A Tony-winning musical premieres at Kravis, a Jerry Garcia tribute folk-rocks Boca, and our history museum gets cinematic. Plus, rare Degas drawings and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY TO SUNDAY
What: “Kimberly Akimbo”
When: Various show times
Where: Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach
Cost: $57.50-$109.25
Contact: 561/832-7469, kravis.org
Like “Dear Evan Hansen” and “Jagged Little Pill” before them, “Kimberly Akimbo” follows a recent trend of youth-centric, adult-approved musicals that explore dysfunctional families and the heartache and frustrations of modern teenage life. The protagonist, Kimberly Levaco, suffers from a rare condition that causes her to age rapidly—the inverse of a character like Benjamin Button. By age 16, she resembles an elderly woman but maintains friendships with a peer group of misfit teens at her New Jersey skate park. A budding romance is complicated by additional dramas in Kimberly’s life, including her father’s alcoholism, her mother’s focus on her second pregnancy, and the reappearance of Kimberly’s criminal aunt Debra, who ropes Kim and her friends into her latest get-rich-quick scheme. “Kimberly Akimbo” is based on a comedic 2001 play by David Lindsay-Abaire, who also scripted the Tony-winning book for the musical, one of four such awards the show received in 2023. This Kravis Center run marks the show’s first Broadway tour, and thus the first opportunity for South Florida audiences to experience its quirky and empathetic charms.
WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY
What: The Garcia Project
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Boca Black Box, 8221 Glades Road, Suite 10, Boca Raton
Cost: $43.50-$53.50
Contact: 561/483-9036, bocablackbox.com
Grateful Dead tributes are commonplace, but this project takes a more unique angle, if one equally beloved by Deadheads. The Garcia Project is dedicated to the solo work of Jerry Garcia, particularly his legendary sets from 1976 to 1995, often at the Warfield in his home base of San Francisco. Touring during breaks from the Dead’s prolific schedule, Garcia played songs outside its repertoire, from solo tunes to an impressive array of covers encompassing decades of pop, rock, folk, blues and soul hits by the likes of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Little Milton, Jimmy Cliff, the Beatles and more; as with his primary band, Garcia changed up the set nightly. The Garcia Project honors this freewheeling spirit by performing exact set lists from this important period in Garcia’s musical expansion. The founding members all attended Garcia’s concerts, and Buzz Buchanon, Garcia’s drummer from 1977-1978, praised the group as “Jerry’s kindred spirits when it comes to making music.”
THURSDAY
What: Opening night of “Sunshine Cinema: Florida in Film”
When: 6 to 8 p.m.
Where: Palm Beach County History Museum, 300 N. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach
Cost: $125
Contact: 561/832-4164, pbchistory.org
From Jacksonville’s status as a silent film production hub to the state’s proliferation of drive-in movie theaters, Florida has long been an attraction for filmmakers, both behind and in front of the screen—even before Hollywood established its foothold as the epicenter of the national film industry. This multifaceted exhibition explores myriad aspects of moviemaking in Florida through unearthed artifacts, interactive displays and rare archival footage. Visitors can gaze at costumes and listen to soundtracks from Florida-shot films, and explore the ways in which early Florida filmmakers provided Black actors with dignifed roles despite the iniquities of segregation. Tickets are normally $12 during the exhibition’s run, through May 30 of next year, but opening-night attendees can enjoy beer, wine and light bites for their $125 ticket; $500 VIP purchasers can enhance their experience with a red carpet walk, complimentary valet parking, and top-shelf liquor served by a “celebrity bartender.”
SATURDAY
What: Opening day of “Edgar Degas, the Private Impressionist”
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Society of the Four Arts, 102 Four Arts Plaza, Palm Beach
Cost: $10
Contact: 561/655-7227, fourarts.org
Infatuated with dance, athleticism and the curves and angles of the human body, Edgar Degas stood apart from his Impressionist contemporaries in late-19th century France. Jettisoning the outdoor, plein air paintings favored by many of his peers, he preferred the term “realist,” a descriptor borne out by the masterful attention to detail he brought to his many subjects. “The Private Impressionist” underlines Degas’ singularity in the art culture of his time. Focusing on works on paper, its 24 drawings, 23 prints, eight photographs and one sculpture reveal artworks Degas created mainly for himself and close friends, with no intention to sell or display them. Offering a peak into the personality behind the pencil, the exhibition also includes 47 pieces by Degas’ contemporaries, including Cassatt, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cézanne and Manet. It runs through Feb. 1.
What: Opening day of “Anastasia Samoylova: Atlantic Coast”
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach
Cost: $15-$18 museum admission
Contact: 561/832-5196, norton.org
In 1954, photographer Berenice Abbott embarked on one of the 20th century’s most artistic road trips. Beginning in Key West, she traveled the entire length of U.S. 1, culminating at the end of the road in Maine. Along the way, Abbott snapped more than 2,400 images that captured life on the American east coast—from peach farms and cityscapes to opulent hotels to eccentric roadside attractions. For “Atlantic Coast,” which premieres at the Norton this fall, the buzzworthy Miami-based photographer Anastasia Samoylova retraces Abbott’s route along the still-iconic East Coast highway, expanding upon her inspiration’s unvarnished portraits of her adopted country’s myriad places, cultures and denizens. A meditation on the myths that have made America, “Atlantic Coast” is the latest powerful series from the Russian-born artist, whose previous photography suite, “Floridas,” presented the state in all its messy complexity—from a baby alligator lounging in a tiled pool; to a flamingo reflected, upside-down, in a pond; to a shirtless man with chest tattoos of twin firearms pointed toward his genitals. Floridas, indeed. It runs through March 1.
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