Theater: This weekend, the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine fairy tale mash-up, Into the Woods, joins a stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, in repertory at Boca Raton’s Florida Atlantic University for its 2017 Festival Rep, the 20th annual showcase of the drama department’s graduate student pool. Bruce Linser, a local Sondheim maven, directs the sophisticated … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: June 9-11
Music: The Mainly Mozart Festival in Coral Gables, which last month introduced audiences to violinist Liana Gourdjia, on Sunday welcomes the Ukrainian-born Canadian pianist Serhiy Salov in a program of two Mozart sonatas and the Fantasy in D minor, along with Debussy’s Des pas sur la neige and Salov’s own arrangement of Nocturnes. If that wasn’t enough, Salov also will perform … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 12-14
Music: Like her or hate her, writer Ayn Rand has had a large influence on a certain segment of American politics and culture. This Saturday, Rand’s most famous novelistic creation, John Galt, is the musical subject of a new piece for 10 pianos and two percussionists by the American composer Peter J. Learn. The piece was created at the behest of Circle founder Mia Vassilev, who … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 6-7
Film: OK, it’s only early May, but in the world of movies it is already summer. The season officially begins this weekend with the arrival of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, and it comes recommended. Sure, it doesn’t have the surprise factor the first installment did in 2014, but writer/director James Gunn demonstrates that that earlier megahit was no fluke. A handful of … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: April 21-23
Art: This Saturday, there will be demonstrations across the country in defense of science and the environment, both of which progressives think are under attack by the new administration in Washington. Whatever your political leanings, giving a thought or two to Mother Earth on Saturday is a laudable thing to do, and a small Lake Worth art shop, the Clay Glass Metal Stone … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: March 18-19
Music: Florida Grand Opera continues its remake of itself as more of a cutting-edge company today as it opens the first of five presentations of Before Night Falls, the 2010 opera by Cuban-American composer Jorge Martín, which is based on the memoirs of the dissident Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. The opera tells the story of Arenas’s talent, his homosexuality and suffering from … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: March 11-12
Theater: The best one-person shows feature a versatile performer sprinting through dozens of characters. Think of Lily Tomlin in the Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe or Whoopi Goldberg’s theater pieces. Add to that rarified company, Miami’s own Elena Marcia Garcia, a genuinely funny creature, as she proves for 90 minutes in her new solo show, Fuácata! (Or a … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 17-19
Music: Jazz vocalist Zoë Fromer has been making the rounds of South Florida for years along with her studies at the University of Miami, building a reputation as a fine stylist (here she is singing in chanson mode singing Charles Trenet’s “Menilmontant”). A native of Delray Beach, she’s making her last appearance in her hometown on Sunday night at Arts Garage before relocating … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 10-12
Art: While the United States has had a sometimes uncomfortable relationship with European art and its forms, it has never lacked for a vital folk art scene. That art came into particular prominence during the country’s adolescence in the 19th century, and it’s that art that’s on display starting Saturday at the Society of the Four Arts and running through March 26. On exhibit … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Jan. 28-29
Film: Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey has come a long way from his lightweight romantic comedy days, taking on increasingly challenging roles and no longer concerned about how handsome he looks on screen. Take his performance in Gold as contemporary prospector Kenny Wells, a pot-bellied, balding, snaggle-toothed schemer who bets everything he has — and everything he can steal … [Read more...]