The Scene for March 16, 2012

March is flying by; you're running out of time to rent your tux or buy your gown for the Carbonell Awards; do you have your tickets?  We do. 
We mentioned that we sat with Bill Hirschmann last week at the Mosaic Theatre fundraiser; somehow, the subject of Legends came up. It was a godawful show that was an excuse to tour two Broadway stars that had never shared a stage before, playing to aging Broadway divas who had never shared a stage before being cast a show that was an excuse to tour... well, you get the gist of it. The stars were Mary Martin and Carol Channing, who indeed, had never worked together before.  It was a famously bad play, and Bill was jealous that yours truly actually saw it.

Gary Beach was also in that production, and he's opening this week at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre in Hello, Dolly, a show that Carol Channing toured into the ground.  He had nothing to do with the failure of Legends, he was just caught up in the mess like everyone else.  With stars Beach, and Vicki Lewis, it's like the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre all over again.

Lots of great stuff opening this week; here's what's playing around South Florida this weekend...

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opening...

Hello Dolly opens at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre this week, starring Gary Beach and Vicki Lewis.

The Alliance Theatre Lab production of Off Center of Nowhere opens at the Main Street Playhouse this weekend.

The Theatre at Arts Garage presents Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie through April 8, 2012.

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you still haven't missed...

Death and the Maiden plays at Mosaic Theatre through April 1, 2012.

The Thinking Cap Theatre  presents Cleansed at Empire Stage through March 31.

The M Ensemble production of Harlem Duet plays at The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse through March 25, 2012

Critics are raving about The Promethean Theatre Company's final production, Craig Wright's The Unseen, which plays at the Nova Southeastern University Black Box Theater through March 25th, 2012.

Actors' Playhouse presents Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at The Miracle Theater through April 8, 2012.

A Steady Rain plays at GableStage through April 1.

Working plays at the Caldwell Theatre Company through April 1, 2012.

Last of the Red Hot Lovers plays at the Miami Beach Stage Door  through March 25th.

My Fair Lady  plays at the Broward Stage Door through March 25.

Laffing Matterz plays the Broward Center's Abdo New River Room, for its third season of dinner and comedy.

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last chance to see...

The Boca Raton Theatre Guild production of Sweet Charity at The Willow Theatre closes Sunday.

Fathers and Other Strangers plays at the African American Performing Arts Community Theatre also winds up its run this Sunday, March 18, 2012

Palm Beach DramaWorks' extended run of The Pitmen Painters comes to an end this Sunday, March 18, 2012.

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passing through...

My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy  plays at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts through March 25th.

Say Goodnight, Gracie  plays at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center through April 1, 2012.

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coming and going...

Come Fly Away plays at the Kravis Center through this Sunday, March 18.

Read more...

Actors' Playhouse; Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (2 reviews)

Actors' Playhouse opened revival of its production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on March 9, 2012.

The international musical sensation created by the team that brought us Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar, is a fun, hip, colorful and tuneful adaptation of the well-known Biblical tale of Joseph. The melodious contemporary score features familiar songs like Close Every Door To Me, Any Dream Will Do, and Go Go Go Joseph. Winner of the most Carbonell Awards ever and a favorite among Actors’ Playhouse’s award-winning musicals, Joseph... just had a recent revival and tour in the UK receiving rave reviews. The return of this colorful show validates that everyone’s a dreamer, and through Joseph..., audience members will experience a legacy of pure entertainment for the entire family.

David Arisco directed a cast that included Josh Canfield, Amy Miller Brennan, Nick Duckhart, Celia Lousie Merendi, Henry Gainza, and Christopher Kent.


Bill Hirschman reviewed for Florida Theater On Stage:

...it’s heartening to report that the latest edition by Actors Playhouse is a playful and imaginative riff that will entertain audiences who haven’t seen the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical in a while.

