Guide to the Arts: Our critic picks 10 best theater, comedy & dance shows

As part of our Guide to the Arts, which publishes in PRIME Magazine on Oct. 1, entertainment writer Rod Stafford Hagwood offered his “Critic’s Picks” for the best in this season’s theater, comedy and dance performances.

Tango Legends: ‘Flame of Buenos Aires’

Oct. 19, Lauderhill Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $50-$70. 954-777-2055 or lpacfl.com.

The Argentine tango is equal parts flash and flare with a healthy dose of fire. That makes for a sizzling stage show. Performers and choreographers Mariela Maldonado and Pablo Sosa bring their Buenos Aires-based troupe of dancers, musicians and vocalist to SoFlo.

‘Stomp’

Oct. 27-29, Kravis Center, West Palm Beach. Tickets are $35-$110. 561-832-7469 or Kravis.org.

Explaining what the show “Stomp” is all about to the uninitiated is kinda-sorta tricky. Billed as a “unique combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy,” the performance spotlights instrumentalists putting on a percussive show — banging away at everything from paint cans and grocery carts to radiator hoses and hubcaps. The performers “make a rhythm out of anything we can get our hands on that makes a sound,” says cofounder/director Luke Cresswell. And while dance purists might not consider this a dance show, visually the movement is all cleverly choreographed and surprisingly comedic and theatrical.

‘Funny Girl’

Nov. 14-26, Broward Center, Fort Lauderdale. For individual ticket prices, call 954-462-0222 or visit BrowardCenter.org.

This show follows vaudeville legend Fanny Brice from her humble beginnings on N.Y.C.’s Lower East Side to international fame as a star of stage, screen and radio. In the milieu of musical meta, “Funny Girl” is bona fide showbiz lore, shooting Barbra Streisand to super-duper-stardom in 1964 (she went on to win an Oscar and Golden Globe for the 1968 movie version). For this latest revival, Harvey Fierstein reworked the book and — after Beanie Feldstein debuted as the lead for a little over four months — Lea Michele of “Glee” notoriety took over the role, making the box office go boffo. Throughout it all, the musical score by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill endures with songs such as “People,” “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star” and “Sadie, Sadie.”

Derek Hough’s ‘Symphony of Dance’

Dec. 10, Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood. Tickets are $45-$105. 954-797-5531 or myhrl.com.

The Emmy-winning terpsichorean talent is bringing his first national tour in four years to SoFlo, where his fan base reliably rewards him with sellout shows. This time around, Hough — who rose to fame on TV dance competitions such as “Dancing with the Stars” and “World of Dance” before taking on movie and stage roles — will do everything from ballroom and tap to salsa and hip-hop.

Dave Chappelle’s ‘It’s a Celebration B!%?#&$!’

Dec. 26-28, Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood. Tickets are $115-$395. 954-797-5531 or myhrl.com.

Comedy firebrand Dave Chappelle’s newest show is titled “It’s a Celebration B!%?#&$!” and that should tell you everything you need to know. And if the last few years are anything to go by, that title may be underselling it a bit. In his 2019 Netflix special “Sticks and Stones,” the comedian — who rose to superstardom on TV with his “Chappelle’s Show” from 2003 to 2006 — raised eyebrows with his jokes about the #MeToo movement, You may remember the headlines that poured out of the Netflix special “The Closer” back in 2021, when Chappelle aimed his acerbic wit toward transgender people, prompting all kinds of protests and even an employee walkout at the streaming company. Then last year, he was attacked on stage at the Netflix Is a Joke festival in Los Angeles. Later in 2022 when he hosted “Saturday Night Live,” Sarah Sherman (who is straight but a fervent LGBTQ ally), Bowen Yang (who is gay) and Molly Kearney (who identifies as non-binary) reportedly refused to join him at the “curtain call” finale where the entire cast and musical guests traditionally take the stage. All of this leads us to ask: Will Chappelle dive into the churning waters of Florida’s anti-woke wave? We can hardly wait to find out. Chappelle’s take on Tallahassee could be newsworthy.

