This Thanksgiving week, enjoy a “Christmas Carol” musical at the Wick, an Americana celebration at Funky Biscuit, and a new movie about George Orwell’s legacy. Plus, Tower of Power and more in your week ahead.
WEDNESDAY
What: “The Last Waltz” 49th Anniversary Celebration
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Funky Biscuit, 303 S.E. Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton
Cost: $39.24
Contact: 561/395-2929, funkybiscuit.com
Released in 1976, Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Waltz” is widely regarded in the all-time pantheon of concert documentaries, capturing a lightning-in-a-bottle moment of rock ‘n’ roll collaboration. It documented the farewell concert from The Band at San Francisco’s legendary Winterland Ballroom, in which the Americana pioneers performed hits and deep cuts alike while joined by an extraordinary parade of guest musicians contributing their own material—Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and the Staple Singers among them. At this special Thanksgiving Eve performance, local and regional players will take the stage to re-create the incredible set list (“Up on Cripple Creek,” “The Weight,” “Ophelia”), with plenty of surprises in tow.
WEDNESDAY TO SUNDAY
What: “Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5”
When: Show times vary
Where: Lake Worth Playhouse Stonzek Theatre, 713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth Beach
Cost: $6-$9
Contact: 561/296-9382, lakeworthplayhouse.org
A distinctive voice in documentary cinema, Raoul Peck is a director of essay films with a political and confrontational edge. His most acclaimed film is 2016’s “I Am Not Your Negro,” in which classic footage of a James Baldwin lecture serves as a springboard to reflections on racism in America, then and now. Similarly, Peck’s latest release, “Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5,” is more than a historical reassessment of George Orwell’s contribution to American literature. Peck’s framing device is Orwell’s late-1940s conception of “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” written from a remote house on the Scottish island of Jura. But the director’s comprehensive and atomized form of storytelling jumps around in time and space to paint a portrait of authoritarianism’s creeping, multinational appeal in myriad areas of our lives. At two hours, “Orwell” verges on information overload, but it drops at a propitious time, and its (and Orwell’s) observations should worry us all.
FRIDAY
What: Record Store Day
When: Starts at 8 a.m.
Where: Rust & Wax, 2512 Florida Ave., West Palm Beach
Cost: Record prices vary
Contact: rustandwax.com
Record Store Day (RSD) has become a twice-a-year holiday for vinyl record enthusiasts, a day in which hundreds of albums are released exclusively at independent record shops. Black Friday marks the final RSD of 2025. For the vinyl lover on your Christmas list—or, most likely, if you’re a record junkie like myself looking to add a new favorite to your collection—Rust & Wax is among the few participating record shops in Palm Beach County. Highlights of this Friday’s drop include an iconic Miles Davis 2-LP live set, an exclusive DEVO picture disc, a 1975 Joni Mitchell set from Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue and an instrumental release from Dr. Dre. Furthermore, Rust & Wax is set to unveil a “massive” trove of used records on Black Friday, so enjoy the digging!
What: Opening night of “A Christmas Carol”
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: The Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
Cost: $119
Contact: 561/995-2333, thewick.org
The acceptance of “scrooge” as a common noun, the phrase “Bah! Humbug,” and even the widespread popular usage of “Merry Christmas” all owe their origins to “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens’ heartstring-tugging 1843 novella, whose various adaptations—as films, cartoons, radio plays, operas, ballets and graphic novels—border on the incalculable. This musical production, with tunes by Broadway composer Alan Menken (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Little Shop of Horrors”) and lyricist Lynn Ahrens, imagines Dickens’ story through the sprightly vernacular of one of the great American art forms. The show captures the essence of the story and its major plot points—a miserly shop owner learns the real spirit of Christmas after transformative visitations from four ghosts—but includes some notable deviations, and the music lends the story a clever refresh. Ed Kemper, Brandon Campbell and Larry Buzzeo costar in the Wick’s original production, running through Dec. 24.
SUNDAY
What: Tower of Power
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: The Parker, 707 N.E. Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale
Cost: $46.61 and up
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
Still fronted by founding saxophonists Emilio “Mimi” Castillo and Stephen “Doc” Kupka, Tower of Power is one of the most enduring exponents of Oakland, California’s fertile music scene. Since its founding in 1968, this dynamic live act seamlessly segues from roof-rattling funk grooves to smooth R&B and adventurous jazz, with roots in the soul tradition of Motown Records. For this seasonal appearance, Castillo, Kupka and their octet of trumpeters, flautists, bassists, drummers, guitarists and keyboardists will train their notes on Christmas music, perhaps the eclectic material found on their 2024 release “It’s Christmas,” whose cuts include “This Christmas,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” “Silver Bells” and a version of “O Holy Night” that will bring the house down.
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