Boca’s Pumpkin Patch festival welcomes autumn, a film festival celebrates the life a French New Wave giant, and a Delray musician tells her story through song. Plus, “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Milk and Honey” and more in your week ahead.
TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY
What: Jean Luc Godard In Memoriam screenings
When: 5:30 and 8 p.m.
Where: Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables
Cost: Most screenings $10-$11.75
Contact: 786/472-2249, gablescinema.com
Funny, cantankerous, innovative and brutally opinionated, trailblazing filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard left this world on decidedly his own terms last month: at his home in Rolle, Switzerland, at 91 years old, via assisted suicide. Miami’s home for art-house cinema is honoring Godard in a repertory festival that began this past Sunday and continues through Thursday with a handful of his greatest hits. At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, you can see my favorite Godard movie, “Week-end,” a surreal odyssey in which an endless traffic jam begets a society on the brink of rampant consumerism and cannibalistic collapse. It’s followed at 8 p.m. with “Pierrot Le Fou,” a colorful and freewheeling subversion of action-adventure tropes. “Masculin-Feminin,” Godard’s of-the-moment exploration of gender, socialism and youth culture in the changing mid-1960s, screens at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, followed by “Vivre Se Vie,” his extraordinary study of the life of a street prostitute, at 8 p.m. The mini-festival closes on Thursday with his gangster homage “Band of Outsiders” at 5:30 and his breakthrough masterpiece “Breathless” at 8 p.m.
FRIDAY
What: “Life in a Song: The JD Danner Story”
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Arts Garage, 94 N.E. Second Ave., Delray Beach
Cost: $20-$25
Contact: 561/450-6357, artsgarage.org
Like in a homegrown version of “Springsteen on Broadway,” local singer-songwriter JD Danner will spelunk her own biography in this explorative and heartfelt concert, comprising both her original tunes and the cover songs that have shaped her. It is an eclectic shape: Danner’s punky bangs and shoulder-length black hair instantly conjure one of her major influences, Joan Jett, but crunchy rock anthems are only part of her diverse oeuvre. Across four albums of original material, Danner also hopscotches between country, folk and blues. Expect to be immersed in her variety of influences, supplemented by anecdotes from her eventful life story, from playing USO tours and being invited to perform at Nashville’s legendary Bluebird Café to coming out as a lesbian after 25 years of marriage.
SATURDAY
What: Opening day of “Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature”
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach
Cost: $15 seniors, $18 general museum admission
Contact: 561/832-5196, norton.org
It’s easy to lose yourself in the singular visions of artist Joseph Stella, whether the painting depicts a garden paradise or an industrial urban landmark. While he is best known for the latter—such as his dazzling Futurist representations of the Brooklyn Bridge and Coney Island—this survey explores his earthier contributions. Fusing natural settings with a spiritually transcendent sense of surrealism, Stella’s bold interpretations of flora and fauna were unlike the work of any other artists. They were places where the quotidian and the magical shared bucolic real estate, and where familiar imagery took on an aching beauty. A contemporary of Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, Stella died in 1946, but his legacy, as this touring exhibition indicates, is ripe for rediscovery. It runs through Jan. 15.
What: Opening night of “Milk and Honey”
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: The Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
Cost: $79-$99
Contact: 561/995-2333, thewick.org
Contrary to the horror-themed entertainment that’s consuming a lot of the theatrical oxygen this Halloween month, the Wick Theatre is kicking off its season with a warm and inspirational musical. The debut musical from composer and lyricist Jerry Herman—who would go on to create smashes from “Mame” to “Hello, Dolly!”—1962’s “Milk and Honey” is set in Jerusalem, and follows a busload of American widows returning to the Jewish homeland to search for husbands. Inspired by a trip Herman took to Israel for research, the show would become a landmark for the young composer, who aimed to present the then-young nation in an unsentimental way. This included songs that eschewed typical Broadway polish for more-industrious marches, ballads and waltzes. Avi Hoffman—who also performed in a 1994 Off-Broadway production of “Milk and Honey”!—stars alongside an A-list South Florida cast that includes Laura Turnbull, Irene Adjan, Elizabeth Dimon and Patti Gardner. It runs through Nov. 6.
What: Opening night of “Little Shop of Horrors”
When: 1 and 7:30 p.m.
Where: Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 S.W. Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
Cost: $49 and up
Contact: 954/462-0222, browardcenter.org
Just because you’ve seen it a half-dozen times doesn’t make “The Little Shop of Horrors” any less gonzo. If anything, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s 1982 cult musical has gained a sharper edge in its four decades of revivals and adaptations. It centers on Seymour Krelborn, a bumbling employee at a dilapidated Skid Row flower shop who pines for his tackily dressed co-worker Audrey, who yearns to leave her sadistic dentist boyfriend. Their business booms when Seymour discovers a plant that thrives—and grows, with its incessant demands to “feed me!”—on human blood. Based on a Roger Corman B-horror flick from 1960, and with a hummable score brimming with protean rock and doo-wop flair, “Little Shop of Horrors” works on multiple levels, as both campy fun and a commentary on the perils of predatory capitalism. This production is courtesy of Slow Burn Theatre, which last mounted “Little Shop of Horrors” in 2015. It runs through Oct. 30.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
What: Boca Raton Pumpkin Patch Festival
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where: Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
Cost: $25, free for toddlers and babies
Contact: bocapumpkinpatch.com
Nothing says fall like the influx of pumpkins in markets, on lawns and decorating window displays. To that end, the seasonal squash plant also will be center stage in the City of Boca Raton’s largest attraction this weekend, as the Mizner Park Amphitheater transforms into a pumpkin patch. In addition to the opportunity to decorate pumpkins into edible works of art, kids can enjoy a cornstalk maze, carnival rides and the Scarecrow Dress-Up Village. You can also enjoy autumnal backdrops for great family photos, and choose from more than 2,500 pumpkins to take home. Sweet and savory pumpkin entrees can be purchased at a specialty food court, and guests 21 and up can imbibe at the Pumpkin Beer Bar.
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