Here’s a double bill you don’t see every day: Alan Ayckbourn’s two plays House and Garden are now in simultaneous production at the Actors’ Playhouse in Coral Gables. Both are set during the course of one August day in the English countryside, sharing one large cast of characters and a…
It’s not perfect and it needs work, but there’s a lot to enjoy in Nefertiti: A Musical Romance. Billed as a new musical, but an entire generation in the making, this production bears a history as fascinating as the ancient Egyptian love story it traces. The creation of Nefertiti has…
There’s a moment toward the middle of Louie and Ophelia when the newly enamored title couple gets into a verbal fight. Then Louie turns on the television and the theme to All in the Family begins to play. It’s definitely humorous to hear the song, and the allusion to the…
Aunt Dan and Lemon: Wallace Shawn’s dark, provocative tale of sex, nihilism, and the seductive appeal of raw power has to do with one woman’s malevolent influence on a reclusive young girl in the London of the swinging Sixties. The play is a talkathon, but an intriguing one, and there’s…
Children’s theater isn’t given a lot of respect here in South Florida. First-class productions often receive very little public attention, and few shows are reviewed, much less considered for awards. Some sloppy performances by badly directed, inexperienced actors may have given the genre a bad reputation, but the Actors’ Playhouse…
Although the quality may fluctuate, EDGE Theatre productions are often doused with wit and commentary as they confront issues affecting our collective social psyche. Reality TV, in which writer/director Jim Tommaney challenges the corrupt television industry, is no exception. The result is a largely successful, thought-provoking, and satirical presentation of…
Derek Jarman’s Blue may be that weird and wonderful filmmaker’s weirdest and most wonderful film. Striking imagery informs all of his movies, from Sebastiane right through the queer classic Edward II, but Blue is literally about 80 minutes of nothing but a blue screen, with the bells and whispers of…
Aunt Dan and Lemon: Wallace Shawn’s dark, provocative tale of sex, nihilism, and the seductive appeal of raw power has to do with one woman’s malevolent influence on a reclusive young girl in the London of the swinging Sixties. The play is a talkathon, but an intriguing one, and there’s…
If you were ever in doubt about the theater’s ability to provoke, check out Aunt Dan and Lemon, a creepily ambivalent play about sex, fascism, and the malevolent power of ideas, now at the Sol Theatre in Fort Lauderdale. But be warned: Although the show asks some troubling questions, it’s…
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…
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…
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…
Anyone for numerology? Many cultures are keen on the study of numbers for their mystical powers. Visit certain immigrant neighborhoods in southern California, and you’ll find plenty of addresses with the number eight in them but none with the number four. That’s because eight is revered as a sign of…
Without a lot of fanfare but before an immensely appreciative crowd, the most exciting orchestra in town was born last weekend at the Byron Carlyle Theater in Miami Beach. Livio Tragtenberg’s Nervous City Orchestra, an only-in-Miami version of the Brazilian composer’s 2004 Neuropolis, was a premiere, a celebration of the…
Aida: A powerhouse trio of principals makes the Actors’ Playhouse Aida a fabulously entertaining evening of theater and one of the season’s happiest surprises. For those who already love the show, here is a chance to experience the Elton John-Tim Rice score persuasively, passionately sung and acted by Desmon N…
This is how it all begins: Night falls, a group of people — a family, a clan, a tribe — gathers around a campfire. The flames crackle, the wind whispers, and under the starry sky, one person begins to tell a story. As the tale unwinds, the tale teller shifts…
Going from strength to strength in the Light Box Studio, Here & Now 2005 radiates the unmistakable glow of success. Fast on the heels of new works by Octavio Campos and Joanne Barrett came two new pieces unveiled last week: a winning tap-dance fantasy with a hip-hop edge called What?!?…
Aida: A powerhouse trio of principals makes the Actors’ Playhouse Aida a fabulously entertaining evening of theater and one of the season’s happiest surprises. For those who already love the show, here is a chance to experience the Elton John-Tim Rice score persuasively, passionately sung and acted by Desmon N…
The latest edition of the Miami Light Project’s signature commissioning program designed to nurture Miami-based artists, Here & Now 2005, is also its first co-production with the incipient Miami Performing Arts Center. Unveiled last week and continuing with a second program through Monday, March 28, at the Light Box, this…
