Boca’s beach makes history, a cult TV series returns to the big screen, and a Miami Tex-Mex institution tours without its late singer. Plus, Don Lemon & D.L. Hughley and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY
What: One
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Coral Springs Center for the Arts, 2855 Coral Springs Drive, Coral Springs
Cost: $40
Contact: 954/344-5990, thecentercs.com
A sensation at last month’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it played for 21 performances during the largest theater festival on the planet, this one-woman show from former MadTV quintuple-threat Carlie Craig is drawn from her own experience. She plays a version of herself who falls in love with her childhood crush, a television actor, only to discover during the coronavirus pandemic that he had been living a double life through their entire courtship. Craig responds to the betrayal by penning songs about it, 11 of which form the bulk of One, as she transforms through the course of the show into an alter ego: The World’s First Comedic Popstar. One enjoyed its world premiere at Edinburgh, so this performance—a hometown show for the Florida native and FSU graduate—marks its United States debut.
WEDNESDAY
What: Opening day of “Life’s a Beach”
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum, 71 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
Cost: $12 adults, $8 students
Contact: 561/395-6766, bocahistory.org
The beach has been central to Boca Raton’s mystique from the days even before its incorporation, when the undeveloped stretch of sand lured pioneers to our balmy paradise. “Life’s a Beach” charts the city’s evolution through this natural amenity, following its treasured coastline from the wide expanses of the 1890s through its enduring appeal in the 21st century. Information touches on the rise of oceanfront parks on Palmetto Park Road and the glamour of the Cabana Club, and the exhibition is supplemented by vintage swimwear and period memorabilia, along with choice photos from the Boca Raton Historical Society’s archive—including a memorable image of a man who turned a runoff of seaweed into a makeshift wig! “Life’s a Beach” runs through Feb. 27 of next year.
What: MST3K: The RiffTrax Experiments—Sting of Death
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Cinemark Bistro, 3200 Airport Road, Boca Raton
Cost: $15.98
Contact: 561/395-4695
Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000, an on-again, off-again institution in the cable and streaming-verses since 1988, are among the most ardent and financially generous of film nerds (I count myself among them). Hence, when the creators and talent ever need to crowd-fund another iteration, their legions of “Misties” usually come through. Such is the case with this theatrical salvo to a new four-part series called MST3K: The RiffTrax Experiments. In it, the three actors who created the similarly structured RiffTrax following MST3K’s first dissolution—Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy—return to reprise their roles from the 1990s MST3K: Nelson as himself, and Corbett and Murphy as the wisecracking puppets Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo. As in the classic series, their silhouettes will appear on screen to riff their way through a ridiculous science fiction stinker: 1966’s Sting of Death, about five college girls who encounter a jellyfish monster on a sojourn to the Everglades. The screening will re-run at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13.
FRIDAY
What: Don Lemon and DL Hughley
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 S.W. Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
Cost: $46.02-$106.80
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
One of many former cable-news commentators who have found a second life in the YouTube sphere of alternative media, award-winning former CNN anchor Don Lemon continues to make news as an independent journalist with a live podcast that reaches up to 1.45 million subscribers. D.L. Hughley arrived at his own successful podcast, titled Uncertain (specializing in “Sharp jokes. Uncomfortable truths. Zero patience for performative outrage”) concurrent with his long career in television and standup, after rising to prominence as one of the four “Original Kings of Comedy.” Unshackled from the strictures of mainstream media, both celebrities have emerged as prominent critics of President Trump, who will surely consume a portion of the oxygen on this “Anything Goes” tour. But with no topic off-limits, expect these two broadcast professionals to veer into provocative directions on subjects from social justice to pop culture, in a discussion exclusive to this appearance.
What: The Mavericks & Friends
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: The Parker, 707 N.E. Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale
Cost: $58.41-$105.61
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
Miami seemed like an unlikely genesis for The Mavericks, a South Florida band that jettisoned the dance and hip-hop that were most popular in their cosmopolitan city for a jaunty sound that married formative country music with Tejano, Latin, and early rock ‘n’ roll. Many audiences in the United States didn’t know what to make of the group, which combined barnstorming country with frontman Raul Malo’s Cuban-American heritage—and a lyrical content that sometimes hewed closer to activist folk, with songs decrying homelessness and trumpeting immigrant rights. The Mavericks found more popularity in Europe than in the States, but their cult appeal has continued to endure, especially in the region of their 1989 founding. While Malo succumbed to colon cancer late last year, the group has reformed as The Mavericks & Friends in their late singer’s honor, with founding drummer Paul Deakin and returning bassist Robert Reynolds performing with two singers from Nashville’s current pantheon, James Otto and Emily West. Expect to hear hits such as “All You Ever Do is Bring Me Down,” “Back in Your Arms Again,” and heartfelt covers from Malo, Neil Young, and Dolly Parton.
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