WEDNESDAY
What: John Cleese and Eric Idle
Where: Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $59.50-$79.50
Contact: 561/832-7469, kravis.org
John Cleese and Eric Idle are old enough—ahem, we mean, distinguished enough—to have been around for the birth of comedy, or at least its rebirth, in the form of their incalculably influential British troupe, Monty Python. Partly responsible for such absurdist cinematic touchstones as “The Life of Brian,” “The Meaning of Life” and “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” Cleese and Idle have built a dedicated international cult that speaks its own referential language. Amazingly, though their shadow looms large over film, television, music and theater, they’ve never actually toured together as a stand-up/cabaret act. That all changed following a joint appearance last November to supplement Cleese’s autobiography, So Anyway…. They liked the idea so much that they’re hitting the road together for a show combining improv humor, musical numbers, storytelling, never-before-seen footage and an audience Q&A. They’re making sure to play several dates in Florida because, as Idle told NPR, “It’s the only place we could find people older than we are to entertain.”
What: The Mountain Goats
Where: Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $20
Contact: 954/564-1074, ticketmaster.com
Professional wrestling is quite a louche topic for a singer-songwriter of John Darnielle’s award-winning stature. But the frontman of The Mountain Goats proved with this year’s “Beat the Champ” that even the realm of Vince McMahon (and less prestigious wrestling circuits across the fruited plain) can inspire vivid imagery, poignant reflections and pointed poetry about the elusive pursuit of happiness in modern times. It’s the 18th full-length album in Darnielle’s endlessly prolific career, filled with much of the same literary majesty that imbued his debut novel, last year’s Wolf in White Van. Assisted by longtime bassist Peter Hughes, dummer Jon Wurster and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Douglas, Darnielle will bring songs from “Beat the Champ” as well as select cuts from his illustrious discography to Fort Lauderdale for just the second time ever. I’m hardly objective about this, because The Mountain Goats are my favorite band of all-time, but if you haven’t purchased your ticket, you’ll kick yourself tomorrow, next month and in 10 years.
THURSDAY
What: Opening night of “Fright Nights”
Where: South Florida Fairgrounds, 9067 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach
When: 6 to 11 p.m.
Cost: $10–$25
Contact: 561/793-0333, myfrightnights.com
Palm Beach County’s largest haunted house never rests on its gruesome laurels, trying each year to ratchet up its scares with inventive and timely haunted houses. One of its haunts last year focused on the so-called shadow government known as the New World Order. This year, creative director Craig McInnis is planning a haunt based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm, in which fields are overtaken by mutated human-animal hybrids. It’s one of four new houses for 2015, joining “Beyond the Gates”—which explores the realm between Earth and the underworld—and haunts centering on a virus outbreak and the creepy crawlers of the New Orleans bayou. More than 100 “scare-actors” will try their hardest to rattle your bones and curdle your blood, including McInnis, who plays Eggman, the event’s redneck ringleader. A pair of all-new “scare zones” as well as the usual selection of theme park rides, midway games, live music and food vendors will complement the horrifying fun. Check it out through Oct. 31.
THURSDAY TO SUNDAY
What: Cirque Eloize: “iD”
Where: Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
When: 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $49-$89
Contact: 305/949-6722, arshtcenter.org
It takes a gifted performer to manage the gravity-defying acrobatics and impossible feats of balance in a Cirque Eloize show. It takes a dancer just as special to master the art of hip-hop choreography, from B-boy moves to breakdancing to popping and locking. It takes an artist of another caliber to pull off both—while on roller skates and bicycles, and while juggling tennis balls and performing magic tricks. That’s the essence of “iD,” the eighth and perhaps greatest production yet from Canada’s Cirque Eloize, the theatrical circus spectacular that has brought more than 4,000 performances to more than 440 cities around the globe. Integrating multimedia projection for the first time, “iD” melds death-defying circus showmanship with move-busting urban dance, creating a city streetscape that is equal parts aerial and grounded, high-flying and hard-hitting.
