Tuesday
Opening night of “La Cage Aux Folles” at Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; 8 p.m.; starting at $25; 561/832-7469 or www.kravis.org
“La Cage Aux Folles” is a more or less “evergeen” musical – you can stage it pretty much anywhere, anytime, year after year, and it will grow. The 1983 hit about culture clash and a cross-dressing cabaret in Saint-Tropez was revived on Broadway in 2004, then revived again four years later (after a successful run in London), where it ran for 433 performances and scored 11 Tony nominations. That version starred Kelsey Grammar in his Broadway musical debut in the pivotal role of Georges; in the touring edition that runs at Kravis today through Feb. 19, we’ll get George Hamilton and his hundred-plus film and television credits – not too shabby for South Florida.
Opening night of “Red” at Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter; 7:30 p.m.; $44 to $47; 561/575-2223 or www.jupitertheatre.org
Leave it to Joseph Adler, the inimitable artistic director at GableStage in Coral Gables, to steal Palm Beach County’s thunder. Shortly after the Maltz Jupiter Theatre announced, early last year, that it would be presenting the presumptive South Florida premiere of “Red” – John Logan’s Tony-winning play about tortured abstract expressionist Mark Rothko – GableStage beat them to the punch by opening its season with “Red,” just three months before Maltz’s production. No matter to us – in fact, I love the idea of seeing the same play in two productions in one artistic season. The Maltz production, which I’m reviewing on this site on Friday, will have big shoes to fill following Adler’s Carbonell-nominated rendering, but the theater’s own successful track record speaks for itself. Game on. It runs through Feb. 26.
Valentine’s Day celebration at D’Larosa-Lurie Gallery at Royal Palm Place, 302 S. Federal Highway, Boca Raton; 6 to 9 p.m.; free; 561/392-8920 orwww.royalpalmplace.com
There’s no better time than tonight to visit the D’Larosa-Lurie Gallery, Boca’s newest art gallery, which opened to the public in late January. Tonight marks the first of many special holiday celebrations slated at the venue, which is spotlighting works by artists including Duaiv, Horst Kohlem, Daniel Fiorda, Yvonne Parker and Susana Rodriguez. In addition, Miami artist Sheila Elias will be on hand to sign copies of her book “Somewhere-Anywhere” and discuss her upcoming retrospective at the gallery. Complimentary wine and cheese will be served, and visitors are encouraged to wear red.
Wednesday
Secretary Madeleine K. Albright at FAU’s Carol and Barry Kaye Auditorium, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton; 3:30 p.m.; $35; 800/564-9539 or www.fauevents.com
Bill Clinton’s secretary of state during his second term, Albright was the first woman to hold the post, shattering the glass ceiling that has since ushered Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton into the nation’s chief foreign-affairs post. Far from easing into a quiet retirement, the 74-year-old Albright has remained active in public life in her decade out of office, penning four books, co-chairing several commissions and even appearing on “Gilmore Girls.” Her afternoon lecture at FAU likely will provide insight into a number of issues foreign and domestic, from the American economy to the rise of China to the turmoil in the Middle East.
Thursday
Opening night of “Restless: Recent Acquisitions from the MAM Collection” at Miami Art Museum, 101 W. Flagler St., Miami; 6 to 9 p.m.; free for members or $10 nonmembers; 305/375-1704 or www.miamiartmuseum.org
To celebrate its upcoming move to a larger facility, the Miami Art Museum has acquired many new works, which it will be showcasing in this exhibition, moved up from its original launch date of Feb. 26. The wide variety of mediums includes pieces by masters such as Morris Louis and Fred Wilson and emerging artists like Nicolas Lobo and George Sanchez-Calderon. The highlight of tonight’s opening reception will be a 6 p.m. artist talk by Miami filmmaker Dana Friedman, who will discuss the making of her monumental, 25-minute dance documentary “Dancer,” which the New York Times recently praised as an “ode to the seemingly extensive, fabulously multicultural dance talent of Miami.” The exhibition runs through May 6.
Friday
Opening night of “The Pitmen Painters” at Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach; 8 p.m.; $55; 561/514-4042 ext. 2 orwww.palmbeachdramaworks.org
“Red” isn’t the only play combining art and theatre that will open in Palm Beach County this week. Dramaworks has scored first dibs on a cult show that largely flew under Broadway’s radar when it opened there for a three-month run late in 2011. It’s inspired by the true story of a group of miners in Northumberland, England – known as the Ashington Group – whose interest in an art appreciation course from the Workers’ Educational Association eventually led them to create their own art. Many of them became art-world sensations despite having no formal training, and this sensational underdog story became the basis for this play, written by “Billy Elliot” scribe Lee Hall. Local and national actors highlight an impressive eight-member cast.
Opening night of “La Rafle” at three Palm Beach County theaters; show times pending
The inhumanity of the Holocaust never ceases to stagger and enrage as filmmakers continue to find new angles to explore the tragedy. The French drama “La Rafle” focuses on the mass deportation of Jews living in Paris in the summer of 1942. We watch as families are herded like animals into a giant skating arena with little running water and poor health care (shades of the Superdome in post-Katrina New Orleans) by French authorities complicit in the Final Solution. Of course, this forced exodus is only a temporary storage facility as the Third Reich puts the finishing touches on its crematoria. Deliberately hard to watch, and made ever more infuriating by centering on children, both suffering with and torn apart from their parents, “The Rafle” is directed with unsentimental, unflinching realism. Writer-director Roselyn Bosch punctuates her story with powerful contrast shots: A scene of malnourished Jewish inmates smuggling a few toffees into their camp segues into a shot of Hitler himself living a life of luxury while enjoying a decadent chocolate figurine of himself saluting from an automobile. The film opens Friday at Living Room Theaters at FAU, Movies of Delray and Movies of Lake Worth.
Opening night of “Pina” at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 7 and 10 p.m.; $20 nonmembers or $15 members; 786/385-9689 orwww.gablescinema.com
German director Wim Wenders’ new documentary “Pina” may not be for everyone, but then again, what great and groundbreaking work of art is? This 3D movie for patient grown-ups explores the philosophies and creative output of the late modern-dance choreographer Pina Bausch, and it does so by showcasing her students joyously exhibiting in her work on stages and in public parks, pools and intersections, excavated buildings, even at the top of a cliff. The film is a masterpiece of a greater proportion than its niche subject; it’s one of the cinema’s most sensitive and audacious tributes to the pains and triumphs of the artistic process. It speaks most overtly to why we dance, but it inherently addresses why we make movies and why we go to the movies, why we make art and why we entertain: To move and be moved in ways we haven’t before. It’s a long drive from Boca, but don’t miss this one.
