Mondays are Dark

Sunday afternoon, a national tour of Porgy and Bess teamed up with Orchestra Miami for one performance.  Geg Stepanich spoke with conductor Elaine Rinaldi, and cast member Reggie Whitehead for the Miami Herald.

Meanwhile, Christine Dolen of the Miami Herald gives us some more background on In The Heights, which opens Tuesday at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.  She talks with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alex Lacamoire, and Oscar Cheda.  IN fact, it turns out that Cheda and Lacamoire have a prior history:

The two met when Cheda was performing with a community theater group called the Lakewood Players in Kendall. Cheda got cast in The Pajama Game, and Lacamoire was hired to play piano. But because Lacamoire was just 13 then, Cheda would give him rides to and from rehearsals.

It's a small world.

Arsht wants your submission
Actually, they want you to submit a proposal to create an original work, according to BroadwayWorld.com.

Spotlight on Caras
The Shiny Sheet reports that Steven Caras of Palm Beach Dramaworks will be be the subject of a PBS documentary.  Caras, currently Development Director at the ten-year-old theatre company, started as the youngest male dancer ever hired for the New York City Ballet, and branced into many other disciplines.

Cruz on Creation
uVu has a video of Nilo Cruz speaking to student at the New World School of the Arts back in October.

Healthy Concessions
The PlayGround Theatre is asking for feedback on what kind of health-conscious snack patrons would like - on Facebook.

Read more...

Maltz Jupiter Theatre: Anything Goes (1 review)

The Maltz Jupiter Theatre opened its production of Anything Goes on March 9, 2101.

All aboard for this tuneful, tap-dancing, splashy transAtlantic romp awash with romance, intrigue and delightful Cole Porter score. Audiences are certain to get a kick out of this lighthearted gem of mistaken identities and misbegotten romance all set aboard the luxury ocean liner where Billy Crocker tries to woo the girl of his dreams. The smashing score includes You're the Top, I Get a Kick Out of You, and It's De-Lovely. Great for the entire family!

Marcia Milgrom Dodge directed a cast that included Bret Shuford, Tari Kelly, Richard Vita, Tom Beckett, Catherine Walker, and Anita Flanagan.

Hap Erstein reviewed for the Palm Beach Post:

...a tap-happy, carefree production that is too busy entertaining us to be concerned that its story line is paper-thin and hard to get emotionally invested in.

As good as Porter’s score is — front-loaded in the first act alone with such pop standards as I Get A Kick Out of You, You’re the Top, Friendship, It’s De-Lovely and the title number — Anything Goes is hardly a foolproof musical. But the Maltz hides that fact quite well, thanks to production numbers built by director-choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge (who staged the recent Broadway revival of Ragtime) and her puckish sense of humor.

Heading a strong cast, all of whom keep breaking into tap, is Tari Kelly as Reno. A dead ringer for Christine Baranski, she has a similarly dry comic delivery and a belter’s way with a song. Deft comic Tom Beckett manages to earn more laughs with the wheezy humor dealt to mobster Moonface Martin than seems possible, while Richard Vida and Catherine Walker are aptly toothsome and bland as the young lovers.

...you will be entertained and will surely leave the Maltz humming one or more of Porter’s tunes.

Anything Goes plays a the Maltz Jupiter Theatre through March 28, 2010.

Read more...

Heights reaches Broward Center

No, that title isn't backwards, and we're not talking like Yoda. While we can argue whether or not the Broward Center has reached new heights, the fact is that In The Heights is opening at the Broward Center next week. This show has extensive ties to South Florida, including actor Oscar Cheda and composer Alex Lacamoire.

The musical is this week's Stage Pick in The Miami Herald (which is odd, because you can't see it this week), and you can find the full history of the play at BroadwayWorld.com.

In addition to winning the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the show’s creator, won the Tony Award for Best Music and Lyrics, Andy Blankenbuehler won for Best Choreography, and Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman won for Best Orchestrations. The original cast recording won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, and Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to produce a feature film based on the smash hit musical.
-- BWW

EdgeMiami sits down with Kyle Beltran, who is playing the role Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote and originated himself.

"It’s funny, Lin is a rapper by trade, but I am a singer/actor by trade. So it’s a bit weird for me in this role because Usnavi is not meant to be a singer. A lot of the time I had to pull back my desire to sing it, sing it, sing it, because he’s a speech-singer; but whenever you create a character, you start from scratch. You’re not playing yourself, you sing like the character sings. And Usnavi’s primary form of communication is rap -- through rhyme-versed. That is what comes most naturally to him and is what the role demands."
--Kyle Beltran, to Edge Miami

It's an extensive interview, interspersed with video clips - definitely a good peak behind the scenes of the show. In this clip you can see Lin-Manuel, Robin DeJesus, Karen Olivio, and Kyle Beltran, and the entire cast of the tour, including Oscar Cheda.

In the Heights opens Tuesday, March 16 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts and runs through March 28.

Read more...