Theater: Although it won the 2002 Best Musical Tony Award, the stage version of Thoroughly Modern Millie is not a very sturdy show. Fortunately, no one told the cast at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, headed by a young dynamo named Laurie Veldheer, who has a belter’s lungs and a snappy way with a tap dance. She plays the ambitious girl from the Midwest who arrives in New York in 1922, determined to take the town by storm and marry her boss — as soon as she finds a job. Director Mark S. Hoebee and especially choreographer Denis Jones set the story spinning, even if it doesn’t always make sense, just like the musicals of the ’20s. Burke Moses is extremely amusing as the well-heeled insurance executive who is Millie’s quarry, as is Lenora Nemetz as a — get this — landlady who sells her tenants into white slavery. The Maltz again proves it is the most accomplished producing troupe around, even when the material it selects is less than top-drawer. Continuing through March 24. Call (561) 575-2223 for tickets.
Film: If you have ever attended a bar mitzvah or a Jewish wedding, chances are you heard the celebratory folksong Hava Nagila, and maybe were coerced into getting up and dancing to it. According to filmmaker Roberta Grossman, anything that has such an exalted place in ethnic culture deserves its own documentary. And so, she made Hava Nagila, The Movie, an intriguing and amusing look at the roots of the song, from the ghettos of Eastern Europe to the promised land of Israel to the suburban catering halls of America. Along the way, she features such unlikely singers of the Hebrew ditty as Connie Francis, Glen Campbell and Harry Belafonte. It opens this weekend at the Living Room Theatres in Boca Raton where, I’m guessing, it will be around for quite a while.
Music: The violinist once known as Hanh-Bin wants to be known these days as Amadeus Leopold, and the audiences who’ve seen the Korean-born fiddler’s theatrical show are happy to let him do it. On Saturday night, Leopold is the soloist with the Boca Raton Symphonia in the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, which probably takes the title of most-performed violin concerto every South Florida classical season. But Leopold is no slouch: he’s a Juilliard-trained player with major chops, and the all-Tchaikovsky program he’s featured on – the Fifth Symphony and the Coronation March written for Tsar Alexander III in 1883 – should help make it a festive evening indeed down at Mizner Park. Call 368-8445 or visit www.festivaloftheartsboca.org.
Art: Morikami Museum senior curator Tom Gregersen joined the Japanese culture museum in west Delray in 1977, and this year, he plans to retire. But not before saying farewell, with a look at objects and art from the Edo Period, which lasted from about 1600 to 1868. “In one way or another, they possess a special attraction or connotation for me personally, whether they delight me, surprise me, or cause me to wonder,” Gregersen writes in a message on the museum’s website. The Curator’s Farewell Exhibition: Cool Stuff from the Morikami Museum’s Collection features things from the daily lives of Japanese, not items sent out for export. Approaches like that are what give the Morikami its sense of authenticity, and Gregersen has to be given credit – and thanks — for helping create it. The exhibit runs through May 19 at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Tickets are $13 for adults, $12 for seniors and $8 for students and children. For more information, visit morikami.org.