By AARON KRAUSE Wolf and Badger, a taut, intense drama receiving a mostly strong world premiere production at the professional Main Street Players in Miami Lakes, presents a sobering reminder of the potentially grave consequences of drug use. The riveting, realistic production runs through Aug. 29 in Main Street Players’ intimate playing space. Folks also…
By AARON KRAUSE MIAMI –A black mother expresses a chilling, yet valid concern in American Son, Christopher Demos-Brown’s unflinchingly honest and heartbreaking play about race, set in present-day Miami. The woman implies that what happened to Emmett Till in 1955 could happen to her teenage son today, 65 years later. The mother’s worry is not that far-fetched….
By AARON KRAUSE MIAMI — Do yourself a favor: Do not think about Come From Away as just another show “about 9/11.” To be sure, this remarkable true story would not exist had the terrorist attacks on one of the world’s darkest days not occurred. But Come From Away, which is hardly depressing, is about so much more…
By AARON KRAUSE MIAMI — The woman of the moment rises. She approaches us with purpose, flashes a welcoming smile and waves warmly and enthusiastically to us. Perhaps the suddenly-skyrocketed wattage resulting from her warmth and brightness tempts us to silently hum the opening lyrics to the iconic title song. Of course, that number is “Hello, Dolly!,”…
By AARON KRAUSE CORAL GABLES, Fla. — If you wanted to write a truly satiric, but apropos commercial for Joshua Harmon’s unapologetically satiric, scorching play, Admissions, the advertisement might read something like the following: This is affirmative action and white, privileged, albeit liberal guilt on illegal drugs, alcohol as well as prescription drugs…all swallowed together. Then,…
By AARON KRAUSE MIAMI LAKES — Five Women Wearing the Same Dress may not be the most original play in the feminist/female power/sisterhood genre. But if you’re a woman who feels limited due to society’s expectations of females, this Alan Ball piece will embolden you and make you laugh frequently. One might think of Ball’s character-driven, ensemble…
By AARON KRAUSE CORAL GABLES, FL. — Our desire for affirmation that others value us is sometimes as strong as our hydration needs on a sweltering day. Playwright Halley Feiffer illustrates this with penetrating insight in I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard. But praying may not be enough when others reject us. Such rejection…
By AARON KRAUSE CORAL GABLES, Fla. — So…what do Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis have in store for an encore in Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre’s much-anticipated return engagement of Million Dollar Quartet? The foursome has re-created sounds that seem more crisp and controlled, without losing the vibrancy and electricity…
By AARON KRAUSE MIAMI — The people who birthed us can seem the most familiar and foreign individuals…at the same time. But what if you could make better sense of this and more with a special ability you possess? If you’re someone with cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s talent, you’re lucky in that way. Art’s power to…
By AARON KRAUSE MIAMI — People attend live theater because they “feel other people’s emotions, see the world like they do,” opines a character in Dancing Lessons. The character, Senga Quinn, could easily be talking about the play in which she appears. The taut, yet meaty piece by Mark St. Germain is running through March…
By AARON KRAUSE CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Creepy, foreboding music leaves a chill in the air at the beginning of GableStage’s practically flawless Southeastern premiere production of The Humans, about a middle-class family gathered for Thanksgiving. Such music that produces slight shivering is usually reserved for films by the likes of Stephen King or directed…
By AARON KRAUSE MIAMI — Exactly two years after the bio-musical On Your Feet! The Emilio & Gloria Estefan Broadway Musical opened for previews on Broadway, the first national touring production of the electric show about the Miamians opened – where else? – in Miami recently. And what a reception the large crowd gave the famous…
