Neil Patrick Harris in Company.Film: Can’t decide whether to go to the theater or to the movies this weekend? Do both, with the high-definition video of the recent concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, which was shamelessly promoted on last Sunday’s Tony Awards broadcast. It stars Neil Patrick Harris as marriage-challenged Bobby, which should restart the discussion whether the character’s dilemma is that he is actually gay. Among the ensemble of Bobby’s friends is Patti LuPone (who sings a powerhouse, boozy The Ladies Who Lunch), Martha Plimpton and, for some reason, Comedy Central’s musically savvy – but not much of a dancer – Stephen Colbert. Playing this Sunday at the Muvico Parisian, Cinemark Boynton Beach, Cinemark Palace, Shadowwood 16 and Delray Beach 18. This one is a must-see for any Sondheim devotee.
Ceci Fernandez, Jai Rodriguez and Finnerty Steevesin Chronicles Simpkins Will Cut Your Ass, at Summer Shorts.
(Photo by George Schiavone)
Theater: What do you do if you want to jump-start a 16-year-old off-season tradition, but keep down the budget in these economically tricky times? If you are City Theatre’s Summer Shorts, that annual celebration of short-form, 5-to-20-minute playlets, you reduce your performance ensemble to five and the number of sketches to seven, but you also cast a ringer, Queer Eye for a Straight Guy’s Jai Rodriguez. The ploy works because A) the ensemble includes such stellar talent as Stephen Trovillion and Finnerty Steeves, B) the scenes are all winners instead of the occasional sprinkling of disappointing head-scratchers, and C) Rodriguez turns out to be a versatile team player. The result is one of the most satisfying Shorts productions in years. Continuing at Miami’s Arsht Center through Sunday, June 26, then heading up to the Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater, from June 30 through July 3.
Allium Chives, by Pamela Larkin. Art: The New York-born artist Pamela Larkin Caruso has focused on some specific kinds of images in her work: plants and hearts, above all, which she fills with vibrant color and simple shapes, and a strong inner life, as can be seen throughout the many samples viewable on her website (http://plarkinart.com). The Jupiter Heights resident’s art also can be seen on display through the end of August in the lobby of the Eissey Campus Theatre on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens. Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and during shows. For more information, call 207-5905.
Margarita Shevchenko.Music: In the last three or four years of Frederic Chopin’s brief life, the composer found it increasingly difficult to write, as his illness (which may have been cystic fibrosis) progressed inexorably. One of his last works, published in 1846, was the Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61, an unusual, intimate, brilliant distillation of the Polish folk dance that inspired it. This Saturday, this great piece will be played by the Russian-born pianist Margarita Shevchenko, trained in Moscow and Cleveland, and resident in North Miami Beach, where she keeps a studio. At her recital at the Boca Steinway Gallery, she’ll also play two other Chopin pieces – the well-known Polonaise in A-flat (Op. 53), and the Barcarolle (in F-sharp), Op. 60 – as well as the complete Op. 116 Fantaisies of Johannes Brahms, also music written at the end of its composer’s career. Shevchenko takes the stage at 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Call 929-6633 or visit www.pianolovers.org.