Film: Can’t decide whether to go to the theater or to the movies this weekend? Do both, with the high-definition video of the recent concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, which was shamelessly promoted on last Sunday’s Tony Awards broadcast. It stars Neil Patrick Harris as marriage-challenged Bobby, which should restart the discussion whether the character’s dilemma is that he is actually gay. Among the ensemble of Bobby’s friends is Patti LuPone (who sings a powerhouse, boozy The Ladies Who Lunch), Martha Plimpton and, for some reason, Comedy Central’s musically savvy -- but not much of a dancer -- Stephen Colbert. Playing this Sunday at the Muvico Parisian, Cinemark Boynton Beach, Cinemark Palace, Shadowwood 16 and Delray Beach 18. This one is a must-see for any Sondheim devotee.

Theater: What do you do if you want to jump-start a 16-year-old off-season tradition, but keep down the budget in these economically tricky times? If you are City Theatre’s Summer Shorts, that annual celebration of short-form, 5-to-20-minute playlets, you reduce your performance ensemble to five and the number of sketches to seven, but you also cast a ringer, Queer Eye for a Straight Guy’s Jai Rodriguez. The ploy works because A) the ensemble includes such stellar talent as Stephen Trovillion and Finnerty Steeves, B) the scenes are all winners instead of the occasional sprinkling of disappointing head-scratchers, and C) Rodriguez turns out to be a versatile team player. The result is one of the most satisfying Shorts productions in years. Continuing at Miami’s Arsht Center through Sunday, June 26, then heading up to the Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater, from June 30 through July 3.

Art: The New York-born artist Pamela Larkin Caruso has focused on some specific kinds of images in her work: plants and hearts, above all, which she fills with vibrant color and simple shapes, and a strong inner life, as can be seen throughout the many samples viewable on her website (http://plarkinart.com). The Jupiter Heights resident’s art also can be seen on display through the end of August in the lobby of the Eissey Campus Theatre on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens. Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and during shows. For more information, call 207-5905.

Music: In the last three or four years of Frederic Chopin’s brief life, the composer found it increasingly difficult to write, as his illness (which may have been cystic fibrosis) progressed inexorably. One of his last works, published in 1846, was the Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61, an unusual, intimate, brilliant distillation of the Polish folk dance that inspired it. This Saturday, this great piece will be played by the Russian-born pianist Margarita Shevchenko, trained in Moscow and Cleveland, and resident in North Miami Beach, where she keeps a studio. At her recital at the Boca Steinway Gallery, she’ll also play two other Chopin pieces – the well-known Polonaise in A-flat (Op. 53), and the Barcarolle (in F-sharp), Op. 60 – as well as the complete Op. 116 Fantaisies of Johannes Brahms, also music written at the end of its composer’s career. Shevchenko takes the stage at 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Call 929-6633 or visit www.pianolovers.org.

WXEL radio becomes WPBI with close of sale to APM

FORT LAUDERDALE – Classical South Florida, the American Public Media radio subsidiary, said it has completed the purchase of WXEL-90.7 FM.

The Boynton Beach-based radio station’s new call letters are WPBI. The Minneapolis-based company bought WXEL radio last year from Barry University in Miami Shores for about $4 million. The Federal Communications Commission approved the license transfer in May.

“This is an exciting day for public radio listeners across South Florida,” said Doug Evans, Classical South Florida’s general manager and president, in a news release. “We’re excited about the opportunity to serve the Palm Beaches and the Treasure Coast with high-quality public radio programming, and to strengthen the reach and quality of public radio throughout South Florida.”

Classical South Florida also operates WKCP-89.7 in Miami, which broadcasts classical music 24 hours a day. The buyout of WXEL was opposed by some members of the community who were concerned that the takeover would mean the elimination of the station’s local programming.

WPBI’s broadcast lineup retains its pre-transfer schedule of local shows, including Classical Variations with Joanna Marie; Listening to Movies (with Caroline Breder-Watts); South Florida Artsview; Jazz Impressions (with Stu Grant); and Florida Forum (with Ann Bocock).

