The communal growth spurt that takes place at Riverside Children’s Theatre every summer is on public display this weekend when Vero’s actors-in-training show off their ever-developing skills in “Disney’s High School Musical.”
The show, performed concert-style without sets, is from the stage version of the hit 2006 made-for-TV movie and its sequels, the third of which was a feature film. Disney then came out with a touring stage version. All are based on a Romeo-and-Juliet themed crush between two high school juniors, each belonging to gangs only Disney could conjure up: the Jocks and the Brainiacs.
Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
A Gypsy jazz great and an Italian crooner pair up for a performance at West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center Sunday at 7 p.m. Gyorgy Lakatos, a native of Budapest, is a formidable guitarist, forging his own Gypsy-influenced style from Flamenco and Spanish guitar. He joins Franco Corso, whose voice ranges from baritone to tenor.
If you’re the sort that’s tempted by the ridiculousness of male revues, you’ve got more to choose from than just Magic Mike XXL this weekend. While Channing Tatum’s dancing is confined to the silver screen, the men in Australia’s Thunder Down Under are appearing in the flesh at Stuart’s Lyric Theater Saturday night.
So much do I despise this sort of thing that I googled reviews for the group and thought one from a San Francisco show might have a positive take. It did. Written by a woman who also hates the male stripper shtick, it describes an evening where, in spite of herself, the reviewer ends up hooting with the rest of the room. One crazed fan scribbled a note on a napkin and passed it to a “bloke,” who promptly and repeatedly blew his nose in it. At least there’s spontaneity.
Hanky panky aside, the Lyric has some seriously interesting art films airing this summer. Thursday is a showing of “Ballet 422,” the documentary of choreographer Justin Peck creating a new work for the New York City Ballet; it’s the same film Vero’s Majestic so thoughtfully screened for Vero’s ballet fans earlier this year.
And next Thursday, July 23, the Lyric offers “Life Itself,” a documentary on the life of the late Chicago Tribune film critic Roger Ebert, based on his autobiography by the same title.
The following Thursday, July 30, is “5 Flights Up” starring Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman as a retired couple in the process of selling their valuable New York apartment.
And while you’re at the Lyric, pick up tickets to next month’s screenings with talkbacks – they are only sold at the box office.
August 6 and 7, the film “Guys and Dolls” will be followed by a talkback with John Loesser, a Vero resident whose father Frank Loesser wrote the music and lyrics.
Then the next weekend, Aug. 15 and 16, the Lyric offers showings of “Woodstock,” the three-hour documentary directed by Michael Wadleigh that includes performances 46 years ago of some of the most iconic musicians of the era. The screening is followed by a talkback by the film’s still photographer, Barry Z. Levine, and Linanne G. Sackett, his wife and coauthor of a book chronicling the event with Levine’s photos.
If you start this week reading Marcus Zusak’s prize-winning book, “The Book Thief,” you’ll have plenty of time to finish by next Saturday, July 25, when there’s a meeting of the Y.A. (Young Adult) Book Club at the Vero Beach Book Center. The 2005 book had a spot on the New York Times Bestseller list for 230 weeks and was made into a movie. Narrated by Death, it is the story of 9-year-old Liesel, a German girl who loses her brother during World War II and moves in with a foster family. The regular last-Saturday-of-the-month 3 p.m. get-togethers are open to all middle school and high school students.
There may still be a month of Sundays between now and Ballet Vero Beach’s first performance of the season. But this time, the company does more than feed the soul. In between the Riverside Main Stage matinee and evening performances of Chicago Repertory Ballet, there’ll be a Sunday supper meet-and-greet in the theater catered by Osceola Bistro. The performances are Sunday, Aug. 9 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
