By Skip Sheffield
Palm Beach Opera finishes it season with the Puccini classic “Tosca,” opening Friday, March 25 and continuing through Monday, March 28 at Kravis Center in West Palm Beach.
Playing the title character are Italian soprano Chiara Taigi (3/25 & 3/27) and American soprano Tiffany Abban (3/26 & 3/28). Playing Cavaradossi are young tenor Riccardo Massi and Chinese tenor Warren Mok.
For the second time this season, PBO invites people 30 and younger to attend free of charge. Tickets start at $23 and may be reserved by calling 561-833-7888 or going to www.pbopera.org.
Back Room throws 3-day party
The new Back Room at 2222 W. Atlantic Ave. (at Congress Ave.), Delray Beach is hosting a three-day Grand Opening BBQ Party March 25-27, with Bobby & the Renegades Friday, Biscuit Miller 7 the Mix Saturday and Jr. Drinkwater & the Westside Blues Band Sunday. Admission is just $5 or free before 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. Call 561-988-8929.
‘Jane Eyre’ remake has a special quality
With Palm Beach International Film Festival in full swing it’s easy to forget what is going on with commercial releases. There are a couple of films opening Friday that are worthy of mention.
The first is “Jane Eyre.” Yes, this is the umpteenth film remake of Charlotte Bronte’s beloved 1847 novel, but I think this one is special. So do publications as influential as the New York Times and Entertainment Weekly.
Mia Wasikowska is a Jane Eyre for the 21st century, working with a smart, condensed 21st century script and a brooding-creepy, Gothic atmosphere imparted by young director Cary Fukunaga (the immigrants-in-peril “Sin Nombre”)..
Jane Eyre is famously described as “plain.” Mia Wasikowska is a perfectly attractive young woman (cute as a button in “Alice” and “The Kids Are All Right”), but she is made mousey up for her plain Jane, with dark hair tied back tightly in a bun (when it isn’t soaking wet), drab, frumpy clothes and sallow makeup.
The most important character of Jane is her native intelligence, and that is what shines in Wasikowska’s large, light brown eyes.
Jane is first and foremost a survivor; first of the death of her parents and then a tyrannical aunt (Sally Hawkins) who served as a stepmother, and a strict religious schooling bordering on the sadistic.
We meet Jane in flight from her terrible situation, soaked to the skin, trudging across sodden moors.
She finds a safe harbor in the cottage of St. John Rivers (Jamie Bell), who lives with his two sisters.
The aptly-named St. John is a nice enough guy, but Jane is destined for greater things; namely the brooding aristocrat Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbinder), lord of a sprawling, gloomy estate.
Anyone who has had even the most elementary education knows how the story turns out, so there is no point in dwelling on that. What we can dwell on is the wonderful chemistry between Wasikowska and Fassbender. This is a Jane Eyre with passion and seething emotion. Who would have thought such a plain Jane was such hot stuff?
Three and a half stars