At McKee Botanical Gardens Friday night, the Lego sculptures in the exhibit “Nature Connects” are going to come alive with special lighting, while paper lanterns are going to set out along the pathways. And then, the movie “Frozen” is going to be screened outdoors – providing it isn’t actually freezing, in which case the garden has a contingency plan: the indoor education center.
Regardless, it’s certain to be a remarkable scene for parents and kids alike. There’s food at the cafe from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The garden stays open until 9 p.m. $12 admission, $11 for seniors and $8 for children ages 3 to 12. Babies and members are free. Just be sure to bring chairs and blankets.
With “West Side Story” headed into its first weekend, Riverside Theatre better have a rumble-ready parking lot, since it’s also Comedy Zone weekend there. The most-requested musical for three years running, people have already bought up so many seats that Riverside added another week to the run – it now runs through Mach 15.
And Comedy Zone can be a sell-out at both shows both Friday and Saturday nights. This weekend: Mark Evans on his “Southern – not stupid” tour; and the mock-Vegas-circa-1960s style show, including song and dance (!) by a guy who calls himself the “Midnight Swinger.” Comedy Zone includes live music on the terrace – Friday night it’s the Wiley Nash Band and Saturday it’s Funk Alliance. Bars are available inside and out; burgers and hot sandwiches are served as well.
At the Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce, something different on Friday night: “Dancing Pros Live”, a professional dance show framed as a competition with dancers from “So You Think You Can Dance?” and “Dancing with the Stars.” Feb. 20, 8 p.m. $79 and $69.
Saturday, the dancing will likely be spontaneous, when the black box theater hosts Robert Navarro and his Latin Jazz Orchestra. Navarro has performed with Willie Colon and Johnny Pacheco. Too bad they can’t tag along. Feb. 21, 8 p.m. $30.
Also Saturday, on the main stage at Sunrise, the magic show “Masters of Illusion: Believe the Impossible.” Feb. 21, 8 p.m. $49 and $39.
And the next weekend at Sunrise, Kevin Costner’s band Modern West can’t help but make for a nice date night. Friday night, affordable tickets, sweet music with broad appeal – country without the twang, with a little folk mixed in and if we’re lucky, he’ll bring his fiddle players. 8 p.m. Feb. 28. $49 and $39.
As wild as everyone seems to be about the tap-dancing in Riverside Theatre’s shows, one of the genre’s greats is headed our way next week. Savion Glover performs at Stuart’s Lyric Theatre Tuesday. Trained at the toe of Gregory Hines, as a child he starred in two Broadway shows, “Black and Blue” and “The Tap Dance Kid.” He is calling this show “SoLe Sanctuary” and bills it as not only a performance but a demonstration of the history of tap. The New York Times called it a “deeper exploration of the idea of a dancer as an instrument.” Feb. 24, $65.
Saturday starting at noon at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm, a celebration of the Chinese New Year marks the opening of the new exhibit: “High Tea: Glorious Manifestations East and West.” Admission to the museum is free all day, and the festivities start off with a Dragon Dance outside the entrance by the Lee Koon Hung Kung Foo Association of Sunrise (I want that T-shirt). In addition, there will be lectures on the art exhibit, a performance of the acclaimed New York-based Music from China ensemble, (not sure about that T-shirt but from the YouTube videos, the instruments alone are worth a trip south). There are also tours of both the new exhibit and an exhibit of Chinese art from the Norton’s collection, and a workshop in Chinese paper-cutting. Fireworks over the Intracoastal start at 7 p.m. It’s the year of the lamb, if you’re wondering what to wear (wool?).
And starting Thursday, Feb. 26, the Norton hosts its annual week-long fund-raiser, Bijoux, a benefit sale of contemporary art jewelry from 40 artists from 12 countries, some of them present for the event.
The Norton is at 1451 Olive Ave., in West Palm Beach.
And with the Asbury Short Film Concert having sold out this month at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, here’s a heads-up on another traveling shorts series coming next Saturday: Lunafest Film Festival. It will be screened in conjunction with a seminar on women’s health and staged at Harbor Branch Institute in Fort Pierce.
The Lunafest films include “Try-outs” about a Muslim American teenager who wants to be a cheerleader. The film was made by Spanish filmmaker Susana Casares, who earned a masters from UCLA film school. Other shorts include one in animation about a woman who dreamed of being an aviation pioneer, and a film about at 82-year-old English woman known as the grandmother of punk.
The Lunafest event is March 28. The health seminar starts at 1 p.m. The films begin around 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 plus service fee. Go to www.lunafest.org/fortpierce. Proceeds benefit four non-profits having to do with cancer in women.
