It was great to see a larger-than-normal turnout at the Majestic Theatre for National Theatre Live’s repeat screening last week of a very modern and very excellent production of the Arthur Miller play, “A View from the Bridge.”
This week, the NT Live season begins in earnest with simulcasts of London plays scheduled to start Thursday. Rufus Norris directs a new translation of “The Threepenny Opera.” Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s “play with music” is intended to be a socialist critique of capitalism (wear your Feel the Bern T-shirts). This over-the-top, darkly cartoonish production stars Rory Kinnear (you may remember him as Hamlet, Othello or James Bond), as well as Nick Holder, Rosalie Craig and Haydn Gwynne. The simulcast is at 2 p.m. with a repeat at 7 p.m. The Majestic also hosts the Met Live in HD productions of operas from New York, as well as the Bolshoi Ballet performances. They’re all listed on the Majestic’s website (cwtheaters.com/vero) under the “Events” tab at the top.
There’s one more weekend of “Sylvia” at the Vero Beach Theatre Guild. The story of a stray dog that puts her new owner in the doghouse features the snappy talents of Abby Bolduc as the emotionally intrusive labradoodle Sylvia. Ben Earman directs an obviously fun-loving cast. Performances run through Sunday’s 2 p.m. matinee.
Meanwhile, at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, the first of the season’s Film Studies courses starts Oct. 6 with a theme of immigration. “Arrivals and Departures: Tales of Immigrant Journeys,” led by Diane Thelan. The series screens a movie each Tuesday for five weeks, (except for Oct. 11), at either 1:30 p.m. or 7 p.m.
The next series starts Nov. 15 under the theme “Passages: Films about Finding Our Life Rhythms.”
On a side note, the museum offers a library of more than 3,000 film titles to borrow with the Film Society level of membership – $25 a year, on top of the museum membership of $45.
Sunday, a film in a different context: National Geographic’s spectacular documentary footage of the Grand Canyon will screen behind Space Coast Symphony Orchestra’s performance of “Grand Canyon Suite” at 3 p.m. at the Vero Beach High School Performing Arts Center.
Ferde Grofé’s evocative work is meant to convey the changing beauty of the canyon during a rainstorm, at sunset, and at daybreak.
Also on the program, another Grofé effort: his arrangement of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” It will be performed by Brian Gatchell, owner of Atlantic Music Center and founder of the Florida Tech Piano Jazz Festival coming up in November.