All stories by Bill Hirschman on BroadwayStars

Monday, March 28, 2022

Slow Burn Gives New Life To Matilda Musical by Bill Hirschman

Slow Burn Theatre Company’s Matilda is a lesson in theater education, showing how a regional director takes a successful Broadway show and road tour and makes it his own highly entertainin…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:18AM
Sunday, March 27, 2022

Post-Partum Woes Turn to Madness in Theatre Lab’s Bow Overactive Letdown by Bill Hirschman

Buckle up if you’re attending the world premiere run of Overactive Letdown at Theatre Lab as a new mother spirals out of control in a harrowing descent into madness. Crumbling under the po…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:48PM
Saturday, March 26, 2022

Ben Butler About Race Relations Gains Added Spin at Boca Stage by Bill Hirschman

The comedy-drama Ben Butler was meant to explore race relations when it was first produced in 2014. But this tale about a runaway slave seeking refuge on the cusp of the Civil War has taken…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:18PM
Monday, March 21, 2022

Island City Wrestles Challenging Suddenly Last Summer by Bill Hirschman

Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer presents a considerable challenge for theaters to pull off with its quirky characters, its quirkier premise and its total abandonment of theatrical…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:36PM
Saturday, March 19, 2022

Zoetic’s Sondheim: It Doesn’t Get Much Better Thak This by Bill Hirschman

Some of the most skilled theater artists in the region deliver a gloriously funny and moving celebration of the work of the finest musical theater genius of the 20th and 21st Century in Zoet…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 03:07PM
Tuesday, March 15, 2022

SoFla Theaters Begin Relaxing Covid Measures For Patrons by Bill Hirschman

A sea of unmasked faces at FGO’s opening Saturday signaled South Florida theaters on the cusp of relaxing restrictions, some only for certain productions and some cautiously gingerly peer…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:12AM
Sunday, March 13, 2022

Revenge Still Isn’t Sweet But Sympathetic in FGO’s Rigoletto by Bill Hirschman

Time changes how we view classic works: In this edition of Rigoletto at Florida Grand Opera, the title “villain” who gets his comeuppance at the end of this revenge tragedy seems for mor…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:37PM
Friday, March 11, 2022

Frozen Is A Successful Heart Warmer by Bill Hirschman

No doubt most critics will try to weave in the title or lyrics of “Let It Go” in their reviews of the Broadway Across America production of the Disney’s Frozen at the Broward Center. I…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:33PM
Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Facts and Fiction Inspire Incisive Inquiry in Miami New Drama’s When Monica Met Hillary by Bill Hirschman

If you’re expecting Miami New Drama’s world premiere When Monica Met Hillary to be some D.C. spin on an Andy Cohen catfight, you’re going to be disappointed. Playwright Winter Miller, …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:06PM
Monday, March 7, 2022

Pigs Do Fly’s 2 Across Is No Puzzle, Just a Warm Comedy by Bill Hirschman

You may never view crossword puzzles the same way again after watching Jerry Mayer’s romantic, touching, and hilarious character-driven comedy, 2 Across. Fortunately, the Ft. Lauderdale-ba…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:54AM
Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Naples’ Gulfshore Playhouse Breaks Ground on $60 M Venue; Admitted To LORT Ranks by Bill Hirschman

Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples has used dependable artistic vision and generous patronage to defy the economic m breaking ground on a $60 million venue and being admitted to the League of Res…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 05:24PM
Monday, February 28, 2022

Shattering is Just One Way to Describe The White Card by Bill Hirschman

Shattering. Penetrating. Upsetting. Only a few of the adjectives elicited by Claudia Rankine's drama The White Card at GableStage, a searing if polemic evening cross-examining progressive wh…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:37AM
Saturday, February 26, 2022

Nothing is Simple in Boca Stage’s Thought-Provoking Luna Gale by Bill Hirschman

Social workers face tragedies in which there may be no satisfying solutions and in which the warring parties truly want “what’s best for the child.” Those dilemmas echo larger question…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 02:42PM
Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Dramaworks’ Duration Poses Troubling Questions About Who We Are Post 9/11& Today by Bill Hirschman

Bruce Graham’s world premiere The Duration developed at Palm Beach Dramaworks is an intellectually and emotionally powerful drama rooted deep in a post 9/11 world, but also in a timeless i…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:33PM
Sunday, February 20, 2022

MNM’s Sister Act Surprisingly Better Than Past Editions by Bill Hirschman

MNM Theatre Company’s Sister Act, is a work that you may not have taken to the first time or two, but can surprise you when a company invests freshness, energy and skill. You see it as if …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 06:12PM
Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Estefan Musical On Your Feet is Triumph at Actors Playhouse by Bill Hirschman

