Some information, finally, is beginning to trickle in about what's in store musically for summer 2008 in South Florida, including such anchors as the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival. Programming and, thus, special guests haven't been announced yet but the festival is most definitely back on in its classic formation, four weekends beginning July 11 through August 3. The ensemble's core remains founders Karen Dixon, flute (left), bassoonist Michael Ellert (center) and clarinetist Michael Forte (right) in the accompanying pbcmf photo.

The venue rotation remains the same, with each weekend's opening performance Fridays 8 p.m. at Palm Beach Atlantic University's Persson Recital Hall in downtown West Palm Beach, 8 p.m. Saturdays at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens, and 2 p.m. Sundays at the Crest Theatre at Old School Square in Delray Beach. Tickets were planned to go on sale about now, so the final announcement should come at any time.

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Hurricane season begins this weekend, so it’s time for the Gold Coast’s mountain birds to decamp for the Carolinas for the summer. Some of our actors are already waiting for you.

Renowned South Florida leading lady Barbara Bradshaw is starring in “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” at the Flat Rock Playhouse, about a half-hour’s drive south of Asheville, through June 7 (in a Flat Rock photo, at right). The Asheville Citizen’s Tim Reid, acknowledging Bradshaw as a regular up there as well, is impressed: “Six Dance Lessons” is the perfect showcase for Bradshaw, who can convey volumes in just an expression or tone of voice,” he wrote.

Further to the north, the Blowing Rock Stage Company, run by former South Floridian Ken Kaye, has begun its summer season with a musical revue called “8 Track” featuring our locals Lisa Manuli and Christopher A. Kent. Next up on the Blowing Rock agenda June 13-22 is the musical version of “The Immigrant.” No cast is announced, but it’d be perfect for Bradshaw who’s done the play version masterfully.

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Benchmarks are on tap for the London/Broadway musical smash “Les Miserables” and the off-Broadway musical phenom “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”

Over 20 years since its debut, rights for “Les Miz” were recently released to a handful of American professional regional theaters, including The Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables, which will produce the show next spring.

But the lease comes with a caveat – not to reproduce all the signature turntable scenic effects, but to use new staging ideas. What that means began to materialize this week in Philadelphia, whose Walnut Theatre is among the first regionals to mount its own production last week. And as for "Perfect," the show has been hit by the economic downturn and will close July 27 -- after 12 years and $200 million.

Of the Walnut's "Les Miz," Philadelphia Inquirer critic David Patrick Stearns wrote: “The Walnut crew confronted a challenge that was greater, actually, than it looked: To triumph, in this case, is to give a business-as-usual impression. And that they do.

“The new production looks and feels very much like the old, with eroding building exteriors that lend themselves to the show's numerous downtrodden locales, with more specific scenery arriving from the stage wings via double-decker wagons. The turntable versions of Les Miz had the action gravitating toward the center of the stage. At the Walnut, though there is less visual variety than in the original, director Mark Clements utilizes Todd Edward Ivins' design to send the action spilling out into the aisles in more functional moments, but also has it inhabiting the sides of the stage for worthy purposes.”

The show runs through Aug. 3 if you’re in that area. Or you can wait to see what TAP artistic director David Arisco finds up his own sleeve.

“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” is the second-longest running off-Broadway show in history, behind the seemingly unbeatable champ “The Fantasticks.”

A nice chunk of the $200 million came from tours and independent productions including South Florida, where the show set some local records in engagements at various theaters in Miami-Dade, Broward and the Palm Beaches, picking up some regional Carbonell Award honors along the way. Although New York will soon be off the books, it's still viable on the road and the kitty should keep growing for author Joe DiPietro.

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The Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall at Edison College in Fort Myers has been popping up lately as what appears to be becoming a favored launching pad for shows on national tour, and/or to break in new casts for shows in transition.

The latest word, this week, is that Mann will be the startup point for the second national tour of the musical “Wicked” when it cranks up for three weeks there, March 7-29, 2009.

The first national tour, now winding down in Rochester, NY, has played Florida’s east coast several times and won’t be back next season. The new company will move north from Fort Myers to Birmingham and Jacksonville en route to the northeast and Midwest next spring.

The three-week Fort Myers engagement indicates the still-growing southwest coast is becoming an important locale on the touring circuit – yet out of the spotlight enough to serve as the break-in points that Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa once served.

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You can grab a preview Thursday (May 29) or Friday of either half of City Theatre’s always-anticipated Summer Shorts program at the Arsht Center’s Studio Theatre in downtown Miami. But after more than a dozen years of experience, there’s no substitute for a weekend double-header, such as the official openings Saturday (May 31) at 6 and 8:30 p.m. with a picnic-style buffet dinner (optional) in between.

This year’s series of Programs A and B, approximately 90 minutes each of short dramas and comedies, runs at the Arsht through June 22. You can buy one or the other at any performance, or do both on weekends.

The main series then moves to the Broward Center June 26-29 – The time frame compacted due to the Broward Amaturo’s 600 seats vs. 200 at the Arsht’s Studio.

Coming along for the ride to Broward will be the company’s special package of short plays for kids and families, Shorts 4 Kids, for matinees June 26-28.

What isn’t making the trip to Broward, however, is the said-to-be-edgy new late night program called Undershorts, full of “social and political material … adult language, content and nudity.” Those playlets unspool only at the Arsht Thursday-Friday at 10 p.m. and Saturday at 11 June 12-14 and 19-21.

For details, visit the City Theatre, Arsht Center or Broward Center websites.

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Play readings are among the most important building blocks in theater, where plays are spoken and in many cases acted for the first time. But they can also be showcases for existing works that might rarely, if ever, get the opportunity for full productions. Examples of both are coming up in the days ahead.

