Who thinks up this stuff? In this case – playwright Jonathan Tolins. Just reading the plot to Riverside Theatre’s one-man comedy play “Buyer and Cellar,” opening this Tuesday, had me laughing. It’s about a struggling L.A. actor, Alex More, who’s just been canned from his job at Disneyland and, shortly after, is hired as curator of a Malibu Museum. And get this: The museum is in Barbra Streisand’s basement. Wha-at? It’s full of all the diva’s “costumes, dolls and trinkets.” When Streisand descends to check out the museum, “a real bonding takes place,” according to the show promo, and Alex begins to chat with the audience about his interactions with Streisand. Tolins actually got the idea after reading a book by Streisand about her personal collections. Obviously, his imagination took over from there. There is a pre-play disclaimer: What’s true – there is a “mall” in Streisand’s basement, and what isn’t – everything else. “Buyer and Cellar” had an off-Broadway run and was a hit with audiences and critics, says the show promo, quoting the New Yorker, “a fantasy so delightful you wish it were true.” The show runs on the Waxlax stage through April 8. Tickets can be purchased by calling the box office at 772-231-6990, or online at www.riversidetheatre.com. Show times are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Opening Night (the first Tuesday performance), Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; and Wednesdays, select Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $55.
McKee Botanical Garden is one of the most excellent examples of nature’s unparalleled art and, if you haven’t visited in a while – or if you’ve actually never visited – this weekend would be a great time to do so: It’s McKee’s annual Garden and Antique Show and Sale. McKee has carefully chosen 30 suitable vendors so you can enjoy “antiques, arts and orchids.” Of course, you’ll want to give yourself plenty of time to stroll the grounds and absorb the beauty that is McKee. Show times are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Standard Garden admission: adults, $12; seniors, $11; children (3-12), $8, under 3, free. 772-794-0601.
Joshua Bell started playing the violin at the age of 4, shortly after his mom found that he had strung rubber bands across his dresser-drawer handles to plink out tunes he’d heard her playing on the piano. Today the virtuoso violinist plays with the world’s greatest orchestras and, next Friday, March 23, he’ll be at Community Church playing and conducting London’s world-renowned Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Orchestra (my favorite orchestra). Bell is just as comfortable with Ravel, Beethoven and Brahms as with Chris Botti, Sting, Wynton Marsalis and Gloria Estefan, and he plays a 1713 Strad known as ‘The Gibson,’ the height of classical cool. We’ll hear Beethoven’s glorious Sixth Symphony, the beautiful tone poem “Pastorale,” and Bell will perform a pair of masterworks: a concerto by Hnryk Wieniski, a leading violinist and composer of the Romantic Era; and the world premiere of a concerto written just for Bell by celebrated American virtuoso bassist and composer Edgar Meyer. This special concert begins at 7:30 p.m.
“Early Debussy and Late Schubert” is the program this Sunday at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, the next in the Atlantic Classical Orchestra and Vero Beach Museum of Art Chamber Music Series. Debussy’s Piano Trio in G Major L. 3 is a work with which you might not be familiar: It was written by an 18-year-old Claude Debussy in 1880 in Fiesole, Italy. According to Wikipedia, in 1984 the music critic Harold Schonberg wrote of the trio that “you can have a lot of fun … asking your learned friends who the composer is. Nothing in the music suggests Debussy. It is sweet, sentimental and sugared; it verges on the salon.” On the other hand, Schubert’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 100, was one of the composer’s last completed compositions, dated November 1827. It was published in late 1828, shortly before Schubert’s death, and is among the few of his late compositions he heard performed. The musicians are: Aleksandr Zhuk, violin; Christopher Glansdorp, cello; and Catherine Lan, piano. Admission includes a post-concert wine and cheese reception with the musicians. Tickets can be purchased through the ACO Office or the Vero Beach Museum of Art. The concert begins at 3 p.m. 772-231-0707, ext. 13.
Looking for a bit of cool jazz this weekend? You’ll find it at the Heritage Center this Saturday, when the Treasure Coast Jazz Society presents vocalist Lisa Kelly and trumpeter JB Scott (former director of the Dukes of Dixieland), with Dave Steinmeyer. Partners Kelly and Scott and their sextet have played such international venues as the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, Festival Vien Jazz Festival in Austria, North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, Monterey Jazz Festival in California, and numerous others. Jazz starts at 12:30 p.m. 772-234-4600.
