Music: The very last concert Franz Joseph Haydn attended in his life was in March 1808, about a year before he died, when he was carried, seated on an armchair, into the University of Vienna to hear his oratorio The Creation, in a performance conducted by Antonio Salieri. Haydn was too ill to stay for the whole piece, but the reverence he was shown that day was due in part to the great work the audience was hearing. The Master Chorale of South Florida closes its current season with this piece, which Haydn wrote in emulation of the Handelian oratorio tradition. Soloists for these two performances are tenor Stephen Soph, baritone Dashon Burton and soprano Nola Richardson. The orchestra is the Lynn Philharmonia, and the concerts will be conducted by the Master Chorale’s artistic director, Brett Karlin. You can see it tonight at 8 at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, and at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Wold Performing Arts Center on the campus of Lynn University. Visit www.masterchoraleofsouthflorida.org or call 954-641-2653.
Film: There is sex and plenty of it in a new documentary called Ask Dr. Ruth, but it is all strictly verbal and upbeat. The title character, of course, is Ruth Westheimer, the celebrated sex therapist and media darling. Sure, you know who she is, but the film delves into her back story, sent off to Switzerland from Germany by her parents to escape the Nazis, then relocating to Israel where she became a sniper during that nation’s war of independence. And eventually she moved on to New York, where Westheimer began a call-in radio show about sex. Filmed as she was approaching 90, she speaks candidly – what else? – about her painful past and her celebrated present. Opening this weekend at theaters in Lake Worth, Delray and Boca Raton.
Theater: A staple of regional theater circuit, Always … Patsy Cline features the country singer and her improbable but true friendship with a Houston divorcee, Cline’s self-described number one fan. At The Wick, Terri Dixon takes the title role and sings a couple of dozen of her song hits, while Lourelene Snedeker handles the narration chores as pushy, chipper Louise Seger. Add musical direction – and a live band! – from Caryl Fantel and assured direction by Dom Ruggiero and you have a fine way to end The Wick’s sixth season. Continuing through Sunday, May 19.