Both events are upcoming in south Miami-Dade, though readings are also integral parts of such regional theaters as the Florida Stage, Caldwell Theatre Company and New Theatre, which have effectively used their reading series as incubators for main stage premieres.

Sunday (June 1) finds a top-rank cast reading Mario Diament’s “The Book of Ruth” for the recently-founded Theater By The Book program, at the Alper JCC, 11115 SW 112th Ave., Miami. On June 7, The Actors’ Playhouse at The Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables will present readings of its recent From Page to Stage competition, new plays by Carbonell winning dramatist Michael McKeever – “Unreasonable Doubt” at 3 p.m. – and “When the Sun Shone Brighter” by Christopher Demos-Brown at 7 p.m.

Most readings are rehearsed, so although actors may be “on the book” referring to the script, performances are acted throughout to deliver the dramatic and emotional content of the story.

Theater By The Book

Theater By The Book was founded by former New Theatre founder-director Rafael de Acha earlier this season, and has shifted venues a bit in recent months while looking for a regular venue. The program’s mission is to present classic plays – contemporary or vintage – in de Acha’s engaging multicultural world view.

Diament’s “The Book of Ruth” was produced by de Acha before he retired from the New Theatre, and it remains perhaps his favorite. Sunday’s reading includes Carbonell Award-winners Barbara Sloan and Jessica Peterson, with Sally Levin, Ramon Gonzalez-Cuevas, Marta Velasco, Margerie Lowe, Jonathan Angress and Larry Jurrist.

Following Sunday’s performance at the Alper JCC, the next readings will be July 6 and 7. The 6th, at 2 and 6 p.m., will be an adaptation of Alfred de Musset's 1833 play "Lorenzaccio" at the Alliance Francaise de Miami, 618 SW 8th St., Miami. The 7th will be de Acha’s own English adaptation/translation of Pedro Calderon de la Barca’s “Life’s Dreaming” (La Vida es Sueno), at 2 and 6 p.m. at Centro Cultural Espanol de Miami, at 800 Douglas Road (Suite 170), also in the Gables.

For more information, visit the Theater By The Book website.

From Page to Stage

The Actors’ Playhouse got funding from the Funding Arts Network to help sponsor its recent From Page to Stage playwriting competition. The readings announced this week for June 7 are envisioned as the first step in a possible “Second Stage” series of new works.

The Second Stage concept is not a certainty, but would fill an important void in the company’s legacy that’s been a persistent complaint among theater cognoscenti – TAP’s programming has been almost exclusively mainstream commercial throughout its two-decade history, a few award-winning high-profile musicals notwithstanding (such as “Violet” and “Floyd Collins”). A playreading series development toward fully-staged new works would join the important developmental work being carried out by the aforementioned and some other local houses.

TAP artistic director David Arisco will direct both June 7 reading presentations. There will be discussions with the audience led by a panel of theater pros after each reading, with enough time for a dinner break between at restaurants ranging from fast food to fine dining within walking distance.

For more information, check out the Actors’ Playhouse website or call 305-444-9293.

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The Broadway theater season officially ended Sunday (May 25), with last fall’s 19-day Stagehands strike blamed for a “slight decline in both paid attendance and grosses,” according to the Broadway League.

The number of new shows continues at pace level with recent years. A total of 36 new productions opened with 11 new plays (same as last season), eight musicals, one return engagement and 16 revivals. This year as last season, the number of new plays and important play revivals blunts the criticisms first expressed a decade ago that Broadway is becoming an exclusive musical row.

The box office numbers weren’t bad, either, with attendance of 12.27 million down just 0.2 percent, and box office receipts down from $938.5 million to $937.5 million.

“While we are disappointed that we didn't exceed last year's record-breaking season, we are confident that in the coming season, with such big name shows on the horizon as “Billy Elliot,” “Shrek,”“West Side Story” and “Equus,” to only name a few, that we will have the best season in recorded history," the League’s executive director Charlotte St. Martin said in a statement.

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Following through on its theme to pay tribute to Spain, the International Hispanic Theatre Festival will bring four productions from that country to anchor its 23rd festival July 9-27 in Miami. Another four are expected to arrive from Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Slovenia.

They will be joined by the fest's host company, founder and festival director Mario Ernesto Sanchez' (photo at right) Teatro Avante in Coral Gables, plus Miami-Dade College's Prometeo Theatre and a pair of Miami area children's troupes, Gira-Sol and Cuenteros. Various performances will be in Spanish or English, Slovenian and some with supertitles.

The opening attraction will be "El Llanto" (Event) by Federico Garcia Lorca and Enric Granados, performed by Barcelona, Spain's Octubre Teatral, July 9-11 at the Arsht Center's Studio Theatre. Other venues include Miami-Dade College's Wolfson (300 NE 2 Ave.) and InterAmerican (627 S.W. 27 Ave.) campuses, plus the Key Biscayne Community Center and Spanish Cultural Center.

Information is available at the Teatro Avante website, by phone 305-445-8877 and the Arsht Center.

Additional festival events include a day-long forum July 26 at the Spanish Cultural Center under the title "Current Trends in Latino and Latin American Performing

Arts", and a Lifetime Achievement Award presentation at 7 p.m. July 27 at the Arsht Studio to Madrid, Spain-based playwright and director Jose Sanchis Sinisterra,

plus forums after performances, and opening-closing receptions.

