make himself look tough. The larger signal, however, is to followers of Chow’s work — it’s a direct…
Being a good student at the University of Miami can be hard. Besides the regular load of course work, the campus is like a microcosm of South Beach, with muscled young men and barely legal, scantily clad females everywhere. Despite the steamy atmosphere, Brian Bellinkoff and Fizaa Dosani stay centered…
THUR 21 Toward the end of John Waters’s suburban satire Serial Mom, one of Beverly Sutphin’s (Kathleen Turner) pet peeves becomes her undoing. During her trial, she notices a juror’s white shoes and confronts her in the hallway. “You can’t wear white after Labor Day!” Sutphin shrieks as she clubs…
They may be beautiful, lithe, and mesmerizing to watch, but dancers also need to be savvy in times of diminishing funds for the arts. Rather than competing against one another, local dance companies are combining resources for the first annual Miami Beach Dance Festival. “We started the festival about a…
In celebration of women SAT 4/23 The Nineties was a phenomenal decade for women in popular culture. Radio gave major airplay to females who sang their own songs and often played their own instruments. The plaintive sounds of Alanis Morissette, Tori Amos, Jewel, Fiona Apple, and Natalie Merchant were all…
Local boy takes a hike THUR 4/21 The tales of wilderness derring-do in Bill Bryson’s book A Walk in the Woods struck a chord with Daniel Miranda. Bryson’s adventures along the Appalachian Trail inspired this gung-ho guy to undertake a journey that took him six months and ten days to…
From minarets to rumpus rooms FRI 4/22 Ah, the Fifties. It was a time of prosperity, when women vacuumed while wearing high-heeled pumps and pearls, and Populuxe home décor was modern, not retro. Forget HGTV and TLC; tonight you can pick up plenty of decorating tips at the premiere of…
…Your Heart’s Just Not on the Island MON 4/25 The hybrid of rap, reggae, and salsa known as reggaeton has been simmering in Puerto Rico for more than twenty years, but only recently has it percolated over into the mainstream. Beginning with New York rapper N.O.R.E.’s crossover hit “Oye Mi…
Get your cycling and corn here! FRI 4/15 Plenty of “rollin’ on the river” jokes to be made, but the (Miami) Springs River Festival (often called simply “the regatta”) is serious fun. And this year that fun is elevated with the addition of bicycle racing. Sandwiched by Miami International Airport…
And inspiration for creative kids THUR 4/14 Anne Chu melds historical models and art-making techniques with modern mediums reflecting medieval Europe to the Chinese T’ang Dynasty in her works. The New York City artist’s first full-scale exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (770 NE 125th St., North Miami) features…
Ballet Etudes presents a classic SAT 4/16 Whether it’s a dance recital for proud parents or a lavish production showcasing the power and poise of the pros, there’s something special about the ballet. It’s so elegant and sophisticated. When a ballerina spins 32 times on the tip of one pointe…
Any production of a Shakespeare play, no matter how flawed, can uncover unexpected layers of meaning. Take Hollywood Boulevard Theatre’s threadbare Comedy of Errors, now at the Hollywood Playhouse. Tyro director Paul Waxman utterly fails to get the most basic staging right; his direction sometimes consists of actors wandering pointlessly…
BecauseHeCan: Arthur Kopit’s cautionary tale of a New York couple plagued by a crazed computer hacker is only five or so years old, but it already feels very dated. It’s obvious from the start that the creep is hacking computers, yet this information is served up as the Big Surprise…
The Artist’s Studio: Paintings, Photographs, and Sculptures by Joe Fig: Fig’s miniature constructions of artists’ studios encourage voyeurism. Viewers are invited to peek inside the cloistered areas where artists struggle with creativity in isolation, a kind of sacred atelier immune to the outside art world. Fig manages to respect his…
