Miami City Ballet goes “West,” and the Wick gathers a “Million Dollar Quartet.” Plus, Record Store Day, a world-premiere movie and more in your week ahead.
WEDNESDAY
What: Opening day of “Hank Williams & His Honky Tonk Trio”
When: 12:30 p.m.
Where: Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 N.W. Ninth St., Delray Beach
Cost: $45
Contact: 561/272-1281, delraybeachplayhouse.com
It’s easy to forget that Hank Williams died, of a failing heart compromised by alcohol and prescription drugs, at 29, because his music conveyed a veritable lifetime of emotional summits and sorrows. His fragile warble, flickering near its breaking point on “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” could have been that of an octogenarian bluesman’s front-porch swan song. Instead, it came from a young man whom some called the “Hillbilly Shakespeare,” and who all but invented country music for a generation of listeners. This year would mark the legend’s 100th birthday, and to honor this milestone, the Delray Beach Playhouse is welcoming one of the signature interpreters of Williams’ songbook, Jason Petty, and his three-piece band. Petty won an Obie award for portraying Williams in the Off-Broadway bio-musical “Lost Highway” and has appeared more than a dozen times at the Grand Ole Opry; expect to hear the aforementioned classics alongside “Move It On Over,” “Hey Good Lookin’” and many more. The show runs through runs through Saturday.
What: Opening night of “Million Dollar Quartet”
When: The Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
Where: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $79-$99
Contact: 561/995-2333, thewick.org
In what is considered a defining moment in the early days of rock and roll, four of the genre’s soon-to-be-legends gathered in a recording studio, most of them by chance, for a jam session that would go down in history. On Dec. 4, 1956, Carl Perkins showed up to Sun Record Studios in Memphis for a scheduled date, only to be joined over the course of the day by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and a basically unknown Jerry Lee Lewis. Sam Phillips, owner of Sun Records, recorded their loose-limbed performances, capturing lighting in a bottle—and inspiring, some 50 years later, the premiere of a musical based on this fateful day. The rock musical of the same name closes the Wick’s season on a rollicking note, and it features four musician-actors well-versed in both theatrical and rock idioms. Among them are Lance Lipinsky, who has racked up more than 2,500 performances as Jerry Lee Lewis; Bill Scott Sheets, who has portrayed Johnny Cash in eight previous productions; and single-named entertainer Cole, who played Elvis Presley for 11 months at Harrah’s in Las Vegas. The Wick’s production, also featuring Carbonell winners Paul Louis and Mallory Newbrough, runs through May 14.
FRIDAY
What: Opening night of “Gringa”
When: 6 and 8 p.m.
Where: Savor Cinema, 503 S.E. Sixth St., Fort Lauderdale
Cost: $10-$12
Contact: 954/525-3456, fliff.com
It’s not often that a South Florida cinema snags a world-premiere screening of a major motion picture, but such is the case this weekend with “Gringa,” a tender and humane dramedy of familial reconciliation executive-produced by Fort Lauderdale’s own Kenneth Tate. The title character of “Gringa,” Marge Bickford (Jess Gabor), a bullied and unpopular American high schooler, flees south to Mexico to find her estranged father Jackson, a washed-up former soccer pro played by Steve Zahn. Now a surfer living in oblivion and struggling with alcoholism, Jackson may finally learn what it means to be a parent. Judy Greer, Roselyn Sanchez and Jorge A. Jimenez co-star, and John Oates, whose collaborations with Daryl Hall have produced decades of hits, wrote three new songs for the soundtrack.
FRIDAY TO SUNDAY
What: Miami City Ballet: “Fresh and Fierce”
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday
Where: Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach
Cost: $35-$150
Contact: 561/832-7469, kravis.org
Thirty-four years after winning an Academy Award for his choreographic work in the 1961 film of “West Side Story,” Jerome Robbins distilled its genius into the “West Side Story Suite,” a theatrical series of dances, completed just three years before his death in 1998. Shed of its songcraft and narrative trappings, the Suite retains the emotional summits and valleys of the original show, as the Jets and Sharks rumble and soar from high school gyms to the pitiless streets. This work is the headlining performance of the appropriately titled “Fresh and Fierce,” the third program of Miami City Ballet’s 2022-2023 season. This dynamic evening of dance also includes George Balanchine’s enchanting “Symphony in C,” set to the sprightly music of Georges Bizet and featuring more than 50 dancers; and a newly commissioned world premiere by choreographer Durante Verzola, who trained at the MCB School. Untitled as of this writing, the work includes costumes by international fashion designer Esteban Cortázar.
SATURDAY
What: Record Store Day 2023
When: Beginning at 9 a.m., if not earlier
Where: Record Rack, 207 Federal Highway, Pompano Beach, and other participation record stores
Cost: Album prices vary
Contact: 954/783-5004, facebook.com/recordrackfl, recordstoreday.com
For record geeks like yours truly, this annual retail event is like one’s birthday and Christmas rolled into one—provided, of course, you’re willing to empty your own pockets on lacquered vinyl goodies, as Santa is off the clock in April. A tradition dating back to 2008 to bolster brick-and-mortar shopping in the internet age, Record Store Days has become a major boon for independent shops, as distributors and labels spanning genres and eras save up their hottest limited-run titles to release at physical stores. You can’t buy any of the “RSD” exclusives on Amazon or other online outlets, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. In all, some 300 titles will be unveiled at stores on Saturday, including new releases from Miles Davis, Taylor Swift, the Cure, U2, the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and many more. We’re spotlighting the Record Rack because it’s the closest shop to Boca, but other local participating stores include Rust & Wax in West Palm Beach, Radio-Active Records and We Got the Beats in Fort Lauderdale, and Confusion Records in Lake Park.
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