Miami City Ballet goes to the honkytonk, Disney princesses tell all, and a Bob Dylan tribute celebrates the bard’s 82nd birthday. Plus, Leslie Jones and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY TO SUNDAY
What: “Flavors of Francois Ozon” Film Festival
When: Various show times
Where: Savor Cinema, 503 S.E. Sixth St., Fort Lauderdale
Cost: $10-$12
Contact: 954/525-3456, fliff.com
One of France’s most gifted, prolific and diverse 21st century filmmakers, Francois Ozon has directed movies in a wide range of genres spanning commercial and art-house cinema, from sinuous thrillers to effervescent comedies and gender-bending dramas. Savor Cinema has been screening highlights from Ozon’s filmography since April 29 as part of this mini film festival that closes on Saturday. That means you still have time tonight (Monday, May 8) to see Ozon’s psychological thriller “Double Lover” along with his breakthrough ensemble mystery “8 Women” (Tuesday); his daring, psychosexual mystery “Swimming Pool” (Wednesday); his voyeuristic drama “In the House” (Thursday); and his charming “Potiche” Saturday, starring Catherine Deneuve. On Tuesday through Thursday, you can also catch the South Florida theatrical premiere of “Everything Went Fine,” Ozon’s 2021 family drama.
THURSDAY
What: A Bob Dylan Birthday Celebration with Big Brass Bed
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Funky Biscuit, 303 S.E. Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton
Cost: $10-$20
Contact: 561/395-2929, funkybiscuit.com
Bob Dylan will celebrate 82 cycles around the sun this month, and to honor the occasion, the Funky Biscuit is back with its annual birthday bash featuring Palm Beach County’s finest interpreters of the bard’s ragged, folky, and pointed music. With 39 studio albums traversing just about every American roots, rock and blues idiom, Dylan’s oeuvre is as generous as it imposing, and Big Brass Bed, featuring longtime folksinger Rod MacDonald on vocals, performs upwards of 50 of Dylan’s works, from early protest favorites through his exploratory material of the ‘80s and ‘90s, and perhaps beyond. With cult favorites like “The Mighty Quinn” and “From a Buick 6” possibly on the docket alongside sing-alongs such as “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Just Like a Woman,” it promises to be a night that even the notoriously prickly Dylan himself might enjoy.
FRIDAY
What: Opening night of “Disenchanted”
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach
Cost: $55-$65
Contact: 561/832-7469, kravis.org
Ever wonder what those Disney princesses are like when the cameras aren’t rolling—and when they aren’t shoehorned (literally, in Cinderella’s case) into roles as diligent homemakers, glittering eye candy and damsels in need of a male savior? This award-nominated off-Broadway hit imagines the inner lives of several Disney-by-way-of-Grimm icons, offering a bawdy, lightly feminist peek behind the tiaras that’s anything but kids’ stuff. Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are the central storytellers, but actors appear as Belle, Rapunzel, the Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Mulan and the Princess Who Kissed the Frog as well, performing numbers such as “Without the Guy,” “Two Legs,” “Big Tits” and “All I Wanna Do is Eat.” This South Florida premiere from MNM Productions runs through May 27.
FRIDAY TO SUNDAY
What: Miami City Ballet: “Entradas”
When: May 12-14
Where: Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach
Cost: $30-$115
Contact: 561/832-7469, kravis.org
The tradition of square dancing, a staple of Americana, migrates from the honkytonk to the concert hall in one of four eclectic works in Miami City Ballet’s “Entradas.” Conceived by George Balanchine in 1957, “Square Dance” marries classical ballet with the titular folk dance, whose high spirits the choreographer adored. A piece for 14 dancers, MCB’s “Square Dance” even brings back a live caller rapping directions to the dancers (“Two little ladies, up the track/sashay over, sashay back…”) and onstage folk musicians—immersive elements often removed in later productions. “Entradas,” a robust program closing MCB’s season, also including Jerome Robbins’ sensual two-character ballet “Afternoon of Faun”; Robbins’ ethereal “Antique Epigraph,” an MCB premiere in which eight women dancers embody Greek statues to the music of Debussy; and Balanchine’s crackling “Symphony in Three Movements.”
SATURDAY
What: Leslie Jones
When: 8 p.m.
Where: The Parker, 707 N.E. Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale
Cost: $39.50-$65
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
It’s hard to imagine a time when Leslie Jones was not funny, but in her formative years in comedy, she evidently bombed: She endured boos when opening for Jamie Foxx, who advised her to “live life for a little while” before jumping into the Darwinian world of standup. So she took three years off, during which she cultivated a brash, voluble and magnetic style. When Chris Rock saw Jones perform in 2012, he helped her land an audition for “Saturday Night Live,” which changed everything: In 2014, Jones became the oldest cast member to join “SNL” (at 47); she was a vital talent on the sketch series for the next five years. Major roles in “Ghostbusters” and “Coming 2 America” followed, along with her now-legendary live-tweeted commentary of the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. She’s even hosted a game show, “Supermarket Sweep.” This rare South Florida tour appearance finds Jones in her cultural primacy, the solo stage. These days, when she breathes, it’s funny.
SUNDAY
What: Piece: an Instrumental Tribute to the Beatles
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Arts Garage, 94 N.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach
Cost: $40-$45
Contact: 561/450-6357, artsgarage.org
The music of the Beatles is firmly embedded in all of us—like DNA, I suppose—even without vocals and lyrics. That’s the idea behind Piece, a rock trio that allows the instruments to do 100-percent of the talking, and permitting our brains, perhaps, to fill in the missing words. The music of bassist Tom Porter, guitarist Lou Piccinetti and drummer Peter Schwartz is muscular, robust and technically on point, delivering favorites from every era of the most influential band in pop music history. In the group’s sizzle real, I heard creative interpretations of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “Nowhere Man,” “All My Loving” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Sometimes it takes a minute to recognize the tune—which is part of the group’s novel approach at reinventing the familiar.
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