It’s a sly way to get yourself a post-holiday date, including one with your grandchildren. And with so little time left, you may have to draw a picture of a ticket to tuck into a stocking or envelope under the tree. But with a click of the mouse and a credit card, you can book seats to a wide range of great events in the months ahead and have a thoughtful, generous and – if you tag along – sociable present for the hard-to-please … or the almost-forgotten. Here’s my annual last-minute gift ticket ideas in a wide range of tastes.
For the grownups, West Palm’s Kravis Center has “Beautiful – the Carole King Musical,” Feb. 1-5. It stars Julia Knitel as Carole King, who wrote her first hit at age 17 with Jerry Goffin: “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” How’s that for a college essay hook, children? The two met at Queens College and wrote 50 hit songs together, including my go-to teenage solo “Up On the Roof.” Goffin is played by Liam Tobin. And then there’s “Kinky Boots” at Kravis from April 18-23. A hilarious show with music by Cyndi Lauper and a book by Harvey Fierstein, it’s based on the true story of a guy who inherits a failing shoe factory and turns it around making high heels for drag queens. Gift-wrap ideas? I would want my tickets tucked in the toes of Manolos.
Kids typically don’t want to wait to cash in on their Christmas loot, and for them you can always give some Sweet Seats to “The Nutcracker,” the classic ballet performed at the Kravis Center Dec. 28-30 by the Miami City Ballet. One of the top companies in the nation, Miami City considers West Palm to be the top audience of its four; Miami, Naples and Fort Lauderdale are the others. Just to be in driving distance is a great honor, in my opinion. Sweet Seats include some of the best seats in the house, an autographed program and photo ops with company members.
And if you’re target recipient is serious about dance, Program Two includes the Miami City premiere of Peter Martins’ First Calcium Light Night Jan. 20-22. Program 3, running Feb. 24-26, includes a world premiere by Alexei Ratmansky of The Fairy’s Kiss, a story ballet set to Stravinsky’s score inspired by Christian Andersen’s The Ice Maiden. Program 4 includes the company premiere of Balanchine’s classical ballet “Who Cares?”
If your list includes a lover of the old “Tonight Show,” Jay Leno is coming to Florida three times this season, first in January at the Kravis Center in West Palm; in February to the Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce; and in April to Hard Rock Live in Orlando. I’d guess the liveliest audience will be Orlando’s with a 9 p.m. start time. That’s on April 7. The Sunrise is on a school night, Thursday, Feb. 16, and is slated to start at 7 p.m., perfect if you couldn’t stay up for his TV show. At the Kravis, he plays Sunday night, Jan. 15, at 8 p.m. Tickets sell out fast to this one, so your gift is likely to increase in value. More points, less effort – that’s our gift-giving goal here.
Anyone who hasn’t ever heard the Brevard Symphony Orchestra – and, for that matter, everyone who has – can’t help but be wowed at the upcoming March concert that includes Spanish classical guitarist Pablo Villegas. Even a teenage garage-band type would find fascinating the technique demonstrated by this 39-year-old guitarist, who is said to wear the mantel of the great Andrés Segovia, who popularized the modern classical guitar style in the 1920s. Played off the left leg instead of the hip, the acoustic, nylon-string classical guitar has a distinctive sound, the strings are typically plucked with the fingernails, and the artists who master it seem to share its charisma.
Villegas, who has performed with some of the world’s most renowned orchestras, will be joining the Brevard group in a night of Spanish music March 10 at Vero Beach’s Community Church, courtesy of the Indian River Symphonic Association.