South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 71

Sun-Sentinel, Sunday. October 3. 1993 3F SOUND JUDGMENT Public Theatre gets Wilton Manors home POP iChapman album smooth 'A KM.A L. 1 BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN: You Hold the Key (Reprise). Life, love and relationships infuse the smooth, cooing songs by Chapman on her second album.

Spirited pop rock in the Mariah CareyCarole i i i 1l Public drew 15 separate entries into balloting among the highest for showcase troupes. Playhouse's new era Saturday marks the opening of the first season for the Hollywood Playhouse as a professional house, after 49 years as one of the region's foremost community theaters. The show is A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, starring Oscar Cheda, a Carbonell Award-nominee as Best Supporting Actor for last season's Damn Yankees at the Actors' Playhouse. Board member Lawrence Jurrist tells us that about 60 actors, five directors and stage crew members will be on the theater's payroll this year, joining creative designers and set builders who have been paid for years. For Forum show information, call arts and sciences district.

The musical Oh, the best-selling show of the midsummer Jewish new play series, reopens Thursday. The Public's smaller studio shows will continue for the time being at the Artserve complex in the Fort Lauderdale Branch Library in Holiday Park. The Public has operated out of at least a half-dozen addresses during the past several years, as a plucky but cash-short gypsy company that somehow managed to become the region's most prolific theatrical producer. Within the past two seasons, the ensemble has developed some artistic consistency. Last week, the troupe drew four honorable mentions in balloting for the 1993 Carbonell Award nominations.

That means the ensemble's Burn This and Book of Solomon drew multiple votes on the ballot, scoring just below the cutoff for nominations. Although falling just shy of nominations in several categories, the By JACK ZINK Theater Writer Fort Lauderdale-based Public Theatre is changing its address again and making a slight change to its moniker in the process. Executive director Vince Rhomberg says he has signed a lease to move into an former department store in Wilton Manors, at 2805 N. Andrews Ave. The troupe will begin moving in this month, and begin the process of designing two theaters in the building.

Plans are to be ready to move the troupe's shows into the new theaters by January. By then, stationery should reflect the change from Public Theatre of Fort Lauderdale to the new Public Theatre of South Florida. In the meantime, the Public will continue to present its main stage productions at the Broward Library Theatre in Fort Lauderdale's downtown 3 -it, King vein, these made for VH-1 cuts push with emotion From left, Bryan Addleman, Michael Deutsch, Oscar Cheda and Lawrence Jurrist in Forum. ouuhk sunewnung dv unaoman nas hits for country artists Willie mi a. iiik counr.rv sn nn is nnr as vmnt nn tViio ralaipa e.

5 in in 4UA 1 uj 1 titaac aa it is 111 tuc uuiei di llala interpretations. At times the sticky-sweet sentiment tends to overwhelm the songs, and haflcrrniinH phnir rhnrncoc! nro anrmcrh rtp make dogs howl. Still, the album is well-crafted, if a little soft and sing-songish. Less gush and more -grit would fit the lock better. SANDRA SCHULMAN Tinn a breath of fresh air The three major phases of acclaimed ceramist Paul Soldner's career can be seen at the Lowe Art Museum.

Ceramists muse over the formal aspects of their work all the time. Still, the art enthusiast may rightly ask: Where does the notion of sculptural object leave off and the idea of vessel begin? Sometimes it is hard to tell. While not every piece of pottery is a bona fide vessel, every vessel surely possesses a three-dimensional integrity. Gallery visitors may weigh the visual evidence at the Lowe Art Museum on the campus of the University of Mi mmm I TIM FINN: Before After (Capitol). Finn, a founding member of the New Zealand group Split Enz, has taken a deep solo breath and exhaled Before vj After.

Fortunately, it's a breath of fresh air. His introspection gets funky, danceable and serious, all at once. Dance music never had lyrics and themes as heavy and ambiguous as this. In Love With It All mixes religion and pathos in two quick verses, while Funny Way plays out the end of a love story to the sound of an idling car engine. Simple acoustical arrangements round out most of the tracks, accompanied by Finn's earnest and plaintive vocals.

