(PRESS RELEASE)_West Palm Beach, FL (November 30, 2022) – Disney Theatrical Productions, under the direction of Thomas Schumacher, and the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts are pleased to announce casting for the West Palm Beach engagement of Disney’s Aladdin. The hit Broadway musical comedy will begin performances at The Kravis Center on Wednesday, December 14 for a limited engagement of 10 days through Friday, December 23. 
 
The production features Adi Roy (Aladdin), Marcus M. Martin (Genie), Senzel Ahmady (Jasmine), Anand Nagraj (Jafar), Aaron Choi (Iago), Sorab Wadia (Sultan), Ben Chavez (Omar), Jake Letts (Babkak), Colt Prattes (Kassim), Dwelvan David (Standby Genie, Jafar & Sultan) and J. Andrew Speas (Standby Genie, Sultan & Babkak).

(PRESS RELEASE)_Elisabetta's is offering a number of new dishes for fall.
 
Brunch now includes a new breakfast egg, sausage and bacon pizza with a san marzano sauce, fiore di latte, sausage, bacon eggs and basil ($18.50).

The restaurant is also featuring a breakfast sandwich with scrambled eggs made with ricotta and a Fontina cheese sauce, imported ham on a butter croissant. ($18.50)

America's favorite brunch dish swings towards the Italian side as an Italian Eggs Benedict with two poached eggs on Elisabetta's house made sourdough bread, toasted and buttered, with an herb hollandaise, a small arugula salad and prosciutto di Parma ($17).

By Gerry  Barker

​If  you're a fan of Harry Potter, and enjoy conjuring up a good cocktail, you'll want to check out "The Unofficial Hogwarts Cocktail Book," by Bertha Barmann ($19.95) from Ulysses Press.

Using familiar people and places from the beloved books and movies, you can work your mixology magic with other 50 recipes, including Mad-Eye Martini, Sanctimonia Vincer Semper Martini, Butterscoth Beer and Forbidden Forest Fizz. There's also a selection of mocktails for  younger wizards. Each recipe is accompanied by a beautiful photo. Hopefully your end result will match.

For us, we bookmarked the Fairy Light French 75, the Exploding Lemon Gin Fizz and the Spring Holiday Gimlet. Get the shaker ready!

If you're a newcomer to the world of bartending, the book includes a helpful section called "The Magical Bartender," with all the basics you need to get ready to tackle any recipe in the book.

The author hails from Soda Springs, Idaho, a town of less than 5,000 known for its hundreds of   carbonated water natural springs, including the Soda Springs Geyser. Ms. Barmann took time for this interview:

Q. Tell us about yourself and what inspired you about Harry Potter and his world to write this book.
A. I grew up reading the books and always thought the potions element lent itself well to cocktails and mocktails.

Q. Talk about how long it was to go from the idea for doing the book to having it published.
A. It was a pretty quick process as the Ulysses Press editors wanted to publish a book like this and just needed someone to write it. All told it probably took a little less than a year. 

Q. Did you sample all the drinks yourself, or have tastings with your friends, and what are your favorite drinks from the book?
A. My favorite drink is the golden poptails because popsicles are one of my favorite sweet treats. 

Q. The book is also a good introduction to bartending. Have you ever worked as a bartender or mixologist?
A. Nope, I'm self-taught and an at-home hobbyist. 

Q. Any plans for future books?
A. I think the editors at Ulysses Press might be looking into publishing a book on other witchy or magical cocktails, but we'll have to see! 

May we say if you want to use your magic wand to send a few our  way, we are glad to be testers!

Barmann's book is available on Amazon here.

(PRESS RELEASE)_(West Palm Beach, FL – November 28, 2022) The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts proudly announces a multi-award-winning line up of Broadway blockbusters, the biggest names in comedy, original musicals, world-class classical performers and more, throughout the month of December. Upcoming productions include:

One Night in Memphis:
Presley, Perkins, Lewis & Cash
(Adults at Leisure Series)
December 7 at 11am & 2pm (Wednesday)
A high-energy tribute concert of the most memorable jam session in music history between Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. Be here for the songs that defined generations including “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Don’t Be Cruel”, “Great Balls of Fire”, “Folsom Prison Blues” and many more.
Tickets $39

​WHAT:
The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum (SBRHM) is hosting a special visit and presentation by an international dignitary.
 
WHEN:
Saturday, December 3, at 2:30 pm
 
WHO:
Loukas Tsokos, Counsel General of Greece
 
TOPIC:
The Tampa-based Consul General will speak about Greek-American relations as well as about Greece itself, covering politics, economy, history and culture. In particular, he will discuss a new higher education initiative that Greece will be launching in 2023.
 