Boca Museum’s 60^th all-juried show set for June 29

BOCA RATON -- The Boca Raton Museum of Art’s annual all-juried competition will open June 29 and last through Sept. 11, museum officials said.

As the state's oldest annual juried competition, the exhibition reinforces the museum’s commitment to Florida artists and has introduced the work of thousands of emerging, under recognized, and well-established young and mid-career Florida artists working in all media.

The exhibition features 101 paintings, sculpture, photography, video, and installations. More than 1,800 artworks by 600 artists were submitted for consideration.

The juror for the 60th Annual All-Florida Exhibition is Valerie Ann Leeds, adjunct curator of American art at the Flint Institute of Arts in Flint, Mich. She has also has held curatorial positions at the Orlando Museum of Art, the Tampa Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Leeds is an expert on the work of Robert Henri, a leading figure in the early 20^th-century American art movement known as the Ashcan School.

Museum hours are: Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The first Wednesday of every month sees extended museum hours of 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Master Chorale names Towson’s Karen Kennedy as director

FORT LAUDERDALE -- The Master Chorale of South Florida has named a new artistic director for its ninth season.

Karen Kennedy, an associate professor and director of choral activities at Towson University in suburban Baltimore, will succeed Joshua Habermann as leader of the 80-member community chorus. Habermann left the choir earlier this year to become director of the Dallas Symphony Chorus.

In addition to her work at Towson, Kennedy has worked extensively in Hawaii. She spent six years in Honolulu, serving as associate professor and director of choral activities at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. For four years, she served as director of the Honolulu Symphony Chorus. She holds a doctorate in choral conducting from Arizona State University.

The chorale also named Jeffery Stern its associate conductor. Stern is a third-year doctoral student and teaching assistant at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, where he conducts the university men's chorus, Maelstrom. Stern earned a master’s in music at the University of Minnesota in 2009.

Matthew Steynor, director of music at Trinity Cathedral in Miami, will return as the group’s rehearsal accompanist, the chorale said. The British-born Steynor has been the choir’s accompanist since the 2007-08 season.

The chorale’s upcoming season will include three performances of J.S. Bach’s Magnificat on a holiday-themed program (Nov. 18-20), accompanied by the Miami Symphony Orchestra.

For more information or to volunteer, please contact Nancy Gates-Lee at 954-770-2805.

PB Opera’s Aprea signs on through 2013-14 season

WEST PALM BEACH – Palm Beach Opera has renewed the contract of Artistic Director Bruno Aprea through the 2013-2014 season.

Aprea, 69, has served as maestro for the Palm Beach Opera since the beginning of the 2005-06 season, and has conducted more than 20 productions with the company.

“The Palm Beach audience is a cultivated audience that desires, justly, something much more than ordinary, pleasant entertainment,” Aprea said in a news release. “Next season will surely maintain the same level as the last.”

Aprea began his musical career as a pianist after studying under his father, Tito Aprea, at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in his native Rome. His work has taken him all over Europe, South America, South Africa and Israel. In 1977, he won the Koussevitzky Prize at the Tanglewood Festival, making him the second Italian conductor after Claudio Abbado in 1958 to win it.

Palm Beach Opera was founded in 1961 and will mark its 50^th anniversary season at the Kravis Center beginning Dec. 16 with a production of Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, one of the most popular operas in the world. Also on tap are Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette from Feb. 24-27, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor from March 23-26, and two gala 50^th-anniversary concerts of operatic selections on Jan. 20 and 22.

Flagler Museum gets federal grant for furniture survey

PALM BEACH -- The Flagler Museum has received a $42,800 conservation project support grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the primary source of federal support for the nation’s museums and libraries.

The funding will be used toward conducting a detailed furniture conservation survey of the more than 400 objects in the museum’s furniture collection. This survey will serve as an important planning tool in organizing conservation treatments and priorities, evaluating needed resources, and developing public exhibits.

