If you’re in the mood to immerse yourself in the sultry, romantic rhythms of Spain and Cuba, “Viva La Zarzuela,” a program presented by the Vero Beach Opera this Saturday, aims to do just that. Zarzuela is a form of Spanish musical theater combining song, spoken word and dance. It’s thought to have been named for a royal hunting lodge near Madrid, where this type of entertainment was first presented to court. The name itself is derived from the brambles – or zarzas – that grew around the lodge. Happily, the Vero Beach Opera’s Zarzuela won’t include the brambles, but it will feature 19 performers – singers, flamenco dancers, a pianist and, greeting guests in the lobby, a strolling guitarist. The lobby will also display paintings and a poster of the “Heroines of the Zarzuela” by contemporary Cuban painter Hector Cata. The performance is at the Vero Beach High School Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $30, $40, and $50; students, half price. Call the box office at 772-564-5537 or go to www.VeroBeachOpera.org. Curtain is at 7 p.m.
“The Christians,” Lucas Hnath’s drama about a rupture within an evangelical megachurch, opened Tuesday on Riverside Theatre’s Waxlax Stage. It is the story of a church that began with only a storefront two decades ago and now has thousands of congregants and “a baptismal font the size of a swimming pool.” It was a New York Times Critics’ Pick, and critic Charles Isherwood called it a “softly mesmerizing drama,” and summarized it this way: “In this terrific play about the mystery of faith, and how religion can tear people apart just as it can bring them together, a revelation experienced by the pastor causes a potentially disastrous rupture in the congregation.” The play runs through April 9.
The five-piano concert that Vero’s Christ by the Sea Church is billing as the Monster Piano Concert is adding another performance Sunday at 7 p.m. after the 3 p.m. sold out in about 5 seconds. Monster Piano features five of the area’s top pianists on five grand pianos: Kelley Coppage, Jacob Craig, Marcos Flores, Joanne Knott and Rochelle Sallee. The concert will feature the world premiere of Jose Mariano Morales’ “Piece for 10 Hands,” plus selections by Bernstein, Holzt, Gershwin, Bach, Saint-Saens, Rachmaninoff and Khachaturian. Adults, $25; students, $10.
The University of Miami considers its Frost Jazz Sextet the premier small instrumental jazz combo at the renowned school of music. The group will be bringing its diverse repertoire (born of the diversity of the members’ experiences) to the Vero Beach Heritage Center on 14th Avenue this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Frost performs original music, predominantly modern jazz and hard bop. Over the years, the group has performed at such national venues as the Aspen Jazz Festival and the North Texas Jazz Festival. Down Beat Magazine has recognized the group with numerous student musician awards.