Music: Dave Matthews is one of those fortunate pop stars with a fan base that is essentially an extended family. Tonight he returns with his band to the Cruzan Amphitheatre for two nights of concerts in which the Dave Matthews Nation will surely be in force. At the end of this year he returns to his native South Africa for a series of concerts that are selling out, and which will mark a special passage in the life of this remarkable songwriter. One of his most appealing qualities is his honest unpretentiousness; if you want to see that in another form, see his speech July 4 to a naturalization ceremony at Monticello, not far from Charlottesville, where his career began. Blind Pilot joins DMB for the Cruzan shows, which begin at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $40.50-$75 and are available through Live Nation.
Film: Although The Way, Way Back takes place in the summertime, it is really too good to be released in the summertime. It is a terrific coming-of-age story about 14-year-old Duncan (Canadian discovery Liam James) forced to spend the summer at the Massachusetts beach house of his divorced mother’s (the sublime Toni Collette) overbearing boyfriend (an aptly unlikeable Steve Carrell). In addition to becoming smitten with the blonde next-door-neighbor, daughter of a boozy, blowsy Allison Janney, Duncan escapes to a go-fer job at the nearby Water Wizz water park, where he comes under the mentoring wing of a goofball manager (Sam Rockwell) who gives him some responsibility and older brotherly love. The script is by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, Oscar winners for writing The Descendants. They make their feature directing debut, displaying even more talent and also write juicy supporting roles for themselves.
Theater: GableStage has another coup, the South Florida premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Tony-nominated play Good People about his old South Boston neighborhood and the class divide between those who are able to escape it and those left behind. Joseph Adler directs — naturally — a very promising cast including Laura Turnbull, Barbara Bradshaw, Elizabeth Dimon, Stephen G. Anthony and Clay Cartland. Opening this weekend, continuing through Aug. 18. Call (305) 445-1119 for tickets.
Art: In its Masterpiece of the Month series, the Norton Museum of Art focuses on an iconic work from 1936, Dorothea Lange’s photo Migrant Mother. Taken at a picking camp in California by Lange when she was working for the federal Resettlement Administration, the photo shows 32-year-old Florence Owens, who with her seven children was trying to make ends meet in the teeth of the Great Depression. Owens, a widow who later remarried and had three more children, died in 1983 of cancer after achieving a measure of security in the years after World War II. But Lange’s photo tells us so much about that time in American history, and its beautiful composition frames precisely that feeling of desperation and unrest that we can see today on the faces of millions of Americans who are now in the same position; perhaps we need a new Dorothea Lange to bring it to our attention. Lange’s work is on display through July 28 at the Norton Museum; visit norton.org for more information.