The objects in the collection, ranging from the 1600s to the 1920s, are primarily wood and original to Whitehall or to the Flagler family. The survey will be conducted by F. Carey Howlett, a conservator and consultant with 35 years of experience. Howlett has served as the director of conservation for The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and has led projects at Westover Plantation, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

The Flagler Museum, once Henry Flagler’s Gilded Age Whitehall estate, was completed in 1902, and is a National Historic Landmark open to the public. The museum, which sees over 90,000 visitors annually, features guided tours, changing exhibits, and special programs. For information on hours and admission, please call the Flagler Museum at (561) 655-2833 or visit www.flaglermuseum.us.

Delray’s Arts Garage hosts ceramics exhibit

DELRAY BEACH – The Creative City Collaborative’s new Arts Garage has added an exhibit of ceramic art that will run through July 30.

Clay from Earth, hosted by guest curator Jeff Whyman, features the work of 13 artists in ceramics, including Jim Leedy, who has been regarded as the first abstract expressionist ceramist.

Leedy was chosen to represent the United States in museum exhibitions during the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. “In the last 50 years, ceramics have catapulted from craft to the fine art world,” Leedy said in a news release. “The movement over the last 20 years has been tremendous.”

The Collaborative is a nonprofit organization created to build the cultural infrastructure that celebrates Delray Beach as a “creative, authentic, and intimate city.” For more information about Creative City Collaborative, including hours and admission, contact Calisha Anderson: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or visit www.delraybeacharts.org.

FAU shows featured as part of Boca’s July Fourth celebration

BOCA RATON -- Florida Atlantic University and the city of Boca Raton will collaborate on a special Independence Day celebration on July 4.

The festivities will begin at 4 p.m. on the Fourth (a Monday) with a special staging of the musical comedy The 1940’s Radio Hour in the University Theatre on FAU’s Boca Raton campus. At 6 p.m., family activities and games will be held in the fields just east of the University Theatre, followed at 7:30 p.m. with a concert of patriotic music by the Florida Wind Symphony, directed by Kyle Prescott.

Fireworks begin at 9 p.m.

The 1940’s Radio Hour, presented by FAU’s dance and theater department, will be performed by professional actors and FAU graduate students. The show is a behind-the-scenes look at a New York City radio station and its entertainers during Christmas 1942. The music includes period favorites such as Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy and Strike Up the Band.

Tickets for the revue are $20, and admission to the other events is free. There will be free parking and food vendors on site. Attendees are encouraged to bring blankets and chairs for their own comfort. For more information on the fireworks or other festivities, visit http://ci.boca-raton.fl.us/rec/specialevents, or call 561- 393-7806.

— Briefs compiled by Katherine Concepcion and Greg Stepanich

There was every reason to be worried about this year’s Summer Shorts, the 16th annual collection of stage vignettes that has become a much-anticipated seasonal fixture in South Florida.

The number of 5-to-20-minute scenes had been reduced to only seven, in a single program instead of the usual two. The company of performers had shriveled to a mere five -- about half as many as in the past -- and much of the advance publicity focused on a celebrity guest, Jai Rodriguez, featured on TV’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and in a couple of Broadway shows.

If there was one thing that we could count on about Summer Shorts was that they would be delivered by a well-balanced ensemble of area performers. Had City Theatre both shrunk the size and scope of its show this year and felt the need to bring in a ringer?

Not to worry. This year’s edition of short-attention-span theater is one of the most successful in the company’s history, as strong a mix of outrageous comedy bumped up against poignant drama as City Theatre has ever mustered.

Past productions, with as many as 18 sketches, divided into two parts and separated by a dinner break, had more of a festival atmosphere, but they also had a disheartening number of what-could-they-have-been-thinking dud scenes.

Now playing at Miami’s Arsht Center, in the comfortably compact Carnival Studio black box theater, configured proscenium style, the evening is pared down to 90 minutes, but each of the short plays is a winner. And the penultimate sketch, Jon Kern’s Hate the Loser Inside, is simply one of the funniest scenes I have ever seen in my years of theater-going.

