Krista Severeid (Maria von Trapp) joins audience member Loretta Swit following the performance. Courtesy photo/Amy Pasquantonio
By Thom Smith
Bows taken, bouquets presented, the curtain closed, the clock striking 11. The Wick Theatre’s production of The Sound of Music had traversed its public debut with nary a hitch. Marilynn Wick’s day was nearly over, but her work is far from done.
“I’ve climbed a lot of mountains, but now I guess I’m at the top,” Wick declared from the stage as she clutched her flowers. But in the lobby as she accepted personal accolades, she would smile, then sigh. She’s a tough cookie and she knows that one show does not a season — nor a history — make. “It’s a start,” she said, “but we have a lot of work to do.”
If the characters who played Maria and Captain von Trapp seemed to have good chemistry, credit the matrimonial bond that joins New York-based stars Krista Severeid and Tony Lawson.
But theater does not succeed unless the supporting actors are strong, and with a veteran like Lourelene Snedeker as The Mother Abbess, it’s hard to lose. The Wick stage and Boca are like home to the West Palm-based actress. In her four-decade career in South Florida, she had trod those boards often when it was The Caldwell Theatre Company, and before that at the long-gone Royal Palm Dinner Theatre down the road. Snedeker’s first theatrical role was as one of the children.
Good returns, too, for Mia Matthews, as Frau Schraeder, after stints in child-rearing and the Palm Beach social scene, and Alan Gerstel after a long run as a TV news anchor.
Much credit, of course, goes to director Michael Ursua, who like so many in the company sees double duty. At the post-performance reception, he offered up show tunes at the lobby piano, with vocals by another familiar face and voice, Missy McArdle, who seemed to be everywhere and doing everything before the show began.
Jan McArt raises a glass at the opening of The Sound of Music at the Wick Theatre.
In the audience: Boca’s typically ebullient grand dames Jan McArt, who nurtured the Royal Palm theater, and Countess Henrietta de Hoernle, now 101, whose philanthropic largess built the Caldwell.
Also checking out the house, another show biz grande dame, Loretta “Hot Lips” Swit. She spent several minutes in deep discussion with Marylynn Wick before heading off to her hotel for the evening, and she’ll be back. The former M*A*S*H star, who turns 76 in November, will star in Wick’s revival of 42nd Street in January.
Also in attendance were county tourism director Jorge Pesquera, former Boca Town Council Member Wanda Thayer and Boca woman of all seasons Yvonne Boice.
“This was a big white elephant,” county mayor and former Boca Mayor Steven Abrams said. “We didn’t know if it would be torn down and replaced by apartments or offices. Now look. It’s beautiful. It’s great for Boca and for the county. Marilynn’s done a great job. “
The von Trapps, et al, will be in residence through Oct. 20, followed by Irving Berlin’s White Christmas from Nov. 14 to Dec. 25.
The Wick’s costume museum is still a few weeks away from being ready, but the café, with its Tavern on the Green wallpaper, is open, as is the gift shop, with its gelato and pastry bar. And if you need that special costume — including lederhosen for Oktoberfest straight from The Sound of Music — the Wick rents them.
Lemongello
One final Wick note: In the middle ’70s, after a deluge of commercials during soaps and late night movies, nearly 2 million fans of old standards and soft rock ordered a double album titled Love 76. Peter Lemongello appeared on The Tonight Show 25 times, plus the shows of Dinah Shore, Joey Bishop, Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin. Concerts at Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden sold out. But his record company never figured out how to market him.
Lemongello, 66, now lives in Boca. In the winter he hits the local condo circuit and spends summers on the Jersey Shore, Long Island and the Borscht Belt. Peter and family took in The Sound of Music Friday night, but it was son, Peter Jr., who picked up the mike, offering his best Elvis on Jailhouse Rock and Hound Dog. At age 14, the Spanish River High freshman still has time to polish his act. Stay tuned.
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The word is out. The old Bridge Hotel on Lake Boca Raton will be renamed The Waterstone — “Where Boca Comes Ashore.” With the new name will come a new entrance: The old tunnel will give way to a new lobby and two new restaurants. Outside a new 270-foot seawall will entice boaters to the only dock-to-dine facility in Boca. Now if they can only get rid of the iquanas.
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For your musical pleasure …
Yanni
Manalapan resident Yiannis Hryssomallis, better known as Yanni, returns to the Kravis Center Dec. 11. Truly a man of the world, the native of Kalamata, Greece, is in the middle of a world tour that has taken him to London, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Middle East, China, Brazil, Canada and even Texas.
If big band jazz is your bag, head to Pine Crest School in Boca Nov. 19. The Swing and Jazz Preservation Society’s monthly concert features Duffy Jackson’s Big Band. Coming Feb. 18, little darlin’s, the Diamonds.
If you prefer some classical music to raise a joyful noise, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church might do the trick with its 26th season of “Sound of Angels.” Next up Oct. 22, violinist Tomas Cotik and pianist Tao Lin will perform selections from Bach, Schubert, Poulenc and Piazzola (278-6003).
Meanwhile, two concerts remain in the inaugural fall season of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival at two sites. A program of Francaix, Shore, Stephensen and Brahms will be offered Oct. 10 at the Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University in Boca and Oct. 11 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Delray. The final program — Albinoni, Bernstein, Jolivet and Stravinsky — is set for Nov. 14 at the Wold Center and Nov. 15 at St. Andrew’s. (www.pbcmf.org)
Spyrogyra opens at busy month at Jazziz (Oct. 2-3), followed by Manhattan Transfer (Oct 8-10), Jane Monheit (Oct. 15-16), Keiko Matsui (Oct. 22-23) and Christopher Cross (Nov. 4-5).
