Delray flips the switch on its iconic Christmas tree, a heartwarming musical brings Dublin street music to Jupiter, and a young jazz phenom makes a rare SoFla appearance. Plus, David Sedaris and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY
What: Delray’s 100-Foot Christmas Tree Lighting and Yuletide Street Fair
Where: Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: Free, with $6 tickets for ice skating, carousel and mini golf
Contact: 561/243-7250, downtowndelraybeach.com
Delray’s famous 100-foot Christmas tree has been a dark, silent colossus at Old School Square Park since October. But this week, the moment has arrived for the grand countdown to the flip of a switch that will illuminate all 218,000 LED lights and 18,000 ornaments. Afterwards, revelers can enter the tree and enjoy the animated scenes inside, and finally partake in the ice skating, carousel, mini golf and Santa’s residence (see, everybody’s a South Florida snowbird now). For Tuesday night only, Atlantic Avenue will be closed to vehicular traffic, and ancillary activities will include carnival-type games, pop-up vendors, a silent disco and carolers; while the tree lighting is at 7 p.m., activities run from 6 to 9 p.m.
What: An Evening With David Sedaris
Where: The Parker, 707 N.E. Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $69.75
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
My experience with humorist David Sedaris is mostly confined to his periodic essays for The New Yorker, which are infused with his signature droll wit and stealth poignancy regardless of the topic. His more committed fans have been blessed with 11 story collections he has published since 1994, including his latest work, 2022’s Happy-Go-Lucky, whose essays address the topsy-turvy tumult of the COVID and Trump years, his personal midlife adaptations, and the people in his orbit, including, most memorably, the last days of his 98-year-old father, whose relationship with his son was a fractious one. (David: “I don’t think the coffin could have been any uglier.”) But there’s no better way to burrow inside Sedaris’ headspace than to hear him read his own words; on this tour, he’ll premiere new stories and recollections, sign books and field questions from the audience.
What: Opening night of “Once”
Where: Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $74-$120
Contact: 561/575-2223, jupitertheatre.org
The 2007 film “Once” became one of that year’s sleeper hits at the box office, earning $23 million off of a $150,000 budget on the strength of its killer alternative-pop tunes, written and performed by its two lead actors, and its heart-forward message about communion through song. Its transition to the stage proved to be just as artistically fruitful, winning eight Tony Awards for its Broadway debut in 2012, including Best Musical. Following the creative and romantic travails of a generically named “Guy”—a scrabbling street busker in Dublin—and “Girl”—a Czech flower peddler and fellow amateur-musician who recognizes his gifts—“Once” is perhaps the perfect show to warm one’s cockles this holiday season. Its Palm Beach County regional premiere runs through Dec. 15 at Maltz.
WEDNESDAY
What: Makaya McCraven
Where: Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $67.98
Contact: miamibeachbandshell.com
The Paris-born drummer, bandleader, composer and producer Makaya McCraven is one of the leading lights of contemporary jazz, a multitalented force of nature who leads more with with beauty and ethereality than with speed and ferocity. One of many young talents who finds labels such as “jazz” limiting—he sees himself as more of a “cultural synthesizer”—McCraven has achieved much to expand the genre’s definitions—by introducing string quartets into his music, and by integrating styles such as ambient, world and folk music into a cohesive, blissfully rhythmic whole. This rare Miami appearance, two years after the release of his wildly acclaimed breakthrough album In These Times, kicks off the eclectic four-day Tribeca Festival, with all performances at the Miami Beach Bandshell; visit the venue’s website for the full schedule.
THURSDAY
What: Opening night of “Black Santa”
Where: Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $56-$61
Contact: 305/949-6722, arshtcenter.org
One of those satires that hits so close to reality that it begins to feel like a documentary, playwright Aaron Mays’ “Black Santa” is set in an upper-crust day school, where, in the days before holiday break in the classroom of the school’s only African-American teacher, a third grader named Sharifa declares “Santa Claus is a Black man from Detroit.” The comment sets off a firestorm that spreads to the school’s administration, which pressures the teacher to create an ad campaign that reinforces Kris Kringle’s essential whiteness. City Theatre will produce the Southeastern premiere of a play that’s poised on the razor’s edge of current debates about race and education. It runs through Dec. 22.
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