Weekend arts picks: March 12-16

Art: From capturing firework-like sprays of red lava in Hawaii to the cool icebergs of Iceland, Lewis Kemper’s masterful photographs are some of the best that can be captured of the natural world. An exhibit of his dramatic landscape photographs, Capturing the Light, opens Saturday night (5:30-7 p.m.) at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre and runs through June 5.

The show’s theme illustrates the California-based Kemper’s rules for photographing nature: “Be patient, be ready all the time and be prepared to walk away with nothing.” Patience with nature pays off in this series of brilliant photographs. The Photo Centre is located at the City Center municipal complex at 415 Clematis St. in downtown West Palm Beach. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday–Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 1–5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call (561) 253-2600 or visit www.workshop.org or www.fotofusion.org.

More photographs by Tequesta’s fine art photographer Wheaton Mahoney are on display at Mary Mahoney, 351 Worth Ave., Palm Beach. Wheaton, who is represented by Mulry Fine Art, is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and her work reflects a strong knowledge of composition, lighting and technical ability. But her vision is defined by originality and a classical, Zen-like simplicity. Wheaton’s work will be on exhibit through April 30. For information, call Fecia Mulry at (561) 832-8224.

For your contemporary art fix, don’t miss the Whitebox opening at the Whitespace Collection tonight, where Kara Walker-Tomé of Showtel fame has chosen four regional Florida artists to exhibit.

“Nicole Gugliotti, Bethany Krull, Rick Newton and Ryan Toth make artwork with an evident connection to nature, but nature is not their subject matter,” according to Walker-Tomé. “Rather than a traditional approach of depicting the beauty found in the natural world for its own sake, their artwork is meant to provoke a more abstract reading. To be sure, these artists borrow from the beauty of nature in the depiction of its forms, but each is utilizing those forms as interpretive material, and by employing this contemporary approach, they are achieving conceptual results.”

Tonight’s opening reception lasts from 7 to 10 p.m. with a $7 admission, including a complimentary drink ticket. Other public dates are by reservation only on Saturday, March 27, and Saturday, May 8, from 10 a.m. to noon with a $12 admission. Group tours are also available. Whitespace is a private museum showing the collection of Elayne and Marvin Mordes. Partial proceeds benefit the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. For information, call (561) 842-4131. — K. Deits

Film: What the Emerging Cinemas network, with local outlets in Lake Park and Lake Worth, is known for is bringing films of interest here that would have otherwise been relegated to DVD because they fell through the distribution cracks when compared to larger, louder studio fare. A case in point is the fascinating The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, written and directed by Rebecca Miller — daughter of Arthur, wife of Daniel Day-Lewis — based on her own novel. Robin Wright Penn stars in the title role of a 50-ish dutiful housewife to a much older power publisher (Alan Arkin), who has moved them to a senior community in Connecticut. The enigmatic Pippa finds herself slowly growing insane in her new surroundings, so she has an affair with an aimless convenience store clerk (Keanu Reeves) instead. Also in the cast are Winona Ryder, Maria Bello and Monica Bellucci, and still it only got minimal theatrical bookings. Very odd. — H. Erstein

Theater: “Jukebox musicals” such as Mamma Mia! or All Shook Up are dramatically lazy and often sloppily assembled. No wonder expectations were low when it was announced that a musical was being assembled about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, featuring their golden oldie pop hits. But Jersey Boys surprised Broadway, because first-time musical scriptwriters Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice told the fascinating back story of the group, director Des McAnuff staged it with unusual theatrical thrust and the show walked off with the Best Musical Tony Award for 2006. The road company opens this weekend at West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center for a run-through March 28 and tickets are very scarce. But even if you are not a Baby Boomer reliving your teen years, this is a show worth the money. Call (561) 832-7469 and offer your first-born for seats. — H. Erstein

Music: The Festival of the Arts Boca comes to a close Saturday night with a dance-and-music program that features two stars from the American Ballet Theatre. Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovksy will join the Russian National Orchestra on the last night of the festival for the White Pas de Deux from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake; Splendid Isolation 3, a dance by Jessica Lang set to the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No. 5; and a dance to music from Bizet’s Carmen. Also on the program for this Russian closeout are two surefire hits: Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (in the Ravel orchestration) and the 1812 Overture (Op. 49) of Tchaikovsky. No word on what’s being used for the cannon fire. 7 p.m., Count de Hoernle Amphitheater, Mizner Park, Boca Raton. Tickets: $25-$150. Call 866-571-2787 or visit www.festivaloftheartsboca.org.

On Sunday down in Miami, a touring production of George Gershwin’s great opera Porgy and Bess comes to the Miami-Dade County Auditorium for one performance only. This performance, which stars Patrick Blackwell as Porgy, Kishna Davis as Bess and Reggie Whitehead as Sportin’ Life, comes from producer Michael Capasso, general director of New York’s Dicapo Opera Theatre, who has a five-year deal with the Gershwin estate to mount performances of the 1935 opera, which marks its 75th anniversary this year. The touring orchestra of 18 is being augmented by Elaine Rinaldi’s Orchestra Miami for the performance, which begins at 3 p.m. Tickets range from $25 to $65. Call Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000, or the auditorium box office at 547-5414.

Closer to home on Sunday, Keith Paulson-Thorp’s Camerata del Ré joins forces with the St. Paul’s Episcopal Choir for a concert of music about life and death, including a rare performance of Missa dos Defuntos by the 19th-century Brazilian priest and composer José Maurico Nunes Garcia. Also on the program is the Judex movement from Gounod’s now rarely heard Mors et Vita oratorio, and two pieces commemorating the Holocaust: Donald McCullough’s Holocaust Cantata and Ben Steinberg’s We Remember Them. 4 p.m., St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Delray Beach. Tickets: $15-$18. Call 278-6003 or visit www.stpaulsdelray.org.

Also on Sunday, two chamber music events: The Hugo Wolf Quartet, a veteran foursome from Germany, performs quartets by Haydn (Op. 20, No. 3, in G minor), Janacek (No. 2, Intimate Letters) , and Brahms (No. 3 in B-flat, Op. 67). 3 p.m. at the Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach. Tickets: $10. Call 655-2776 or visit www.fourarts.org. And down in Fort Lauderdale, the Chameleon Musicians group founded by Iris van Eck presents piano trios by Rachmaninov (No. 2 in D minor, Op. 9), Mozart (in G major, K. 496), and Debussy (his early Trio in G). 3 p.m., Leiser Opera Center, Fort Lauderdale. Tickets: $30. Call 954-761-3435 or visit www.chameleonmusicians.org. — G. Stepanich