Art: The disgraceful election season of 2016 is, thankfully, almost over, and this year on the presidential level, there has been little to no discussion of actual issues. Equally thankfully, some real discussion is available on the question of African-American male life in an exhibition now on through Dec. 18 at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach. Question Bridge: Black Males, which features 150 black men across the country interviewed from 2008 to 2011, is a collaboration of the subjects and artists Chris Johnson, Hank Willis Thomas, Bayeté Ross Smith and Kamal Sinclair. Producers of the project include actors Delroy Lindo and Jesse Williams, and Williams says the goal is to dispense with the idea that black men can be defined in a one-size-fits-all way. Watching these videos will be far more interesting and engaging than anything you’ve seen on the campaign trail, and the price is right: The Norton has free admission through the end of 2018.
Film: By the time we get to November, you would think Hollywood would ease up on the superhero movies, but at least we get one — Doctor Strange — that is as interested in Eastern mysticism as it is in special effects. And at least we get Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange, brilliant but arrogant neurosurgeon, who is soon unable to practice when a car crash leaves him with 10 useless, broken fingers. When Western medicine has no answers for him, Strange heads to Katmandu, Nepal, to learn the science of mind over matter from The Ancient One (a shaved-headed Tilda Swinton, as bizarre as ever). Soon Dr. Strange is travelling through time and space, spouting spiritual gobbledygook and accepting his role as a fighter of evildoers. (Cue his superhero cape, which has a mind of his own.) Somehow, Cumberbatch injects a note of gravitas into the proceedings, making this an action picture where you do not need to leave your brain at the door. Opening throughout South Florida this weekend.
Theater: The Maltz Jupiter Theatre forged its reputation by producing mega-musicals, but fortunately Producing Artistic Director Andrew Kato insists that the company include plays in its mix. And such is the theater’s growing reputation that it can snag the performance rights to recent Broadway hits like Peter Morgan’s The Audience. A follow-up to his Oscar-winning The Queen, the drama looks at the weekly chats between Elizabeth II and her various prime ministers over the course of her 60-plus-year reign. And from these snapshots, a montage of British history emerges. Of course the role of the queen belongs to Helen Mirren, who turned the play into a star turn. At the Maltz, the role is performed by Boston-based Karen MacDonald, whose relative underplaying allows the play and its nuances to be noticed. The exquisite production is staged by Lou Jacob (who directed Red, the Mark Rothko bioplay, at the Maltz a few seasons back), with a confidence in the text that does not require much stage action. Continuing through Sunday. Call 561-575-2223 for tickets.
Music: These days, jazz needs special care to make a mark in the sonic universe, which is why a regular series such as Jazz Roots, which has been at the Arsht Center in Miami for eight years, is so important. The founder of that series, drummer Larry Rosen, died last year, and tonight at the Arsht, a wealth of jazz greats will pay him tribute in a concert. Along with pianist and UM dean Shelley Berg (who now curates Jazz Roots), trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, chanteuse Cyrille Aimee, composer Dave Grusin, saxophonist Tom Scott and UM’s Henry Mancini Orchestra will be on hand to sing the posthumous praises of a man who loved to play jazz, and who cared enough about the community he lived in to make sure it was able to see why. To Larry With Love starts at 8 tonight at the Arsht’s beautiful Knight Concert Hall. Tickets range from $45 to $125. Visit www.arshtcenter.org to buy them.