Lynn students showcase their many talents, an iconoclastic photographer displays her oddities at the Boca Museum, and Boca Ballet Theatre hits the diamond. Plus, Ozzy Osbourne, Robert Klein, a “Sgt. Pepper” tribute and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY
What: Opening day of “Lisette Model”
Where: Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: $12 adults, $10 seniors
Contact: 561/392-2500, bocamuseum.org
A smiling, heavyset woman squats like a sumo wrestler on the beach at Coney Island. A performer is captured mid-song in a New York City café, her eyes impassioned, her hair electrified. A grumpy society matron, fur around her neck and shopping bag in hand, scowls at the camera, hidden chins emerging from their enclaves. These are just a few of the direct and un-retouched images of city life that formed the backbone of photographer Lisette Model’s prolific career. Born Elise Amelie Felicie Stern in Austria, Model moved to Manhattan in 1937 to pursue photography, where Harper’s Bazaar, Look and Ladies’ Home Journal published her unflinching take on street photography. She worked, and taught—her students included Diane Arbus, who would take Model’s penchant for human freak-shows to more extreme heights—until her 1983 death. Model declined most interviews, and little is known about her life behind the camera. But the work, as this survey reveals, speaks for itself.
THURSDAY
What: Opening night of “Bent”
Where: Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $23
Contact: 561/586-6410, lakeworthplayhouse.org
After debuting in 1979, this wrenching tragedy from American playwright Martin Sherman became a touchstone for LGBT culture and history, inspiring a trove of scholarly research into the persecution of gays during the Second World War. Set during and after the Night of Long Knives, “Bent” follows the arrest of a promiscuous gay man in 1930s Berlin and his transport in a train to Dachau, where he endures unspeakable torture and humiliation in his desperate quest for survival. The antithesis of a light, “sit back, relax and enjoy” evening of theatre, “Bent” requires a strong constitution and an appreciation for dark, daring drama. It’s a bold choice for Lake Worth Playhouse’s Black Box Series. See it through May 6.
THURSDAY TO SATURDAY
What: Robert Klein
Where: Boca Black Box, 8221 Glades Road, Suite 10
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $60-$70
Contact: 561/483-9036, bocablackbox.com
A lion of the entertainment world for more than 40 years, Robert Klein has satisfied all the criteria for a respected comic: Acceptance into the Second City comedy troupe, numerous acclaimed HBO specials, 42 appearances on “David Letterman” and multiple gigs hosting “Saturday Night Live,” to say nothing of a Tony-winning Broadway career and frequent film appearances. At 76, he’s still, perhaps, most admired among other comedians, for his trademark weaving of the personal and the political—the wacky physical humor with the rapier commentary about the American zeitgeist. One fan, Jerry Seinfeld, said Klein was “the Beatles of comedy to me,” in a 2017 documentary about Klein’s legacy. See him up close and personal at this special residency at the intimate Boca Black Box.
FRIDAY
What: Lynn Celebration of the Arts
Where: Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University, 3601 N. Military Trail, Boca Raton
When: 5:30 p.m.
Cost: $30
Contact: 561/237-9000, lynn.edu
Lynn University’s annual showcase of its talented students will take over the Wold Performing Arts Center on Friday, encompassing everything from theatre to music to crafts. It begins in the Wold lobby at 5:30 p.m., with a gallery of work from Lynn artists, an open-mic show for faculty and staff, live music, food and drink, and booths featuring work by Lynn artisans. At 7:30, the show moves to the main stage, featuring professional-style musical theatre, dance, poetry and music. Celebration of the Arts concludes at 9:30 p.m. with a rockin’ after-party from Wolfhawk, Lynn President Kevin Ross’s after-hours band.
What: Opening night of “Ismael’s Ghost”
Where: Cinema Paradiso, 2008 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood
When: 11:30 a.m., 4:30 and 9 p.m.
Cost: $7-$12
Contact: 954/342-9137, fliff.com
Ismael, the title character in the latest mystery from French director Arnaud Desplechin, is in a quagmire. He’s building a life together with his new wife when, out of the blue, his first wife appears after a 21-year absence. Awkward? Yes. Painful? Sure. A great premise for a film? Absolutely. Desplechin is one of world cinema’s generous maximalists, who stuffs his narratives with compelling side characters and detours, and “Ismael’s Ghost” is no different. And because Ismael is a director trying to finish his latest movie, “Ismael’s Ghost” allows plenty of opportunities for film-within-a-film ingenuity. Desplechin is blessed with a cast that’s a who’s-who of French and international cinema—Mathieu Amalric, Marion Cotillard, Louis Garrell and Charlotte Gainsbourg. It runs through next Thursday, May 3.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
What: Boca Ballet Theatre’s “Spring Ball”
Where: Countess de Hoernle Theatre at Spanish River Community High School, 5100 Jog Road, Boca Raton
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $40
Contact: 561/995-0709, bocaballet.org
Choreographer Christopher Fleming is a rare breed: a hardcore ballet lover who is also a hardcore baseball fan, cheering on his hometown Mets throughout his childhood. As the story goes, Fleming was attending a minor-league baseball game in Orlando when, between innings, he struck up a conversation with fellow Mets fans about the similarities between baseball and ballet. That dialogue gave birth to “Play Ball!,” his comedic ballpark ballet that pits an all-female team against its male rivals in a playful exhibition game. “Play Ball!” is one highlight among many in Boca Ballet Theatre’s much-anticipated Spring Ball, which also includes “Voyage Classique,” Dan Guin’s elegant tribute to classical ballet; and the romantic “Les Sylphides,” from Michel Fokine.
What: Fort Rock Festival
Where: Markham Park, 16001 W. State Road 84, Sunrise
When: Begins at 1:10 p.m. Saturday and 12:10 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $89-$109 for individual days; $174.50-$199.50 for both days
Contact: fortrockfestival.com
From ballet to nu-metal: Who says we don’t cover all the arts here on bocamag.com? This festival of double-kick-drum heavyweights from the ‘90s and today includes a number of bands in regular rotation on the late, great ZETA radio station, including the brooding Godsmack, the neo-grungers Stone Temple Pilots and alt-metal staples Sevendust, along with seminal metalcore act Hatebreed and (relatively) newer bands like Breaking Benjamin, Bullet for My Valentine and Hollywood Undead. The biggest draw, however, isn’t a nu-metal act; it’s the real deal: Ozzy Osbourne will celebrate five decades as the Prince of Darkness with a Sunday headlining set of hits from his solo career and Black Sabbath alike, hopefully performed with enough energy and gusto to make us forget his head-slapping reality-TV career.
SUNDAY
What: Black Jacket Symphony Presents “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
Where: Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $15-$85
Contact: 561/832-7469, kravis.org
The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” turned 50 in the spring of 2017, but anniversary tributes are still pouring in for this game-changing album. We say, let the “Sgt. Pepper” concerts continue indefinitely; it can be argued, as Rolling Stone did in 2013, that it’s the greatest album of all-time, prized equally as a proto-concept album, a marvel of production wizardry and a splendid collection of pop songs. The Beatles never played the songs live, but this weekend, the tribute artists in the Black Jacket Symphony will take on that daunting task for this intricately rehearsed, note-for-note performance of the canonical album, complete with stage graphics, choreographed lighting, video projections and a live orchestra. They’ll finish with a Beatles greatest-hits set.
