Theater: Musicals rarely attract the major money they need for full production these days without developmental workshops and staged readings. This Monday evening or Tuesday afternoon at The Plaza Theatre in Manalapan, a new show called Borscht Belt Bistro (music and lyrics by Ken Mazur) gets a tryout, prior to what playwright Carrol Mendelson hopes will be a production here, prior to a national tour and then, who knows. The plot, about a Russian émigré telling her American granddaughter about their family history, including an illegal speakeasy, the Jewish mob and — what else? — a love story, sounds tailor-made for South Florida. Andy Rogow directs a cast that includes Avi Hoffman, Missy McArdle and Ilene Kristen, an original cast member of Grease. Call (561) 588-1820 for $10 tickets.
Film: It is hard to figure why The Samaritan, a noir thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson, failed to get more mainstream distribution, and instead arrives locally at Mos’Art Theatres this weekend. Just be pleased that it did not fall completely through the cracks and did at least earn an art house engagement. Jackson plays a convicted murderer, forced to kill his former partner and put away for 25 years for the crime. Now released, an oily club owner/bad guy (Luke Kirby of Take This Waltz) — the son of the man he murdered — tries to lure him into a grift known as “The Samaritan.” Complicating matters is a dame — isn’t there always a dame in film noir? — played by Ruth Negga, a real find. In Lake Park, beginning today.
Art: Who among us hasn’t killed a summer day now and again with a round of miniature golf? Last week, the Boca Raton Museum of Art opened an interactive exhibit called Big Art: Miniature Golf, in which patrons can view inventive artists’ reimaginings of this game so redolent of the postwar Suburbia boom, and of course, play on them (inside, of course). Each hole promises a totally different experience, including an orbit around the sun and one that emulates a swamp you might see in Florida, alligators included. Sometimes the most memorable art is the kind in which something familiar has been reworked and made new, and that may be the case here. The exhibit runs through Oct. 14. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $8, $6 for seniors, $4 for students, and children 12 and under get in free. Call 392-2500 for more information or visit www.bocamuseum.org.
Music: Ever since the days when it was the Fort Lauderdale Chamber Orchestra, the ensemble known now as the Symphony of the Americas has been presenting regular classical music concerts throughout South Florida. That work began 25 years ago, and for almost as long, the group has been presenting summer concerts. Now in its 21st season, Summerfest this time around features members of the symphony playing with the Mission Chamber Orchestra of Rome in a string chamber program that includes a solo-flute version of the Saint-Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso and works by C.P.E. Bach, Mendelssohn, Corelli, Borodin and Hubert Parry. Also on the program is a new work, Tarantango, a mini-piano concerto by the Mission Chamber’s director, Lorenzo Turchi-Floris. James Brooks-Bruzzese leads his band tonight at the venue his group opened, the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are $24-$60. If you can’t make it south, wait a week and catch them the evening of Aug. 4 at the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach. Call 954-335-7002 or visit www.symphonyoftheamericas.org for more information.