TUESDAY
What: Lana Del Rey
Where: Coral Sky Amphitheatre, 601-7 Sansburys Way, West Palm Beach
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $32-$160.60
Contact: 561/795-8883, livenation.com
This charismatic singer-songwriter from New York has strayed a long way from her singing origins, as the teenage cantor of her church choir. These days, the music of Del Rey—born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant—would scandalize all but the most liberal religious institutions. Her sound, which lays entrancing, melancholic vocals atop hip-hop beats, has led to her designation as a “gangsta Nancy Sinatra” and “Lolita lost in the ‘hood,” the latter speaking volumes about her sexualized, visually seductive videos. Her music is steeped in film noir and beat poetry, and her persona suggests the kind of leggy, dangerous dame most pulp detectives would benefit from resisting. The inclusion of Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful” was the best thing about Baz Luhrmann’s shallow “Great Gatsby” remake; at her first South Florida concert, expect to hear that as well as such Billboard smashes as “Summertime Sadness,” “West Coast” and “Born to Die”—the latter boasting a staggering 183 million YouTube views.
What: The War on Drugs
Where: The Fillmore, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $27.50
Contact: 305/673-7300, livenation.com
The War on Drugs do not make music for the instantly gratified. Their songs, especially on their astonishing 2014 LP “Lost in the Dream,” take a few listens, a quality set of headphones, and the capacity to lose yourself within them to fully appreciate. The album’s shortest song is just over four minutes; most clock in at around seven minutes of heavenly bliss, living wistfully on the folky, spacy border of Americana and psych-rock. The album was wrought from a soul-searching period in frontman Adam Granduciel’s life in which he contemplated suicide, ended a long-term relationship, quit smoking and drinking, and nearly quit eating. The result is a painstaking masterpiece that is both progressive and nostalgic, and a number of esteemed publications named it the No. 1 album of the year. We’re still hoping to hear a good deal of tunes from their previous albums as well, including the Dylan-influenced “Slave Ambient” and the eccentric folk rock of “Wagonwheel Blues.”
WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY
What: “The Maltese Falcon”
Where: Arts Garage, 180 N.E. First St., Delray Beach
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $20-$30
Contact: 561/450-6357, artsgarage.org
When it was published in 1929, Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falconestablished many of the archetypes we associate with noir fiction: gritty atmosphere, terse and pulpy diction and dialogue, and characters like the jaded detective protagonist and the leggy femme fatale with a secret. In the film adaptation, which many cite as one of the greatest examples of the classical Hollywood art form, Humphrey Bogart epitomized the quintessential noir gumshoe Sam Spade. Of course, not everyone had the luxury of visiting cinemas back in 1941, and the novel’s inevitable radio adaptation debuted in 1943. Local audiences can revisit this period of audio inspiration at the latest installment of Arts Garage’s increasingly popular Arts Radio Network series. Professional actors, scripts in hands, will take on the shadowy thriller, supplemented by vintage, handcrafted sound effects.
THURSDAY
What: Opening night of “Into the Woods”
Where: Delray Beach Center for the Arts, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $25
Contact: 561/243-7922, delraycenterforthearts.org
Following on the heels of a sensational film adaptation in 2014 and a respectable Miami production earlier this year, Stephen Sondheim’s ambitious fairy-tale mash-up receives another run on the woodsy boards courtesy of Delray troupe Entr’acte Theatrix. The inventive narrative imagines characters from Brothers Grimm stories, including Cinderella, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood, converging in a magical woodland of possibility, all of them questing for different objects, brighter futures and reversed spells. The first act, while representing a choreographic handful, is inherently charming; it’s the darker second act that is more difficult to master. Let’s hope Entr’acte is up to the challenge in this limited production that closes June 28.
FRIDAY
What: Opening night of “About Elly”
Where: Living Room Theaters at FAU, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton
When: Show times pending
Cost: $6.50-$9.50
Contact: 561/549-2600, fau.livingroomtheaters.com
The best movie, so far, of 2015 was actually filmed in 2009 in its native Iran, only to be stuck in distribution hell for six years. Asghar Farhadi, the auteur behind the Academy Award-winning drama “A Separation,” crafted this brilliantly ambiguous ensemble mystery set at a seaside holiday retreat. A group of old friends and their children have gathered for some R&R along with one wild card—a teacher who may or may not be single, brought along to meet a lonely fifth wheel. But when a child nearly drowns in the ocean, it sets off a narrative pivot that turns this genial comedy into a tragedy. Old wounds reopen and cultural biases crash to the forefront, along with the ceaseless waves of the nearby ocean. “About Elly” opened in Coral Gables back in May, in a super-limited South Florida run; don’t miss its encore run here in Boca.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
What: Lauderdale Live
Where: Huizenga Plaza, 1 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
When: 3 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $39.50-$299.50
Contact: lauderdalelivemusic.com
Back in 2013, Lauderdale Live was the best music festival that nobody knew about. The outdoor, downtown Fort Lauderdale event attracted names as varied as Lyle Lovett, Huey Lewis, the Indigo Girls and Shovels & Rope. Yet with a timid marketing campaign and poor timing (it ran in December, concurrently with Art Basel), audience response was underwhelming. After taking a year off to recuperate and change promoters, Lauderdale Live is rebooting this weekend as a summer festival, boasting an artist lineup of alternative rock and adult-contemporary powerhouses. Saturday will feature best-selling roots-rocker Phillip Phillips, singer-songwriter Ben Rector and American Idol winner Kris Allen, among others; Sunday will welcome eclectic cult rockers O.A.R., venerable pop-rockers Sister Hazel, “The Voice” heartthrob Luke Wade and New Orleans staple Dumpstaphunk.
SUNDAY
What: Opening day of “From Within and Without: The History of Haitian Photography”
Where: NSU Art Museum, 1 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
When: Noon to 5 p.m.
Cost: $8-$12
Contact: 954/525-5500, nsuartmuseum.org
The title of this potentially illuminating survey of Haitian photography, “From Within and Without,” speaks to the breadth of images on display—some from native Haitians shooting within their borders, others from internationally acclaimed photojournalists and artists who have descended on the country to document ancient traditions and modern disasters. Curated by Haitian-American artist Edouard Duval-Carrie and featuring 350 works from the late 19th century to present day, the exhibit’s mix of documentary, commercial and official state photography includes vodou priests and elegant mansions, street-level poverty and the devastating rubble of post-earthquake life. What emerges through all of them is that the oldest nation in the western hemisphere is a unique, inextinguishable land that perseveres from every challenge thrown its way.
