WEDNESDAY
What: “Pablo Picasso: Painted Ceramics and Works on Paper”
Where: NSU Art Museum, 1 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: $5-$12
Contact: 954/525-5500, nsuartmuseum.org
This exhibit at the former Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale opened March 12 but flew under my radar. This week marks an excellent time to check out this rare trove of some 72 objects from Pablo Picasso spanning 1931 to 1971. The artist is recognized globally for his contributions to cubism, collage and constructed sculpture, manifested primarily in his groundbreaking, reality-bending paintings. But this exhibition, culled largely from the museum’s own generous cache of Picasso gifts, spotlights lesser-known but equally innovative mediums, from etchings and aquatints to the more than 50 ceramic bowls, pitchers and plates he completed until just two years before his death. Many of them are emblazoned with signature Picasso imagery—owls, bullfights, bacchanals, acrobats and more—making this an essential survey even for those already familiar with his most iconic periods. It runs through Nov. 1.
What: Elvis Costello
Where: Broward Center, 201 S.W. Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $49.50-$129.50
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
Fans of the rockin’ side of Elvis Costello only have to wait until August, when the English troubadour returns to the Coral Skies Amphitheatre for a set with his backing band, the Imposters. But if you prefer Elvis as the rootsy, acoustic guitar-plucking balladeer, his current solo tour is the jaunt for you. The shows on this tour have received rave reviews from critics praising his reinvention of classics and his integration of newer and deeper cuts from his eclectic 30-year archive. Hits like “Watching the Detectives,” “Alison” and “Pump it Up” anchor the set, but the rest is a mixed bag that changes every night, including lesser-known songs from albums like “National Ransom” and “Spike,” and an always-shifting palette of cover songs by the likes of Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. Larkin Poe, the Atlanta-based roots rockers that have been touted as “little sisters of the Allman Brothers,” will open the show and return occasionally to back up Costello.
THURSDAY
What: Bill Berloni
Where: Delray Center for the Arts, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach
When: 2 p.m.
Cost: $30-$45
Contact: 561/243-7922, delraycenterforthearts.org
Every now and then on Broadway, a four-legged actor will perform with such verisimilitude that you hope the board of the Tonys will add “Best Performance by a Canine” to its awards the following year. Sandy, the terrier mix who co-starred in 2,377 performances in “Annie,” was one such pooch. The man who discovered Sandy, Bill Berloni, was a 19-year-old theater apprentice whose job consisted of building sets for summer stock companies. He rescued Sandy from the local pound, paid $7 for him, and launched the careers of both the man and his best friend. Berloni has become the American media’s impresario of animal thespians, providing animals for hundreds of films, TV shows, commercials, theatrical productions, even a New York City Ballet performance. He’s worked with everything from cockroaches and butterflies to elephants and giraffes, along with countless dogs and cats liberated from kill shelters. The winner of a 2011 Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre will visit Delray Beach, with a canine companion in tow, to discuss his memoir, Broadway Tails.
What: Opening day of “Imaging Eden”
Where: Norton Museum of Art, 1451 S. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach
When: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Cost: $5-$12
Contact: 561/832-5196, norton.org
The Everglades is one of the most-photographed natural wetlands in the country, with a Google search for “Everglades photography” yielding 3.5 million hits. But at 60 miles wide and 100 miles long, there are surely enough points along the River of Grass that haven’t received their proper close-up. In fact, Tim Wride, curator of photography at the Norton Museum, believes that despite the proliferation of Everglades snapshots, “There was no systematic imaging of the Everglades through photography until the 20th century, which was very late when you consider Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite … all these wilderness areas had already been imaged by the third quarter of the 19th century. I thought it would be interesting to see how the Everglades had been imaged over time and bring it directly up to present day.” The result is “Imaging Eden,” an exhibition that showcases the oldest surviving Everglades images on through the work of four imaginative photographers, commissioned by Wride, to show us the mighty wetland in ways we’ve never seen it before.
SATURDAY
What: Jenny McCarthy’s “Dirty, Sexy, Funny” tour
Where: Palm Beach Improv, 550 S. Rosemary Ave., West Palm Beach
When: 7 and 9:45 p.m.
Cost: $30 with a two-drink minimum
Contact: 561/833-1812, palmbeachimprov.com
Controversy and comedy have always been combustible bedfellows, presumably dating back to the birth of public joke-making itself. Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Bill Maher, Chris Rock and many more have forged their reputations by saying things that large swaths of audiences find offensive. So the brick wall of the standup stage seems like as hospitable an environment as any for Jenny McCarthy, an unlikely lightning rod for controversy. The former Playboy playmate, television personality, and star of many a straight-to-video comedy has come under fire in recent years for parroting the discredited argument that vaccines cause autism. The L.A. Timescalled her a “public menace” and Salon eviscerated her “war on science,” to cite just two reactions. Barring the interruptions of hecklers, expect the blonde bombshell and recent reality-TV star to avoid the vaccine topic completely in her current “Dirty, Sexy, Funny,” tour, which also features the talents of four other female comedians with envelope-pushing reputations.
What: Opening night of “Alternative Contemporaneities: TAZ”
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art, 770 N.E. 125th St., North Miami
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $3 students and seniors, $5 general admission
Contact: 305/893-6211, mocanomi.org
It would never make a best-seller list, but in certain circles, Hakim Bey’s radical 1991 book “T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone” is akin to a bible—a practical field guide to modern anarchism. The “zones” of the title are places carved out to elude formal structures of control, and Bey’s chapter headings suggest both the excitement and danger of such places: “Pirate Utopias,” “Waiting for the Revolution,” “Ratholes in the Babylon of Information.” In its latest “Alternative Contemporaneities” exhibition, North Miami’s boundary-pushing Museum of Contemporary Art will expand on Bey’s philosophies, creating artistic spaces that fulfill Bey’s criteria. This mysterious and provocative group exhibition features the work of nearly 60 artists, including such familiar names as Kevin Arrow, Beatriz Monteavaro and Philip Estlund, and it runs through May 30.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
What: Jazz in the Gardens 2015
Where: Sun Life Stadium, 347 Shula Drive, Miami Gardens
When: 4 p.m. each day
Cost: $67-$195
Contact: 305/623-6100, jazzinthegardens.com
This year marks a major achievement for Jazz in the Gardens, which celebrates its 10th anniversary of bringing world-class music to Miami Gardens. Appropriately enough, the festival will be offering a landmark lineup, arguably its strongest yet, whose attendance will surely exceed last year’s 68,000 visitors. Saturday will feature R. Kelly (pictured), the notorious rapper-producer credited by Billboard as the most successful R&B artist in history; Toni Braxton, the seven-time Grammy winner and reality TV star; and Men of Soul, featuring the soulful love songs of veteran crooners Jeffrey Osborne, Peabo Bryson, Freddie Jackson and Howard Hewett. Sunday will feature sets from Maxwell and Erykah Badu, two of the foremost vocalists in the neo-soul movement; Run-D.M.C., the pioneering hip-hop group; and Brian Culbertston, the award-winning multi-instrumentalist and smooth jazzman. D.L. Hughley will emcee the festivities. Visit the event website for the complete schedule.
