Theater: In 2002, Chicago director Mary Zimmermann won a Tony Award for her adaptation of Ovid’s Greek myths, Metamorphoses, set in a swimming pool. Dreyfoos School of the Arts theater instructor Bruce Linser now wades into the play — sorry, without the pool — with an expanded cast size, which becomes a movement ensemble, albeit on dry land. Linser is putting his emphasis on the language in this tale of the gods and their power plays and transformation, but the tech staff has some visual surprises up their toga sleeves as well. The production continues at the Brandt Black Box Theatre on the Dreyfoos campus in West Palm Beach through Feb. 26. Tickets are a mere $15, available by calling (561) 802-6052.
Tickets are tight for the inaugural events of Lou Tyrrell’s The Theatre at Arts Garage in Delray Beach, particularly the current Master Playwright Series, Tuesday nights through the month. This Tuesday will feature a reading of William Mastrosimone’s Cat’s-Paw, the saga of a government bureaucrat held captive by an ecologically obsessed terrorist. If the play sounds familiar, that could be because Tyrrell’s Florida Stage produced the world premiere 20 years ago. Following the reading, Mastrosimone will discuss the play in a conversation/interview with yours truly, Hap Erstein, as well as field questions from the audience. Tickets are $20, available in advance by calling (561) 450-6357. – H. Erstein
Film: If you like your comedies dark and quirky, then Thin Ice by director/co-writer Jill Sprechter should fill the bill. Thin ice is what Wisconsin insurance agent Greg Kinnear is skating on, because he is about a quart low on scruples and his dishonest ways are about to backfire on him. First his wallet gets stolen by the girl he brings back to his hotel room at an out-of-town convention. Then he unwisely sells a theft insurance policy to an old codger (the sublime Alan Arkin) who discovers a valuable violin, which soon goes missing. And a locksmith (Billy Crudup) commits a murder and implicates Kinnear. The movie is bound to remind you of the Coen Brothers’ Fargo, which is high praise indeed. Opening at area theaters this weekend. – H. Erstein
Music: This weekend, the director of the Lynn Conservatory, Jon Robertson, returns to the piano, where he’ll be joined on stage by the husband-wife team of violinist Carol Cole and cellist David Cole for a performance of the Triple Concerto (in C, Op. 56) of Beethoven. I spoke to Roberston about this work’s oddly tepid reputation last weekend, and he said one of the problems with the concerto is that most people try to play it too fast. “It’s chamber music,” he said, even with the orchestra behind the trio, and needs some breadth to make its impact.
Guest conductor John Nelson will lead the Philharmonia in the concerto and the Symphony No. 7 (in D minor, Op.70) of Dvorak, which has one of the composer’s catchiest scherzo movements. Performances are at 7:30 tonight and 4 p.m. Sunday in the Wold Performing Arts Center on Lynn’s campus in Boca Raton. Tickets: $35-$50. Call 237-9000 or visit www.lynn.edu/tickets.
Also, the Amernet String Quartet, based at Florida International University, comes back to town for a concert at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach. On the program at 3 p.m. Sunday are quartets by Haydn (Quartet No. 42 in G, Op. 54, No. 2), Beethoven (Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95), and the Quartet No. 1 of Leos Janacek (Kreutzer Sonata, after the story by Tolstoy). Tickets are $15-$20. Call 278-6003 or visit www.stpaulsdelray.org.
And pianist Yoonie Han makes a return appearance in Abram Kreeger’s Piano Lovers series at the Steinway Gallery in Boca Raton. She’ll make her Kennedy Center debut next month in Washington, but local concertgoers can hear her this Sunday afternoon in music by Beethoven (Sonata No. 28 in A, Op. 101), Schumann’s Carnaval (Op. 9), and pieces by the Spanish composer Enrique Granados. 4 p.m., tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Call 929-6633 or visit www.pianolovers.org. – G. Stepanich