Film: Moviegoers with a tendency towards high blood pressure are advised to take medical precautions before seeing the first-rate documentary, The Tillman Story, which is bound to make you seething mad. Amir Bar-Lev does a first-rate job sifting through the lies and cover-ups surrounding the death of Arizona Cardinals star Pat Tillman, who put his lucrative football career on hold and enlisted to fight in Afghanistan soon after 9/11. When he died, our government saw the potential for creating a martyr who could posthumously sell the nation on the importance of the war in the Middle East. It is a story that needs to be told and remembered and this film makes the case powerfully. Opening today at area theaters.
Theater: We have a natural aversion to one-man shows, but occasionally one comes along that is so well performed that it blots out the inherent weaknesses in the genre. Just such a show is Zero Hour, created by actor-writer Jim Brochu, whose resemblance to comedian-actor-painter-blacklist-victim Zero Mostel is uncanny. Brochu is larger than life with his volcanic delivery, angrily recalling Mostel’s bout with the House Un-American Activities Committee, his feud with director Jerome Robbins over “naming names” and also leavening the drama with frequent puckish punch lines. Brochu already has a Carbonell Award for this performance — he was in South Florida with it two seasons ago — so this is that rare opportunity to see what you missed then, or so enjoy it again. At the Maltz Jupiter Theatre through Oct. 24. Call (561) 575-2223. – H. Erstein
Art: Next week at Palm Beach State College’s Eissey Campus, the National Photography/Digital Imagery Exhibition arrives for a month, featuring 30 images culled from across the country. The opening reception on Tuesday night (5 p.m. to 8 p.m.) includes jurist Anna Tomczak, an artist celebrated for her large-format photographs. The top three photos from the exhibit entries will be chosen at that time.
The exhibit lasts until Nov. 19. The day before, Tomczak will hold a workshop for artists interested in transferring and integrating images into various kinds of media. The Nov. 18 workshop will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the cost is $50. Space is limited; for more information, call 207-5015.
Like so many other art forms, photography has undergone a sea change with the advent of digital technology. It’s fascinating to see how artists continue to develop different techniques of presentation yet remain focused on the primacy of the still image.
The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. The gallery is located in Building BB, Room 113, on the Palm Beach Gardens campus. Visit www.palmbeachstate.edu/artgallery.xml
Music: Last season, the young Vitali String Quartet was scheduled to perform in the St. Paul’s series in Delray Beach, but was unable to after cellist Alan Saucedo suffered a hand injury. The quartet, made up of four Mexican-born musicians who met at Virginia’s Shenandoah University, also consists of violinists Enrique Reynosa and Cynthia Saucedo, and violist David Pedraza. On the program are the Haydn Emperor Quartet (in C, Op. 76, No. 3), the Quartet No. 1 (in E-flat, Op. 12) of Mendelssohn, and two pieces by Mexican composers: Silvestre Revueltas’ Quartet No. 1, and the Suite Infantil of Jose Hernandez Gama. It’s a rare opportunity to hear some other music by Revueltas, best-known for his orchestral potboiler, Sensemaya. The concert is set for 4 p.m. Sunday at St. Paul’s. Tickets:$15-$18. Call 278-6003 or visit www.stpaulsdelray.org for more information.
This weekend in Miami Beach, the New World Symphony’s guiding spirit, Michael Tilson Thomas, conducts his last two concerts at the old Lincoln Theatre on Lincoln Road. The fine cellist Lynn Harrell joins him and the New Worlders for Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. Also on the program is Eating Greens, a piece by the American composer Steven Mackey, and the Symphony No. 7 (in A, Op. 92) of Beethoven. A third performance will take place Monday night at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale.
In late January, MTT will be leading the New World at its new campus in a building designed by Frank Gehry. That opening marks a new era for the arts in South Florida because it is the only permanent home for a symphony orchestra in this part of the state. Tickets for the 8 p.m. show Saturday start at $39; tickets for the 2 p.m. Sunday show start at $29. Call 305-673-3331 or visit www.nws.edu. The 8 p.m. Monday concert in Broward range from $35-$75. Call 954-462-0222 or visit www.browardcenter.org.