january 16
Jack and Jill: Florida Shakespeare Theatre explores love in the Nineties in this sexy and sly romantic comedy about complex currents of marriage and divorce. FTS artistic director Juan F. Cejas and actress Susanne Kreitman star as a couple who meet, mate, get dysfunctional, break up, make up, and start all over again. Tickets cost $22 and $26. Performances run Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 and Sunday at 7:00 p.m. through February 1 at the Biltmore Hotel (1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables). Call 445-1119.
friday
january 17
Art Deco Weekend: The Miami Design Preservation League hosts the twentieth-annual Art Deco Weekend, running today through Monday at Lummus Park (between Fifth and Fifteenth streets on Ocean Drive, Miami Beach). This year's theme is "Art Deco at Sea," with a salute to the glamorous ocean liners of the Thirties. The festival features live performances by Lew Willie and the Snapdragons, Dana Paul, Wendy Pedersen, and Nicole Yarling beginning tonight at 6:00 p.m. Tomorrow the music begins at noon with performances by the New Xavier Cugat Orchestra, Tom Tomaya, and Sylvia Bennett; continues Sunday at noon with the Eric Allison-Turk Mauro Quintet, the Melton Mustafa Orchestra, Billy Ross, and the Allan Harris Quartet; and wraps up on Monday with Maryel Epps, Linda Novit, and the Gene Krupa Big Band, beginning at noon. Kids can enjoy live entertainment and hands-on activities at the park. Admission to all events is free (unless otherwise noted). Festival hours are noon to 11:00 p.m. tonight, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Monday. There is also a film and lecture series; see our "Calendar Listings" for details or call 672-2014 for a complete schedule.
Taste of the Grove: Stuff your face and shake your booty at the fourteenth annual Taste of the Grove food and music festival, today through Sunday at Peacock Park (2820 McFarlane Rd., Coconut Grove). The wingding kicks off tonight at 5:30 with performances by Brazilian jazz acts the Rainforest, Nando Lauria, and headliner Manfredo Fest. Tomorrow the music continues with rock and alternative artists Duncan Sheik, the Hazies, Linda Perry, and Paula Cole. On Sunday the festival gets jazzy with Larry Coryell, Sha-Shaty, and Brian Culbertson. Festgoers can sample tasty dishes from a wide variety of local restaurants and take in a chefs' demonstration, with kitchen wizards from Mayfair Grill, Two Chefs, Red Fish Grille, and Mark's Place sharing their culinary secrets. The feeding frenzy continues tomorrow and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Admission is free. Call 444-7270.
Laughter on the 23rd Floor: Actors' Playhouse presents Neil Simon's autobiographical and nostalgic look at the golden age of television, opening tonight at 8:15 at the Miracle Theatre (280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables). The play chronicles the years Simon worked as a comedy writer on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows alongside fellow talents Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks; the mostly male cast (TV was a mostly male world back then) features Gary Marachek as the wall-punching show host Max Prince, James Puig as the hypochondriac writer Ira Stone, and Kim Cozort as the team's lone woman Carol. Tickets cost $50 for tonight's opening, $27 and $30 for all other shows. Performances run Wednesday through Saturday at 8:00 and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. through February 9. Call 444-9293.
Larry Dossey: In a world of new-age gurus expounding crackpot ideas, Dr. Larry Dossey stands out for having worked hard to legitimize his claims. A practicing physician of internal medicine, Dossey is a leading proponent of the notion that prayer can heal the body, and has spent years researching and documenting what he considers a connection between spirituality and physical health. Dossey has written six books on mind-body healing, including the best-selling Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine, as well as numerous articles published in major medical journals. He discusses his ideas about prayer tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the James L. Knight Center (400 SE Second Ave.). Tickets cost $25 and $35, with proceeds benefiting the Palm Beach Center for Living, a counseling, support, and alternative health organization. Call 372-0929.
Jack and Jill: See Thursday.
saturday
january 18
Ray Charles: Legendary singer-songwriter-pianoman Ray Charles takes the stage with Grammy Award-winning Philharmonic Pops director Peter Nero and the Florida Philharmonic tonight at 8:30 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (201 SW Fifth St., Fort Lauderdale). A twelve-time Grammy Award winner who has penned and performed some of the most popular songs in R&B history, Charles has left his imprint on every facet of popular music. Tickets range from $20 to $75. For the concert and the Fort Lauderdale Philharmonic Society's Glitterati Gala to benefit the Philharmonic, tickets range from $175 to $1000. Call 930-1812.
Beaux Arts Festival: More than 250 artists and craftspersons from across the nation display their works at the 46th annual Beaux Arts Festival, taking place today and tomorrow on the grounds of the University of Miami's Lowe Art Museum (1301 Stanford Dr., Coral Gables). Besides all the art, the fest features live music, children's art classes, and international foods. Admission is free; proceeds from art sales benefit the Lowe Art Museum. Festival hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. both days. Call 284-3535.
Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Theatre: Choreographer Lula Washington leads her Los Angeles-based contemporary dance troupe in a program that combines the energy of street dance with the impact of personal histories today at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (201 SW Fifth St., Fort Lauderdale). The company, which was founded in 1980 as a creative outlet in South L.A. and has become one of the premier black arts institutions on the West Coast, blends modern, jazz, African, and Afro-Caribbean dance. Today's program includes Reflections in Black, Lift Every Voice, the Harriet Tubman-inspired This Little Light, and Pearls of Obsidian. Tickets cost ten dollars. Performances take place at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Call 954-462-0222.