Spiritual awakening at its straightforward best. S.S. ami. eatured will be the first comprehensive exhibition showcasing the efforts of acclaimed ceramist Paul Soldner. Opening Thursday and running through Nov.

28, "Paul Soldner: A Retrospective" will include 74 pieces from three major phases of the artist's career. The first section focuses on the work from the late '50s when, along with artisan Peter ALTERNATIVE ROCK 'Kerosene Hat' hot stuff Vw. 'A hrMM 1 JL ma 9 Ceramist Paul Soldner pioneered new firing processes. This work, Vase 1965, will be among Soldners' art on display at the Lowe Art Museum. 1 CRACKER: Kerosene Hat (Virgin).

Out of the last strains of quirky alternative marvels Camper Van Beethoven comes Cracker's second album, i 3 CRACKER flUI ROGER HURLBURT Art Writer Cesanm Venus led the 'American West Coast ceramics movement that introduced a new freedom of expression with clay. Part two examines the art from the '60s and '70s, in which he developed the technique known as American raku. Finally, Soldner's pieces from the '80s reveal innovations in so-called low-temperature salt-vapor firing, as well as sculptural vessels in bronze. It is only fitting that Scripps College in Claremont, organized the Lowe exhibition. At Scripps, Soldner built one of the leading centers for the study of ceramics.

And coinciding with his retirement from a 30-year teaching career at Scripps, this visual salute celebrates Soldner's numerous achievements as an artist, inventor and educator. He is best known for pioneering and popularizing new firing processes. The American raku and salt-vapor firing techniques have influenced a legion of contemporary ceramists. Soldner also developed oil-fired kilns, fuel-efficient burners and both "kick" and electric fronted by original happy Camper David Lowery. Cracker has the same unusual and smooth driven sound that made Camper so great, but its direction has decidedly gone a few states west.

With up-tempo humor so tongue-in-cheek it's a wonder he can sing, Lowery jumps on each track like a ride at a self-amusement park. Great tracks include Get Off This with its down with self-pity attitude, and Kerosene Hat, a winsome wailer about an astronaut forgotten in space. This is all from a man who once wrote a song called Take the Skinheads Bowling. One of the best alternative albums of the year, 'Kerosene Hat is laced with humor, verve and a haunting kind of wistfulness. tions will enlighten and illuminate.

But for art devotees, his work will continue to provoke questions of formal identity, as earthy images and subtle hues appeal to a broader aesthetic awareness. The Lowe Art Museum is at the University of Miami, 1301 Stanford Drive, Coral Gables. Call 1-305-284-3536. Hey, Venus From Rome comes the goddess of love. Through Jan.

17, visitors to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., will encounter an Italian baroque sculpture of beauty and intrigue. On display in the gallery's West Building is the Cesarini Venus (about 1583), carved from marble by Florentine artist Giambologna (1529-1608). The statue is part of an exhibition that examines the theme of the development of the female nude in the work of this great master. The Cesarini Venus has occupied a niche high above a staircase in Palazzo Margherita, now the United States Embassy in Rome. The sculpture recently was cleaned and restored especially for the exhibition.

The National Gallery of Art is at Seventh Street and Constitution Ave-, nue, NW Washington, D.C. Call 1-202-: 737-4215. wheels for the throwing (hand-shaping) of vessels and other forms in clay. For potters, Soldner's use of various applied slips, glazes and materials to promote oxidation and related patina- ARTS AGENDA 309 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. Call MUSIC MICHAEL PONTI Pianist.

Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Mendelssohn. 4 p.m. today at Second Presbyterian Church, 1400 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale. Tickets $17.

Call 561-5882. FLORIDA PHILHARMONIC ORCHES DANCE MIAMI CITY BALLET Bugaku, Festival Pas de Deux Divertissement, Ray-monda Variations. 2 p.m. today at Dade County Auditorium, 2901 W. Flagler Miami.

3 p.m. Wednesday 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 7 p.m. Oct.

10 at Bailey Hall, Broward Community College, 3501 SW Davie Road, Davie. Oct. 22-24 at Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee West Palm Beach. Tickets $17 to $49. Call 930-3262 or Ticketmaster, 966-3309 (Palm Beach), 523-3309 (Broward), 358-5885 (Dade).

