A timely play tackles outbreaks and vaccinations, new wave legends play Hard Rock Live, and menopause takes center stage at a wellness event. Plus, jazz chameleon Etienne Charles and more in your week ahead.
THURSDAY
What: Squeeze
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Hard Rock Live, 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood
Cost: $53.70-$119.50
Contact: 954/797-5531
Critics have referred to Bob Dylan’s propensity to remain on the road consistently (save for the COVID shutdown) since 1988 as his “Never Ending Tour.” The same might be said of Squeeze, the U.K. new wave-ish legends who embarked on their 50th anniversary jaunt in 2024 and have continued to extend it in new directions and new markets—like this week’s spate of Florida shows. Squeeze is most famous for its first five classic albums, which spawned jaunty singalongs like “Take Me I’m Yours,” “Cool for Cats,” and “Up the Junction,” and the blue-eyed soul favorites “Tempted” and Black Coffee in Bed.” In between their own never-ending tour, Squeeze this year released Trixies, an album of new music from lyrics they wrote as teenagers, way back in 1974, just a few years before the press would designate its songwriting duo Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford as the Lennon and McCartney of their generation. The band will likely play all of Trixies followed by a set of hits; the opening bands, often seen headlining themselves, are Adam Ant and Haircut 100.
FRIDAY
What: Opening night of Eureka Day
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Island City Stage, 2304 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors
Cost: $45
Contact: 954/928-9800, islandcitystage.org
This play by Jonathan Spector is set among the board of directors at Eureka Day, an elite private elementary school in California. Diligently concerned with inclusion, safe spaces, and seldom rocking the boat, the board members are forced to confront latent divisions among themselves and their students’ parents when a mumps outbreak begins to spread throughout the school—and its liberal vaccine policy is put to the test. As if training his crystal ball on the fractures of a post-COVID future, Spector penned this prescient comedy in 2018. Offering a sympathetic voice to all viewpoints, Eureka Day found renewed purchase on Broadway in 2025, where it won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Kudos to Island City Stage for reserving the buzziest show of its season for the summer slowdown. It runs through Sept. 13.
SATURDAY
What: Delray’s Hottest Party: A Women’s Wellness Celebration
When: 4 to 6 p.m.
Where: Vintage Gym at Old School Square
Cost: $45
Contact: 561/243-1077, downtowndelraybeach.com
Universally experienced but seldom discussed, menopause is a change, or series of changes, that most women are bound to confront in a vacuum—when the subject is not the butt of jokes. This afternoon event, part of the Delray Beach DDA’s #LoveDelray Feel Good Summer series, aims to change that by opening a dialogue between women and their supporters in the community. The event, presented in partnership with Rothman Health Solutions, includes a screening of The [M] Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause, an Oprah-endorsed documentary film about the subject, along with a live panel discussion focusing on women’s health. Attendees can also learn from such curated wellness vendors as Shore Chiropractic, Yoga Joint, NeuPath Mind Wellness, RodSquad Fitness, Castle Rock Hormone Health, Fusionary Formulas, and Peaceful Body Spa. Each attendee will receive a swag bag valued at more than $500. Following the event, they are invited to an after-party at nearby Rocco’s Tacos, where a free cocktail awaits.
SUNDAY
What: “Room to Blum”
When: 12 p.m.
Where: The Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
Cost: $125
Contact: 561/995-2333, thewick.org
The “Blum” in the title of this one-woman show refers to its creator, South Florida native Allyson Rosenblum, who will share her story of navigating personal and geographic changes wrought by the COVID pandemic. With Eric Alsford providing the musical backing on piano, Rosenblum will explore how, when the pandemic shuttered the performing arts, she excelled in a second career as a personal trainer—a life path that brought her back to Florida from New York, and which led to her return to acting, at companies such as Slow Burn Theatre, Broadway at LPAC in Lauderhill, and The Wick, where she starred as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady earlier this year. Part of The Wick’s Immersive Supper Club series, the show includes a three-course lunch from Executive Chef William Waldman.
What: Etienne Charles
When: 6 p.m.
Where: Lummus Park, 1130 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach
Cost: Free
Contact: oceandrivearts.com
A Trinidad-born, Juilliard-educated trumpeter from a long lineage of musicians—his father played in a progressive steel drum band; his great-grandfather was a folk artist who brought Trinidadian music to Martinique—Etienne Charles continues to integrate music from the African diaspora into his rich gumbo of sound. This is certainly the case on Creole Soul, his vibrant 2013 release, where his mellifluous trumpet and small band merge the sounds of contemporary soul-jazz with Haitian rhythms, across originals and covers by Thelonious Monk and Bob Marley. His latest release is 2025’s Gullah Roots. A 2015 Guggenheim Fellow, Charles has played with everyone from the Count Basie Orchestra to Roberta Flack to Wynton Marsalis, and he is sure to delight a South Florida audience of jazz and world-music lovers at this complimentary performance.
For more of Boca magazine’s arts and entertainment coverage, click here.