HISPANIC FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE PROGRAM

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, July 9, 10 & 11 – 8:30 P.M.
OCTUBRE TEATRAL, Barcelona, SPAIN
El LLANTO (Lament), by Federico García Lorca & Enric Granados
Created and directed by Jaume Villanueva.
Like poetry, Lament is, more than a plot, a mixture of feelings evoked by images of great beauty and content, feelings that slyly seep in through the pores to move us

deeply.
Adrienne Arsht Center – Carnival Studio Theater, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.
Tickets: 305. 949-6722 / 1. 866. 949. 6722 (Toll free) – www.arshtcenter.org – information: 305. 445-8877
(dance-theatre)

Thursday & Friday, July 10 & 11 – 8:30 P.M.
PROMETEO THEATRE, Miami-Dade College - Wolfson Campus, Miami, UNITED STATES
LOS INTERESES CREADOS (The Bonds of Interest)
By Don Jacinto Benavente. Directed by Joann María Yarrow.
Crispín, the hero of the story, is a crafty servant who manipulates a group of people by way of invisible strings. He dupes the respectable citizens of a sixteenth-century

city into believing that his impecunious master is a fabulously rich nobleman traveling incognito on a secret diplomatic mission.
Prometeo Theatre, Miami Dade College - Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. 2nd Ave., Miami
Tickets & Information: 305. 237-3262
(In Spanish with English supertitles)

Saturday, Julio 12 – 8:30 P.M.
Sunday, Julio 13 – 5:00 P.M.
ALQUIBLA TEATRO, Murcia, SPAIN
EL DÍA MÁS FELIZ DE NUESTRA VIDA (The Happiest Day of our Lives)
By Laila Ripoll. Directed by Antonio Saura.
In the 1960s, on the eve of their First Communion, the triplets stay up through the night awaiting the happiest day of their lives. Twenty years later, on the eve of their

joint wedding, the triplets replay their conversations, full of humor and not entirely devoid of clichés.
Adrienne Arsht Center – Carnival Studio Theater, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.
Tickets: 305. 949-6722 / 1. 866. 949. 6722 (Toll free) – www.arshtcenter.org – Information: 305. 445-8877
(In Spanish)

Saturday, July 12 – Key Biscayne
Sunday, July 13 – Miami Dade College, InterAmerican Campus
INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S DAY - 3:00 – 6:00 P.M.

GIRA-SOL, Miami, UNITED STATES
LA CUCARACHITA MARTINA LLEGÓ A MIAMI (Martina the Cockroach Comes To Miami)
Written and directed by Ibetti Pérez.
This is the story of a gluttonous mouse and other animals up to their usual tricks, and one in which minstrels interact with children. In the end, they all own up to their

faults and promise to stop lying and blaming their friends.
(Bilingual)

CUENTEROS, Miami, UNITED STATES
FABLES, A CHILDREN’S PLAY (Fábulas, Una Obra Infantil), based on Aesop’s fables.
Directed by Marilyn Romero.
An interactive, educational and entertaining show full of magic, beauty and morals, presented through the magic of theatre. Each fable serves as a teaching tool of

positive principles, where actors help kids discover them, with a beautiful original score and colorful and highly creative costumes.
(Bilingual)

PÉ DE VENTO TEATRO, Florianópolis, BRAZIL
BOM APETITE, written and directed by Pepe Ñúñez.
A frank and footloose clown invites the audience take an active part in the show, sharing the ridiculous and naive sides of human beings. On the menu there’s music,

magic, juggling, group games and, of course, much humor.
(Bilingual)

Key Biscayne Community Center, 10 Village Green Way, Key Biscayne
Reservations: 305. 365-8900 Information: 305. 445-8877
In collaboration with the Key Biscayne Community Center
Co-sponsored by the Key Biscayne Community Foundation and the Village of Key Biscayne

Miami Dade College – InterAmerican Campus, 627 S.W. 27 Ave., Miami
Reservations: 305. 237-6186 Information: 305. 445-8877
In collaboration with Miami Dade College – InterAmerican Campus
Co-sponsored by Miami Dade College.

Thursday & Friday, July 17 & 18 – 8:30 P.M.
CÍA. de PEDRO MARÍA SÁNCHEZ, Madrid, SPAIN
AMAR Y SER AMADO, o LA DIVINA FILOTEA (To Love and Be Loved, or the Divine Philothea)
By Calderón de la Barca.Directed by Pedro María Sánchez.
The Divine Philothea poses a battle, opposing forces, a dialectical, philosophical struggle between the soul, the world, the flesh and the devil. Here, soul, world and

flesh are enemies, opponents. This approach enables us to engage in a live theatrical game, not subordinated to doctrine, that each audience member may evaluate in all

its aspects.
Adrienne Arsht Center – Carnival Studio Theater, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.
Tickets: 305. 949-6722 / 1. 866. 949. 6722 (Toll free) – www.arshtcenter.org – Information: 305. 445-8877
(In Spanish)

Friday & Saturday, July 18 & 19 – 8:30 P.M.
LJUBLJANA CITY THEATRE, Ljubljana, SLOVENIA
AY, CARMELA, by Jose Sanchis Sinisterra. Directed by Mare Bulc.
Two varieté artists, Paulino and Carmela, survive the maelstrom of the Civil War by putting on cabaret performances in the Spanish countryside. In a dialectic of the

sublime and the ridiculous, a tragicomedy of deathly fear and fearless courage, the author offers an insight into this turbulent period of Spain’s history.
Prometeo Theatre, Miami Dade College - Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. 2nd Ave., Miami.
Tickets & Information: 305. 237-3262
(In Slovenian with supertitles in English)

Saturday, July 19 – 8:30 P.M. & Sunday, July 20 – 5:00 P.M.
METAMORFOSIS PRODUCCIONES TEATRALES, Madrid, SPAIN
ÑAQUE o DE PIOJOS y ACTORES (Thespians, or Of Lice and Actors), by José Sanchis Sinisterra.
Directed by José Sanchis Sinisterra & Carlos Martín.
Ríos and Solano, two actors from 17th century Castille, arrive in the here and now fresh from a long sojourn through space and time, dragging behind them an ancient

chest that contains all their theatrical props.
Adrienne Arsht Center – Carnival Studio Theater, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.
Tickets: 305. 949-6722 / 1. 866. 949. 6722 (Toll free) – www.arshtcenter.org – Information: 305. 445-8877
(In Spanish)

