A panel celebrates Boca’s trailblazing women, Royal Palm Place throws a 60th anniversary party, and the Symphonia goes back to Bach. Plus, Violent Femmes and more in your week ahead.
WEDNESDAY
What: Opening night of “Waitress”
Where: Actors’ Playhouse, 280 Miracle Miles, Coral Gables
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $50
Contact: 305/444-9293, actorsplayhouse.org
Film-to-stage adaptations are ubiquitous on Broadway, but “Waitress,” based on an independent sleeper hit from writer-director Adrienne Shelly, stood out from its peers. Freshly conceived where other musicals recycled familiar tropes, the musical featured a minimalist, six-piece folk-rock-y orchestra and all-new music and lyrics from Grammy-winning pop singer Sara Bareilles—part of a rare all-woman production team on Broadway. The tunes, which would later be released on a Billboard-charting album from Bareilles, complement a story about a diner server/baker who becomes unexpectedly pregnant with her abusive husband’s child, only to find hope, romance and a financial way forward in the form of a kind obstetrician and a regional pie-baking contest. Actors’ Playhouse’s production begins previews on Wednesday, and it runs through April 20.
THURSDAY
What: “Through Her Eyes: A Woman’s View of Boca’s 100 Years”
Where: Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum, 71 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
When: 6 p.m.
Cost: $10, free for members
Contact: 561/395-6766, bocahistory.org
The confluence of Women’s History Month and Boca Raton’s centenary make it an ideal time to revisit the women whose impact in a variety of fields have left indelible marks on the city’s legacy. Our own Christiana Lilly, whose feature on this very subject will appear in an upcoming issue of Boca magazine, will moderate a discussion on powerful local women with powerful local women, among them our magazine’s publisher, Margaret Mary Shuff; Marta Batmasian, one of the city’s most prominent philanthropists and developers; Marie Hester, a Pearl City pioneer; Wendy Larsen, the prominent land-use attorney who cofounded Festival of the Arts Boca; and Sue Gillis, the Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum’s venerable curator.
SATURDAY
What: Downtown Festival
Where: Royal Palm Place, 101 Plaza Real S., Boca Raton
When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/362-8340, royalpalmplace.com
The City of Boca Raton isn’t the only local institution celebrating a historic milestone this year. Royal Palm Place is turning 60, an achievement it will toast in grand style at this family- and pet-friendly gathering. The day’s highlights include a car show featuring antique and exotic vehicles; live music from local and regional bands performing near the clock tower; strolling entertainers; and the opportunity to contribute to a live mural painting for Boca’s centennial. Additionally, attendees can purchase tree saplings from the Green Community Tree Project, shop for local produce and artisanal goods at the outdoor market; and visit the complex’s retailers and art galleries for special offers.
What: The Symphonia: “Neighboring Bach”
Where: The Studio at Mizner Park, Studio at Mizner Park, 201 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $55-$90, $10 students
Contact: 561/376-3848, thesymphonia.org
Alastair Willis (pictured) isn’t just the principal conductor of the Symphonia, Boca Raton’s professional classical orchestra. He’s also something of a Method actor, immersing himself in the environments in which the composers worked. In the case of J.S. Bach, Willis actually lived in the house next door to the Bach family home in Köthen, Germany, where the great composer perfected chamber music circa 1723. Hence the title of the Symphonia’s fourth program of the season, an all-Bach tribute and part of its multimedia “New Directions” series, complete with period-evoking costumes.
What: Violent Femmes
Where: Pompano Beach Amphitheatre, 1806 N.E. Sixth St., Pompano Beach
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $39.50
Contact: 561/223-7231, pompanobeacharts.org
To some listeners, Wisconsin’s Violent Femmes may merely be the band that wrote 1983’s “Blister in the Sun,” a song whose instantly recognizable acoustic jangle qualifies as perhaps the ultimate college-radio jam—bouncy, anthemic, karaoke-friendly but defiantly alternative. But like too many artists relegated to one-hit-wonderdom, the Femmes are more than their most transcendent cut. As industrious buskers on the streets of Milwaukee in the early ‘80s, the trio all but invented the folk-punk genre, performing edgy, unamplified music that twitched with the spirit of youthful abandon. More than 40 years on, founding members Gordon Gano and Brian Ritchie are now elder statesmen of indie rock, continuing to mostly honor the barebones spirit of their early sound. On this tour, they’ll play the entirety of their first two seminal albums, along with a few sporadic favorites from their later catalog.
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