Current Productions for the week of March 5, 2012

The Pitman Painters by Lee Hall
at Palm Beach Dramaworks Until Mar 11
In 1934, a group of Ashington miners hired a professor to teach an art appreciation evening class. Rapidly abandoning theory in favour of practice, the pitmen began to paint. Within a few years the most avant-garde artists became their friends and their work was acquired by prestigious collections; but every day they worked, as before, down the mine.


Billy Elliot: The Musical
at The Broward Center for the Performing Arts Until Mar 11
Based on the international smash-hit film, Billy Elliot is Set in a small town, the story follows Billy as he stumbles out of the boxing ring and into a ballet class, discovering a surprising passion that inspires his family and his whole community. A big musical with an even bigger heart, Billy Elliot will enchant the dreamer in all of us. Music by Sir Elton John, Lyrics & Book by Lee Hall.


Beau Jest by James Sherman
at The Tamarac Theatre of Performing Arts Until Mar 11
Sarah is a nice Jewish girl with a problem: her parents don’t know she is dating a WASP executive named Chris Kringle. She tells them she is dating a Jewish doctor and they insist on meeting him. She plans a dinner party and employs an escort service to send her a Jewish date to be Dr. Steinberg. Instead, they send Bob Schroeder, an aspiring actor who is extremely convincing in the role and Sarah's parents are enraptured. Soon, even Sarah falls for Bob.


Sweet Charity
Featuring Margot Moreland as Charity
at The Boca Raton Theatre Guild Until March 18
Sweet Charity tells the story of an optimistic young woman, Charity, who not only wears her heart on her sleeve, she's had it tattooed to her arm! When Charity finds herself taken advantage time and again she vows never again. The next night she finds herself trapped in an elevator with a claustrophobic tax accountant who soon sweeps Charity off her feet. Soon it becomes clear that this man is different, but will he still feel the same about her when he finds out that Charity works at the Fan-Dango as a dance hall hostess?


Agatha Christie: The Unexpected Guest
at Lake Worth Playhouse Until Mar 18
A thriller as well as a puzzler set in a foggy estate in Wales; this mystery opens as a stranger walks into a house to find a man murdered and his wife standing over him with a gun. But the woman is dazed and her confession unconvincing. So the unexpected guest decides to help her and blame the murder on an intruder.


Last of the Red Hot Lovers by Neil Simon
at Miami Stage Door Until Mar 25
Barney Cashman is middle‐aged, overweight, and married. He wants to join the sexual revolution to have one last fling. Knowing that his mother's apartment is empty on certain days he lures three different women there and attempts to seduce the,. He bungles every attempt. He utterly and hilariously fails at seduction. In desperation he asks up the only other woman he can think of: his wife.


The Unseen by Craig Wright
at Promethean Theatre Until March 25
Two men imprisoned by a totalitarian regime and mercilessly tortured for unknown crimes, Wallace and Valdez live without hope of escape or release. When an enigmatic new prisoner arrives and begins communicating in code, both men develop new relationships to each other, their captors, and themselves. A darkly humorous examination of faith in an uncertain world.


Cleansed by Sarah Kane
at Thinking Cap Theatre Until Mar 31
Set in some kind of institution, part of a university set aside as a sanatorium for mental patients or drug offenders, but this is not completely clear. It also partly seems like a dream sequence, a drug-induced hallucination, or a future totalitarian regime ridding itself of undesirables. The head of the institution is Tinker, a drug dealer/doctor, who rules over it calmly meting out torture, brutal death, and pseudo-medical experimentation.


Working by Stephen Schwartz
at The Caldwell Theatre Company Presents Until April 1
Based on the best-selling book of interviews with American workers by Studs Terkel, Working explores the American workday from the Monday morning blues to a working person's pride in having "something to point to." Music by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked), Lin Manuel-Miranda (In the Heights), and Grammy award winner James Taylor.


A Steady Rain by Keith Huff
at The Gable Stage Until Apr 1
This hard-hitting Broadway smash chronicles love and rage on the streets of Chicago. A domestic disturbance call sends two cops, friends since childhood, on a harrowing journey that will test their loyalties and change their lives forever. As their lifelong friendship is put to the ultimate test, both men must deal with honor and loyalty in the face of adversity.


Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman
at Mosaic Theatre Until April 1
Set in an unnamed country that is, like the author's native Chile, emerging from a totalitarian dictatorship, the plot revolvs around Paulina, her husband Gerardo, and Dr. Miranda, a seemingly friendly stranger who provided Gerardo with a ride home after a car breakdown. The trouble begins when Paulina claims to recognize Miranda's voice, and accuses him of being the unseen doctor who had subjected her to horrific torture during her days as a prisoner of the country's former government.


The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Music and Lyrics by William Finn / Book by Rachel Sheinkin
At Waterfront Playhouse Until April 7
H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S! This jubilant musical is about a group of quirky prepubescent overachievers who are pitted against each other in the spelling challenge of a lifetime. They are overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves. Ultimately, the nerdy and the wordy learn that winning isn’t everything and that losing doesn’t necessarily make you a loser. Infectious songs and a laugh-out-loud script (Tony winner for Best Book) make Spelling Bee a winner!


Joseph And The Amaxing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber / Lyrics by Tim Rice
at Actors Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre Until April 8
The international musical sensation created by the team that brought you Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar, is a fun, hip, colorful and tuneful adaptation of the well-known Biblical tale of Joseph. The melodious contemporary score features familiar songs like Close Every Door To Me, Any Dream Will Do, and Go Go Go Joseph.

Posted in: Current Productions