Mondays are Dark

We've been busy collating all the reviews that have been pouring in all week, but we still managed to pull together your Monday reading list.

On Brooklyn Boy in Boca
The Palm Beach Post talks with actor Avi Hoffman and director Kim St. Leon about the upcoming Broadway Boy, which launches Parade Productions in a couple of weeks.

Speaking of Avi
TheatreMania reports that Boynton Beach Club: A New Musical in Concert is set to play at the Park Vista Theatre next month.  It took us a few moments to realize that this is the theater at Park Vista High School that was home to Avi Hoffman's late New Vista Theatre Company.

New Tour
Broadway World tells us about the national tour of Miss Abigails Guide to Dating, Mating, and Marriage!, which started in Rochester NY and makes its first stop at The Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

South Florida Represents I
Miami Children's Theater headed up to Atlanta to participate in The Junior Theater Festival, and Groundlings was in their company.

On Friday (the 13th of course) a bunch of MCT kids, directors and chaperones got on a morning flight to Atlanta for the Junior Theater Festival.  JTF is an awesome yearly event that's sponsored by MTI, the amazing agency that licenses all kinds of shows including the growing Broadway Junior Collection. 

South Florida Represents II
The Drama Queen tells us about some other South Floridians heading out of state; Dave Barry has a musical opening on Broadway (we are not making this up!), and the legendary Barbara Lowery is being honored at The Sundance Film Festival.

South Florida Collaborates
The Roxy Theatre Blog talks about how the Roxy Theatre Group is working with the Greater Miami Youth Symphony to present How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

A Kwiat Moment
Miami Artzine shares some of the poetry of David Kwiat, actor, theatre professor, writer, and, well, poet.

A Tale of Two Plays
Palm Beach Arts Paper examines two plays that opened last week (Love, Loss and What I Wore at Parker Playhouse, and Divorce Party The Musical at Kravis Center), and comes to a not-so-startling conclusion:

‘Love, Loss’ minor, but it’s Shakespeare compared to ‘Divorce Party.’

Ouch.

South Florida Gay News talks with Divorce Party's creator, Jay Falzone

Falzone describe the show as a parody about a phenomenon that has swept the country in recent years, divorce parties. In this new show, three women throw their own divorce party for a longtime friend who recently divorced...
The result is a show packed with plenty of comic mayhem and even a touch of “naughty,” as the characters, including one who is a lesbian, go through this new ritual to move forward with their lives.

Back with Broadway, Soon In Broward
BroadwayWorld.com reports that Seth Rudetsky's Broadway Chatterbox is back with all new interviews with Broadway celebrities.  Rudetsky is coming to the Broward Center with his Big Fat 70's Show in April, where he'll also give a master class on auditioning.

A List of its Own
South Florida Theatre News seems to have started a reading list of its own, the Actors' Blog Watch.

Meanwhile...
...in Miami, the Coconut Grove Playhouse is still closed.  Miami Today reports that it will be discussed by the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners on February 7.

According to Jorge Luis Lopez, an attorney representing the playhouse, the state has asked the county to work to expedite renovations on the theater. It asked that the county transfer ownership to the state, the former owner of the playhouse, should delays continue. Before the county can assume control of the playhouse and begin renovations it must agree to appropriate $20 million in existing designated funds toward the project and settle outstanding title issues

...in Palm Beach, the Royal Poinciana Playhouse is still closed.  The Palm Beach Daily News reports that an inspection of the property, carried out by order of the Landmarks Preservation Commission two weeks ago, may not have been legal.

Trouble is, commissioners stepped on shaky ground when they authorized such an interior inspection, because there was no prior evidence that neglect was taking its toll, Town Attorney John “Skip” Randolph told the board this week. That would typically involve a code-inspection officer or, perhaps, another official observing evidence that a structural problem likely exists.

“Structural” is a key word here, Mr. Randolph warned. Whether or not any problem inside the building might prevent it from being reopened as a theater — a question of the building’s “use” — is beyond the commission’s purview.

I hope they sell peanuts at the commission meetings, because it sounds like it's a real circus up there.