By AARON KRAUSE While summer camp is over for kids, a different kind of camp is in session for adults at Island City Stage (ICS). There, the side-splitting camp comic classic Die, Mommie, Die!, which is not for children, is keeping the laughometer as high as current temperatures in hot and humid South Florida. In its intimate black…
By AARON KRAUSE Accurately depicting Damon Runyon’s fantasy world of colorful characters can prove a tough task. In particular, a director and his or her cast must aim for broad comedy without coming across as cartoonish. To their credit, a talented cast succeeds in several respects with MNM Theatre Company’s production of the classic 1950…
By AARON KRAUSE It is frigid these days at Palm Beach Dramaworks (PBD). Therefore, frostbite is a distinct possibility in a part of South Florida. But a warmth also emanates from PBD’s stage. It is rejuvenating, wholesome, hopeful, and healing. Could that warmth, in fact, counter the effects of frostbite? In the play, Almost, Maine, anything…
By AARON KRAUSE A story that is ripe with rich, raw, and real emotion is often a tale worth musicalizing. Certainly, Frank McCourt’s award-winning memoir, “Angela’s Ashes,” is a work that fits into that category. Fortunately, composer/lyricist Adam Howell, and librettist Paul Hurt saw the musical possibilities in McCourt’s self-described “epic of woe,” a best-seller…
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 All Denitra Morgan wants is for her daughter, Noelle, to remain at the high school that she feels will provide the best possible education. But to the Black, working class, single mother, her goal must seem as far-fetched as school integration before the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown vs Board of Education…
By AARON KRAUSE A problem with online theater, especially a taped production, is that performers cannot take bows. In addition, the actors cannot bask in bravos, cheers, and sustained applause. Certainly, cast members of New Normal Rep’s inaugural production of the dramedy Jericho deserve high praise. They are offering impressively natural, nuanced performances. And New Normal…
By AARON KRAUSE Certainly, six years ago, “This too shall pass” carried the same meaning as it does today. But oh, how we yearn to believe a speaker of those words in this age of COVID-19. And so, when a character from Stephen Karam’s award-winning play, The Humans, utters the aforementioned phrase in a reassuring tone, the…
By AARON KRAUSE What are some “gifts” that you’ve brought to dark, anxiety-inducing times, places, or situations? Perhaps you smiled brightly while visiting a lonely, scared person forced to spend quarantine alone because she has no family or friends. Maybe another gift was your warm, re-assuring voice. Or, perhaps your gift was as simple as…
Actress Dame Diana Rigg, a renowned English performer who played roles such as Emma Peel in The Avengers and Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones, has died at age 82. In addition to these roles, the late stage and screen actress (July 20, 1938-Sept. 10, 2020) portrayed James Bond’s wife in the 1969 film On…
By AARON KRAUSE FT. LAUDERDALE — A man with much physical difficulty tries to reach the love of his life. Naturally, she seems overjoyed that hubby is approaching. And so, she cheers him on. Surely, he wants to make love to her. Or, at the very least, share a long, passionate kiss. And so, with…
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….
