Ryan Didato, David Dearstyne and Jackie Rivera in Speech & Debate. (Photo by George Schiavone)
Theater: Gable Stage’s Joseph Adler is often eager to showcase new talent, as he does with Stephen Karam’s Speech & Debate, which features three recent graduates of Miami’s New World School of the Arts – Jackie Rivera, Ryan Didato and David Dearstyne – in a quirky, contemporary comedy about geeky high schoolers growing up and fitting in. Karam may still need some seasoning as a writer, but his is an original voice that may actually attract young people to the theater. It is certainly not his fault that he is eclipsed by Rivera, a genuine find, as a misfit with her heart on her sleeve, who belts out some very funny songs from a potential musical version of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Call (305) 445-1118 for tickets. – H. Erstein
Joan Rivers in A Piece of Work.Film: As the title of the new documentary about the pioneering female comic Joan Rivers puts it, she is unquestionably A Piece of Work. From the scary opening extreme close-up of her in the makeup chair to her comeback on Celebrity Apprentice, this biographical look at what makes Joan tick covers all the important bases – the suicide of her husband Edgar, her career boost from Johnny Carson and her subsequent hostility towards him, her talent-challenged daughter Melissa and her vast collection of jokes on note cards. The film is a bit long, but those who see it are bound to gain a new admiration for Rivers. – H. Erstein
Duke Ellington (1899-1974).Music: In the last decade of his composing life, the great jazz master Duke Ellington turned to music for the church, writing three oratorio-style pieces he called Sacred Concerts. This Sunday, excerpts from the Second Sacred Concert, which premiered at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 1968, will be performed at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Delray on a program with two other jazz works of high ambition: Oscar Peterson’s Hymn to Freedom and Louis Armstrong’s version of Go Down, Moses. Four soloists – Sophia Beharrie, Ed Pierson, Anita Smith and Margaret Schmitt – will join the combined choirs of St. Paul’s and Delray’s Temple Sinai, and the St. Paul’s Jazz Ensemble, for the concert, which begins at 4 p.m. Sunday at St. Paul’s. Tickets are $15-$18 and can be had by calling 278-6003, visiting www.stpaulsdelray.org, or simply showing up on Sunday. — G. Stepanich