Design World Cares -- Art for AIDS Auction: Paintings, sculpture, travel packages, and unbelievable luxury items will be up for bid at this second annual art auction to benefit CenterOne, Broward County's largest nonprofit AIDS service agency, at the Design Center of the Americas (1855 Griffin Rd., Dania). The event begins with a silent auction at 7:30, followed by a live auction at 9:00 p.m. Partygoers can also enjoy live music, an open bar, and fab food. Last year's first-ever auction raised $45,000 for CenterOne; 100 percent of each winning bid goes to the charity. Tickets cost $25 and $75. Call 954-537-4111.
Jack and Jill: See Thursday.
Taste of the Grove: See Friday.
Laughter on the 23rd Floor: See Friday.
Art Deco Weekend: See Friday.
sunday
january 19
The Florida Extravaganza -- A Unique Wine, Spirits, and Culinary Celebration: Southern Wine and Spirits distributor and Wine Spectator magazine host what promises to be South Florida's largest wine-tasting and culinary event to date. More than 100 of the world's finest vintners and liquor producers and top chefs from many of the region's best restaurants --including Blue Door, Chef Allen's, the Forge, Giacosa, Lure, Mark's Place, Norman's, Pacific Time, Victor's Cafe, and Yuca -- will convene to tantalize the palate with samples of their wares at this inaugural event today at 4:00 p.m. at the Roz and Cal Kovens Conference Center at Florida International University's North Campus (NE 151st Street and Biscayne Boulevard, North Miami). Tickets cost $50, with proceeds benefiting FIU's School of Hospitality Management. Call 919-4538.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang: Cinema Vortex screens one of the cinema's earliest and strongest social protest films today at noon at the Alliance Cinema (927 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach). Mervyn LeRoy's 1932 film stars Paul Muni as a down-on-his-luck World War I hero who inadvertently becomes involved in an armed robbery. The film is also notable for its unusual depiction of sex (before the infamous morality code took effect) and its shockingly depressing ending. Admission is four dollars. Call 531-8504.
Classical Jazz Festival: The New World Symphony celebrates the works of classical composers influenced by American jazz with a series of concerts at the Lincoln Theatre (555 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach). The festival begins tonight at 5:00 with a chamber concert featuring Naidoo's The Night of the Dancing Armies, Stravinsky's Piano Rag Music and Ragtime for Eleven Instruments, Babbitt's All Set, Kolb's Homage to Keith Jarrett and Gary Burton, and NWS artistic director and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas's Street Song. Tickets cost ten dollars. The festival continues with concerts on January 23 (chamber orchestra) and January 25 (symphony orchestra) at 8:00 featuring rare piano performances by Tilson Thomas (who will also be conducting). Tickets range from $19 to $45. See next week's "Calendar Listings," or call 673-3331 for a complete schedule.
Jack and Jill: See Thursday.
Art Deco Weekend: See Friday.
Taste of the Grove: See Friday.
Laughter on the 23rd Floor: See Friday.
Beaux Arts Festival: See Saturday.
monday
january 20
The Dream Comes Home: The Jubilate (pronounced "yoo-bee-LA-tay") vocal ensemble celebrates the life and achievements of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., tonight at 8:00 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church (536 Coral Way, Coral Gables). The Miami Community Mass Choir joins Jubilate, members of church and synagogue choirs from across the county, and a full orchestra to perform Howard Roberts's The Spiritual Heritage Suite. Admission is free (donations are appreciated). Call 995-1942.
John Dufresne: In his first novel, Louisiana Power & Light, Miami author and FIU professor John Dufresne demonstrated his remarkable ability to balance the comic and the tragic, to make poignant and delightful details stand out without overshadowing the humor or sadness of a particular scene. This balance is once again at work in his latest novel, Love Warps the Mind a Little, in which his hero Lafayette Proulx contemplates love and loss when his wife leaves him after learning of his affair with a psychotherapist. Tonight at 8:00 Dufresne reads from and discusses the novel at Books & Books (933 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach). Admission is free. Call 532-3222.
Art Deco Weekend: See Friday.
tuesday
january 21
American Art Today -- The Garden: The Art Museum at Florida International University (University Park Campus, SW 107th Avenue and Eighth Street, PC-110) hosts the thirteenth installment in its annual "American Art Today" series, which explores the way contemporary American artists interpret traditional themes. The theme of this year's exhibition, on view through February 15, is the garden, with works by 29 artists, including David Hockney, Roberto Juarez, Ross Bleckner, Milo Reice, Joan Snyder, Portia Munson, and James Valerio, ranging in style from conceptualism to realism. Admission is free. Museum hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays (open till 9:00 p.m. on Monday), and noon to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. Call 348-2890.
wednesday
january 22
Leigh Howard Stevens: His repertoire includes works from the Renaissance and by J.S. Bach to original pieces written by contemporary composers expressly for him. His unaccompanied compositions were considered technically and musically impossible for one player until he developed his revolutionary textural playing technique. And he does it all on the marimba. In fact, Time magazine has hailed Leigh Howard Stevens as the world's greatest classical marimbist. Tonight at 8:00 Stevens performs at the University of Miami's Gusman Concert Hall (1314 Miller Dr., Coral Gables), as part of Community Concerts' performance series. Tickets cost $15. Earlier today, at 4:00, Stevens will lecture and give a performance demonstration. Admission to the lecture is five dollars. Call 538-2121.
Laughter on the 23rd Floor: See Friday.
American Art Today -- The Garden: See Tuesday.
