THURSDAY
What: Opening night of “Curtains”
Where: The Wick, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $70-$75
Contact: 561/995-2333, thewick.org
Even if it was a clunker, “Curtains” would have earned a place in musical theater history, as the last collaboration between composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb, who gifted our culture with “Cabaret,” “Chicago” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” among many others. Ebb died before the completion of “Curtains,” missing the opportunity to enjoy its Broadway premiere in 2007. The irony is that “Curtains” has the zing and zip of a show by a writer in his sardonic prime, not his twilight years. Described as a “backstage murder mystery musical comedy,” this self-referential tribute to the medium takes place during the opening night of a star-crossed musical called “Robbin’ Hood of the Old West.” When the show’s untalented leading lady is killed during her curtain call—she’ll be played by our own Kimberly Wick in this production—a detective who happens to be an expert in musical theater is summoned to solve the case. New York actor Tony Edgerton will make his Wick premiere as the detective, a role that turned David Hyde Pierce into a musical star on Broadway. The show runs through March 27.
What: The Zombies
Where: Parker Playhouse, 707 N.E. Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $37.50-$57.50
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
With the exceptions of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Kinks, the Zombies are arguably the most important ‘60s British rock band to “invade” the U.S. In the course of just two albums released during that tumultuous decade, the group evolved from conventional mop-topped magnets for hysterically screaming teenyboppers to true artists, thanks to the 1968 psych-pop classic “Odyssey and Oracle,” whose singles “Care of Cell 44” and “This Will Be Our Year” have been covered repeatedly in the nearly five decades since its release. The Zombies flamed out shortly after that epochal record, reuniting in the ‘90s and achieving an unexpected, Lazarus-like re-emergence in the Aughts—though given that they’re called The Zombies, I suppose we shouldn’t be too surprised about their rise from the ashes. Original members Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone will perform at least 20 songs from both periods of their band’s existence, including such enduring staples as “She’s Not There” and “Time of the Season.”
FRIDAY
What: “Reunion: The Ultimate ‘80s Concert”
Where: Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $24.24-$48.50
Contact: 800/745-3000, myboca.us/pages/mizneramphi
A boatful of 1980s chart-topping pop stars and imaginatively hardoed New Wave bands will board Holland America’s Eurodam from Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, performing a few watery sets for the lucky, deep-pocketed nostalgists who booked staterooms in the inaugural “’80s Cruise.” Thankfully, the talent has proven kind enough to perform for us landlocked folks too. Debbie Gibson, who in 1988 broke records as the youngest female artist to write, record and produce a No. 1 single with “Foolish Beat,” will revisit her 25-year oeuvre, with support from five bands that have headlined festivals of their own over the years: space-age synthpop pioneers A Flock of Seagulls; retro-futurist dance-poppers Information Society; dancehall staples Wang Chung; “I Melt With You” one-hit wonders Modern English; and the freestyling nine-piece Nu Shooz.
What: Fall Out Boy
Where: Hard Rock Live, 5747 Seminole Way, Hollywood
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $45–$105
Contact: 800/745-3000, myhrl.com
When Fall Out Boy embarked on a four-year hiatus in 2009, it left the group’s millions of fans crestfallen, prompting many to assume that the band had broken up for good. But the fallout (sorry) from the Chicago quartet’s creative differences and its years of self-described “decompressing” resulted in an unlikely second coming: It’s no coincidence that a single from Fall Out Boy’s 2013 comeback album “Save Rock and Roll” was called “Phoenix.” Recorded in secrecy, with publicity photos depicting the band torching its back catalog in a bonfire, the album presented the world a Fall Out Boy 2.0, with less pop-punk angst and more dance-pop swagger. Its follow-up, 2015’s “American Beauty/American Pyscho,” has landed the group the kind of Top 40 success it never would have achieved had it stayed its original three-chord course, earning a torrent of new fans while alienating only the most recalcitrant emo purists. Nine months after packing the mainstage at SunFest, Fall Out Boy revisits South Florida for a comparatively intimate Hard Rock Live show, with special guests Awolnation.