...the real stars of this production are Director David Arisco, Choreographer-Musical Stager Barbara Flaten and Musical Director Eric Alsford who imbue the procession of production numbers with the irreverent feel of a cartoon by Warner Brothers or maybe the Blues Brothers.... Arisco and Company have heavily peppered the oratorio with scores upon scores of unique touches of silliness that make you laugh against your better judgment.

But the success of any Joseph still relies on its two leads and Actors Playhouse has two strong smooth performers in Josh Canfield as a fresh-faced Joseph and Amy Miller Brennan as the genial Narrator. Certainly, Canfield (the religious partner in Caldwell Theatre’s Next Fall) and Brennan (Nancy in the Playhouse’s Oliver) don’t set the house on fire, but both have more than enough amiability to win over the audience and undeniably melodious voices to caress the score.

Nick Duckart, the doctor in the Playhouse’s Next to Normal last month, is a delightfully daffy Pharaoh giving the Elvis impersonation required by the role...  Duckart nails the goofball groove better than anyone else in the cast other than the rubber-faced David Perez-Ribada as Jacob’s brother Benjamin.

Noteworthy as well are Christopher A. Kent, a long-time Playhouse stalwart who channels Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast in his droll rendition of  “Those Canaan Days;” Walter Kemp II (late of Hairspray) delivers the lively “Benjamin Calypso,” and Henry Gainza, (the Playhouse’s William Barfee in Spelling Bee), ratchets up the energy quotient with Grand Ole Opry style “One More Angel in Heaven.”

Flaten’s choreography and musical staging are in a class by themselves, covering the wide stage with everything from a hoedown to a tango. Sometimes it’s especially inventive, other times it uses classic moves as an intentionally satirical comment.

After the disastrous sound quality at Hairspray earlier this year, designer Alexander Herrin ratcheted up the audibility and clarity for the Next To Normal. His sound quality for Joseph may even be better; every word is as clear as each individual singers’ diction allows.

Christine Dolen reviewed for The Miami Herald:

Though Actors’ earlier and new productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s college-era musical have some key elements in common, the just-opened Joseph is overstuffed with singer-actors and underperforming as inspired musical theater. Though director David Arisco is again at the helm, with Carbonell winner Barbara Flaten’s inspired choreography once more proving to be the show’s most consistently entertaining element, too much of the new Joseph looks and feels like a battle that the creative team lost.

The overall letdown is odd, because the large cast is full of talented, seasoned performers. Some deliver standout moments: Nick Duckart’s Elvis-style Pharaoh, Celia Louise Merendi’s sharp-but-nimble Apache Dancer, Josh Canfield’s aching Close Every Door as Joseph, Henry Gainza’s country-fried One More Angel in Heaven, Christopher Kent’s tongue-in-cheek Those Canaan Days.

Amy Miller Brennan, an attractive and polished pro with a lovely voice, plays the key role of the show’s narrator.... But Brennan, who has been done no favors by the costume team (design by Mary Lynne Izzo, coordination by Ellis Tillman), isn’t always given enough focus or purpose in the staging. Sometimes, she seems to be wandering through the show’s 30-member children’s choir, randomly patting a kid or two on the head as though they were toddlers.

Anyone new to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat may find this youthful Rice-Lloyd Webber effort sweet, silly and/or charming. But this Joseph doesn’t offer any compelling evidence that a second Actors’ production was a great – or even good – idea.

Actors' Playhouse presents Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at The Miracle Theater through April 8, 2012.

Read more...

Mondays are Dark

We hope you had a good weekend of theatre.  We had the honor of attending the Mosaic Theatre fundraiser, and somehow cadged a seat at the table with Bill Hirschman, who was honored with Mosaic Theatre's Jack Zink Spirit Award.  It was a delightful meal, shared with Bill's wife, the writer Oline Cogdill, Tony Finstrom, Beth Holland, Alvin Entin and his wife, and Jill Kratish.  Dinner was followed by a live auction, which was followed by Death and the Maiden.

Congratulations, Bill. Jack would be proud.