Wednesday & Thursday, July 23 & 24 – 8:30 P.M.
KOMILFO TEATRO, Lima, PERU
LA IMPORTANCIA DEL ABRAZO (The Importance of Embracing)
Written and directed by Pilar Núñez & Jaime Lema.
A story of two actors, their beginnings and their 20 years together, a history that we uncover over the course of a performance in which they face off and surrender so

as to create new common space, new time.
Teatro Prometeo, Miami Dade College - Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. 2nd Ave., Miami
Tickets & Information: 305. 237-3262 - (In Spanish)
Friday & Saturday, July 25 & 26 – 8:30 P.M.
THE CABRERA’S COMPANY, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
EL SISTEMA DE LA VÍCTIMA (The Victim’s System), written, directed & performed by Mónica Cabrera.
A meditation accompanied by humor and tangos on a malady that afflicts us: the sense that we are victims of injustice, puppets that ill fortune impels toward failure.

Written at a time in our history when it seemed the country was going under.
Teatro Prometeo, Miami Dade College - Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. 2nd Ave., Miami
Tickets & Information: 305. 237-3262
(In Spanish)

Thursday, Friday & Saturday, July 24, 25 & 26 – 8:30 P.M.
Sunday, July 27 – 5:00 P.M.
TEATRO AVANTE, Miami, UNITED STATES.
LA CELESTINA, by Fernando de Rojas. Adapted by Raquel Carrió. Directed by Lilliam Vega.
What truly grips us about La Celestina, who could be anyone, is the way in which old age pulls the strings of the age of innocence. At the end of the performance, we

are left with a question. That uneasiness, which has lingered for more than five centuries, is the secret thread that connects us through time.
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts – Carnival Studio Theater, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.
Tickets: 305. 949-6722 / 1. 866. 949. 6722 (Toll free) – www.arshtcenter.org – Information: 305. 445-8877
(In Spanish with English supertitles)

TICKETS:

GENERAL ADMISSION: $25
Senior citizens, students, physically challenged: $20
INFORMATION: 305.445-8877 * FESTIVAL FAX: 305.445-1301
TeAvante@aol.com * www.teatroavante.com

Adrienne Arsht Center – Carnival Studio Theatre - 305. 949-6722
July 9-27
EL LLANTO (LAMENT)
EL DIA MAS FELIZ DE NUESTRA VIDA (THE HAPPIEST DAY OF OUR LIVES)
AMAR Y SER AMADO, o LA DIVINA FILOTEA
(TO LOVE AND BE LOVED, or the DIVINE PHILOTHEA)
ÑAQUE o DE PIOJOS y ACTORES (THESPIANS, or OF LICE AND ACTORS)
LA CELESTINA

Prometeo Theatre at Miami Dade College - Wolfson Campus, Miami - 305. 237-3262
July 10-26
LOS INTERESES CREADOS (THE BONDS OF INTEREST)
AY, CARMELA
LA IMPORTANCIA DEL ABRAZO (THE IMPORTANCE OF EMBRACING)
EL SISTEMA DE LA VÍCTIMA (THE VICTIM’S SYSTEM)

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Is he back, or did he ever leave? Ted Neeley is still doing the honors in the title role of "Jesus Christ, Superstar" for the Andrew Lloyd-Webber/Tim Rice musical's appearance June 13-18 at the Broward Center. Neeley has been doing this particular gig since the fall of 2006 (when it played the Kravis Center) in what has been billed as the Farewell Tour.

Neeley understudied the role in the original Broadway production (opened Sept. 29, 1971), then moved into the lead for the 1973 motion picture (pictured at left), which cemented the association. Though he's never been "billed" in the title role on Broadway (which hosted two revivals with others in the lead), he's been the "Superstar" of the road with just a few exceptions. And though Troika Entertainment, the current tour's production company, bills this as the Farewell Tour, Neeley (64) has repeated throughout the trip that he plans to keep playing the role as long as anyone will let him.

Corey Glover, of the band Living Colour, is making his theatrical stage debut in the role of Judas. Tickets and info are available at the Broward Center and Ticketmaster.

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The Master Chorale of South Florida waited just long enough for the dust to settle over longtime Artistic Director Jo-Michael Sheibe's departure to announce his replacement, Dr. Joshua Habermann (pictured at left), who was recently named director of Choral Studies at the University of Miami.

In addition to timing, there's more serendipity in the announcement. As Sheibe heads for the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Habermann is relocating from San Francisco State University, where he was Director of Choral Activities, and off-campus Assistant Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus for the past 12 years.

The announcement was made late Tuesday by Master Chorale president Mark W. Glickman, who in a statement gushed to be "absolutely delighted" to land the man who was the "unanimous first choice of our chorus members" from among four finalists (and 33 applicants, total). He'll make his debut here Nov. 14 conducting Mendelssohn's "Elijah." Click on the link below for additional information from the official announcement.

The Master Chorale announcement:

The search for a successor to Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe began shortly after Dr. Scheibe announced he would be leaving Florida at the end of the 2007-2008 school year to assume the position of Chair of Choral and Sacred Music at the University of Southern California (USC) Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles.

Thirty-three highly skilled applicants from throughout the U.S. applied for the Master Chorale position by submitting their curricula vitae and conducting DVDs. These were reviewed by the Master Chorale search committee, which pared the list to a group of semifinalists. All semifinalists were interviewed in person or by telephone. Four candidates were selected as finalists and invited to audition by conducting rehearsals on April 21 and 28, 2008.

“With so many truly stellar applicants, it was a very difficult task to narrow down the field. However, we chose the four candidates we felt would be the best match for our group,” says Nancy Gates-Lee, who chaired the search committee.