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Out in La La land, Colombian bombshell Sofia Vergara was the fashion hit of the Emmy awards evening in a stunning red lace gown by Vera Wang. Though he was present, little mention was made of her fiancé, Delray homey Nick Loeb, but then Vergara tends to be the dominant presence wherever she is. According to one of the TV gossip shows, Loeb may have just avoided one of those infamous “malfunction” moments as he inadvertently caught the train of Vergara’s gown with his shoe as they took the paparazzi stroll into the Nokia Theatre. Vergara grimaced, but everything stayed in place.
Zuckerman
Life didn’t go quite so well for Boynton Beach real estate agent Amanda Zuckerman, who went from house mother to homeless on CBS’s Big Brother. In early September, rivals outfoxed Zuckerman by putting her on the block and then evicting her on a 3-2 vote.
Zuckerman admitted she was dumbfounded, but confided to host Julie Chen that she wouldn’t leave empty-handed. Apparently, as a gesture of good faith (Is that possible on BB?), Elissa Slater, who also was evicted, had given Zuckerman her wedding ring in exchange for her jewelry. “If it’s real, yeah, it’s going to stay in my suitcase!” Amanda told Chen. She also claimed McCrae Olson, her ally in the boardroom and the bedroom, will join her in Boynton now that the “competition” is over.
The winner: Andy Herren, an openly gay college speech instructor from Illinois. He may have lost his job during the show for improper remarks, but the $500,000 winner’s prize should ease the pain.
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Back home in Boca, Vice Mayor Susan Haynie hopes to be to move up a notch in the city’s electoral hierarchy when elections are held next March. Meanwhile, she apparently has claimed a new unofficial title, according to the license plate on her car: MS BOCA.
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Those restaurant wunderkinders, Dennis Max and Burt Rapoport, are at it again.
Max has teamed with Delray entrepreneur Wes Spicer to open Sonoma House, a private event and catering spot in Boca. Sitting on an acre of gardens a block southeast of Glades Road and Federal Highway, it can accommodate up to 350 guests for weddings, luncheons, business meetings and birthdays.
Rapoport is so fired up about the success of Burt & Max’s, their new restaurant way out west in the Delray Marketplace, that he’s planning to build a new restaurant in the vacant lot next door. He’ll call it Apiero (that means infinity in Italian), it’ll offer a Mediterranean menu.
“We’re doing great, much better than expected,” Rapoport said as guests watched a football game on the outside bar’s big-screen TV. “I didn’t want somebody else to get the space first. We’ve been getting people from Boca and Delray since we opened, but now that Lyons is open, we’re seeing a lot of people from west Boynton.”
The biggest problem at the Marketplace seems to be parking — not enough space for customers who want to park themselves and too many spaces reserved for the valets. Management is aware of the problem. Plans to expand parking await county approval.
In the interim the center has added 200 spaces by shuttling employees to offsite parking on weekends. And more space will soon be available when property on the north side of the theaters becomes available for employees and valet parking.
“At first when we ran out of parking we thought we had a good problem,” Marketplace general manager Amy Ferguson said. “Now it’s a bad problem … but we’re fixing it. The county is looking at several options and we believe whatever it approves will work out.”
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For people who like to do their own cooking, George’s Meat Market in Lantana was the place to go … until a few weeks ago. The original George was long gone and his grandson was managing the place from Tennessee. The equipment was old. Finally, the bridge construction drove the final nail. George’s closed … but not for good.
Palm Beach attorney and investor Bill Sned owns the property on Third Street just south of Ocean. He’s bought the business and hopes to resurrect George’s by early November. Sned, who also chairs the West Palm Beach Housing Authority, has bought new equipment, has signed up vendors and hired back most of the former staff.
“My son Trey and I decided it would be a fun diversion, and it’ll be better than ever,” Sned said. “But really it’s all because my wife (Patricia) would run down there to buy chicken salad a couple of times a week.”
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Here and there …
The Norton Museum of Art has added an espresso bar.
Picture Wilt Chamberlain, all 7 feet 1 inch of him, on a polo pony. That happened at a special celebrity match nearly 25 years ago during the glory days of Royal Palm Polo in Boca. No polo there now. Today the barns are run-down, weeds have replaced the manicured grass and mildew covers the grandstand. Toll Brothers wants to change all that. The builder has asked the city of Boca Raton to annex Royal Palm’s 122 acres and approve construction of 223 homes. Starting price: $1.2 million.
B. Trucks
The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County kicks off its 2013-14 Culture & Cocktails series Nov. 4 at The Colony hotel in Palm Beach with “Hits & Mrs.”, a conversation with Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks and his artist wife, Melinda.
The Capitol Steps, proof that Washington is capable of actually producing something that really is funny, perform Oct. 19 and 20 at Lynn University.
Halloween in Lake Worth is just too big for one day. The month of revelry begins Oct. 4 with A Bloody Good Time at Clay Glass Metal Stone Gallery and continue every weekend with Girls’ Night Out (Oct. 10), a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Full Moon Blood Drive (Oct. 18), a ghost tour by bus (Oct. 19), and the Lake Worth Monster Mash (Oct. 26).
Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Contact him at thomsmith@ymail.com.
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