A documentary celebrates a Jewish gangster gone good, Miami City Ballet brings the fire, and Mizner Park is awash in fine artists. Plus, the South Florida Garlic Fest and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY
What: Screening of “Last Man Standing: The Chronicles of Myron Sugarman”
When: 7 p.m.
Where: The Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
Cost: $25
Contact: jfilmboca2024.eventive.org/welcome
Palm Beach County resident Myron Sugarman has no illusions about the crookedness of his inherited career. As a second-generation gangster, he was instrumental in the global manufacture, import and export of illegal slot machines, pinball machines (yes, that society-killing scourge!), jukeboxes and cigarettes machines beginning in the 1930s. But Sugarman was no run-of-the-mill outlaw; as a member of the New Jersey Jewish Mob, his activity on the margins of legality coincided with the rise of the American Nazi Party, and he was instrumental in combatting anti-Semitism at home and abroad; he even struck up a partnership with prominent Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal to locate Dr. Joseph Mengele. This complicated and colorful personality is the subject of a new Amazon documentary, and he will appear in person at the movie’s local theatrical premiere this week, part of the Boca International Jewish Film Festival.
FRIDAY
What: Opening night of “The Cancellation of Lauren Fein”
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach
Cost: $104 (includes 7 p.m. reception; all other performances $89)
Contact: 561/514-4042, palmbeachdramaworks.org
Cancel culture reaches a terminus of absurdity in this world-premiere drama from Miamian Christopher Demos-Brown, in which the progressive left targets members of its own political class. Lauren Fein is a professor of biology at a fictional liberal arts university; her wife, Paula Munoz, teaches theatre, and together they raise a fostered African-American child. Despite representing multiple marginalized communities, they find themselves at the center of a campus controversy when Lauren inadvertently runs afoul of the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Playwright Brown, who is also a trial lawyer, penned the play in response to cases he handled as an attorney, which brought to the fore “weird injustices that were not isolated incidents,” he says. “It was a pattern that was happening nationwide. … Tenure was supposed to mean you’re freed up from that, and it doesn’t really mean that anymore.” The play runs through Feb. 18.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
Boca Raton Museum Art Festival
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Mizner Park, 327 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/392-2500, bocamuseum.org
Now in its 37th year, this annual juried art show is the only such exhibition and sale affiliated with the Boca Raton Museum of Art—and the only to sprawl across the entirety of Mizner Park. Upwards of 50,000 art enthusiasts are expected to attend this high-season showcase of more than 170 vetted artists in mediums including ceramics, wood, fiber, glass, drawing, painting, mixed media, jewelry, photography and sculpture. This year’s event includes a Local and Emerging Artist Spotlight and live artist demonstrations, and the action spills into the Mizner Park Amphitheater, where attendees can unwind with curated cocktails, brunch and live music.
South Florida Garlic Fest
When: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Where: Village of Wellington Town Center & Amphitheater, 12100 Forest Hill Blvd., Wellington
Cost: $15
Contact: 561/279-0907, garlicfestfl.com
In celebration of its 25th birthday, the former Delray Beach Garlic Fest is moving once again, to the comfier confines of Wellington’s recently renovated Town Center & Amphitheater. The space, which features upgraded facilities and (finally!) real restrooms instead of portalets, is being billed as the festival’s new permanent home. For two days this weekend, it’s the best place to enjoy its titular aromatic bulb in more than 100 delicacies, from shrimp scampi and Argentine barbecue to ice cream and draft beer (don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it). Saturday night’s musical headliner, country singer Ryan Montgomery, is a local boy done good—a Lake Worth native who has ascended from free tailgate gigs at local amphitheaters to a Nashville recording contract and headline concerts for up to 5,000 fans. Sunday afternoon will feature music from the Resilient, a rock band founded by severely wounded combat veterans, which will coincide with a special tribute to the Armed Forces. They will be followed by Dirty Work, a tribute to jazz-rock pioneers Steely Dan.
Miami City Ballet: Winter Mix
When: 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday
Where: Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach
Cost: $45-$275
Contact: 561/832-7469, kravis.org
The ballet “Firebird” is so rich in fantasy archetypes that it seems sprung from the mind of a Grimm, or a Disney, or a Hans Christian Andersen. But the fantastical narrative was hatched in Russia circa 1910, and the overnight success of the work put its neophyte composer—one Igor Stravinsky—on the map. Centering on a hunting trip, with an emphasis on a trip, it follows heroic prince Ivan, who stumbles upon a magical forest realm ruled by a villain whose magic egg grants him immortality, and who has mesmerized 13 princesses to do his bidding. To thwart him, Ivan will need to summon the mythical Firebird for a grandiose intervention. Reimagining the ballet from George Balanchine’s 1949 choreography, Miami City Ballet will present this special-effects-laden stunner as its winter headliner, preceded by Alexei Ratmansky’s “Concerto DSCH,” a world premiere from Miami-born choreographer Margarita Armas scored to the music of Nina Simone, and a debut work from MCB School resident choreographer Durante Verzola.
For more of Boca magazine’s arts and entertainment coverage, click here.