‘The Cher Show’

Jan. 2-7, 2024, Arsht Center, Miami. Individual tickets will be in the $35-$130 range, though prices may be subject to change. 305-949-6722 or ArshtCenter.org.

It takes three women to equal one Cher. That’s right, three actors play the star at different stages of her glittery life, so this is truly a Cher and Cher-alike show. Thirty-five tunes from the Oscar-winning actor/pop music goddess’s songbook are in this jukebox musical. “The Cher Show” opened on Broadway in December 2018 and closed in August 2019, the same year the Tonys awarded costumer Bob Mackie and lead Stephanie J. Block.

Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

Jan. 2-7, 2024, Kravis Center, West Palm Beach. Tickets are $39-$109 (programs, artists, ticket prices, availability, dates and times are subject to change). 561-832-7469 or Kravis.org.

Whaaaaat? A play rather than a musical as part of a major performing arts center’s Broadway series? Yup. But know this: “To Kill a Mockingbird” is no ordinary play. Starring Richard Thomas (“The Waltons,” Stephen King’s “It,” “The Americans,” “Ozark”), the national tour is taken from Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The Southern Gothic masterwork is set in a small Alabama town during Depression-era 1930s, where a white lawyer defends a Black man accused of raping a white woman. According to New York theater critics, the show’s direction by Bartlett Sher helps to temper the racial tension with the warm humor in Lee’s book that was downplayed in the famous film version starring Gregory Peck. This adaptation opened on Broadway in 2018, breaking box-office records for a non-musical production and winning a Best Actress Tony Award in 2019. The first national tour’s stop in Fort Lauderdale played to sold-out houses during an almost two-week run earlier this year.

‘The Cancellation of Lauren Fein’

February 2-18, 2024, Palm Beach Dramaworks, West Palm Beach. Tickets are $89 (except for opening night, which are $104 and previews are $69). 561-514-4042, ext. 2, or palmbeachdramaworks.org.

The world premiere of Miamian playwright Christopher Demos-Brown’s play “The Cancellation of Lauren Fein” will no doubt be a highlight of Palm Beach Dramaworks’ hot topic season. As the title implicates, this time Demos-Brown has focused his deft hand on cancel culture. Lauren Fein and her wife, Paola Munoz, are both college professors who live with their teenage African-American foster son, Dylan, whom they’ve cared for since he was a baby. But things are put in peril when, as the theater’s website explains, “Professor Fein’s actions run afoul of the university’s ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies.” Demos-Brown’s “American Son” bowed on Broadway in 2018 starring Kerry Washington before becoming an Emmy-nominated Netflix movie a year later. He is also a cofounder of Zoetic Stage, the professional theater company in residence at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.

‘Funny Women of a Certain Age’

Feb. 9-10, Pompano Beach Cultural Center. Tickets are $45. pompanobeachculturalcenter.com or pompanobeacharts.org.

This is practically a funny franchise. You may have caught the TV specials with the same title in past years on Showtime featuring a showcase of all-female comedians over 50. We’re talking laughter luminaries such as founder Carole Montgomery (“Comics Unleashed”), Carol Leifer (“Seinfeld”), Caroline Rhea (“Sabrina The Teenage Witch”) and Thea Vidale (“Last Comic Standing”). The SoFlo show will be hosted by Montgomery and will feature two other comedians, Julia Scotti and Leighann Lord.

‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’

March 5-17, 2024, Broward Center, Fort Lauderdale. For individual ticket prices, call 954-462-0222 or BrowardCenter.org.

Much like the 2001 movie version starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, this stage iteration goes all Belle Epoque-y on Top 40 chart-toppers. The jukebox musical is set in Paris at the turn of the 20th century, but the score uses songs such as “Lady Marmalade,” “Every Breath You Take” and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” to tell the story of a young poet who falls in love with a cabaret star. The show won 10 Tony Awards in 2020.