Janis Fontaine10 concerts, plays, art exhibitions to celebrate the season.
A season full of top-shelf entertainment is beginning all over town with hundreds of concerts, plays, Broadway shows, art exhibits, dance, comedy, symphonies and more on the calendar.
But just for you, I’ve narrowed it to these must-see performances:
- “Misery” at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre
Perfect for Halloween, see the stage production of Stephen King’s classic horror story that made Annie Wilkes a household name and who forever changed the meaning of the compliment, “I’m your No. 1 fan.”
When the former health care worker finds her favorite author injured in a car wreck, she nurses him back to health. Well, sort of. You’ll have to see for yourself when the show takes the stage Oct. 25-Nov. 96. Tickets start at $50. Subscriptions are available.
The remaining 2025-26 season productions include “Million Dollar Quartet” Dec. 2-14; “Come From Away” Jan. 6-25; and “Good Night, Oscar” Feb. 15-March 1.
The Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter. 561-575-2223
2. “OctoberFest: A Celebration of Music” by the Palm Beach Gardens Concert Band
This volunteer concert band features 80 of your friends and neighbors (some in their 80s) who perform because they love to play. The nonprofit band has been entertaining local audiences for more than 30 years, and this year, it performs “OctoberFest: A Celebration of Music” featuring a selection of Halloween music.
The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15, at PBSC’s Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens. Tickets are $29.75 for adults, $4.75 for ages 18 and younger.
Mark your calendar for the band’s other performances:
- “Ringing In The Holidays: Our Annual Holiday Concert” at 7:30 pm, Dec. 10.
- “America 250: Love And Country” at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 25.
- “Swinging With The Stars” at 7:30 p.m., April 29.
The PBSC Eissey Campus Theatre, 11051 Campus Drive, Palm Beach Gardens. 561-207-5900
3. Jake Owen and Dirty Heads
Jake Owen and reggae-rock band Dirty Heads are co-headlining four Florida shows guaranteed to get your motor cranking and your butt out of your seat. The tour stops at iThink Amphitheater in West Palm Beach at 6:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 24, with guests The Original Wailers featuring Al Anderson.
Almost a Palm Beacher (he’s from Vero Beach), Owen has been delivering classic country music in a sultry baritone that’s grown grittier in the nearly 20 years since he knocked our socks off with his debut single, “Yee Haw,” in 2006.
Owen’s authenticity has been his calling card as the fresh-faced young country star who loves a party. Owen switched record labels and released “Greetings from Jake,” staying true to his thoughtful songwriting roots, in 2019. The album, an homage to Florida, was his sixth and his first album on Big Loud Records.
Owen got sober in 2021, which he sang about on “Loose Cannon,” a 16-song collection of traditional country with an edge, in 2023. It included the poignant “Hot Truck Beer,” definitely worth a listen. Look for this next project, the album “Dreams to Dream,” available on Nov. 7. The single is out now, and you’re sure to hear it in concert.
The reggae rock band Dirty Heads, best known for the hit “Vacation,” will co-headline this mash-up of music that Owen called “a mini-fun fest with a little beachy, modern, vintage country, hip-hop, reggae and rock.” The Original Wailers featuring Al Anderson are classic reggae. Tickets start at $40.75 for reserved seats.
iThink Amphitheatre, 601-7 Sansburys Way, West Palm Beach. www.ticketmaster.com.
4. 17 Rembrandts and a Vermeer at the Norton Museum of Art
The exhibition, “Art and Life in Rembrandt’s Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection,” features more than 70 works by 27 artists from one of the world’s most important private collections of 17th-century Dutch art.
But it’s Rembrandt, the prodigious painter whose name is synonymous with shadow and shade, who headlines this show. His ability to capture the spirit and passion of his subject is revealed in his portraits and self-portraits and in his biblically inspired depiction of such religious events as “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.”
Rembrandt was drawn to the passionate stories and vibrant emotions of his subjects, and he also felt a personal responsibility as a teacher, especially in the work scholars call his “history paintings,” for accuracy. These works froze important historic moments as they happened, like snapshots.
Norton Museum of Art opens “Art and Life in Rembrandt’s Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection,” the largest show of privately held Dutch 17th-century paintings ever organized in the United States, Oct. 25 through April 5.
And do not miss Vermeer’s “Young Woman Seated at a Virginal,” the only piece by the artist in private hands.
If you haven’t visited lately, you’ll be delighted by the Norton’s expansion and renovation led by London-based architecture firm Foster + Partners which added a building and more than 12,000 square feet of new gallery space. There’s also an educational center, a store and restaurant, a sculpture garden, and a Great Hall that serves as the “living room,” and the campus is now home to renovated 1920s-era cottages that house artists-in-residence.
And don’t forget the photography exhibits, as spelled out in last week’s Stet News.
The Norton Museum of Art is at 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach. Hours are 10 am-5 pm Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, 10 am-10 pm Friday and 11 am–5 pm Sunday. 561-832-5196.
5. “The Addams Family” at the Kravis Center.
Keeping it creepy in this kooky twist on “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” the Kravis Center presents a tale featuring our favorite haunted family. Morticia, Gomez and the Addams clan are in a quandary when Wednesday, our precious princess of darkness, invites her “normal” and terribly sweet boyfriend and his family home for dinner. What could go wrong?