Nor should there have been any concern about the casting of Rodriguez, who fit into the company seamlessly and demonstrated his acting chops in both comedy and drama. The opening skit, Bienvenidos a Miami by Mark Swaner, directly addressed the issue of featuring a star interloper and Rodriguez quickly showed that he has a sense of humor about himself.

Mock-miffed by Rodriguez’s presence was Stephen Trovillion, a/k/a “Mr. Summer Shorts,” for his countless appearances in which he stole the performance honors from the rest of the group. Late in the production he does so again as sports coach Donny Broadhaus in Hate the Loser Inside, a comic turn so deft and delicious it brings to mind nothing less than Lucille Ball and her classic Vitameatavegamin routine.

Trovillion plays a wound-too-tight celeb coach, trying to videotape a commercial on a kitchen set, but he keeps flubbing his lines. That’s it. Nothing more. But Trovillion is such a master of comic timing and the slow burn that the results are convulsively funny. In an evening of strong writing and performances, he remains “Mr. Summer Shorts.”

He is matched with Rodriguez in another of the best scenes, a simple but affecting encounter between two men in a therapist’s waiting room (Quiet, Please! by Garth Wingfield.). Trovillion also shows his silly side as a Caligula-like Emperor from outer space in Mickey Herman Saves The $#&@ World, a sci-fi spoof by Marco Ramirez that, while amusing, went on a tad too long.

The most prominent name among the featured playwrights is Israel Horovitz, whose tight dramatic scene, What Strong Fences Make, pits an Israeli border guard against an old acquaintance turned suicide bomber. Rodriguez and Gregg Weiner fulfill the roles well, though the writing lacks surprise.

Weiner is returning to Summer Shorts after a five-year absence with a particularly welcome presence in Aboard the Guy V. Molinari by Bara Swain, about two strangers on the Staten Island ferry, both intent on leaping to their death. Finnerty Steeves, who has a terrifically expressive face, plays the other down-on-her-luck loner.

Steeves pairs with Ceci Fernandez in Richard Hellesen’s Dos Corazones (Two Hearts), a Summer Shorts favorite that has appeared in two previous editions. It involves two new mothers in maternity ward beds, side-by-side yet separated by a language gulf, learning to communicate about the responsibilities of the newborns in their lives.

Summer Shorts likes to end with a broadly comic sketch involving the entire company and does so again this time with another encore playlet, Rolin Jones’s Chronicles Simpkins Will Cut Your Ass, about a trio of no-nonsense mean girls terrorizing a male peer and a helpless playground monitor teacher on the tetherball court. Nearly mute because of her dental retainer, Steeves still manages to gain laughs with her mumbles and takes, while Rodriguez has fun in drag as the title ring leader.

For consistency and sheer entertainment value, this 16^th Summer Shorts is a winner, even if downsizing for economic reasons was the cause. You will probably enjoy the whole evening, but if you saw only Trovillion in Hate the Loser Inside you would get your money’s worth from the experience.

SUMMER SHORTS. City Theatre at the Adrienne Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami. Through Sunday, June 26. Tickets: $45. Call: (305) 949-6722. Summer Shorts also will play the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale from June 30-July 3. For tickets and information, call (954) 462-0222 or visit www.browardcenter.org.

It was a great night for smiling proselytizers and equine puppets.

Of course, I’m referring to The Book of Mormon and War Horse, which cemented their hit status by taking a victory lap at last night’s 65^th annual Tony Awards telecast, grabbing nine and five statuettes respectively.

The ceremony itself was one of the best in many years, though it continued to give short shrift to plays in favor of musicals and more and more awards in the design categories were presented off-camera before the telecast. There remains a tension between the program being an awards show versus a variety show. I understand the tilt towards the latter, but that doesn’t mean I am happy about it.