“Ultimately, all four finalists were rated highly by the chorus members, but Dr. Joshua Habermann was the clear choice, and he was eager to lead our group,” she says.
A professional tenor as well as conductor, Habermann performs regularly with the Oregon Bach Festival (Eugene) and Conspirare (Austin, Texas). He is fluent in German, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Portuguese, and is a seasoned coach of Latin, Russian and Finnish.

In his position as Assistant Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, he has prepared the ensemble for performances with world-class guest conductors in both standard and contemporary choral/orchestral literature. Upon Vance George’s retirement in 2006, he served as Interim Chorus Director, preparing programs for Michael Tilson Thomas and Charles Dutoit.

His accomplishments as a teacher are equally impressive. His San Francisco State University choirs were invited to appear at the California Music Educator’s Association Conference in 1999 (Sacramento) and 2001 (Pasadena), and have undertaken tours to China (2000), Cuba (2002) and Germany and the Czech Republic (2004). In 2003 The SFSU Chamber Choir was a featured guest at the Waging Peace Choral Festival at the University of Oregon, and in 2006 they collaborated with the Orchestre des Jeunes de Provence in performances of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem throughout France. They were recognized by the International Federation of Choral Music as the only American choir to be invited to perform at the América Cantat choral conference in Havana, Cuba, in April 2007. This year, they performed at the American Choral Directors Association convention in Anaheim, California.

Dr. Habermann is a cum laude graduate of Georgetown University (1990), and obtained his graduate education in choral conducting at the University of Texas at Austin, receiving an MM in 1995 and DMA in 1997.

His concert debut as Artistic Director for the Master Chorale of South Florida will take place November 14-16, 2008, in performances of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties.

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The tickets are free but you've got to be quick, and use the phone - not the web. The Hollywood Playhouse is offering up to 200 free tickets (100 pairs) for tomorrow's (Wednesday, May 21) matinee performance of "Makeover" starting at 2 p.m. Call the box ofice at 954-922-0404. The show written by Mark Poncy is in the midst of its world premiere engagement, is described as "a classic story of the struggle between good and evil, cloaked in a contemporary theme of plastic surgery gone awry." Sun-Sentinel contributor Mary Damiano's review indicated the story is slight and cliched, but added that Poncy's strongest suit is composing lilting songs reminiscent of 1940s standards - such as "Now and Then" and "Old Fashion Love" - that move the story along but can also stand alone."

For more on the show and the playhouse schedule, visit the theater's website here. But remember - for those free tickets, make a phone call.

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Sarasota's Asolo Repertory Theatre finds itself centerstage in American theater this week, with positive reviews now in for its new production of Stephen Schwartz's 1978 musical, "Working."

Schwartz adapted his work from Stud Terkel's oral history on the subject, inviting other songwriters to join in. For this production, some of those songs have been updated, and two new ones have been added by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony Award-nominated star and creator of "In The Heights," the musical that leads this year's Tony nominations.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune theater critic Jay Handelman, a good friend, calls the Asolo staging "invigorating" and writes that it "has the power to rejuvenate your appreciation of your own job, or at least make you realize that you don't have it so bad." Click here for the complete review. The show runs through June 8, a four-hour jaunt on I-75 across Alligator Alley and up to Sarasota (shave an hour from the central/northern Palm Beaches, via the Beeline/SR 70). Details are on the Asolo website.

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Miami's Sixth Annual Lavender Footlights Festival, a two-day event May 31-June 1 at the Miami Science Museum, has tagged onto some good timing with the selection of playwright Douglas Carter Beane as the inaugural recipient of its new achievement award, the Ovation Award. Last week, Beane was nominated for a Tony Award for the second year in a row, this time for the book for the new Broadway musical "Xanadu" (last year was for the play "The Little Dog Laughed").

Beane will participate in a discussion of his work at 6 p.m. Sunday, June 1 with Miami Herald theater critic Christine Dolen, followed by the award presentation, reception and reading of a portion of his newest play, "The Nance."

The Lavender Festival is designed to promote, in its mission statement, "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer plays and supporting the work of emerging playwrights, directors and actors." The one-weekend event finds itself in competition this year with the opening weekend of City Theatre's 13th Annual Summer Shorts Festival, one of those unfortunate but common conflicts on the region's cultural calendar. Summer Shorts fans have a month of alternative dates to pick from; The Lavender program kicks off May 31 with a full-length play reading, reception, and its own shorts program, called Briefs, a collection of eight short plays. Details are on the Lavender fest website.

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Among the 2008 Tony Award nominees are a trio with South Florida connections.

Riding the top of the wave at the moment is Adam Epstein, native Miamian and the lead producer of the musical "Cry-Baby," based on the 1990 John Waters movie. Epstein already has a Tony on the shelf in his office across the street from where "Hairspray" is playing - he won it in 2004 when he was coproducer behind mentor Margo Lion. Epstein, 34, was uncertain the day before the nominations were announced whether his show would edge into the top races. It has a total of four nominations.

Former Miamian Raul Esparza picked up his third nomination of the decade, for the recently-closed revival of Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming," which has a total of three. Esparza is up for Best Featured Actor in a Play, leading lady Eve Best is nominated as Best
Actress, and the show is a contender as Best Revival of a Play. Esparza has been nominated previously for "Taboo" and last season's revival of "Company."

New to the process is Miami's New World School of the Arts grad Alex Lacamoire, nominated along with collaborator Bill Sherman for the orchestrations for "In the Heights," which leads this year's nominations with a total of 13. Lacamoire was previously assistant musical director on "Wicked."

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NEW YORK - Among the big questions going in to the Tony Award nominations Tuesday morning was whether Harvey Fierstein's "A Catered Affair," based on a Paddy Chayefsky teleplay and 1953 movie would crack the list for Best Musical.

