Music: It’s not too early to get into the holiday spirit for Independence Day. This Sunday, the Klezmer Company Orchestra at Florida Atlantic University mounts a concert of American music (mostly) under the baton of its leader, Aaron Kula. The concert also serves as an advertisement for the Spirit Of America Collection at FAU’s Wimberly Library, which contains 13,000 books, manuscripts and pamphlets donated by philanthropist Marvin Weiner.
Sunday’s concert features vocalist Daniel Cochran, who will sing selections from Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs as well as Nacio Herb Brown’s Singin’ in the Rain. The orchestral part of the program contains Copland’s score for Rodeo, Bernstein’s Slava! Overture (for Mstislav Rostropovich) and A Musical Toast, and the inevitable 1812 Overture (Op. 49) of Tchaikovsky, for which cannon fire will have to be added as the triumphant Russians overwhelm Napoleon.
Tickets for the concert, which is set for 3 p.m. Sunday at the Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium on FAU’s Boca Raton campus, are $18-$40. Call 1-800-564-9539 or visit www.fauevents.com.
Film: With the recent stumble of Cars 2, Pixar Animation is back in the winner’s circle with this summer’s digital present, Brave, a new classic fairy tale very much in the tradition of the Brothers Grimm by way of Disney. Pixar has been churning out animated features since 1995’s Toy Story, yet it had never centered a film on a female character until now, with the creation of a flame-haired, Scottish princess named Merida. A tomboy archer and horseback rider, she bridles at the notion of being married off to any of the three dunderheaded princes who vie for her hand. But when she runs off, she lands in the woods, near the cottage of a spell-casting witch with transformational powers. Pixar continues to put an emphasis on story construction, not just gorgeous computer animation, and it shows. Brave now quickly becomes the front-runner for the animated feature Oscar. You heard it here first.
Theater: Sixteen years ago, when Florida Stage was still calling itself the Pope Theatre Company, writer-director Jeremy Lawrence unveiled a dark, edgy musical revue called Cabaret Verboten, based on the songs and skits seen in seedy German clubs between the two world wars, just before the rise of Adolf Hitler. For the inaugural summer show of The Theatre at Arts Garage in Delray Beach, producing director Lou Tyrrell has gone back to Lawrence for an updated version of the same show. It is still based in material from 80-some years ago, but Lawrence has given it a more contemporary, lighter-toned satirical spin that has unmistakable parallels to our woes today. Heading an energetic cast of four are local favorites Lourelene Snedeker and Wayne Legette. Opening tonight and running through Sunday, July 29. Call (561) 450-6357 for tickets.
Art: The native religion of Japan, Shinto, holds the belief that spirits called kami are all around us, some of them benevolent, and others mischievous. This has of course led to many depictions of these spirits in Japanese art, and last month at the Morikami Museum west of Delray Beach, Ghosts, Goblins and Gods: The Supernatural in Japanese Art, opened for a stay that will last until Sept. 16.
Included in the exhibit are depictions of gods such as Fukurokuju, god of long life and wisdom, and Okame, goddess of mirth. On display will be paintings, prints and sculptures, and even some of the Pokemon monsters, who in their own goofy way continue this theme into modern Japan.
The museum and its attendant Japanese Gardens are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is $13 for adults, $12 for seniors, and $8 for children. Call 495-0233 for more information or visit www.morikami.org.