Tickets for the Broadway national tour are $39.10-$96.60. Showtimes are 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 31; 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 1, and matinees at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 1-2.
The 2025-26 Kravis on Broadway series features these shows: “The Wiz” Oct. 21-26; “Kimberly Akimbo” Nov. 11-16; “The Choir Of Man” Dec. 22-28; and “Some Like It Hot” Jan. 6-11.
The Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. 561-832-7469; www.kravis.org
6. The Palm Beach Symphony welcomes three stellar guests
The Palm Beach Symphony, under the baton of Maestro Gerald Schwarz, presents a series of shows featuring the best of soloists. Kicking off with pianist Shelly Berg at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9, at the Kravis Center, the Grammy-nominated jazz pianist, a master of classical fusion, performs “Rhapsody in Blue” as Schwarz leads the symphony in Gershwin’s “An American in Paris.”
At 7:30 p.m., Dec. 16, pianist Misha Dichter performs Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Snow Maiden Suite.” And finally, cellist Aliza Weilerstein brings a passionate interpretation of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 to the stage at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 13. She also performs the Strauss favorite, “Alpine Symphony.”
Tickets are $27.50-$104.50.
The Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. 561-655-2657
7. “The Seafarer” at Palm Beach Dramaworks
Conor McPherson’s “The Seafarer,” directed by J. Barry Lewis, is a story of second chances and redemption set in Dublin on Christmas Eve. Sharky and his blind brother, with drinking buddies Ivan and Nicky, are hoisting a few when a stranger arrives to claim more than a seat at the poker table.
The soul-searching tale asks what happens when the deal you made with the devil comes due? Is there a way out or maybe some wee bit of Irish magic yet to be revealed? It’s on stage Dec. 12-28. Tickets are $115 plus fees.
Don and Ann Brown Theatre, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. 561-514-4042; https://www.palmbeachdramaworks.org/
8. The Lighthouse ArtCenter’s Art in Bloom 2025
Art in Bloom 2025 opens with a reception from 5-7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 6. It’s the first time for this event that combines fine art with floral arrangements in a “celebration of the connection between art and nature.” Local floral artists will recreate an arrangement that embodies the essence of a piece from the “Delicate Expressions” exhibition, on display now through Nov. 15.
“Delicate Expressions” features the paintings of Karen Tucker Kuykendall and the work of jewelry artists. From Nov. 6-8, the gallery will display the artwork alongside the arrangement it inspired.
Tickets for opening night are $25. Sponsors are needed.
The Lighthouse ArtCenter is at 373 Tequesta Drive, Tequesta. 561-746-3101; https://lighthousearts.org
9. “Our Town” at Lake Worth Playhouse
Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play from 1938 is set in a fictional New Hampshire town and takes place over a dozen years at the start of the 20th century. The Webb and Gibbs families are a microcosm, a reflection of humanity unchanged 100 years later. We see ourselves, how we live, how we love and marry and how we die. Wilder’s masterpiece of Americana is on stage at the Lake Worth Playhouse Nov. 14-30. Single tickets are $48 for opening night, $40 for the run.
Other playhouse productions this season include: “Kiss Me, Kate,” with music by Cole Porter, Jan. 18-Feb. 1, Neil Simon’s “Biloxi Blues” Feb. 27-March 15 and Roald Dahl’s “Matilda” April 10-26. A three-show subscription including “Little Shop of Horrors,” Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” and “Kiss Me, Kate” is $105.
Also new this season at the playhouse: 296 new plush seats, a $112,000 belated birthday present, paid for by donors, celebrating the theater’s 2024 centennial.
Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth Beach. 561-586-6410; www.lakeworthplayhouse.org
10. Parmalee at Abacoa
Parmalee returns to Jupiter for an outdoor concert at Abacoa Amphitheater from 6-10 pm, Saturday, Nov. 22. It’s part of the 19-show “Feels Like Home” Tour that kicked off in Norfolk, Va., on Sept. 12 and closes in Katy, Texas, on Dec. 13.
Parmalee got its name from the band members’ North Carolina hometown (Parmele), where brothers Matt Thomas (lead vocals, guitar) and Scott Thomas (drums) grew up with their cousin Barry Knox (bass) and almost-a-brother Josh McSwain (lead guitar).
The tour supports their fourth major album, “Fell in Love with a Cowgirl,” released in April. It’s their first studio album since 2021 and contains seven new songs, including “Feels Like Home,” that follow the Parmalee formula. It’s a solid release of well-written songs about settling down that rely on references to home. “Day One” and “God Knew Better” are both solid love songs, sweet enough to make your teeth ache.
With over 1.6 billion streams, Parmalee can claim five No. 1 country hits and is closing in on 2 billion streams. “Take My Name” was Billboard’s most-played country song of 2022 and has been played at hundreds of weddings. “Girl In Mine” was Billboard’s eighth-most-played country song of 2023.
Reserved seats are $72.47 and general admission is $47.26.
Other events at Abacoa include Greensky Bluegrass at 6 pm, Nov. 14; Fortunate Youth at 5:30 pm, Nov 21; and the Elovators at 6:30 pm, Dec. 13. Abacoa Amphitheater, 1260 University Blvd., Jupiter. www.eventbrite.com. Info: https://www.downtownabacoa.com/