It didn't, and what's unspoken so far is that the result appears to be the first-ever sweep of pop-rock and its ethnic genres over Broadway's musical awards.

The four Best Musical nominees span just about the whole spectrum of the kind of music once alien to musical theater. The top contender is "In The Heights," a somewhat bittersweet Latino musical about life in the barrio that mixes pop with hip-hop, salsa, merengue.

It's the one musical that nods slightly toward the traditional show tune but as The New York Times review noted at its transfer from off-Broadway to the Richard Rodgers Theatre, it's full of "sounds that are an ear-tickling novelty on Broadway."

The biggest challenger and a possible winner is "Passing Strange," a brew of rap, hip-hop, blues and straightforward rock that tells the story a young African-American man from Los Angeles searching for his identity, and a muse.

The other two, either one of which is responsible for kicking "A Catered Affair" out of the top running, are "Cry-Baby" and "Xanadu," stage remakes that plow nostalgic mainstream pop-rock. "Cry- Baby" is based on the 1990 John Waters movie, to me not so much a "Hairspray" followup as a "Grease" with edge. "Xanadu," whose national tour is already in the making, is a tongue-in-cheeck knockoff of the equally silly 1980 Olivia Newton-John movie about a Greek muse and a modern-day roller disco.

Neither "Cry-Baby" nor "Xanadu" have much of a chance in any of the top categories, but their presence on the Best Musical list lends Broadway credibility - known as "cred" on other, hipper streets. This appears to be the belated tipping point of R&R's presence as part of the institution known as American Musical Theater.

Not that traditional musicals have been left out. The showdown between the revivals of "Gypsy" and "South Pacific" amounts to a battle of the titans, with "Sunday in the Park with George" a sturdy third. "Grease" is nominated, basically, because the category has a maximum of four slots.

THE NOMINEES

For the complete list of nominees and special awards, click here.

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NEW YORK - Close races are the attention-getters while they're being run, and there are several in the nominations for the 62nd Annual Tony Awards. But the American Theatre Wing did something else of major importance Tuesday morning with the announcement of the 2008 Special Tony Award recipients.

The only question was when, not if, Stephen Sondheim would join the ranks of those named for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. 2008 is a good moment, while there's a strong revival of "Sunday in the Park With George" on tap, and the potential for life and achievement ahead as well as the remarkable record already on the books.

Orchestrations is a late category to join the list of awards bestowed by the Tonys. The king of arrangers, who create the orchestral fabric from composers' scores, was the late Robert Russell Bennett. The 30-piece orchestra at Lincoln Center for the current revival of "South Pacific" is a stunning reminder of a standard that has long since faded. Hopefully, such reminders won't let that standard die completely. But you'll have to come to New York for the experience.

A production with an orchestra like this can never tour. But South Florida can dream of a full-blown concert version. Today's daydream: Both the Symphony of the Americas and the Boca Symphonia are about the right size.

The third Special Tony Award, recommended by the American Theatre Critics Association, is probably overdue for the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.

The Windy City also probably has more than its share of Regional Theatre Tonys. The CST is a special case, young by today's standards for top rank regional houses. It began in 1986 with a production of "Henry V," little more than a community theater scraping by in borrowed spaces in the early years.

It's morphed into a multimillion-dollar organization on the city's Navy Pier, with a 50-week season of 600-plus performances and an annual audience of 225,000.

But the citation doesn't go for the physical phenomenon. CST held to its mission and also became the premiere Shakespearean/classical theater company in the U.S. And there are many. Which brings up another point. Wish we had one.

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NEW YORK - The New York Drama Critics weighed in late Monday with their seasonal awards, for their 73rd year, picking the drama "August: Osage County" as Best Play and "Passing Strange" as Best Musical. "August" also has won already the Pulitzer Prize, and both shows are figuring prominently in the Tonys and other races. For more on the critics' picks, go to the website here.

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NEW YORK - The nominations for the 62nd Annual Tony Award nominations will be announced early Tuesday, setting in motion the final rounds of awards for the season. If you're catching up late, the official results will be on the Tony website here. But as for Monday night, the Theater District wasn't entirely hushed in anticipation.

Two of the neighborhood's favorite programs, Encores! and Broadway By The Year were in action with shows carrying plenty of buzz.

At City Center on the north side of the Broadway main stem, the latest Encores! concert version of a classic musical is "No No Nanette" with Rosie O'Donnell and Sandy Duncan. The show got mostly glowing reviews at the start of its five-night stand, which wrapped up Monday.

At Town Hall to the south on 43rd Street was the latest Broadway By The Year: 1965, a songbook of tunes from shows ranging from the hit "Man of La Mancha" to the flop, one of many, "Flora, The Red Menace." As creator-host Scott Siegel intoned, '65 produced a number of hit tunes better known and remembered than the shows they came from.

Among the hits of the Town Hall evening was former Plantation resident Marc Kudisch, in a top-flight company including fellow crooners Gregg Edelman, Brian d'Arcy James and Brandon Cutrell.

Kudisch parlayed the heavy hitters and comic highlights, showing off the varied traits that've made him one Broadway's most reliable top guns. He closed the concert leading the entire company on "La Mancha's" "The Impossible Dream."

Often described as one of the hardest working Broadway personalities, Kudisch had just finished a short run of a concert-ized "Camelot" with the New York Philharmonic (broadcast on PBS last week), and will be back at Town Hall in July for a tribute to operettas. He also won a Helen Hayes Award in Washington just weeks ago, per our previous blog entry

On Monday, Edelman delivered what South Florida entertainer Doug Williford aptly called the "sweet songs" - Williford, in town for just a day, happened to be two seats away from me.