Obviously, time constraints are not the issue, ratings are. The Tonys are a ratings disaster, so if CBS is willing to continue carrying it, I guess the network has the right to insist on a musical number from Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, even though it was a boring, tone-deaf ballad and we saw no flying effects, perhaps for safety’s sake. (Insert your favorite Spider-Man joke here.)

More questionable -- even though a number by Stephen Sondheim is always welcome in my book -- was the time devoted to a national broadcast plug for the recent concert version of Company, which was recorded for theatrical release beginning this Wednesday evening.

It is no coincidence that playing the role of bachelor Bobby was Neil Patrick Harris, the Tonys’ emcee for the second year in a row. If the live commercial was part of the quid pro quo of landing him as the show’s winsome host, so be it.

A year ago, his considerable skills as a song-and-dance man were kept under wraps until the waning moments of the program. This year, he led with them, vocalizing on the tongue-in-cheek opening production number about Broadway -- It’s Not Just for Gays Anymore. Later came a clever duet with former Tonys (and Oscars) host Hugh Jackman, a faux-jealousy medley about their comparative abilities, in the anything-you-can-do, I-can-do-better vein.

Then there was Side by Side by Side from Company, and best of all was a rap recap of the show -- written by Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) that was obviously updated during the show with some droll lyrics, recited deftly by the unflappable Harris.

As to the awards themselves, I guess you could say there were no surprises -- well, maybe John Larroquette (How To Succeed in Business . . .) for featured actor in a musical. If you put your money on The Book of Mormon and War Horse at every opportunity, you did fine. In any event, ahem, I correctly predicted 24 of 26 categories, thus winning in a Tonys pool with friends. I sincerely hope you took my prognostications and found some sucker to bet with.

Here are other stray thoughts on the Tonys:

* I am particularly delighted that the great Mark Rylance won, because of his Dadaesque acceptance speech about walking through walls. I have no idea what possessed him to address the subject, but it was a rare moment of loopy spontaneity.

* I loved Nikki M. James’s speech, particularly the bumblebee references. She is terrific in The Book of Mormon and all recipients should be as excited as she was about winning an award.

* The Book of Mormon is much better than it came off in its musical number, I Believe. The selection was probably the only one that could be performed without earning CBS substantial fines from the FCC, but still a discreetly edited medley would have been better.

* A final high point of irreverence in the telecast was Chris Rock’s introductory remarks to announcement of the Best Musical. Yes, I know he bombed hosting the Oscars, but the guy I saw last night deserves a shot at emceeing the Tonys.

* Also liked the segment with Harris telling as many Spider-Man jokes as he could in 30 seconds. (Ex: “I sent Bono a congratulatory cable, but it snapped.”)

* The “My Broadway Moment” idea was a good one, but there were not enough on them to leave the desired impression. I’m guessing there were others that had to be cut once the first awards recipient, Ellen Barkin, droned on.

* I did pick Barkin to win the featured actress award, but thought she was dreadful in The Normal Heart. Her big, angry monologue was yelled from the start, all at the same level. Fewer movie stars got nominations this year and even fewer won, but celebrity is the only explanation for the casting of Barkin and for her Tony win.

Frederic Chopin created art amid exercise when he wrote his two collections of Etudes (Opp. 10 and 25, and not counting the three he wrote in 1839 for Fetis), and with the exception of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes, they far outdistance every other such pedagogical work of their time.

Perhaps the monumentality of the challenge – like doing the complete 48 of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier – makes pianists shrink from playing them one after another, or perhaps some of them just aren’t congenial (Vladimir Horowitz, for instance, said he couldn’t do three of them, including the two in C). Whatever the reason, the young Russian-German pianist Sofiya Uryvayeva deserves credit for playing all of them back to back, as she did Saturday night at the Boca Steinway Gallery.

Uryvayeva, now resident in Miami, has appeared four other times in the gallery’s Piano Lovers series, including a recital in March. She has a YouTube channel with a wide variety of performances including music by Messiaen, Brahms and contemporary Polish composer Gerard Drozd as well as Chopin, and her concert this past weekend drew a full house.