FRIDAY
What: Opening night of “Picnic”
Where: Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $55-$77
Contact: 561/514-4042, palmbeachdramaworks.org
This 1953 play by William Inge—aka the “Playwright of the Midwest”—is set in his native Kansas, and it’s an alternately amusing and heartbreaking snapshot of mid-century American life. The play’s magnetic center is usually Hal, the archetypal handsome outsider, who drifts into a small town just as it is preparing for a Labor Day picnic, and proceeds to upset its proverbial apple cart. Eventually played on Broadway by a then-unknown Paul Newman, Hal falls for a woman who is already spoken for, and she falls for him return, inciting the first of several moral conflicts the play investigates. Though Hal is the showiest role, most agree that “Picnic” is primarily a female play; Ellen Burstyn, who starred in a New York revival in 2012, referred to its “heavy masculinity in a feminine arena.” Set in the backyard between neighboring houses—there is no actual picnic in “Picnic”—the play won a Pulitzer Prize and has been cherished as a quintessential American classic in the half-century since its premiere. Dramaworks’ production runs through Nov. 8.
What: Opening night of “The Rocking Dead”
Where: Coral Springs Museum of Art, 2855 Coral Springs Drive
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $39.22
Contact: 954/344-5990, coralspringscenterforthearts.com
Between “Evil Dead: The Musical,” “Song of the Living Dead” and “Zombie Prom,” the undead have established a perennial residency on regional American stages, reminding us that brains are what’s for breakfast, running is for jackrabbits, and the front row is a canvas to be splattered with red liquid. “The Rocking Dead” is the latest contribution to the fertile zombie-musical subgenre, focusing on a megapopular band called The Rocking Dead that suddenly embarrasses itself on national television. Its members escape to—where else?—a secluded cabin in the woods for some much-needed emotional convalescence, only to find their R&R invaded by flesh-eating hordes. This apocalyptic rock ‘n’ roll musical features a book and lyrics by Gabriel Hammad and music by Barrett Shuler—Coral Springs natives who are more than thrilled to premiere their latest work in their hometown. It runs through Nov. 1.
What: Opening night of “Freeheld”
Where: Cinemark Palace 20, 3200 Airport Road, Boca Raton
When: Show times pending
Cost: $9-$11
Contact: 561/395-4695, cinemark.com
Adapted from a short documentary of the same name, the acting showcase “Freeheld” dramatizes the well-publicized fight, in the mid-2000s, for Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore), a New Jersey police detective who contracts terminal cancer, to extend her pension benefits to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page). A cop movie, a cancer movie, and an LGBT movie hooked onto a single Oscar-baiting line, the movie’s well-meaninged sanctimony leads to some pointedly artificial dialogue, and some of this padded narrative is surely sensationalized to martyr its working-class heroes and scold the well-fed Caucasian bigots on the county council who attempt to thwart justice. Yet it doesn’t really matter—“Freeheld” is still a potent emotional minefield, and it moves at a remarkably snappy pace for a film with such heavy thematic baggage. Its characters prod and poke until progress is begrudgingly dispensed, its incremental triumphs serving as a microcosm for the LGBT community’s slow crawl toward equality. It would take someone unimaginably intolerant to watch “Freeheld” and not be moved to fix a system that, even in the wake of this year’s Supreme Court decision on marriage equality, remains broken for too many.
What: Opening night of MiFo LGBT Film Festival
Where: Various Fort Lauderdale locations
When: Various event times
Cost: Varies per event
Contact: 305/751-6305, mifofilm.com
Speaking of cinema with a gay, lesbian and transgender bent, the MiFo LGBT Film Festival is the newly anointed combined name for the Miami and Fort Lauderdale LGBT film fests. Miami’s fest ran this past April, and the Fort Lauderdale portion begins this weekend and runs through Oct. 18, offering more than 50 films you won’t see anywhere else. Friday’s opening-night film and party will take place at the NSU Art Museum, and features a screening of “Fourth Man Out” (pictured), a comedy about a jock who comes out to his beer-drinking, sports-loving hetero friends. Other significant titles include “Oriented” (12:45 p.m. Oct. 10 at the Gateway Theater), which follows three gay Palestinian friends struggling with their sexual and national identities in an occupied land; “Front Cover” (7:30 p.m. Oct. 10 at the Gateway), about a gay, Asian New York fashion stylist also dealing with issues of cultural identity; and “All About E” (5:15 p.m. Oct. 17 at Gateway), about a lesbian DJ with a husband of convenience whose life changes when she stumbles upon a load of cash. Visit the festival’s website for a complete schedule.
