2,710 stories by "Bill Hirschman"
The star did become ill at Actors' Playhouse's production of In The Heights and a substitute did go on Saturday night with only a few hours rehearsal, but the classic backstage story had sev…
The Carbonell Awards ceremony falls on April Fools' Day (restrain your quips), But that also means it's time for the annual grousing column about nominations.That said, I wish the judges ha…
Theater Shelf, a recurring feature, reviews recently-released books, CDs and DVDs of interest to theater lovers. Some are popular titles like a new Original Cast Recording, others are works …
Fela! is stunning in both senses of the adjective: exhilarating to the point of paralyzing the observer with elation and overwhelming to the point of numbing the observer. Powered " and we d…
GableStage's production of Amy Herzog's play 4000 Miles is a puzzle. We can tell you the intriguing premise, we can sketch out the plot, we can describe the engaging characters, we can prais…
Lungs at Arts Garage seems to be about a young couple debating whether to bring a baby into this perilous, even doomed world. But in the wake of plot twists, Duncan Macmillan's breathtaking …
New Theatre has announced its second entry in its Boomfrog Series of theater works with a bit of an edge and aimed at a younger, diverse audience: Bird in the Hand by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñ…
By Bill Hirschman Another option has emerged for the future of the Coconut Grove Playhouse — a partnership among Miami-Dade County, Florida International University and GableStage to o…
The initial production two years ago of Brothers Beckett, an insider's reportage on Millennial angst, was not an artist's sketch at the Alliance Theatre Lab. But its current revival feels fa…
But legendary Broadway composer/lyricist Jerry Herman has spent his life as an unapologetic champion of leaving audiences after two hours feeling diverted. So diverting is the right word for…
This observer had trouble sussing out the cerebral depths that playwright Annie Baker intended in her quite funny meditation Body Awareness at the Island City Stage/Empire Stage production. …
It's been a long, long time since a locally-produced musical has thrust inside an audience's collective chest to touch its heart like Actors' Playhouse's triumphant production of In The Heig…
Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle theatre has announced four of the six shows for the 2013-2014 coming season in Coral Gables.
By Bill Hirschman Often, a review starts with a recapitulation of the momentous issues raised by the opus and perhaps giving a nod to its social and artistic context. Not this time. Tragedy …
Quick Hits Two one-actor shows have been added to this month's calendar in the last few days, one about noted Floridian Zora Neale Hurston and the other about Nazi hunter Simon Weisenthal. K…
With hardbodies gyrating in knife-sharp choreography to infectious music, Flashdance The Musical is a happy surprise in which undeniable skill, energy and talent trump material about as subt…
Nancy Barnett, former managing director of Florida Stage which focused on mounting new plays, has been named executive director of the National New Play Network, a leading champion in develo…
A muted clarinet makes beautiful music, but sometimes what's called for is the blare of a clarion trumpet and the insolent snap of a snare drum. That's the problem facing the almost but neve…
If you ever wanted to see local theater actors up close, out of stage makeup and dressed to the nines, tens and several other figures, tickets are now on sale to the 37th annual Carbonell Aw…
The proof that Stefanie Powers' reincarnation of Tallulah Bankhead had thoroughly seduced the audience at the revival of Looped was not the waves of laughter at how adroitly she tossed off p…
This Broadway Across America edition of Les Miserables is not some cynical attempt to wring just one more quart of milk from the cash cow. Instead, this is a legitimate revival in the deepes…
AAPACT'S ambitious The Amen Corner is earnest and heartfelt although most of the time, the characters and their tragic spiral simply don't feel genuine or organic. But every 20 minutes or so…
The Maltz Jupiter Theatre plans a massive $2.5 million renovation that will include adding VIP seating, building a more elaborate lobby with 12-foot ceilings, expanding the building itself t…
There's certainly an appetite for WaistWatchers: The Musical " a show for the ladies who lunch as a girl's day (or night) out, which would account for one-quarter of Sunday's audience being …
Stephanie Powers is stepping in as the emergency replacement for the lead part in a play in which she has 80 percent of the lines, doing it with less than two weeks' rehearsal, and re-creat…
