Opera: All eyes will be on the Kravis Center tonight as a new American opera makes its official debut, a milestone in South Florida arts history. Ben Moore’s Enemies, A Love Story, based on a novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer, features a young cast and a score rich with the melodic power that has made Moore’s music a favorite recital item for singers such as Deborah Voigt. Set in 1948 New York, it tells the story of a survivor who has made his way from World War II Poland to New York, where he finds himself juggling not just his Catholic wife, but a fiery mistress, and then his original wife, thought to be dead but who has in fact survived. Daniel Okulitch, Danielle Pastin, Leann Sandel-Pantaleo and Caitlyn Lynch lead the cast, which is directed by Sam Helfrich and conducted by David Stern. The opera opens at 7:30 tonight, is repeated at 7:30 Saturday night and 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon. If you want to be part of operatic history, here’s your chance. Call 833-7888 or visit www.pbopera.org.
Film: The rise and decline of the Catskills as a resort primarily for New York Jews gets the full-on nostalgia treatment in the documentary, Welcome to Kutsher’s: The Last Catskills Resort. The family-run mega-hotel that inspired the movie Dirty Dancing comes under the microscope, from its heyday in the ’50s and ’60s – when so many show biz comics got their start there and so many married couples first met there – through to the demise of the Borscht Belt. Comic Freddie Roman is featured with his stand-up routine on the Catskills, woven among archival footage, amateur movies and contemporary interviews. Welcome to Kutsher’s is an ideal film for South Floridians, many of whom vacationed at the hotel. The importance of this market is acknowledged by the personal appearance for Q&A sessions of director Ian Rosenberg at the Movies of Delray today and Saturday.
Theater: While we’re on a Jewish theme, take a look at Stars of David: Story to Song, a musical revue based on Abigail Pogrebin’s book of interviews with Jewish celebrities on the meaning of the ethnic culture to them. Such veteran Broadway composers and lyricists as Sheldon Harnick, Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire, Tom Kitt and Jeanine Tesori penned musical numbers about the religious musings of Aaron Sorkin, Joan Rivers, Gloria Steinem and Tony Kushner, both profound and light-hearted. Avi Hoffman leads a talented ensemble of four at the Kravis Center’s Persson Hall, on the final leg of a Florida road tour. Through March 15. Call 561-832-7469 for tickets.
Music: This is one of the busiest weekends in the season for local music ensembles, with the Delray String Quartet on Sunday performing piano quintets by Brahms and Granados, the Master Chorale of South Florida essaying Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, and masterful violinist Chee-Yun performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the South Florida Symphony. Also, the Palm Beach Atlantic University International Piano Festival is in full swing at the West Palm Christian college, and further south, the quinquennial Chopin Piano Competition begins its 10-day run with a gala concert at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium featuring all nine judges. If that weren’t enough, there’s Alexander Platt, the much-admired former director of The Symphonia Boca Raton, who returns Sunday to the orchestra for a concert featuring Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante (with Gareth Johnson and Scott O’Donnell), Philip Glass’s Company, and symphonies by Bizet (the Symphony in C) and Prokofiev (the Classical). The Boca orchestra takes the stage at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Roberts Theater at St. Andrew’s School. Tickets start at $60. Call 376-3848 or visit www.thesymphonia.org.