TUESDAY
What: Darren Criss
Where: Parker Playhouse, 707 N.E. Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $46.50-$126.50
Contact: 954/462-0222, parkerplayhouse.com
Gleeks and Starkids rejoice! Actor and singer Darren Criss—best known for his roles as Blaine Anderson on “Glee” and Harry Potter in “A Very Potter Musical” and its sequels—will take over Fort Lauderdale Tuesday night with his renditions of popular Broadway songs. After thrilling audiences at Carnegie Hall with fellow Broadway performer Betsy Wolfe (“The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” “The Last Five Years”), Criss is bringing his solo act to South Florida. Criss wowed audiences on Broadway in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” winning the Broadway.com Award for Favorite Replacement for each role, and is sure to not disappoint. With a guitar or a piano at hand, watch for Criss to perform stripped-down performances of some of today’s biggest Broadway hit tunes and some of his original theater work. —Kevin Studer
What: Iggy Pop
Where: Fillmore, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $64.50-$105
Contact: 305/673-7300, livenation.com
You’ve got to hand it to Miami resident Iggy Pop: He’s 68 years old, and despite the inherent flabbiness of old age, he still performs shirtless and stage-dives (he was reportedly the first performer to do so, back in the late ‘60s). One of the few punk pioneers still alive and still recording music, Pop is supporting Post Pop Depression, his new collaboration with Queens of the Stone Age, an appropriately heavy nine-song set of foul-mouthed head-bangers rooted in Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd. It’s Pop’s 17th album, but don’t expect a career’s worth of music at his hometown show this week: This tour’s set list pulls almost exclusively from “Post Pop Depression” and the twin masterpieces he recorded with David Bowie in 1977, The Idiot and Lust for Life. He isn’t playing anything by the Stooges, but hey, you can’t have it all.
THURSDAY
What: Opening day of “Arnold Newman: Master Class”
Where: Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
When: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Cost: $10–$12
Contact: 561/392-2500, bocamuseum.org
Photographer Arnold Newman was the Annie Leibovitz of his day: You weren’t a notable celebrity, artist or leader until you sat for him. And sitting for Newman didn’t just mean posing like a monarch, with the light accentuating your best side. Newman introduced the now commonplace concept of “environmental photography,” or immersing the subject in his or her natural habitat, without ornamentation. This process resulted in iconic images of Igor Stravinsky, in which the composer’s tiny head is dwarfed by the abstract shadow-like presence of his grand piano; John F. Kennedy staring pensively from a balcony in the White House, with the building’s pillars towering behind him; Woody Allen in bed scribbling into a notebook, pausing to meet the camera’s eye; and Truman Capote in a literally self-effacing gesture, reclining in a chair with a straw hat and his right hand covering half his visage. Newman’s famed public-figure portraits, which include Bill Clinton, Salvador Dali, Marilyn Monroe and countless others, form the bulk of “Master Class,” the first museum survey of his work since his 2006 death.
What: Opening night of “A Kid Like Jake”
Where: Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $20
Contact: 561/586-6410, lakeworthplayhouse.org
In this award-winning play by Daniel Pearle, the unseen 4-year-old title character expresses a preference for what another character describes as “gender-variant play.” Which is a fancy 21st century way of saying that Jake likes to play with dolls instead of action figures, and prefers to dress up as Disney princesses for Halloween instead of pirates. “A Kid Like Jake” is set in the elite world of the Manhattan uber-rich, where Jake’s parents, Alex and Greg, are attempting to secure placement for their son in the borough’s most exclusive private schools. But as their boy’s Cinderella fixation deepens and his behavior grows more erratic, the parents and administrators begin to wonder if Jake’s “gender variances” are a cause for concern. This smart and relevant play, which explores issues of tolerance, gender fluidity and the nature-versus-nurture debate, will enjoy its Florida premiere courtesy of the Lake Worth Playhouse’s Stonzek Black Box series. The productions runs through May 1.
What: David Sedaris
Where: Parker Playhouse, 707 N.E. Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $68.89-$77.43
Contact: 954/462-0222, parkerplayhouse.com
The skeleton of a murdered pygmy, a first colonoscopy, memories of a father’s uncouth dinnertime attire. What do these subjects have in common? They all inspired stories in Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, the latest collection of memoirs and fiction from best-selling humorist—and, arguably, America’s premier essayist—David Sedaris. The NPR personality, former Macy’s department store elf, and notorious picker-upper of other people’s trash will read selections from Let’s Explore in this exhaustive book tour celebrating its paperback release. Sedaris also will offer all-new recollections, open the floor for a Q&A and and sign books.
FRIDAY
What: NOFX
Where: Revolution Live, 100 S.W. Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $24
Contact: 954/449-1025, jointherevolution.net
NOFX rose to prominence in the mid-90s punk revival that included Green Day and the Offspring, ultimately selling more than 8 million albums without the help of mainstream radio airplay or major-label distribution. These days, its snotty vocals and three-chord skate-punk shredding sounds as influential as it is derivative, and its music is significantly more provocative than it used to be. In defiance of the brevity of traditional punk, NOFX’s signature song, 1999’s “The Decline,” runs 18 minutes and takes up an entire EP. Alas, it’s not being played on the band’s current tour, but plenty of classics dating back to the early 90s are.
SUNDAY
What: Wellness, Fashion, Art, Food & Wine
Where: 40 Day Reset, 307 S.E. Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton
When: 1 to 6 p.m.
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/558-3239
The diversity of activities at this intimate wellness fair in Royal Palm Place is evidenced in its name, where complimentary wine and light vegan bites will served amid a full day of scheduled speakers and events. It begins with a rejuvenating yoga session at 1 p.m. with a session guided by MuzeWear’s Denise Zullo, and continues with a lecture on breathwork and stress reduction by hypnosis expert and Healthy Minds Practice founder Dr. Yafi Yair at 2 p.m.; a lecture on “Sound, Color, Light Healing and Meditation” by Jan Kinder at 2:45 p.m.; a fashion show fundraiser at 3:30 p.m.; and a workshop on “Your Body Without Limits” by fitness consultant Dr. Scott Hoar.
MONDAY, APRIL 25
What: “An Evening with Garrison Keillor”
Where: Broward Center, 201 S.W. Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $40-$60
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
Keillor is one of the few modern radio hosts for whom the word “controversial” is never desired. Though the longtime host of NPR’s vintage variety show “A Prairie Home Companion” will be retiring from his perch behind the microphone at the end of this season, he remains a foremost progenitor of Minnesota nice, a nostalgic relic of the era when radio waves were a portal to the imagination. He’s also a best-selling author and storyteller whose comedic and sonorous lectures jump from his childhood to wry comments on the news of the day to, if you’re lucky, freeform poetry and a cappella music. All that’s missing is rhubarb pie.
