Theater: Actress-writer-former bartender Terri Girvin uses all those skills in her one-woman show, Last Call, a funny and touching world premiere at Empire Stage in Fort Lauderdale — the cozy former Sol Theatre space — where the play is in its final weekend. As she did each night when she tended bar, served drinks and put up with the tipsy regulars, Girvin gets quite a workout in her play and we get an earful about her high-maintenance family, plus nuggets of knowledge on how a no-frills, cash-only neighborhood bar works. The play brings to mind Becky Mode’s Fully Committed, the play about a harried restaurant reservationist, but Girvin’s open personality is the key to the evening, just as it probably was the secret of her success as a barkeep. Empire Stage, 1140 N. Flagler Drive, Fort Lauderdale. Through Sunday. Tickets: $25. Call: (954) 383-1896.
Film: The surprise nominee for the feature animation Oscar this year was surely Chico & Rita, the jazz-filled love story from Spain’s Fernando Trueba which sneaked into the running, taking the place of a few more commercial films with wider distribution. Since it lost to Rango, the chances of this visually stunning, music-driven movie being seen theatrically here looked slim, but fortunately Boca Raton’s Living Room Theaters specializes in such niche programming. Piano player Chico falls hard for singer Rita in Havana and they start making beautiful music together, until she heads off to America, he follows, but soon gets deported back to Cuba. The writing is smart, smarter than the parade of sappy live-action rom-coms that fill the multiplexes. Here is an animated flick you do not have to be embarrassed about going to see. Living Room Theaters on the Florida Atlantic University campus, Boca Raton.
Music: Aside from Sunfest, which wraps this weekend on the West Palm Beach waterfront with bands such as Third Eye Blind, Joan Jett, Foreigner, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Pit Bull, there are some other special musical moments taking place.
The final completed symphony of Gustav Mahler has long been associated with a sense of valediction and farewell, with its intense, impassioned finale. But until the endocarditis he didn’t know he had suddenly took over, Mahler was happy and productive, and making plenty of money as director of the New York Philharmonic. True, his wife had started an affair with architect Walter Gropius that shattered the composer, but he and Alma were working through it when he became ill. Still, the Ninth Symphony remains a shattering experience, and this weekend at the New World Center in Miami Beach, Michael Tilson Thomas takes the New World Symphony through it in what will doubtless be memorable performances. It also marks the last wallcast of the season for the New World, so if you can’t make it inside – and both performances are sold out — you can sit outside and watch it with other outdoor concertgoers. The concerts are set for 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 305-673-3331 or visit www.nws.edu.
This weekend also marks the season finale for the Chameleon musicians group, which concludes Sunday afternoon with Schubert’s Trout Quintet, featuring bassist Luis Gomez-Imbert and pianist Kemal Gekic along with series founder Iris van Eck on cello, violinist Alla Krolevich and violist Ken Martinson. Also on the program on the second floor of the Leiser Opera Center in Fort Lauderdale is the rarely heard Piano Quartet of Fanny Mendlessohn and the early Piano Trio No. 1 (in F-sharp minor, Op. 1, No. 1) of Cesar Franck. The concert begins at 3 p.m., and van Eck always sets out a nice spread of refreshments for everyone afterward, including champagne. Tickets for the 3 p.m. show are $35. Call 954-761-3435 for more information or visit www.chameleonmusicians.org.