Review: SOUTH PACIFIC at Broadway Palm

"South Pacific" at Broadway Palm.

"South Pacific" at Broadway Palm.

Give the guys, girls, Seabees, ensigns and officers of "South Pacific" credit. Broadway Palm tackles the show just three years after the spectacular Lincoln Center production toured Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall. Smaller in scale, but tight, taut - and maybe even more fun. Lord, some of those chorus boys need a tan though!

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Director Brian J. Enzman flits through Polynesia with skill and verve, navigating the islands like a native. "South Pacific" will never move like a modern musical.  They don't write them like that anymore for a reason, but listening to Paige Mattox sing "A Cockeyed Optimist," you almost wish they did.

Chief quibble? The music. Loren Strickland does wonders with a five-piece band. It just can't sound anything but thin in places, especially for a show written for a full Broadway orchestra. It can't be helped - but I'd love to give Strickland a larger band at least one night a week.

READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW...

"South Pacific" play Tuesday through Sunday with selected matinées through Feb. 15. Tickets are $35-$58. Call 239-278-4422 or broadwaypalm.com.

"South Pacific" at Broadway Palm.

Opening: BLACK TIE at the Naples Players

"Black Tie" runs Jan. 15-Feb. 8, 2014.
Call (239) 263-7990 or naplesplayers.org.

"Black Tie," the A.R. Gurney comedy, opens Jan. 15 at the Naples Players. Asia Johnson has replaced Jenna Canfield in the role of Elsie. John McKerrow directs.


Here's the cast, which we released a while ago.

Curtis: Jim Heffernan
Father: Val Kuffel
Mimi: Ellen Coper
Elsie: Asia Johnson
Teddy: Klinton Blair

"Black Tie," about one father's struggle to produce the perfect wedding toast, takes a torch to a lot old High WASP traditions like oyster stuffing and cuff links. Florida Rep produced the show in April 2012. Of the many works in the Gurney canon, "Black Tie" isn't a superb show, but it does offer an interesting culture clash. Read my review of the "Florida Rep" show here.

"Black Tie" runs Jan. 15-Feb. 8, 2014. Call (239) 263-7990 or naplesplayers.org.

Auditions: DISTRACTED at Naples Players

The Naples Players will host auditions for drama "Distracted" at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 11. Charles Kolmann will direct. Multiple roles are available, including one young boy age 8-12 and one female teen. Rehearsals begin Feb. 10. "Distracted" runs March 26 -  April 19. For more information, call (239) 434-7340, ext. 10.

Kolmann directed "Lend Me A Tenor" for the Naples Players in 2009 and "Twelve Angry Jurors" for the Marco Players in 2012. He also performed in the January 2013 Naples Players production of "Ghost-Writer."

Catch up with the kids in TheatreZone's WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND

There's lots of kids in TheatreZone's production of "Whistle Down the Wind."

Kids in the Deep South in the 1950s find an escaped convict hiding in the barn - and think he's Jesus. Happens every day.

The TheatreZone website indicates just 34 tickets available for "Whistle Down the Wind" and only a dozen tickets available for the February production of "High Society." If you want tickets, buy NOW.

"Whistle Down the Wind" runs Jan. 9-19, 2014. To purchase tickets, call 1-888-ZONE-FLA (1-888-966-3352); visit the onsite Box Office Wednesdays from 10 a.m. - noon or review seating chart and purchase tickets online at theatrezone-florida.com.

If you're not familiar with "Whistle Down the Wind," here's the Wikipedia entry on the show.

Get the cast for INTO THE WOODS at BIG ARTS Herb Strauss Theater

Original logo created by Martin Murphy

Stephen Sondheim musical "Into the Woods" opens Jan. 10 at the BIG ARTS Herb Strauss Theater. The show looks at the "after" in "happily ever after" and answers what happens when wishes really do come true.

A baker, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Jack (of Beanstalk infamy) and Little Red Riding Hood all go "into the woods," belting out the complex Sondheim tunes. A magical first half that seems to wrap up with "happily ever after" leads into a much darker second half.

The show really is all about sex, drugs and naughty things. I'd love to do an ultra-modern, super glam version where "the woods" is really a nightclub called "The Woulds," with the witch as the bartender (or drug dealer - she grows/sells "greens" you know). It would be fabulous.

Here's the cast. Trey Compton (Jack), Anne Chamberlain (Cinderella), Elizabeth Urbanczyk (Witch), John Ramsey (Baker), Cloe Sabin (Baker’s Wife), Jessica Humphrey (Little Red Riding Hood), Julie Arensman (Jack’s Mother), Bobby Conte (Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince), Sami Doherty (Rapunzel), Taylor Murphy Hale (Rapunzel’s Prince), Miguel Citron (Mysterious Old Man/Narrator), Dianne Hembling (Cinderella’s Stepmother), Sabrina Chantel (Florinda), PJ McCready (Steward) and Brittany Albury (Lucinda).

Kathy Deitch directs.

"Into the Woods" runs Jan. 10 - Feb. 15. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday with 2 p.m. matinees on Wednesday, Jan. 22 & Wednesday, Feb. 5. Additional 4 p.m. Sunday twilight shows available on Jan. 12, 19, 26 and Feb. 9.

Tickets are $42 for adults and $5 for children and students with a valid ID. Call the BIG ARTS Marks Box Office at (239) 395-0900, Strauss Theater box office at (239) 472-6862 or bigarts.org. The BIG ARTS Herb Strauss Theater is located at 2200 Periwinkle Way on Sanibel, opposite the Island Cow restaurant.

Naples Players casting for February ETC play readings

The Naples Players are currently casting for the next ETC Readers' Theatre production, a series of one-act plays.

No experience (on-stage or off) is necessary; no memorization is required. The plays will be performed as a series of one-act staged readings in the smaller Tobye Studio. Performances require limited rehearsal time, no costumes and no blocking.

Interested? Email Patti Caroli at copychic@aol.com to "bring out the actor in you!"

Here's what you need to know:
- Volunteers should have  a Naples Players "Volunteer Application Form" on file with Becky Troop. Call 239-434-7340 x14 for more information.
- Roles are available for 7 men and 11 women.
- Performance will be Sunday, Feb. 16; arrive by 6:30 p.m.
- There will be one mandatory rehearsal on Saturday, Feb. 8 from 1-4 p.m.
- Directors may schedule additional rehearsals for individual shows as needed.

REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES runs Jan. 10-19 at the Firehouse Community Theatre in LaBelle

"Real Women Have Curves" runs Jan. 10-19.

The Firehouse Community Theatre in LaBelle will present Josefina Lopez play "Real Women Have Curves," the story of five Mexican-American women working in a sewing factory in East L.A.

The show, directed by Joel Hawkins, offers an incredible look at the immigrant Latina experience. Aida Barnhart, Letty Balderas, Bridget Facundo, Myra Johnson and Bianca Ross play the five women.

"Real Women Have Curves" plays at 7 p.m. Jan. 10, 11, 17 & 18 with 2 p.m. matinees on Jan. 12 & 19.

For tickets ($12 in advance, $14 at the door), call (863) 675-3066 or firehousecommnitytheatre.com. Advance purchase recommended as shows often sell out.

The Firehouse Community Theatre is located at 241 North Bridge Street in historic downtown LaBelle; three blocks north from the intersection of SR80 and SR29 and just 28 minutes from exit 141 on I-75.

Additional photos and the complete press release after the jump!