BACKGROUND:
The mission of the Greek Consulate General is to build on the longstanding cooperation between Greece and the United States and further enhance the bonds of friendship between our two peoples. Since 2021, Tsokos has held the position of Minister Plenipotentiary, Consul General of Greece in Tampa. Before that, he was the Counselor, Diplomatic Advisor for the Ministry of Citizen Protection in Athens, and earlier held the position of Counselor, Directorate for NATO and Euroatlantic Affairs, MFA in Athens. He holds a Degree in Law from the University of Aix En Provence, France and is fluent in Greek, English, French, and Spanish.
 
 
Currently on exhibit at The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum:
Fifty Years of Collecting
Running through December 2022
Featuring artifacts and memorabilia that represent the wide range of items that make up the ever-growing historical collections of The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum, the new temporary exhibition includes everything from Floy Mitchell’s flapper dress to a circa 2000 Votomatic voting machine. These items show the breadth of the Boca Raton Historical Society’s collections acquired over the past half-century and tell a story about how Boca Raton has grown and changed since its establishment as a farming village in the 1890s. -- (PRESS RELEASE)

(PRESS RELEASE)_November 28, 2022 (Lake Worth Beach, Fla.) — A powerful display of 21st century mandalas created through the interaction of geometry and light is coming to the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County’s headquarters in downtown Lake Worth Beach.

An exclusive exhibition of work by Lake Worth Beach artist David Ellis Rubinson will take place December 9, 2022, through January 21, 2023, at the Council’s Solo Gallery. Free and open to the public, exhibition hours are Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.

With an artistic commitment to deep symmetry and reflections of the infinite, Rubinson’s computer-generated work is informed by Tibetan and Indian mandalas, Islamic architecture, Tantric rituals, and sacred geometry, as well as Dutch Nature Morte paintings and light displays of Las Vegas and Atlantic City in the 1950s and 60s. The work is created with multiple 3D and motion graphics software and rendered as finely detailed, high-resolution photographic prints and video animations. Both his prints and videos incorporate disparate elements that when combined speak of symmetry, pattern, cadence, and rhythm. His work aspires to create an experience of transcendental beauty and well-being.

(PRESS RELEASE)_(Boca Raton, FL – November 22, 2022) The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum (SBRHM) today announced it will be hosting three special events next month—two Town Hall Talks and the return of the popular Sips & Sounds musical series. For more information, please visit www.BocaHistory.org, or call 561.395.6766, ext. 100.
 
Thursday, December 1, at 6 pm
Town Hall Talk
Archeological Findings at Boca Raton
Robert Carr, Executive Director of the Archaeological and Historical  Conservancy, will discuss pre-Columbian archaeology at Ocean Strand and other Boca Raton sites. The event starts at 6 pm with check-in and refreshments, and the lecture begins at 6:30 pm. FREE for BRHS members, $10 for guests.

(PRESS RELEASE)_​WEST PALM BEACH, FL (November 21, 2022) The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts celebrates thirty years of the best of Broadway in South Florida with its Kravis On Broadway series. Tickets to Tootsie, Pretty Woman: The Musical and Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations go on sale on Saturday, December 3 at 12:00 p.m.
 
Tickets will be available at the Kravis Center Box Office, online at kravis.org or by calling the Kravis Center Box Office at (561) 832-7469 during regular box office hours Monday through Saturday from Noon to 5 p.m.  Orders for groups of 10 or more may be placed by calling (561) 651-4438.
 
Call it “musical comedy heaven” (Rolling Stone). Call it “the most uproarious new musical in years!” (The Hollywood Reporter). Call it TOOTSIE! This laugh-out-loud love letter to the theater tells the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime. Featuring a hilarious Tony®-winning book by Robert Horn and an outrageously clever score by 2018 Tony-winner David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), this New York Times Critic’s Pick is “a joyful delight” (The Washington Post) that’s “so packed with punchlines, it should be called a jokebox musical!” (Bloomberg). “In these turbulent times, when the world seems out of balance, we need a place to let the good times roll,” raves Rolling Stone. “TOOTSIE is it!”

(PRESS RELEASE)_Palm Beach Gardens, FLA. - (November 21, 2022) - Little Smiles of Florida continues its mission to help kids be kids through difficult times by spreading holiday cheer with its Annual Holiday Toy Drive. The organization is collecting gifts through December 25, 2022, for newborns - 18 years. The gifts are distributed through collection centers for families to pick up and directly to Little Smiles' 32 pediatric partners, including hospitals with children fighting life-threatening illnesses, medical daycare centers, hospices, shelters, foster care homes, and medical support facilities. 
 
“The holidays are a magical time for children, and with the help and generosity of our community, the Little Smiles Toy Drive brings joy to so many local children,” said Executive Director Nicole Mercado De Leon. “Whether the toys go to a child in the hospital, a foster child, or a child whose family is having a difficult time, the kindness is never forgotten, and the smiles on the kids’ faces are priceless.”