She is an impressive player, one with a strong technique, a very pronounced singing tone, and the ability to persuasively inhabit different emotional moods. Most of the etudes came off successfully, but three or four of them fell short of the standard of the rest, and will need some more work before they can be brought out in public again.

Uryvayeva played Op. 10, then Op. 25, in order, and without an intermission. She began quite well, with a sparkling performance of the first etude (in C, Op. 10, No. 1), which wasn’t simply a parade of well-drilled arpeggios; at one cadence she played the notes with a drier, wittier color that added an engagingly light touch. But in the following A minor Etude, she seemed to lose her fingering footing, and while the well-known E major Etude that came afterward was pretty and effective, the following two still showed signs of trouble. Things almost broke down in the C-sharp minor Etude (No. 4), and the familiar Black Key Etude (in G-flat) was cautious and earthbound, in music that needs to glitter and float.

But those were her most difficult moments, and the concert improved steadily after that. No. 8 in F bubbled along serenely, as did No. 10 in A-flat, though it could have used some different colors at the key changes. Her Revolutionary Etude (in C minor, Op. 10, No. 12) was suitably fiery and tempestuous, and drew warm applause from the audience.

The Op. 25 set opened with a lovely reading of the A-flat Etude, and she brought a fine spirit of playfulness to No. 3 in F. The A minor Etude (Op. 25, No. 4), needed some more emphasis on the offbeat melodic line, to bring out the tension between it and the steady march in the left hand. The famous waltz in the middle of the E minor Etude (No. 5) was suave and inviting, and her double thirds in the No. 6 (in G-sharp minor) were admirably even, and quiet enough to stay out of the way of the melody below.

In the popular C-sharp minor Etude (No. 7), Uryvayeva chose a slow tempo that emphasized her ability to play with a beautiful tone, but the passionate runs in the left hand, particularly the big E-flat scale in the middle, were not as clean and accurate as they needed to be. No. 9 (In G-flat) again showed this pianist’s impish side to charming effect, and while her octaves and forcefulness in the No. 10 (in B minor) were impressive, she could have made more of the break between the opening and the tender middle section.

She opened the Winter Wind Etude (No. 11 in A minor) very deliberately, and she used it to set up both the A minor and the C minor Etude that followed it, playing the two with no pause between them. Both of these etudes had a high degree of polish, and her sweeping arpeggios in the C minor Etude had great sweep and bravura.

As an encore, Uryvayeva played the Mikhail Pletnev arrangement of the culminating pas de deux from Act II of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. This has the same sort of endless arpeggiation that some of the etudes do, which made it a fitting extra. Here, too, Uryvayeva’s ability to play singing melody was uppermost.

Sofiya Uryvayeva is a young (28), ambitious pianist, and she’s well worth hearing. She has substantial gifts, wide-ranging musical interests, and a work ethic that has her frequently concertizing in numerous halls hereabouts. It seems to me that in order to make the most of her talents, she needs now to woodshed it a little more on the trickier points of technique, and perhaps add some more repertoire that stresses the independence of the hands.

I’m thinking Bach, and while she does include some of his pieces on her website’s repertoire list, I for one would be happy to hear her again in a concert of preludes and fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier, or one or more of the suites, or perhaps a couple of the partitas. Bach, after all, was Chopin’s greatest influence aside from Mozart and Italian opera, and playing the music of the master from Eisenach is a wonderful way to deepen appreciation, and mastery, of Chopin’s aesthetic.

Next up in the Piano Lovers series is Margarita Shevchenko, Russian-born and trained in Moscow and Cleveland, and a member of the SoBe Institute of the Arts faculty in Miami Beach. Shevchenko will play three works by Chopin – the Barcarolle, the Polonaise in A-flat (Op. 53), and the Polonaise-Fantaisie – as well as the complete Op. 116 Fantaisies of Johannes Brahms. The concert this coming Saturday at the Boca Steinway Gallery begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance, and $25 at the door. Call 929-6633 or visit www.pianolovers.org.