Music: Renée Fleming sang her last Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera last year, but she hasn’t left off performing. Tomorrow night she returns to South Florida for a recital program with pianist Gerald Martin Moore at the Kravis Center. A couple years back she appeared at the Festival of the Arts Boca and featured rare verismo arias, and in previous iterations of this recital, she’s performed music by the young American Caroline Shaw and the obscure Austrian Egon Kornauth. In all of it, expect to hear that lush, dark sound that has made Fleming such an indelible part of the world operatic scene. Her recital starts at 8 p.m. Saturday; there was very limited availability Friday morning, but there are still some seats to be had. Call 832-7469 or visit www.kravis.org.
Film: Forget thinking that Meryl Streep is really Julia Child or Margaret Thatcher. It turns out she is really Katherine Graham, the former publisher of The Washington Post. The chameleon-like actress is at it again in The Post, a first-rate lesson in journalistic history from Steven Spielberg. The film, about the 1971 publication of The Pentagon Papers, proof that our government has been lying to us about the Vietnam Way for decades, was not supposed to be the A-list director’s next movie. But when the screenplay came his way early last year, he saw it was a timely reminder of the importance of a free press and fast-tracked its shooting schedule and release. Tom Hanks is reliably good at managing editor Ben Bradlee, but this is Streep’s picture, as she charts Graham’s growth in the job, risking the very existence of the nation’s capital’s key newspaper. The performance is probably too subtle for Oscar voters, but it is must-see stuff. Opening wide this weekend.
Theater: Reaching even further back than The Post, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre says “Welcome to the ’60s” with its production of Hairspray, the Tony Award-winning adaptation of John Waters 1988 cult classic film about rock ’n’ roll and racial tensions in Kennedy-era Baltimore. Perky dumpling Tracy Turnblad worms her way onto the local TV dance show and helps to integrate its teen cast. Chances are you too will be dancing at your seat to the period-perfect score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and giggling to Harvey Fierstein’s sly script. Bill Fennelly makes his Maltz debut in the director’s chair and Michael Kostoff joins a long line of guys in the high heels and housecoats of Tracy’s mom, Edna. Playing through Jan. 28. Call 561-575-2223 for tickets.
Art: The Israeli-American artist Boaz Vaadia, who died last year at 65, was inspired by the rock he found around his New York studio to create his signature sculptures: Figurative images crafted from stacked shelves of stone. The Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens opened this week an exhibit of his works that runs through April 29 at the West Palm Beach venue. The Gardens is also joining this weekend with the Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary art fair to feature some of Vaadia’s works at the fair’s downtown art space, and it includes free trolley service to the Norton Gardens. But you’ve got until spring to get a closer look at the work of this singular artist, who made something special out of found materials. Tickets at the Ann Norton Sculplture Gardens are $15; call 832-5238 or visit www.ansg.org.