City Milk, by JoAnn Nava.
Art: This weekend, the historic African-American neighborhood on Fort Lauderdale’s Sistrunk Boulevard is the site of the Midtown Urban Arts Show, part of a nonprofit effort to support revitalization of the Sistrunk corridor, named for the pioneering black physician who tended to its residents in the early 20th century. Restoration projects have been ongoing for many years in the neighborhood, and have included such signal moments as the opening of a major Broward County library branch. Until Oct. 15, the new Midtown Commerce Center building will host the art show, which features work by Purvis Young, the folk-art painter of Overtown who died earlier this year. Also in the show are pieces by artists such as George Gadson, Elayna Toby Singer, Gary Moore and JoAnn Nava. The gallery is open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, visit www.creativepulse.com.
Patricia Clarkson in Cairo Time.
Film: Some films are character-driven and others are location-dependent. A prime example of the latter is the atmospheric Cairo Time, the tale of a magazine editor (the incomparable Patricia Clarkson) whose husband has been detained on assignment, leaving her on her own in the Egyptian capital, escorted by a local colleague of her husband’s Cairo, in all its exotic, chaotic, steamy extremes, is really the star of the film, much as Toyko was in Lost in Translation or Venice in Summertime. Director Ruba Nadda uses impressive control throughout, barely suggesting the possibility between Clarkson and Alexander Siddig as her tentative guide. Playing at Mos’Art Theatre in Lake Park and Emerging Cinemas in Lake Worth. – H. Erstein
A scene from Broward Stage Door’s Mack and Mabel.Theater: This is the final weekend to catch Broward Stage Door’s impressive mounting of Jerry Herman’s Mack and Mabel, the somewhat fictionalized account of silent movie mogul Mack Sennett and his leading lady/muse Mabel Normand in the early days of Hollywood. The show has never been commercially successful because of its sketchy script, but it contains what is arguably Herman’s best score, with some first-rate, dark-toned ballads. Director Michael Leeds works at bolstering the story, while Chrissi Ardito supplies the dance steps and Shane Tanner as Sennett carries the show on his back. Through Sunday only in Coral Springs. Call (954) 344-7765 for tickets. – H. Erstein
Robert DeMaine. Music: The Detroit Symphony’s principal cellist, Robert DeMaine, who last season in Boca Raton gave a two-recital traversal of the complete Beethoven cello sonatas and associated works, returns tomorrow night with a wide-ranging program of music accompanied by the pianist in that Beethoven program, Heather Coltman. DeMaine, also an accomplished composer of music for his instrument, will play the Mendelssohn Sonata No. 2 (in D, Op. 58), an arrangement of the Violin Sonata of Cesar Franck, and the G major Viola da Gamba Sonata (BWV 1027) of J.S. Bach. Also on the program is the Six Studies in English Folk Song, written in 1926 by Ralph Vaughan Williams. DeMaine and Coltman will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the University Theatre at Florida Atlantic University. Suggested donation is $10; call 561-297-3820 or visit www.fau.edu/music.
Daniel Bernard Roumain.Daniel Bernard Roumain grew up in Margate as the son of Haitian immigrants and early on demonstrated exceptional talent as a violinist. Today he’s a cutting-edge classical crossover artist whose music and musicianship are very much at home in a multiplicity of genres. His newest work, Dancers, Dreamers and Presidents, was inspired by an October 2007 moment on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show in which then-Sen. Barack Obama and DeGeneres danced briefly together. Roumain’s three-movement tone poem gets its world premiere tomorrow night at the Lincoln Theatre in Miami Beach in a pre-season concert by the New World Symphony. Alasdair Neale, the orchestra’s principal guest conductor, also will conduct two works by Beethoven: the Leonore Overture No. 3, and the Fifth Symphony (in C minor, Op. 67). The concert will be repeated Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are free, but have been snatched up; still, orchestra officials advise you can still get in if you line up and wait for no-shows. For more information, call 305-673-3331 or visit www.nws.edu.