CRITIC'S CHOICE The Joy Luck Club' a gem The Joy Luck Club is an unforgettable, highly emotional mosaic of a film about four Chinese women who are sustained by the hopes they share for their American-born daughters. A masterpiece if storytelling, the film adaptation based on Tan's best seller features Kieu Chinh, 'prance Nuyen and Tsai Chin. ROGER HURLBURT The Joy Luck Club. Playing at various theaters. See movie times this issue.

kittle Bird' good night out iLittle Bird is a pleasing 70s comedy that charts the relationships of two sisters and the men in their lives as they try to discover their identities. The attractive cast, fine direction and comfortable scenario make for an amiable evening of theater. BILL VON MAURER Little Bird. Performances are at 6 p.m. Sundays, 8 p.m.

Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, through Oct. 17 at Ensemble Stage Company, 9116 State Road 84, Davie. Tickets are $12, $8 students. Call 1-305-452-0972.

Admission $3, $5. Call 921-3274 or 921-3275. BOCA RATON MUSEUM 801 Palmetto Park Road. Through Oct. 17 "Ralph Gibson: Women." "Florida Artists Series No.

25: the Figure." 10 a.m.to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Donation $3 Call 392-2500. CENTER FOR FINE ARTS 101 Flagler Miami.

Closing today, "Barbara Ess." Through Jan. 9, "New Work: Al-' fredo Jaar." Through Nov. 7, "Carrie Mae Weems: Issues in Black, White Photography workshop: Documenting Family Histories 7 p.m. Thursday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tuesday through; Saturday, until 9 p.m. Thursday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission $5 adults; $2'. children; $2.50 students, seniors.

Cair 375-1700. I NORTON GALLERY OF ART 1451: S. Olive West Palm Beach. Througtr Nov. 28, "Gregory Amenoff: Works on-Paper, 1975-1992." Through Oct.

10 "With a Child's Eye." Through Oct. 31, "Songs of My People: Afrlcan-Ameri cans, a Self-Portralt." 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.-Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m Sunday. Donation $4. Call 832-5194.

THEATER THE GOOD DOCTOR Comedy. At Hollywood Performing Arts Theater, 1938 Hollywood Blvd. 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets $15 adults, $12 senior citizens, $5 students. Call 926-6065, 926-2865. HOROWITZ MRS WASHINGTON Comedy. Through Oct. 31 at Drama Center, 2345 W.

Hillsboro Deerfleld Beach. 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday. Tickets $13 to 15.

Call 570-9115. OLIVER Musical. Through Nov. 7 at Actors' Playhouse, 8851 SW 107th Miami. 8 p.m.

Wednesday through Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets $18.50, $22.50. Call 595-0010 or Ticketmaster, 966-3309 (Palm Beach), 523-3309 (Broward), 358-5885 (Dade). THE REAL QUEEN OF HEARTS AIN'T EVEN PRETTY Comedy.

Through Oct. 10 at Barry University Pelican Theatre, 11300 NE Second Miami Shores. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m.

Saturday. Tickets $5, $4 students, senior citizens. Call 899-3398. TRA Joseph Sil-verstein, violinist, conductor. Williams, Mozart, Brahms.

Tuesday and Wednesday at Broward Center, 201 SW Fifth Fort Lauderdale. Thursday at Coral Springs City Centre, 2855 Coral Springs Drive on Friday and Saturday at Florida Atlan-tlc University, Glades Road, Boca Silverstein ART ART AND CULTURE CENTER OF HOLLYWOOD 1650 Harrison St. Through "Styles, Strands Sequences: American Realist Paintings Drawings From Philip Desind Collection." "Glass Jewels," enameled sculpture, wall pieces, jewelry, objects by Enamel Guild South. "Japanese Cloisonne: A Study in Perfection." 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Raton. Concerts 6 p.m. Tickets $12 to $55.

1-800-226-1812 or Ticketmaster, 966-3309 (Palm Beach), 523-3309 (Broward), 358-5885 (Dade). BRADSHAW WATSON 9 p.m. Thursday at Liberties Cafe, Mizner Park,.