Though the series is in its eighth season, it still bears the look of show folk getting together to jam. Yes, there were rehearsals, but the Town Hall event has that kind of ragged edge that scars both vocals and movement with broken moments, but also heightens the intensity of the experience when things go right, which was mostly the case.

Postscript: The marquee at the Broadway Theatre, 52nd and Broadway, now carries the artwork and promotions for Pompano Beach-based Cirque Dreams, scheduled to open there in June per the recent announcement posted here.

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The Theatre League of South Florida wraps up its third annual spring Theatre Festival this weekend, then celebrates Monday (May 12) in Fort Lauderdale with a new awards fete that salutes the best of the fest.

The league is introducing the Silver Palm Awards, a dozen citations for top shows and performances among the fest's 26 participating productions, and to thank the program's major sponsors. The event is party style at 7:30 p.m. at Stork's Bakery Cafe on E. Las Olas Blvd., free to League members and $20 for non-members.

The festival Silver Palm performance honorees are:

The Naked Stage Company - As Outstanding New Emerging Theatre Company.

Playwright Jules Tasca - Outstanding New Work for "The Mission" at the New Theatre in Coral Gables.

"Some Girls" - Outstanding Ensemble, at the Mad Cat Theatre Company, Miami.

"From the Mississippi Delta" - Outstanding Ensemble, at the M Ensemble Company, North Miami.

Nanique Gheridian - Outstanding Performance in "Benefactors" at Palm Beach Dramaworks, West Palm Beach.

Bruce Adler - Outstanding Performance in "I'm Not Rappaport" at New Vista Theatre Company, Boca Raton.

Eric Fabregat - Outstanding Performance in "Dirty Story" at Mosaic Theatre, Plantation.

Ricky Waugh - Outstanding Performances in "The Mission" at the New Theatre and "Two Sisters and a Piano" at The Promethean Theatre, Davie.

The Silver Palm sponsor citations go to:

Jim Stork of Stork's Backery and Cafe Las Olas, WLRN radio-TV, the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Dept. and Doug Jones of Sixth Star Entertainment and Marketing, all for Outstanding Contributions to the South Florida Theatre Festival.

Also previously announced, Jay Harris of Boca Raton will receive the League's oldest and highest honor, the Remy Pioneer Award. Freelance journalist Ron Levitt, the league's current VP and a former Florida Assistant Secretary of State, will receive the Remy Service Award. Yours truly Jack Zink will be tapped for a Lifetime Achievement Award. Gush.

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More important in many cultural circles than the dollars and cents in the arts funding pipeline during the just-ended Florida state legislative session was lawmaking that had the potential to wipe out a minimal requirement for arts education.

It took two decades of argument to convince lawmakers to create a piddling minimum of one credit in fine arts to graduate from high school. Three words might have ended it.

The current law requires “One credit in fine or performing arts, which may include speech and debate,” for graduation. An amendment during the session added the phrase “or a practical arts course,” i.e. shop, auto mechanics, etc. The proposal created an either/or choice in which schools could drop “fine arts” entirely and substitute grease monkeyshining to earn a diploma.

Efforts to stop the move failed. But the final bill as passed, and expected to be signed, is a compromise that restricts the “practical arts” offerings to courses that incorporate “artistic content and techniques of creativity, interpretation, and imagination. Eligible practical arts courses shall be identified through the Course Code Directory.”

By including the language not only that the courses include artistic content etc., but also that specific courses must be identified in the statewide course code, the original intent of the statute is preserved, to a degree.

Florida’s miniscule arts education requirement has been eroded somewhat. But in a year marked with even more frightening battles in a powerful state board over religion, creationism and science in the classroom, the fine/practical arts compromise seems somehow like a victory.

Details, as usual, can be found most easily at the Florida Cutural Alliance website. Click on "advocacy."

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The numbers in the 2008-09 state budget for the arts and culture remained steady as the legislative session reached its close last week. Arts support passed through the Dept. of State's Division of Cultural Affairs totals $6.3 million, with another $1.2 million in grants through the Division of Historical Resources.

These are sharp drops that likely will take years to rebuild to previous levels, perhaps longer than the recovery from slashes in the economic downturn after the 2001 World Trade Center attack. But times are tough and no one's whining over whether or not the share is fair. Most of the money that could be found will be redistributed to organizations throughout the state over the next year.

What's odd, however, is how much legislators were able to carve out for cultural building projects in various districts, many of them tied to magnet schools, colleges and universities: $77 million.

The big chunks go to central and north Florida schools, $20 million for a Univ. of South Florida visual and performing arts facility in Tampa, $10 million to Florida State University in Tallahassee, $7.5 million for a University of Central Florida arts complex.

Here in South Florida top grantees include FIU ($433,000), Florida Holocaust Museum ($300,000), New World School of the Arts ($1 million), and the Miami Circle preservation site ($2.2 million).

The legislature's arts record was tracked by the Florida Cultural Alliance. For complete details and links to bills, etc. visit the FLCA website and click on "advocacy."

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Neil Goldberg's Pompano Beach-based Cirque Productions began mounting Cirque-like shows for sponsored events such as conventions at indoor venues back in 1993, when Cirque du Soleil was exploding into a tour giant with its tent shows. A few years later, Goldberg's nouveau circus shows moved into theaters as ticketed events, and not long ago broke onto Broadway America's national touring circuit, where the latest show "Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy" is now. it played the Kravis Center last winter and is now in the Hawaiian Islands.

On June 16, the show moves to Broadway, at the Broadway Theatre, no less, through at least Aug. 24. There's a possibility for an extension (the tour doesn't resume until December). "Jungle Dreams" claims a cast of 25 and 150 costumes. Goldberg also produces revues of Broadway and Hollywood musicals, which have toured frequently, including stops at the Kravis and Broward Centers last month.

