NOTE: This column covers two weeks of activities to accommodate our end-of-year break. But keep visiting bocamag.com this week for our Top 10 Movies of 2018 (running Dec. 26) and our Top 10 Plays/Musicals of 2018 (running Dec. 28)!
Fort Lauderdale drops anchor for NYE, Hip-hop legends plant Roots in Miami Beach, and Dramaworks unveils five brand-new plays. Plus, “Abbey Road” live, New Year’s Day yoga, “Swan Lake” and more in your weeks ahead.
DEC. 29, 2018
What: Classic Albums Live: Abbey Road
Where: Old School Square Pavilion, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $20-$75
Contact: 561/243-7922, oldschoolsquare.org
In this Pandora/Spotify/endless-shuffle era of music listening, the full-length album, with its meticulous sense of flow and order, might seem like a relic from another era. But it still matters to audiophiles, and certainly to Classic Albums Live, a Canadian concert series known for its note-for-note re-creations of classic rock masterpieces. In the series’ year-end program at Old School Square, the ace musicians will take on the Beatles’ final recorded album, Abbey Road, which the Fab Four never performed live. One of the Beatles’ most eclectic masterpieces, this melodious yet musically challenging swan song ranges from the playfulness of “Octopus’s Garden” to the sweetness of “Here Comes the Sun” to the heavy blues-rock of “I Want You” to the slow-burning, explosive gallop of “Come Together.” Beatles fans will do just that on Saturday night.
DEC. 30, 2018
What: The Roots Holiday Run
Where: Fillmore, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach
When: 9 p.m.
Cost: $66.50
Contact: 305/673-7300, fillmoremb.com
Jingling all the way into the new year, the Roots—undisputedly the hardest-working musical act in the country—are spending their customary end-of-year break from the “Tonight House with Jimmy Fallon” not relaxing on Barca loungers with eggnog and “Auld Lang Syne,” but by hitting the road, blessing just five East Coast cities with their presence. Miami Beach happens to be one of them, so by all means, begin your New Year’s Eve celebrations a day early and enjoy what will surely be another eclectic Roots set list, comprised of material from their dozen studio albums, re-imagined covers of rock, soul and pop nuggets and, judging from the holiday theme, a hip-hop Christmas carol or two.
DEC. 31, 2018
What: NYE Bash on the Ave
Where: Tin Roof, 8 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach
When: 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Cost: $20 (much more for table reservations)
Contact: 561/265-5310, tinroofdelraybeach.com
The Tin Roof, Delray Beach’s newest nightlife destination, is going all out for its first New Year’s Eve party, with balloon drops and confetti cannons to accompany a midnight Champagne toast. Live music will be provided into the wee hours, with Evan Grushka kicking off the festivities at 5 p.m., Erath Old Band taking over at 9, and DJ Samosa spinning from 1 to 4 a.m. Limited “skip the line” tickets are available for $20 through the venue’s TicketWeb page. But big spenders can reserve tables for four to 12 people at minimum rates ranging from $500 to $3,000, with those cover charged deduced from the final bill.
What: Fort Lauderdale Orange Bowl Downtown Countdown
Where: Along Southwest Second Street, between Southwest Second and Fifth avenues
When: 3:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Cost: Free
Contact: fortlauderdale.gov
The City of Fort Lauderdale will once again drop anchor on New Year’s Eve—specifically a 20-foot-high, 17-foot-wide anchor weighing more than 700 pounds, and festooned with nearly 12,000 LED lights. Fort Lauderdale’s equivalent of the Times Square ball drop, the anchor will return as the centerpiece of its final countdown to 2019, capping a night of free, reliably entertaining frivolity, including live classic rock from the Big City Dogs (from 7:45 to 9 p.m.) and danceable party music from Pocket Change (from 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.). There also will be kids’ activities, including bounce houses, slides, face painting and games, from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m.
What: The Capitol Steps
Where: Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: $70-$90
Contact: 561/575-2223, jupitertheatre.org
A nonpartisan political comedy troupe founded more than three decades ago by moonlighting Congressional staffers, the Capitol Steps seem like a reminder of a less divided time—when a group of audience members of all ideological stripes could still gather in a room together and enjoy some gentle, good-natured, PG-13 ribbing of even their favorite presidents and policymakers. Does this era of community through laughter still exist? Find out during the collective’s annual New Year’s Eve performance in Jupiter, which will see the premiere of all new material that will tour the country in 2019. Expect song parodies, skits and spoonerisms that ding all sides of the political spectrum but, let’s face it, will save most of their roasting for the party in power.
JAN. 1, 2019
What: Something Big Yoga
Where: Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
When: 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Cost: Free, but pre-registration required
Contact: 561/479-7819, somethingbigyoga.com
As laid-back (literally) as the previous night is bustling, this New Year’s Day tradition is entering its fifth year in a state of continued growth. More than 2,000 attendees are expected to strike poses on the lawn at the Amphitheater, following the flow and guidance of renowned yoga teacher Leslie Glickman. Something Big Yoga is the brainchild of Glickman’s own Yoga Journey, and it includes a live DJ providing the new age soundtrack, assistants from yoga studios throughout the tri-county area, a vendor marketplace and gourmet food trucks.
JAN. 4-6, 2019
What:New Year/New Plays Festival
Where: Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach
When: Various show times
Cost: $15 per play; $50 for entire festival
Contact: 561/514-4042, palmbeachdramaworks.org
Palm Beach Dramaworks’ New Year’s resolution is to unveil more plays to the public, and this inaugural festival satisfies the yin for the new. Five plays still in development will receive readings performed by casts of area professionals—several by writers who are household names in regional theatre both locally and nationally. These include Michael McKeever’s “Red, White, Black and Blue,” a timely thriller/satire about the racial and social politics surrounding a presidential assassination attempt; William Francis Hoffman’s “Drift,” about a family’s crumbling history in 1957 Chicago; Carter Lewis’ “With,” about a couple’s marriage facing a literal and metaphoric blizzard during a momentous Christmas season; and Joseph McDonagh’s “Ordinary Americans,” about the sociopolitical upheaval surrounding the 1950s sitcom “The Goldbergs.”
JAN. 5, 2019
What:“Swan Lake” at Coral Springs Center for the Arts, 2855 Coral Springs Drive, Coral Springs
When: 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $44.52-$65.72
Contact: 954/344-5990, thecentercs.com
Sorcery, tragedy, romance, transfiguration from beast to human and back again—it’s all in a night’s exhaustive work for any company that dares to mount this most mesmerizing and challenging of all ballets. In its first visit to the United States, the National Ballet of Odessa will stage Tchaikovsky’s 1875 masterwork in all of its four-act glory, complete with 55 dancers steeped in the rigorous traditions of Soviet ballet.