The moment after the house lights go down at Actors Playhouse, there’s a percussive warmup of Latin beat and then the auditorium explodes with a blinding almost deafening assault of light,…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:06AM
Monday, February 14, 2022

Maltz Reopens With Comical Romp on Acting, I Hate Hamlet by Bill Hirschman

The art of acting – alternately glorious and mundane – is celebrated in the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s return to live production after 700 days with Paul Rudnick’s delightfully comical …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:37PM
Saturday, February 12, 2022

Female Army Combats Colonialism in The Dahomey Warriors by Bill Hirschman

For the majority of white Americans, the word “colonialism” is an abstract term usually confined to college history courses. But in Layon Gray’s consciousness-expanding new drama The …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:48PM
Thursday, February 10, 2022

The Temptations Musical is Inarguably a Tempting Treat by Bill Hirschman

Bio-jukebox musicals hinges on the strength of the music and the audience’s connection. Music takes you back to where you were and who you were. The exuberant production of Ain’t Too Pro…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:33PM
Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Be More Chill Is Uneven (But Mega-Pop) Sci-Fi Fantasy About the Hell of Being a Teen by Bill Hirschman

A nerdy teenager struggling with being an outsider takes a pill with a dangerous computer that advises him on dealing with high school hell in Area Stage Company's intriguing but flawed sci-…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:18PM
Monday, February 7, 2022

Once On This Island Is Glorious Tale of Storytelling And Song by Bill Hirschman

Get yourself down to where Slow Burn is delivering a gift you’ll prize for a long time to come: Once On This Island is a glorious evening of storytelling and song, myth and magic infused w…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:06PM
Sunday, January 30, 2022

Armature Combines Race, Politics & Sex In Call For Change by Bill Hirschman

Armature premiering at Island City Stage explores racism, politics, homosexuality, marital relations in tale suffused with humor and tragedy. The deeply committed work of the cast, co-direc…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:36PM
Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Grease May Be The One You Might Want From MNM by Bill Hirschman

Grease certainly is the word as the classic rock ‘n’ roll musical glides its way into a solid staging as the first joint production of MNM Theatre Company, North End Theater Company, and…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:18AM
Sunday, January 23, 2022

FGO Streetcar’s Glorious Score & Superb Voices Not Quite A Meld With Tennessee Williams by Bill Hirschman

Blessed with a glorious score and soaring arias, you would think that André Previn’s take on A Streetcar Named Desire would be a triumph as Florida Grand Opera’s first major production …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 08:03PM
Saturday, January 22, 2022

Rx: The Cure For What Ails You by Bill Hirschman

For older audiences who see the number of expensive pills they take each morning magically multiply over the years, the wicked satire of Big Pharma in the otherwise romantic comedy Rx is wel…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:24PM
Thursday, January 20, 2022

Love, Like Snow, Swirls Through Gentle Comedy ‘Almost, Maine’ by Bill Hirschman

The celebration of love in many permutations – from first connections to farewells – swirls around the stage like the snow and the aurora borealis lights in Palm Beach Dramaworks’ gent…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:18PM

A Deeper Look Inside Dramaworks’ Almost, Maine by Bill Hirschman

There is a fifth crucial performer not mentioned in the playbill for Palm Beach Dramaworks’ upcoming production of “Almost, Maine.” High above the residents on a chilly Friday night in…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 06:12PM
Saturday, January 15, 2022

There’s No Place Like Homeland, Not Even What Was Once by Bill Hirschman

The concepts of home and homeland—especially when they are no longer the same place— have become even more complicated in the 21st Century for Cuban-Americans highlighted in Hannah Benit…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 05:24PM
Friday, January 14, 2022

Theatre Lab Postpones Next Show, Hoping to Outlast Surge by Bill Hirschman

Joining dozens of companies locally and across the country hoping a delay will outlast the worst of the surge, Theatre Lab has postponed its premiere of Last Night in Inwood slated for Feb. …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:42PM
Thursday, January 13, 2022

Savor the Flavor of This ‘Tootsie’ Pop at the Broward Center by Bill Hirschman

Sometimes, all we want is to just sit in a chair and be entertained by full-throated singers, appealing actors, solid dancing and a script that offers more than a few laughs. That sheer ente…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:24AM
Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Covid-Related Delays on Theater Expansion Cancel Maltz Show by Bill Hirschman

Described as two CAT5 hurricanes striking at the same time, the Covid spike has dealt the Maltz Jupiter Theatre serious blows including cancelling one big-budget musical Sweet Charity becaus…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:12AM