Spoken-word, dance and music merge at the Kravis, an ‘80s pop star brings carols to Broward, and GableStage honors a pair of Canadian folk legends. Plus, Black Flag and more in your week ahead.
THURSDAY
What: “Blackbird, Fly! A Concert for Voice, Body and Strings”
Where: Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $35-$45
Contact: 561/832-7469, kravis.org
Taking its name in part from a Paul McCartney civil-rights paean, this collaboration between two American sons of Haitian immigrants—violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain and spoken-word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph—blurs distinctions between dance and literature, and between classical and hip-hop music. The musicians/storytellers are formidable figures in their own right; Roumain has played with Lady Gaga, and Joseph is a winner of the National Poetry Slam. Together, they achieve an interdisciplinary kismet, exploring themes of lineage, folklore, politics and race through the three mediums in the subtitle: voice, body and string instruments. In an interview, Joseph called it the kind of art that “moves at the speed of life.”
FRIDAY
What: Black Flag
Where: Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $29.50
Contact: 954/564-1074, cultureroom.net
Since their 1976 formation, Black Flag has been the standard bearer for West Coast hardcore punk, riffing on subjects from police brutality to creeping authoritarianism to social isolation and mindless consumption, in lyrics that strike at the heart of America’s corroded institutions. Across five decades and two official reunions, the SoCal pioneers have shed more singers than a choir audition. Yet Mike Vallely, who has been on vocal duties since 2013, is the group’s second-longest-serving member, spitting out nihilistic lyrics with the controlled fury of Black Flag’s most influential shout-singer, Henry Rollins. Greg Ginn, the lone original member, still grounds Black Flag with his experimental guitar work, and the group’s breakneck anthems—from “Damaged” to “Gimme Gimme Gimme”—still resonate. Definitely arrive early to see opening act the Queers, proudly puerile pop-punk standard bearers with 30 years of pogo-ready fan favorites.
What: Debbie Gibson: Winterlicious
Where: The Parker, 707 N.E. Eighth St., Broward Center
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $45-$138
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
I’m late to the party in recognizing the utility of the portmanteau “newstalgia”—a design and art movement for the past couple of years that resuscitates Gen-X trends in novel ways. It’s also the name of an artist on Debbie Gibson’s new remix album, which finds electronic musicians reinterpreting her double-platinum sophomore LP Electric Youth. The term can even apply to an artist as long-lasting and still-sparkling as Gibson herself, a pop songwriting phenomenon who released her triple-platinum debut Out of the Blue at age 16 and continues to write, record and tour fresh songs while branching out into acting and reality TV—creating new material from nostalgic foundations. On this special “Winterlicious” tour, one of only five such dates in the U.S., Gibson will perform holiday favorites from her 2022 release of the same name (perhaps “The Candy Man,” “Let it Now” and “White Christmas”) as well as her decades of hits.
SUNDAY
What: “Both Sides Now”
Where: GableStage, 1200 Anastasia Blvd., Coral Gables
When: 2 p.m.
Cost: $25-$80
Contact: 305/445-1119, gablestage.org
Joni Mitchell once said of her contemporary Leonard Cohen that “Leonard was a mirror to my work, and with no verbal instructions, he showed me how to plumb the depths of my experience.” “Both Sides Now,” a cabaret-style production from Danielle Wertz and Robbie Schaefer, reveals each side of the mirror. Born in Canada nine years apart, Mitchell and Cohen overlapped in life, love and certainly their shared fan bases, as undisputed giants of arty folk music. Accomplished musicians Wertz and Schaefer’s show is filled with anecdotes and their immortal tunes, from “Big Yellow Taxi” to “Hallelujah.” Saturday’s opening night is sold out, but tickets remain for Sunday, and the show runs through Jan. 5.
What: “Mr. Yunioshi”
Where: Arts Garage, 94 N.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $30
Contact: 561/450-6357, artsgarage.org
A permanent scar on an otherwise classic film, Mickey Rooney’s notorious portrayal of Mr. Yunioshi, the upstairs neighbor of Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, has not aged well, to put it mildly. It wasn’t even well-received in 1961: Clad in “yellowface” makeup with a buck-toothed prosthetic mouthpiece, American comedian Rooney’s performance, under painful direction from Blake Edwards, is accurately remembered as one of Hollywood’s most offensive and misguided casting decisions. But at least it inspired this one-man show from Asian-American writer, director and performer J. Elijah Cho, who, in an inspired reversal, plays Rooney circa 1960, upon receiving and preparing for the infamous role. Full of laughs and undergirded with commentary on the morality of ethnic casting and Asian under-representation in media, “Mr. Yunoishi” won an award at the 2019 Hollywood Fringe Festival, and comes to Delray for one night only.
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