From the Black Lagoon (1954), by George Zimbel.Art: Here’s one way of tying together a lot of disparate work: the alphabet.
Tomorrow, the Norton Museum of Art opens From A to Z: 26 Great Photographs from the Norton Collection, which is exactly what it sounds like – a group of photos arranged by photographer’s names from A to Z. The “X” photographer is Chinese-born Xiaoze Xie, and the “Z” photographer in this exhibit is George Zimbel, 82, whose most famous shot is one of Marilyn Monroe, skirts billowing above the subway grate. Other photographers represented in the exhibit include Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, as well as the French photographer Valérie Belin.
The show also includes American Gothic (1942), by Gordon Parks, an iconic photo of Farm Security Administration chairwoman Ella Watson, and other photographs that document important events in American history. The exhibit was curated by Charles Stainback from the Norton’s collection of more than 3,000 photographs.
The exhibit opens Saturday and runs through June 17. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, except for Thursday, when closing is at 9 p.m.; the museum also is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $12 for adults. Call 832-5196 for more information.
Alex Shaffer and Paul Giamatti in Win Win.Film: While the 16th annual Palm Beach International Film Festival may not be as sweet as its longevity suggests, it does open on Wednesday, March 23, with a winner of a film, Win Win, the third and most assured feature from actor-turned-screenwriter/director Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor). It stars doughy Everyman Paul Giamatti as a sad sack New Jersey lawyer, barely keeping his practice afloat, who compromises his ethics with a client drifting into dementia (Burt Young), to help his cash flow. And it looks for a while that he may just luck out, when the client’s grandson arrives and he turns out to be a first-rate wrestler, who helps Giamatti’s high school squad break its losing streak. McCarthy has a great eye for casting, and he populates the supporting roles with such first-rate talent as Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale and Melanie Lynskey. For scheduling information on the festival, go to www.pbifilmfest.org.
Mia Estadella plays Lucy in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.Theater: Entr’Acte Theatrix, the professional offshoot of Palm Beach Principal Players, follows up its earlier productions of Hair and Cabaret, inaugurating a black box performance space within the former International Museum of Cartoon Art with You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, the Peanuts musical, this weekend and next. The show choice may be less “edgy” than the company’s previous choices, but director-choreographer Kimberly Dawn Smith expects to add relevance to the audience-friendly show by emphasizing its “anti-bullying” message, Charlie’s low-esteem, Lucy’s bossy behavior and Pig Pen’s hygiene woes. Call (877) 877-7677 for tickets.
Scenes from the Passion of the Christ (1470-1), by Hans Memling.Music: One of the major landmarks of the current season occurs tonight and through Sunday with a performance by Seraphic Fire of the St. John Passion of J.S. Bach.
Bach apparently wrote five settings of the Passion during his 27 years of service for St. Thomas’ Church in Leipzig. Only two have survived – the St. Matthew and the St. John – and while the St. Matthew is generally considered one of his greatest works, the St. John is more dramatic in some ways, and closer to opera (the tenor aria, Ach, mein Sinn, for example, and the chorus Wir durfen niemand Todten).
Seraphic Fire will perform the work with its Firebird Chamber Orchestra, all under the direction of Patrick Dupre Quigley, and given this group’s general excellence, it’s likely to be a memorable and satisfying performance. The St. John Passion will be given three times, once tonight at 7:30 and again at 4 p.m. Sunday at All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale, and at 8 p.m. Saturday at Trinity Cathedral in Miami. Tickets range from $50-$60, depending on the venue. For more information, call 305-285-9060.
Yoonjung Han.The South Korean-born pianist Yoonjung Han has a busy year ahead, with performances next month at the Bergamo Festival in Italy and a performance of the Beethoven Fourth Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic in November.
Han, who studied at Julliard and Curtis and is currently pursuing a doctorate at SUNY-Stony Brook, performed last night on the Piano Lovers series and offers another concert Saturday night as part of the Sylvia Parker series at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Boca Raton. Han will play the Bach Partita No. 1 (in B-flat, BWV 825), the Haydn Sonata No. 52 (in E-flat, Hob. XVI: 52), Liszt’s La Campanella and Mephisto Waltz No. 1, and two pieces from Granados’ Goyescas: Los requiebros and El amor y la muerte.
Han, who’s 26, is appearing under the auspices of the London-based Keyboard Charitable Trust, which helps fund the careers of rising young musicians. Judging by her work on her YouTube channel, she already is quite a fine pianist, and her concert offers a chance for fans of the piano literature to catch someone who should have a long and distinguished career. She performs at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Unitarian Fellowship, which is at 2601 St. Andrews Blvd. in Boca Raton. Tickets are $18 in advance and $20 at the door. Call 451-4212 for more information.
Ludwig Mueller.The Boca Symphonia sees the return this weekend of Philippe Entremont, who will take a seat at the piano along with violinist Ludwig Mueller and cellist Christopher Pantillon for the Beethoven Triple Concerto (in C, Op. 56). Entremont is a big fan of this work, and it doesn’t get as many hearings as it should (one of the last locally was several years ago at the Four Arts).
Also on the program is one of several arrangements the violist and conductor Rudolf Barshai fashioned from the music of his countryman Dmitri Shostakovich: the Chamber Symphony (Op. 73a) based on the String Quartet No. 3 (in F, Op. 73). In addition, Entremont has programmed the Sextet from Richard Strauss’ opera Capriccio. The concert begins at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Roberts Theater, St. Andrew’s School, Boca Raton.