Tuesday
Opening of “Robert Vickrey: The Magic of Realism” at Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real, Boca Raton; 6 p.m.; free for members and $10 nonmembers; 561/392-2500 or www.bocamuseum.org
As one of the 20th century’s most acclaimed practitioners of egg tempera painting “a medium that mixes egg yolks with ground pigments” Robert Vickrey elevated this traditional but uncommon method to new heights, enjoying its perks of overpainting and revisionism for works that combined contemporary imagery with dashes of surrealism. The Boca Museum will exhibit 40 works from Vickrey’s 60-year career in the arts. The museum will also open “Art for the People: 20th Century Social Realism.” Vickrey runs through June 19, and “Art for the People†shows through Sept. 11.
Wednesday
SunFest Day One along the waterfront in downtown West Palm Beach; 5:15 to 10:30 p.m.; $34; 800/786-3378 or www.sunfest.com
The five-day music festival kicks off tonight with the most modest evening of them all, but one well worth your time and dollars. The Avett Brothers — the Starbucks-approved, alt-country-turned-adult contemporary songsters put on a wonderful show at the Parker Playhouse in 2009, and since then, the band’s “I And Love And You” has become a lighter-waving sing-a-long on radio stations cool enough to play it. They will headline the Tire Kingdom stage at 8:15 p.m., while ’90s alt-rock staples Sublime will headline the Bank of America Stage at 9.
Thursday
SunFest Day Two along the waterfront in downtown West Palm Beach; 5:15 to 10:45 p.m.; $34; 800/786-3378 or www.sunfest.com
Thursday’s SunFest offering features my most anticipated artist of the festival: Dome-headed, nu-soul prankster Cee Lo Green, the Gnarls Barkley vocalist responsible for the breakthrough hit whose name we can’t print (Hint: It rhymes with “Luck too”). Green may be largely responsible for mainstreaming the F-word, but his music has plenty of substance beyond the shock value, and perhaps, if we ask him nicely, he’ll dust off “Crazy,” his other club hit from a few years back. Green will headline the Tire Kingdom stage at 8, and singer-songwriter Jason Mraz will headline the Bank of America Stage at 8:45.
Friday
Opening night of “Even the Rain” at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 7 and 10 p.m.; $8 to $15; 786/385-9689 or www.gablescinema.com
The latest in the “movie within a movie”subgenre, “Even the Rain” was Spain’s official entry in the most recent Academy Awards. It follows a Spanish film crew who have traveled to Bolivia, attempting to make a film that offers an unvarnished look at the violent imperialism of Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of the New World. In turn, the privileged crew members become cultural and economic imperialists themselves, turning a blind eye to the suffering of the Bolivian people they exploit as underpaid extras in their production. The movie’s moral pandering is very much on the nose, and it ultimately consumes some of the fascinating contradictions of the film’s first half, but this is still an emotionally moving picture with plenty of arresting images. Friday night’s opening will feature a live Q&A, via video link, with actor Juan Carlos Aduviri at both screenings.
Opening night of “Blood Brothers” at West Boca Performing Arts Theatre, 12811 W. Glades Road, Boca Raton; 8 p.m.; $20 to $30; 954/323-7884 orwww.slowburntheatre.com
The musical “Blood Brothers” opened in London’s West End in 1988 in a production that, astonishingly, is still playing in 2011, making it one of the longest-running musical productions in history. In the process, the musical has developed a cult following over nearly 30 years, so the Slow Burn Theatre Company in West Boca has some large shoes to fill when it tries its hand at “Blood Brothers” for a two-weekend run. The story is about fraternal brothers who have taken wildly divergent paths in life and whose relationship comes to tragic blows when they both fall in love with the same girl.
Interpol with School of Seven Bells at Fillmore Miami Beach, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach; 8:30 p.m.; $33; 305/673-7300 or www.livenation.com
The copious riches of live music continue well beyond SunFest this week. Brooding post-punk band Interpol, which has graduated from a Joy Division clone to a bona fide alt-rock brand, will headline, but opening act School of Seven Bells is the band to see here. Former Secret Machines guitarist Benjamin Curtis founded the band along with identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, and they have released two albums of textural, ethereal headphone lullabies that sound like the bastard children of Cocteau Twins and Stereolab. Claudia Deheza left the band in 2010 for personal reasons; let’s see if its sound maintains its richness without her.
Friday to Sunday
Miami City Ballet’s “Romeo and Juliet” at Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale; 2 and 8 p.m.; $20 to $175; 954/462-0222 or www.browardcenter.org
Of the countless multimedia interpretations of Shakespeare’s most ubiquitous play, choreographer John Cranko’s 1962 version, set to Prokofiev’s enduring score and renowned for its grand theatricality, is certainly one of the most memorable. The nine-scene ballet, presented in three acts with an epilogue, will take the entire evening – the only production to do so in Miami City Ballet’s 2010-2011 season. It already played the Kravis and probably won’t be presented here until the next lunar eclipse, so see it while you can.
Saturday
Sleigh Bells at Grand Central, 697 N. Miami Ave., Miami; 11 p.m.; $15; 305/377-2277 or www.grandcentralmiami.com
The last time Sleigh Bells came to town, less than a year ago, they sold out Respectable Street in West Palm Beach. Now, this genre-bending, Brooklyn-based crunch-punk duo will perform in a venue more befitting its rapidly expanding size. Look for Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller (a Palm Beach native) to burn through every lo-fi dancehall hit on their frustratingly short debut LP “Treats” and, hopefully, some much anticipated new material.
SunFest Day Four along the waterfront in downtown West Palm Beach; 12:45 to 11 p.m.; $34; 800/786-3378 or www.sunfest.com
Perhaps the most eclectic of all the SunFest shows, Saturday’s daylong event includes the ‘90s rock-radio memories of Toad the Wet Sprocket (at 2:45), the reggae grooves of Ziggy Marley (at 3:30 p.m.), local dance music sensation Panic Bomber (5:45 p.m.), emo-friendly indie rockers Steel Train (7 p.m.), classic rockers Styx (9 p.m.) and electroclash hipsters MGMT (9:30 p.m.). Bring some suntan.
Opening night of “Away in the Woods” at Bear and Bird Gallery at Tate’s Comics, 4566 N. University Drive, Lauderhill; 7 p.m.; free; 954/748-0181 orwww.bearandbird.com
In the early 19th century, the Grimm Brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm, were responsible for compiling and putting their linguistic imprint on countless dark and violent fairy tales, including “Rapunzel,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “The Frog Prince” and “Sleeping Beauty” before they became touched up and Disneyfied for mass consumption. This group show honors the storied, cultish tradition of the appropriately named Grimms with a collection of art inspired by the original tales. Local Bear and Bird favorites such as A. Pants, Alexis Colbert, Danny Brito, Terribly Odd, Todd Nolan will contribute new works.