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
What: Paul Taylor Dance Company
Where: Duncan Theatre at Palm Beach State College, 4200 Congress Ave., Lake Worth
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $45
Contact: 561/868-3309, palmbeachstate.edu
An appearance by this internationally acclaimed company, whose founder danced under Balanchine and later taught Twyla Tharp, always promises to be a highlight of the regional dance season. The troupe’s 2015 dances spanned 45 years of choreographic ingenuity, and reviews lauded the dancers’ lyricism, muscularity and ambiguity. This special performance will feature selections slated for its March 2016 residency at Lincoln Center in New York, which includes the eclectic vaudeville homage “Also Playing,” the poetic Walt Whitman tribute “Beloved Renegade,” the neoclassical abstract masterpiece “Equinox,” the uproarious comedy “Offenbach Overtures” and the black-clad majesty of “Promethean Fire.”
FRIDAY TO SUNDAY
What: Miami City Ballet Program III
Where: Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach
When: 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $20–$99
Contact: 561/832-7469, miamicityballet.org
Justin Peck, one of the hottest young choreographers to enter companies’ repertories in recent years, choreographs the most anticipated ballet of Program III. Enjoying its Miami City Ballet premiere, Peck’s “Year of the Rabbit” takes its score from an unlikely source: the pop composer and indie-music darling Sufjan Stevens, whose 2002 instrumental album “Enjoy the Rabbit,” inspired by the Chinese Zodiac, prompted Peck to choreograph his own interpretation of the astrological symbols. Stevens’ music will set the tone for Peck’s unorthodox movements, featuring 18 dancers and showcasing his 12-member corps de ballet far more than most choreographers. Another MCB premiere, Paul Taylor’s “Sunset,” plays like the haunting flipside to the shore-leave ebullience of the season’s earlier “Fancy Free,” addressing soldiers’ separations from their loved ones on the home front. The program’s final performance, the sly “Bourree Fantasque,” finds George Balanchine melding Russian dance, the tango and the can-can into his dynamic American formula.
SATURDAY
What: Italian Fest
Where: Sanborn Square, 72 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
When: 4 to 10 p.m.
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/393-7807, downtownboca.org
You can throw a breadstick down any main thoroughfare of Boca Raton and hit an Italian restaurant. Fettuccine Alfredo is practically a second currency here. But aside from framed posters from mafia movies on pizzeria walls, the spirit of Italian culture is less pervasive. That’s what makes this celebration of all things Italy so unique: The culinary favorites you’ve grown to love will be dished in downtown Boca (and will surely taste more of Europe than Olive Garden), but Sanborn Square also will resonate with the sights and sounds of Italy. Ray Massa’s EuroRhythms, whose repertoire ranges from polkas, waltzes and traditional Italian sing-a-longs to contemporary Italian pop hits from the ‘80s to today, will headline a live music lineup that also includes Tre Bella, a girl group specializing in three-part harmonies; Frank Todaro, a Frank Sinatra tribute singer; and Gianni Mennillo, an accordion world champion. Plenty if imported libations will available for purchase for the adults, and children can enjoy rides, face painting, a sketch artist and more.
What: Opening night of “Covered in Time and History: The Films of Ana Mendieta”
Where: NSU Art Museum, 1 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
When: 6 to 8 p.m.
Cost: Free for members, $15 nonmembers
Contact: 954/525-5500, nsuartmuseum.org
For decades, Ana Mendieta’s premature death has overshadowed her remarkable life. In 1985, the Cuban-American artist died at age 38 from a fall from the 34th floor Greenwich Village apartment she shared with her husband, the minimalist artist Carl Andre. Andre was later acquitted for Mendieta’s death, a verdict that remains controversial to this day and draws attention away from her groundbreaking work, which charted disturbing new frontiers in performance art, sculpture and video. The Cuban exile, who at the age of 12 fled her home country two years after Fidel Castro’s coup, dealt with cultural displacement, violence and death throughout her oeuvre. Arguably the creator of the “earth-body” sculpture genre, she created more than 200 works of art using earthen material like mud, sand and grass, ultimately focusing on her own body and the blood within it. Her art married a contemplative study of nature with a vengeful feminism, and NSU Art Museum will showcase her video work with this compilation of the largest number of Mendieta films ever screened together in the United States. It runs through July 3.
