Star chefs dazzle at Palm Beach Food & Wine Fest, the Norton unveils the most artistic dollhouse you’ve ever seen, and Stephen Colbert’s bandleader takes center stage. Plus, Steve Earle, Joy Behar, “School of Rock: The Musical” and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY
What: Opening night of “School of Rock: The Musical”
Where: Broward Center, 201 S.W. Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $30-$160
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
“School of Rock” is the latest touring example of Broadway going back to the overflowing well of Hollywood, but this time the decision couldn’t be more sensible. The 2003 movie is as beloved for its decibel-raising songs as Jack Black’s liberated man-child performance. While Black won’t be reprising his role as a slovenly has-been rocker who transforms a class of straitlaced private schoolers into mini Robert Plants, the music has lost none of its eardrum-pounding edge. On the contrary, the story has gained 14 new songs since its transformation for the stage, all courtesy of Andrew Lloyd Webber. The composer’s blistering contributions lack the operatic pretensions of his more recent work, and in a first for Broadway, the child actors will play their instruments live onstage. The show runs through Dec. 24.
THURSDAY
What: Opening day of “Miss Lucy’s 3 Day Dollhouse Party”
Where: Norton Museum, 1451 S. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach
When: Noon to 9 p.m.
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/832-5196, norton.org
If you’ve grown up around little girls, you’ve probably seen your share of dollhouses—cheap, plastic, sparsely finished, empty-walled dwellings for Barbie and her ilk, usually in a hue of Pepto-Bismol pink. But unless you’re Jupiter resident Lucy Bassett Andrews and her son, Douglas, you haven’t seen anything like the work in this Norton Museum exhibition. When Douglas’ friend, the late modern artist Cy Twombly, discovered the three dollhouses Lucy constructed for her granddaughters, he and his artist friends decided to fill them with miniature contemporary art. The result is a veritable bite-sized art museum, as cutting-edge as it is cute. The exhibition runs through Feb. 4, but if you visit this Thursday for Art After Dark, you can hear Lucy and Douglas discuss the history and concept of this project at a 6:30 p.m. presentation.
What: Bill Burr
Where: Hard Rock Live, 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $40-$85
Contact: 800/745-3000, myhrl.com
In an era of microaggressions, safe spaces, and university political correctness, comedian Bill Burr must seem like an insensitive, filterless bully—which is precisely what defines his appeal among those who haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid of faux outrage. His material implicates himself, his audience, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, racists, minorities, the handicapped, child predators, children—no group is verboten from Burr’s pungent observations, drawn from what he proudly calls “uninformed logic.” This undersells the intelligence buried beneath the profanity and uncomfortable button-pushing: Really, he’s part of a long line of smart and savage comedy dating back to George Carlin and Bill Hicks. His latest tour comes fresh off the heels of his latest Netflix special, “Walk Your Way Out.”
THURSDAY TO SUNDAY
What: Palm Beach Food & Wine Fest
Where: Restaurants in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach
When: Event times vary
Cost: Varies per event
Contact: 877/503-9463, pbfoodwinefest.com
Entering its 11th year, this decadent foodie favorite continues to attract the A-list of national and international chefs to prepare one-of-a-kind culinary experiences alongside our own resident toques. Robert Irvine, Michelle Bernstein, Daniel Boulud, Marc Murphy, Tony Martindale and Elizabeth Falkner are among the marquee names cooking alongside usual suspects like Clay Conley, Lindsay Autry, Rick Mace, Brad Kilgore and many more. Most of the events are sold out, but many are not, including Thursday night’s gatherings at Buccan, PB Catch, Avocado Grill and Gravy; and Saturday’s “Daniel by Night” event at Café Boulud. Visit the website for complete details.
FRIDAY
What: Jon Batiste and Stay Human
Where: Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $45-$125
Contact: 305/949-6722, arshtcenter.org
In 2015, this multi-instrumentalist received the highest pop-culture honor for a classically trained jazz musician: a nightly gig leading the house band of a late-night TV institution. Achieving overnight fame as the bandleader for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Batiste provides the show’s pulse, but his touring gigs best showcase his vast range, which can include both piano and the “harmonaboard” (his harmonica-keyboard combo) and a repertoire spanning early swing music to Miley Cyrus to holiday favorites.
SATURDAY
(ABC/Heidi Gutman)
What: Joy Behar
Where: FAU’s Kaye Auditorium, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $50-$75
Contact: 561/297-6124, fauevents.com
Joy Behar’s humor and commentary represent the clear viewpoint of a Democratic partisan, to the extent that her defense of Bill Clinton, in 2016, led her to demean the former president’s sexual accusers with an unfortunate slur. But with Behar, filterlessness comes with a territory: She’s a brash, brassy New Yorker in the tradition of Joan Rivers, a comedian who doesn’t mince words, and who holds the mantle of a large segment of the vox populi—in this case, the anti-Trump resistance, whether it’s from the left, the moderate right or the sizable slab of disaffected Independents. Historically she’s brought a convivial, pop-culture savvy to her humor, which cuts across more demographics than her political writing. But in this charged climate, I expect her act will mostly be red meat for the liberal base.
What: Steve Earle & the Dukes
Where: War Memorial Auditorium, 800 N.E. Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $49.50-$59.50
Contact: 800/745-3000, ticketmaster.com
Steve Earle was supposed to swing by Fort Lauderdale’s Parker Playhouse this past September, during the panicked preamble to Hurricane Irma. He canceled the show, like everybody else within a 100-mile radius of the Sunshine State, but was generous enough to squeeze us in just three months later at an adjoining venue. Growing up in Texas and later moving to Nashville, Earle gained his musical personality in these roots-music strongholds, worshipping at the altar of Townes Van Zandt and helping to invent the nascent genre of alternative country with his sensational debut, 1986’s Guitar Town. Since then, he’s released 16 other albums, surviving failed marriages, debilitating drug addiction and imprisonment in the process. The impressively bearded songsmith has turned much of this history of hard living into his timeless music, which has hopped genres from hard rock to bluegrass, folk and indie. He performs with his band The Dukes in support of their latest album, “So You Wannabe an Outlaw,” a throwback record celebrating the legacy of Waylon Jennings.
SUNDAY
What: Y100 Jingle Ball
Where: BB&T Center, 1 Panther Parkway, Sunrise
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $86-$251
Contact: 954/835-7000, thebbtcenter.com
This holiday tradition once again captures the pulse of teenybopper radio with a star-studded lineup of artists heard in regular rotation on Y100, South Florida’s preeminent pop station. Demi Lovato, the chart-topping singer, actress and environmentalist, will headline the party-like festivities, playing a truncated set list with special guests Cheat Codes. Opening acts Logic, Halsey, Fifth Harmony, Nick Jonas, Charlie Puth, Camila Cabello, Liam Payne, Julia Michaels and Why Don’t We will keep the tweens dancing in the aisles for a few hours of yuletide revelry.
