“Swan Lake,” Symphonia concerts and “A Chorus Line” usher both culture and theater’s return to Boca.
With the city’s performing arts center a few years off, Boca Ballet Theatre is using the Countess De Hoernle Theater at Spanish River High School as a venue. Two performances will include a hybrid over Mother’s Day weekend.
“Swan Lake” will be performed in person and virtually at 7:30 p.m. Saturday May 8 and in person only at 2 p.m. Sunday May 9. Tickets for both the in-person and virtual performances are $25 to $45. https://www.bocaballet.org/season
The company’s bringing in American Ballet Theatre’s Skylar Brandt and Aran Bell from New York for the leads. “Part of our mission is exposing South Florida to what’s going on in the rest of the dance world,” said co-founder and co-artistic director Dan Guin.
“It’s a really big deal for us. We will have two of the most highly acclaimed dancers in the world. Skyler Brant was just on the cover of Dance Magazine in a tutu and she’s a huge social media star,” he said.
There’s a 54-member cast, including young dancers from the company’s ballet school that has resumed classes.
“We haven’t been onstage with an audience since our ‘Nutcracker’ over Thanksgiving 2019,” Guin said. “Now we’re hoping with vaccines and social distancing, there will be an audience.”
After supper club cabarets in the lobby, The Wick Theatre is reopening the house and bringing back the cast and show it had to shut down last March. The run is April 22 through May 30 with socially distanced seating. Tickets are $75 to $95 at the box office 561-995-2333, https://thewick.org/
This will be the third time The Symphonia has played in the Marriott Boca Raton ballroom. Their regular venue isn’t available yet.
“We’ve been growing audiences as people are vaccinated, and we more than doubled our audience from the first to second performances,” said executive director Annabel Russell. “This time we’re running two concerts, one at 2 and one at 5 p.m. May 2. We hope to do the same on June 13. People are starved for live performances and live music and they see we’re doing it in a responsible way.’’
Ticket prices are $75 per person. Call 561-376-3848, email info@thesymphonia.org or https://thesymphonia.org/attend/calendar/ Seating will be assigned – guests coming together will sit in their own bubble that will be socially distanced.
The Symphonia is a resized chamber group of 14 conducted by Maestro Alistair Willis for “Let the Trumpet Sound,” with principal trumpet Jeff Kaye. “Each concert has featured one of our soloists,” Russell said.
The 60-program with no intermission will include: Purcell’s Suite from Abdelazer: Handel’s Suite for Trumpet and Strings; Baldassare’s Sonata No.1 in F for Trumpet and Strings and Holst’s St. Paul’s suite.
By Marci Shatzman
