TUESDAY (today)
What: Opening night of “Reimagined”
Where: Cornell Museum at Delray Center for the Arts, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach
When: 6 to 8 p.m.
Cost: $5 donation
Contact: 561/243-7922, delraycenterforthearts.org
As an adjective, “reimagined” is a term that is probably thrown around a bit too wantonly these days, but it’s hard to argue that it perfectly fits the description of this latest group exhibition curated by the Cornell’s Melanie Johanson. The 15 hand-selected, internationally recognized artists create work that reimagines sculpture and portraiture using unconventional and/or innovative materials. These range from Sayaka Ganz’s birds made from kitchen tools to Nick Gentry’s portrait made of repurposed film stock. And wait until you see what one artist accomplishes with a boatload of recyclables, from ketchup bottles and Chapstick rollers to credit cards, CDs, Post-Its and calculators. The show runs through Sept. 6, and we’ll review it later this month here on bocamag.com.
What: American Idol Live!
Where: Parker Playhouse, 707 N.E. Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $60.50-$355
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
Earlier this year, we learned that even “American Idol,” a television series that is as seemingly perennial as “60 Minutes” and “Monday Night Football,” is not immune to the reality of ratings. With its 14th season audience numbers of 9.15 million representing a significant downgrade from its 2006 peak of 30 million viewers, the producers announced that the 2016 “Idol” will be the last. But as this year’s penultimate season demonstrated, the show still has the potential to unleash world-class talent onto the global stage. The Top Five finalists from the recently completed season will perform numbers from series along with a few surprises, and they include winner Nick Fradiani (“In Your Eyes,” “American Girl”), singer-songwriter Jax (“I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “My Generation”), Rayvon Owen (“Wide Awake,” “Burn”) and Clark Beckham (“Superstition,” “Let’s Get it On”).
THURSDAY TO SATURDAY
What: Boca Black Film Festival
Where: Embassy Suites, 661 N.W. 53rd St., Boca Raton
When: Various event times
Cost: $10-$200
Contact: 561/235-3028, bocablackfilm.org
They don’t always trumpet their talents, but plenty of skilled film-industry professionals live and work and South Florida, many of them African-American. More than a showcase for local movie premieres, the second-annual Boca Black Film Festival puts its primary focus on these local filmmakers, who will share their expertise, network, and discusses issues pertinent to the black image in movies at this three-day confab. There will be workshops on Microbudget Indie Filmmaking, Elements of Story, The Business of Film & Entertainment Law and more; and special guests will lead discussion sessions on issues including The African Diaspora: Filming in Haiti and Black Sexuality in Film. Award winner Alcee Walker’s local documentary “Pain of Love,” which examines the lives of a multiracial West Palm Beach family, will screen on Friday evening, and Saturday’s festivities will culminate in a 6 p.m. closing celebration.
FRIDAY
What: Opening night of “The Last Five Years”
Where: Sol Theatre, 3333 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $10–$18
Contact: 561/447-8829, eveningstarproductions.org
The dissolution of relationships is a common theme in the rich history of American theater. Writing plays, after all, is cheaper than therapy, and can produce new insights for the playwright and his theatergoers. But Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last Five Years” is a fresh take on this familiar autopsy of love wrecked. Premiering off-Broadway in 2002, it’s a sung-through, two-character musical in which the woman, struggling playwright Cathy, sings her numbers in reverse chronological order, beginning with their separation, while emerging novelist Jamie sings his tunes in chronological order, beginning with his starry-eyed first encounter with Cathy. They rotate their songs on opposite ends of the stage, in a whiplash-inducing tennis match between sorrow and anticipation, gnawing contempt and unfettered love, until they finally meet in the middle. Take away this ingenious concept and you’d still have an honest and moving musical about how divergent careers and nagging resentments can torpedo a once-promising union. “The Last Five Years” is so real it hurts, yet it’s not without levity. It runs through Aug. 2.
What: The Jove Comedy Experience
Where: The Palm Beaches Theatre, 262 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $18 in advance, $20 at door
Contact: 561/771-9511, quitefranklyshow.com
The theater in the swank Plaza Del Mar strip mall is a venue that won’t go calmly into the good night. What once housed the prolific, award-winning Florida Stage lasted for a few years as the more conservatively creative Plaza Theatre. When that company folded last fall, the Palm Beach Film Festival wasted little time in securing the building as its permanent residence and booking occasional film screenings and special events. Longtime Palm Beach County comedy troupe the Jove Comedy Experience, which describes its mixture of sketch comedy, improv and music as “SNL meets Whose Line is it Anyway?,” is one of the early adopters of this flexible, reborn space. This weekend, Jove’s veteran funnymen Frank Licari, Jesse Furman and Travis Thomas will perform their monthly set of unpredictable humor. Whether it’s a standup stage, a cinema or a live proscenium, we’re just glad this Manalapan jewel is well into its third life.
What: Opening night of “Unnecessary Farce”
Where: Actors’ Playhouse, 180 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $45-$53
Contact: 305/444-9293, actorsplayhouse.org
The atmosphere of this successful regional-theater comedy is perfectly encapsulated in its tagline: “Two cops. Three crooks. Eight doors. Go.” Filled with ribald one-liners, zany innuendos, nonsensical plot turns and plenty of slamming doors, this bustling comedy sounds like it fits squarely in the wheelhouse of Actors’ Playhouse artistic director David Arisco, who often displays a deft hand at translating comedies both subtle and broad. This one will provide more of the latter than the former, centering on a botched undercover police sting in a pair of adjoining hotel rooms. The madcap pace will be kept, breathlessly, by a cast of South Florida luminaries including Chris Crawford, Elizabeth Dimon, Jim Ballard, Cliff Burgess, Katherine Amadeo and Jessica Sanford. The show runs through Aug. 9.
MONDAY (June 20)
What: Sam Smith
Where: AmericanAirlines Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $32-$116
Contact: 786/777-1250, aaarena.com
In a typically outspoken gripe, Morrissey recently described English pop sensation Sam Smith as “obvious and predictable”—an act who wouldn’t exist without a powerful marketing machine behind him. Perhaps this is just sour grapes from an aging provocateur, because at first glance, Smith is more like Morrissey than the latter would admit: Smith described his sensational 2014 debut “In the Lonely Hour” as “all about unrequited love,” particularly that of a man who didn’t love him back. Pretty tortured stuff, but also lovely and cathartic, with broad crossover appeal. He’s a lot like the male Adele, and it’s no surprise that the Grammy-winning songstress is a major influence. In 2015, Smith became the chief Grammy darling, winning four of his six nominations, including Record of the Year for the ubiquitous “Stay With Me.” Needless to say, next Monday’s show will likely be remembered as one of the year’s don’t-miss concerts.