Not So Dark
Florida Theater On Stage reports that GableStage is hosting a reading of plays under consideration by City Theatre for inclusion in this year's Summer Shorts.
Also, an audition announcement for student productions at the Maltz Jupiter Theater, and an update on Miami playwright Lauren Feldman.

Number 6!
The South Florida Business Journal reports that South Florida ranks 6th in the nation for arts and entertainment jobs.

The tri-county area has 38,838 workers in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector, which has an average local pay per employee of $34,500.

It's proof once again that arts funding is jobs funding, too.

Palm Beach Mastery
BroadwayWorld fills us in on the upcoming Palm Beach DramaWorks production of Master Harold and the Boys.

Donation Inequity
The Huffington Post reveals that donations to arts organizations are even more uneven than wages to employees.

Let's put this in perspective: if there were one hundred people splitting $1 million according to the OWS breakdown, one lucky guy would get $250,000 and the other 99 would each get $7575, a ratio of 33:1. Now let's look at the nonprofit arts scene: if one hundred arts organizations were splitting $1 million dollars according to the NCRP breakdown, two lucky arts organizations would get $550,000 ($275,000 each), and the other 98 would each get $4591, a ratio of about 60:1. In other words, the income gap in the nonprofit arts scene is almost twice as wide as in the culture as a whole.

Keep this in mind when you get to the last story in our reading list.

She's Baaaack
Broadway World reports that the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts will be hosting the triumphant return of Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan.  Some of you may remember that she played her farewell tour back in 2005.  But apparently the 57-year-old former Olympian wants to give Ted Neely a run for "the actor most too old to play the role" slot in the Guinness book.  Ted Neely is more than twice the age Jesus was when he was crucified; Rigby is old enough to be the grandmother of the boy she's playing.  Well, to be fair, Mary Martin was 41 when she first donned the tights.

Silver Season
Actors' Playhouse is turning 25, and The Drama Queen goes over their 25th anniversary season line-up, which includes In The Heights, as does Florida Theater On Stage. Any bets on whether or not he gets Janet Dacal to reprise her Broadway turn as Nina?  And Oscar Cheda played Nina's father on the national tour...

Speaking of South Florida Broadway Stars...
Broadway World reminds us that Raúl Esparza will be opening Leap of Faith on Broadway next month, and includes a video interview with cast members of the show, including Esparza.  Meanwhile, TheatreMania reports that Mark Kudisch will be amongst the performers in the New York Philharmonic's Anywhere I Wander: The Frank Loesser Songbook, playing at the Avery Fisher Hall on March 26th.

Who Needs New York?
The Miami Herald reports that a number of local playwrights will see there work opening on local stages in the coming weeks.

The region’s most prolific playwright, McKeever has had work premiered at numerous theaters around South Florida. But he notes that things are different – and much better – now than when he started writing.

“There just weren’t world premieres here when I started 15 years ago,” he says. “Especially in the last five years, that’s changed. Florida Stage had a lot to do with it. Then the Caldwell and New Theatre and Actors’ Playhouse caught the bug. That’s Zoetic’s main focus. So many companies are developing and celebrating new work.”

Speaking of Zoetic
The Z-Spot gives us a look at the cast doing the initial reading of Zoetic Stage's next production, Michael McKeever's Moscow.

Final Exit
The Sun-Sentinel reports that the lead actor in a community theatre production of The Producers died on the day the show was scheduled to open.  And in the spirit of the ancient tradition, the show did go on at the Pembroke Pines Theater of Performing Arts.

Final Curtain for Promethean
The Promethean Theatre Company has struggled with little funding and poor attendance throughout its eight year existence, but always managed to attract the region's top talent and garner rave reviews.  They've even won the coveted Carbonell Award for their work.  But with support dwindling, the company has decided to close after the completion of its current production, the critically acclaimedThe Unseen.  Florida Theater On Stage spoke with executive director and company co-founder Deborah Sherman about the decision.

Read more...