Three Chers take the stage at The Wick, Max Weinberg drums up interest in the Jewish Federation, and the Boca Museum of Art launches a mindfulness series. Plus, a Highwayman at the Cornell and more in your week ahead.
THURSDAY
What: An Evening With Max Weinberg
When: 6 p.m.
Where: The Studio at Mizner Park, 201 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
Cost: $180
Contact: jewishboca.org/maxweinberg
Max Weinberg, onetime bandleader for Conan O’Brien’s late-night show, continues to tour as the percussionist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, with whom he’s tirelessly drummed since 1975. Boss fans know he provided the thundering heartbeat to Springsteen’s acclaimed concert in Sunrise last week, part of an American tour that continues through May 27. But on a rare night off this week—squeezed between dates in Chicago and Atlanta—Weinberg, a Delray Beach resident, will return home for this rare fundraising concert, where he’ll lead Max Weinberg’s Jukebox. His professional three-piece band will play a set of classic-rock classics curated entirely by the audience. Attendees are provided with a video scroll of more than 200 tunes in the Jukebox repertoire. It includes dozens of Beatles tunes and a copious amount of Bruce favorites, plus cuts from Neil Young and Tom Petty, Elvis Costello and The Ramones, Chuck Berry and David Bowie, and the options continue. If it’s on the list, and somebody shouts it, Weinberg and company will play it. Your ticket supports the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, and includes cocktails and light bites.
What: “Practicing Kindness: Deepening Brain Regulation at the Museum”
When: 6 p.m.
Where: Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
Cost: $42
Contact: bocamuseum.org
We always try to trumpet a great idea when we discover one, and “Practicing Kindness,” a four-part wellness series kicking off Thursday at the Boca Museum, is one such idea for the troubling times in which we find ourselves. A collaboration with the local nonprofit Kindness Matters 365, the series, which runs every second Thursday through June 11, features neuroscience-backed solutions for managing stress and enhancing mental wellness. Each evening begins with facilitated mindfulness practices in the museum’s Ohnell Sculpture Garden—complete with coffee, tea, and light refreshments—and continues with a gallery tour showcasing works in the museum’s collection that connect to the program’s themes and ideas. Thursday’s focus is on “Awareness: Noticing the Signals.” Attend one or all four sessions, which continue May 14 (“Compassion: Responding with Care”), May 28 (“Optimistic Thinking: Reframing for Regulation”), and June 11 (“Gratitude: Creating Lasting Calm & Connection”).
What: Celebration of the Arts
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University, 3601 N. Military Trail, Boca Raton
Cost: $35-$50
Contact: 561/237-9000, lynn.edu
It’s that time again, when Lynn University’s most talented performing-arts MFAs showcase what they’ve learned this academic year—in the grandest fashion possible. In a production often indistinguishable from a professional theatrical revue, the students, with occasional assists from their professors, will mount an eclectic program consisting of scenes from musicals, dance numbers choreographed to classic and contemporary pop hits, and classical concert recitals, complete with first-rate costumes, lighting and sound. We don’t know exactly what’s on tap at this year’s Celebration, which makes it all the more enticing. The Celebration is a two-day affair, but Friday’s performance is already sold out, and so don’t hesitate to snag a pair for Thursday.
What: Opening night of The Cher Show
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: The Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
Cost: $124
Contact: 561/995-2333, thewick.org
The theatricality, the soaring pipes, those sequined and phantasmagorical Bob Mackie dresses—everything about Cher has for so long seemed tailored for Broadway that it was inevitable somebody would put two and two together. That somebody is Rick Elice, who wrote the books for Broadway’s Jersey Boys and The Addams Family and, in The Cher Show, celebrates another cultural touchstone. Three actresses, referred to in the show as Babe, Lady and Star, portray different eras of Cher’s life, and occasionally interact with each other, temporal logic be damned (she did write “If I Could Turn Back Time,” after all). The music, 35 songs deep, is nearly all Cher’s, and Mackie himself contributed the show’s dazzling costumes—which The Wick owns, and which the actors for this production will be sporting. These include Ella Perez, Catherine Ariale, and Kristin Rose Relleher as the trifecta of Chers. The show runs through May 31, concluding The Wick’s season.
FRIDAY
What: Opening night of “Rodney Demps: The Surrealist of The Highwaymen”
When: 6 to 9 p.m.
Where: Cornell Art Museum, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach
Cost: Free, with donations encouraged
Contact: 561/654-2220, delrayoldschoolsquare.com/cornell
One of 26 members of the original Highwaymen group of itinerant African American artists of the 1950s and ‘60s, Rodney Demps was an indelible part of southwest Florida’s cultural history. As this posthumous solo exhibition illustrates, he was among the more expressive artists in the movement, adding surreal touches to rich Florida landscapes. In Demps’ paintings, ocean waves, swaying palm trees, and radiant sunsets combine to form visuals that transcend plein air-style reproduction, playing with naturalism and scale to evoke Gaia’s mercurial, whimsical spirit. This Friday’s opening is an ideal time to explore the work: The gallery owners and Highwaymen collectors will be on hand to place the paintings in their proper context, live music will be performed, and refreshments will be served. The exhibition runs through Sept. 27.
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