Ballet Vero Beach has its spring performance this weekend with a world premiere of another work by ballet master Camilo Rodriguez. “Hang On, No Need to Be Lonely,” set to the music of Pink Martini, is a contemporary work with a Latin sensibility.
Also on the program, artistic director Adam Schnell’s “Pas de Cinq Russe,” which he choreographed nine years ago to the music of Tchaikovsky. This will be a premiere for Schnell’s young company and new tutus have been commissioned for the occasion by costume designer Travis Halsey. And a reprise of a work that won a standing ovation at its premiere last year, Schnell’s “Finch Concerto.” Also contemporary, it is set to a score of Welsh harpist Catrin Finch.
The dancers are here from Omaha, Nebraska, where they are part of Ballet Nebraska. Performances are set for Friday night at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Vero Beach High School Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $10 to $50.
Tuesday, Riverside Theatre raises the curtain on its final production of the season. “Sister Act” is the musical version of the 1992 hit film about a convent being used to hide the witness to a murder. The witness, played by Whoopi Goldberg in the movie, happens to be a disco star who sees her gangster boyfriend off a snitch. She’s not thrilled that the convent rules forbid her cute outfits, never mind a cocktail and a smoke. But everything gets happy anyway when her coaching helps the nuns kill it in a talent show. How could they fail? Multiple Oscar- and Tony Award-winner Alan Menken wrote the music.
The show opened in 2009 in the West End and an adaptation opened on Broadway in 2011. Riverside’s production plays through May 1.
Two big-name comics are playing the King Center in Melbourne. First, Lewis Black plays Sunday, April 10, at 7 p.m. Black’s calling this his “Naked Truth Tour,” as if he ever told anything but. I can only imagine what he’s got to rant about with the current roster of presidential candidates, but maybe he’ll stick to more challenging material.
And Kathy Griffin stops in Melbourne on her “Like a Boss” tour. She’s still basking from her Grammy win for her 2014 comedy album, only the third woman ever to be so honored – Lily Tomlin and Whoopi Goldberg were the other two. That’s April 16 at the King Center.
If you like your comedy a little more family friendly, Paula Poundstone is performing the same night as Griffin – April 16 – at the Lyric Theatre in Stuart. She’s doing two shows, at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. She’s known for her exchanges with audience members, and is able to think on her feet and deliver with flawless comedic timing. She just voiced the Pixar movie “Inside Out,” and regularly appears on NPR’s weekly news quiz show, “Wait, wait … Don’t Tell Me.”
The King Center’s Studio Theater provides a two-part seminar on the history of the Allman Brothers. April 15, Gregg Allman’s son Devon Allman performs. Devon made a name for himself founding a jam band called Honey Tribe, then another called Royal Southern Brotherhood.
Then, on April 28, Butch Trucks and the Freight Train Band are coming to Melbourne. A founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, Trucks will be playing with his son, Vaylor Trucks, as well as Berry Oakley Jr. on bass, keyboard legend Bruce Katz and Damon Fowler on slide guitar.