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The company of of "Riverdance" that arrives at the Kravis Center Tuesday for a week is on the show's U.S. farewell tour, wrapping up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in June. The Asian and European companies are also shutting down in August and September, with no word on when the show might resume.

One of those winding down in the U.S. company is Fort Lauderdale native Anne Reilly, now 20, taking time off from studying art history at Columbia University. It's not her first professional step-dancing experience; she performed with The Chieftains when the group played the Kravis in 2001.

Whitehead as Sportin' Life

A tip from theater maven Tony Finstrom revealed that actor-dancer-choreographer Reggie Whitehead (left), a three time Carbonell Award-winner, is about to head off on an East European tour of "Porgy and Bess." Intrigued, we caught up with Reggie at his sublease in Manhattan just as he was preparing to return to South Florida for a visit. He'll be here for a week, then dive into rehearsals back into New York. The company leaves May 20 for St. Petersburg, Russia, then on to Warsaw, etc.

Wrote Reggie, "I left New York almost 20 years ago and thought I was finished up here." But a friend urged him back and offered to let the "Porgy and Bess" producers know about him. Whitehead will play the role of Sportin' Life. Other offers are starting to break for him, he says, but he's had to pass - all the offers conflict with the "Porgy and Bess" tour dates.

"Isn't that the way it always is? There was no contest as to which show I would be doing," he says.

Lauren Feldman play

Miami actress-playwright Lauren Feldman, currently at the Yale Drama School, will see her latest play premiere Sunday through May 17 as one of three new works in the the school's annual Carlotta Festival of new plays. Feldman says it will be her final and thesis production at Yale.

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There is a pleasant surprise waiting out in West Boca where Glades Road meets the ‘Glades, for those who make the hike through mid-May. It’s the New Vista Theatre Company’s revival of “I’m Not Rappaport.”

The two old codgers still have miles left on them in the funny-sad 1986 Tony Award-winning Broadway play by Herb Gardner. But after two seasons, the New Vista Theatre Company is still trying to define its place, and space, in the too-large West Boca Performing Arts Center, the campus theater at West Boca High School. Could director Amy London pull off the complex humor and pathos in this emotional piece? The answer is yes, mostly.

On paper, “I’m Not Rappaport” seemed a perilous skate for the company and an odd casting vehicle for song-and-dance man Bruce Adler (London’s real-life spouse). His assignment as the crusty old socialist provocateur Nat, a signature (and Tony Award-winning) role for Judd Hirsch, is a bit of a stretch and it shows. Adler’s delivery was peppered with uncertainties on opening night, some but not all caused by technical glitches (and one thankfully short-lived breakdown).

The New Vista is pouring effort and expense into production value to fill the space and offer a big-ticket sense. Ian Almeida’s scenery is a near-perfect simulation of the original Broadway concept, requiring spot-on lighting shades provided by Ginny Adams. Paula Villar delivers just so on costumes, but Traci Almeida’s sound design prompts a few head scratches.

The full review is posted on the Sun-Sentinel's entertainment page here.

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City Theatre's Summer Shorts festival of quickie plays is coming together, as usual, in a last-month flurry. Just out in the last hour is the lineup of plays in not one but four separate programs due May 29-June 29 in Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

The main body of the festival is the two-part Signature Shorts package, 17 playlets in two programs, each running 90 minutes or more (and sometimes it's been plenty more). Added this year is a late-night "edgy" package of seven plays for the uncensored crowd called Undershorts - And on the far side of that, four plays in a program called S4K (Shorts for Kids).

"Splat" by Michael McKeever, a snarky sequel to "The Wizard of Oz," was among the comic highlights of the 2007 Summer Shorts fest

This stuff isn't on the City Theatre website yet, so we're adding a page here with the whole rundown, including a brief description of each play.

Still to come are the directors and actors in the 2008 company, and precise schedule. Expect the usual weekend double-headers for Signature Shorts, with both shows and an optional picnic style dinner between. The series runs at Miami's Arsht Center Studio Theatre May 29-June 22, and moves to the Broward Center's Amaturo Theatre June 26-29. The Kids and Undershorts programs are presently set for June 12-22 in Miami.

Details will be added to the City Theatre's website as they become available. Or, call the company at 305-755-9401, or the box offices at the Arsht Center, 305-949-6722 and Broward Center, 954-462-0222.

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Sherron Long is one of my favorite persons of all time in any place. She's the president of the Florida Cultural Alliance and runs the Florida Professional Theatre Assn., and has the singular overview vision that virtually everyone she represents lacks. She's spent the past few months, weeks in particular, in a familiar Alamo-style defense of arts and cultural funding during Florida's legislative session.

The final-final tally is still to be reckoned but it appears budget allocations to the State Department's division of cultural affairs will be a little over $6 million. On a related front, the state's support for film industry incentives will be $5 million. And there are actually tens of millions tucked away in the appropriations budget for college and university arts facility construction and restoration. There have been significant hits, but neither culture nor commercial show business have been zeroed out for next year.

I always have mixed emotions about this. And they're amplified by the supposed conundrum that support for the arts, when rubber meets the road in governmental decision-making, tends to come from (gasp) the Republican side of the aisle. Though I've never been a member (actually a no-party-affiliate since 1968), I've felt that the arts and other benefits of advanced civilization deserve support - but I stop short of entitlement.

So, when Sherron sighs that $6 million in Florida arts appropriations is good this year, I agree. Where we both feel that government support is more important is in the philosophy. And last-minute moves will hopefully be successful in preserving a statewide requirement for arts education. That's Senate Bill 1914, with an amendment that would prevent another amendment from replacing auto mechanics and similar pursuits to music and theater as a grad requirement.

I"m a pretty good wrench myself, devotee of Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and have rebuilt a short block or two in the carport. But shop is shop and it doesn't equate with the school choir, which deserves its special place.

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