The Symphonia gets down to Earth, PAMM’s immersive new show plays tricks on our eyes, and City Theatre reads between the lines of the Constitution. Plus, John Mulaney, Japanese sculpture and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY
What: Opening day of Leandro Erlich: “Liminal”
Where: Perez Art Museum, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Cost: $12-$16
Contact: 305/375-3000, pamm.org
Liminal states are by definition elusive: They exist in the ethereal transitions between life and death, and between wakefulness and sleep. Such zones typically escape the literality of visual art, but Argentinean sculptor Leandro Erlich has found them to be the ideal settings for his illusory site-specific installations. “Liminal” presents 16 immersive spaces arranged throughout the Perez Art Museum’s galleries. By presenting deceptive visions of ordinary life—the elevator, the subway, the classroom, the swimming pool—that are actually fabricated simulations of these everyday locales, Erlich allows our perceptions of reality to blur, much like a daydreamer drifting between worlds.
THURSDAY
What: Opening night of “What the Constitution Means to Me”
Where: Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $55-$60
Contact: 305/949-6722, arshtcenter.org
“There will not be a woman on the Supreme Court until 1981. There are nine men deciding the fate of birth control, four of whom are cheating on their wives.” This excerpt from Heidi Schreck’s “What the Constitution Means to Me” speaks to both its palliative humor and righteous anger. Schreck premiered the nearly solo show in 2017 as a raucous exploration of the founding document’s rights and omissions, its triumphs and its flaws, from a highly personal perspective. Don’t be surprised if the play—more relevant now than it was during its successful Broadway run—leaves its audience in stitches one moment and gasping in horror the next. This production from City Theatre, starring Elizabeth Price, runs through Dec. 18.
SATURDAY
What: Opening day of “Hard Bodies: Contemporary Japanese Lacquer Sculpture”
Where: Society of the Four Arts, 100 Four Arts Plaza, Palm Beach
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: $10
Contact: 561/655-7226, fourarts.org
This sculpture exhibition showcases 33 works, mostly from this century, by 16 Japanese artists who explore lacquer in novel ways. This lustrous coating, which is most commonly associated with ornamental bowls and boxes, is a polymer distilled from the sap of a particular tree. For an artistic material, lacquer is unusually precious; a single tree produces only a half-cup of lacquer per year. And lacquer artists who apply it to their sculptures often spend six months to a year on a single work—such is the delicacy and duration of the finishing process. Each piece is a resplendent labor of love, an inherent testament to the discipline and the rigor of countless hours of shaping, slathering and shining raw material into forms both familiar and imaginative. The exhibition runs through Jan. 22.
What: John Mulaney: “From Scratch”
Where: iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre, 601-7 Sansburys Way, West Palm Beach
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $39 and up
Contact: 561/795-8883, westpalmbeachamphitheatre.com
It’s fair to say that comedian John Mulaney had a rough go of the pandemic. He’s spoken candidly about his divorce, as well as his struggles with alcohol and drug abuse that he sought treatment for last year. Now, freshly sober and having recently welcomed into the world his first child with actress Olivia Munn, Mulaney is touring with new material drawn from overcoming a year of deeply personal hardships. While Mulaney’s past comedy tours featured material ranging from the absurd to the acerbic, “From Scratch” is a candid dive into his personal life and struggles, offering a glimpse past the naive, bright-eyed charm to which audiences have grown accustomed and seeing a side of him that is more vulnerable and intimate. At its heart, “From Scratch” is a new beginning forged from the rubble of grief.
SUNDAY
What: Symphonia: “Earth”
Where: Robert Theatre, 3900 Jog Road, Boca Raton
When: 3 p.m.
Cost: $55-$90
Contact: 561/376-3848, thesymphonia.org
This season’s four Symphonia concerts each spotlight a different natural element, beginning with “Fire” earlier this month. Perhaps the most bracing of these is “Earth,” a testament to the power of music to transport listeners to far-off places and explore transcendent ideas. Principal Conductor Alastair Willis leads a program featuring Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides Overture,” with its evocations of Scotland’s Fingal’s Cave; Kinan Azmeh’s “Suite for Improvisor and Orchestra,” a piece inspired by Syria; and Christophe Chagnard’s multimedia symphony “Terra Nostra,” which brings the impact of climate change to life through high-definition visuals.
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