Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart in Café Society.Film: Any Woody Allen movie is a much anticipated event and Café Society – his 46th feature film – is no exception. Not a home run, but more of a solid double, it casts Jesse Eisenberg as the Allen surrogate schlemiel, who leaves the Bronx for 1930s Hollywood, takes a job in the office of his talent agent uncle (Steve Carell) and promptly falls for Carell’s secretary/mistress (a surprisingly unmannered Kristen Stewart). Allen plays with the movie clichés of such a romantic triangle, before giving his stand-in an improbable wife (the statuesque Blake Lively). Still, call it a sign of Allen’s maturity that he has made a valentine to Los Angeles, the city he has long famously despised. Café Society is not deep, but it does amuse.
Chris Crawford in Buyer & Cellar.Theater: As absurd as it is true, Barbra Streisand has a shopping mall in her basement, a place where she stores all the collectibles she has amassed. That is all playwright Jonathan Tolins needed to know to spin his one-man fictional yarn, Buyer & Cellar, about a gay man who takes a job curating all of her tchotchkes. And along the way, he strikes up a relationship of sorts with his egotistical employer. Chris Crawford plays Alex More and many other characters, including – yes – La Barbra. With his fluttery hands and sly sideways looks to the audience, Crawford carries the production, which has something to say about celebrity and our relationship to those immortals. At Coral Gables Actors’ Playhouse through Aug. 7. Call 305-444-9293 for tickets.
Bridgett Zehr.Dance: The ballerina Bridgett Zehr, an English National Ballet principal who did a guest star turn in Sleeping Beauty last year for Boca Ballet Theatre, returns tonight and this weekend for the title role in Giselle. Dancing opposite her will be Gray Davis of the American Ballet Theatre, and Boca Ballet alumna Nicole Muratov, now of the National Opera Ballet of Bordeaux, dances the role of the Queen of the Willis. Although Giselle’s elegant score, by Adolphe Adam, will be heard in a recording rather than live, that’s no reason to miss out on seeing some of the best dancers in ballet today along with young people hoping to emulate them some day. Performances are at Spanish River High School in Boca Raton tonight at 7:30, on Saturday night at 7:30, and at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets range from $25-$35; call 561-995-0709 or visit bocaballet.org.
Dave Matthews. (Photo by LiveNation)Music: If it’s South Florida in the summer, that means a two-day visit from the Dave Matthews Band at what is now called the Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre. The South African-born Matthews has been registering concertgoers to vote and backing Bernie Sanders, so he might have something to say about that from the stage following the Democratic National Convention. And after two weeks of high-stakes politicking, maybe we could all use some mellow music to put it out of our minds for a while. Few tickets are left for the show at 8 tonight or the 8 p.m. show Saturday, but if you want to try, you can find them at livenation.com.
