Week Ahead: 'Spamalot,' 'Rocky Horror Picture Show,' musical sideshow and museum nights

Week Ahead: July 24-30, 2022

HAPPENING NOW

Gainesville Bromeliad Meeting: 2 p.m. Sunday, Entomology Building, 1881 Natural Area Drive, University of Florida campus. Free. Ray Lemieux from Sarasota will discuss "Terrestrial Care and Maintenance of Bromeliads." He will bring plants to sell. Free plants also available.

Dr. Sinn’s Freak Island Musical Sideshow: 6 p.m. today, High Dive, 210 SW Second Ave. Tickets: $12 in advance, $18 day of show. (highdivegville.veeps.com) Gainesville’s favorite clown band returns with antics, shenanigans and general buffoonery.

Ocean Tales: 2 p.m. Tuesday, live on the Alachua County Library System's Zoom and Facebook pages. Meet marine animal friends, including manatees, sea turtles and dolphins from Florida zoos, museums and aquariums.

Smooth Flava Line Dance Classes: 5:45-6:45 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, Bo Diddley Plaza, downtown Gainesville. Everybody is welcome to come dance and have fun. Bring your launch chairs and join the party.

"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" Live on Stage: 8 p.m. Wednesday, High Dive, 210 SW Second Ave. Tickets: $13 in advance, $15 day of show. (highdivegville.veeps.com)

GNV Market: 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Heartwood Soundstage, 619 S. Main St. (258-8557) Featuring more than 40 vendors, fresh produce, live music and craft beer.

Haylin Watkins, Flawless Introduction, and Axel and the Brothers: 8 p.m. Thursday, High Dive, 210 SW Second Ave. Tickets: $8 in advance, $10 day of show. (highdivegville.veeps.com)

"Monty Python's Spamalot": 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 7, Gainesville Community Playhouse Vam York Theatre, 4039 NW 16th Blvd. (gcplayhouse.org) Musical comedy that raises silliness to an artform and features beautiful show girls, a cow and killer rabbits. Inspired by the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

Jimmy Young and Passion: 7-9 p.m. Friday, Bo Diddley Plaza, downtown Gainesville. Free. Live R&B music. Part of the "Free Fridays" concert series.

Songs From the Heart Live Showcase: 7-10 p.m. Friday, Heartwood Soundstage, 619 S. Main St. Tickets: $5. (258-8557) Celebrate 10 of the best up-and-coming songwriters in Gainesville and participate in a live filming/recording.

Bad Bad Hats, Gully Boys and Truth Value: 8 p.m. Friday, High Dive, 210 SW Second Ave. Tickets: $15 in advance, $17 day of show. (highdivegville.veeps.com)

Ethel Cain, Colyer and Bambii Lamb: 8 p.m. Saturday, High Dive, 210 SW Second Ave. Tickets: $13 in advance, $15 day of show. (highdivegville.veeps.com)

UPCOMING

Comedian Dusty Slay: 8 p.m. Aug. 3, High Dive, 210 SW Second Ave. Tickets: $30 in advance, $35 day of show. (highivegville.veeps.com)

Block Party: 6-9 p.m. Aug. 11, The Harn Museum, Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and Florida Museum of Natural History, Hull Road, University of Florida campus. (harn.ufl.edu) Food trucks with vegan options. Pick-up event passport at information tent and win prizes. Visit the galleries and enjoy the Driveway Theatre Project by the light of the moon.

EXHIBITS

Inner Beauty Exhibit: Florida Museum of Natural History, 3215 Hull Road. Free admission. Colorful, high-resolution images showcase the artistic wonders of modern preservation science while real specimens from the museum’s collections showcase their true size.

Natural Beauty Exhibition: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. through Aug. 5, Santa Fe College Art Gallery, Northwest Campus, 3000 NW 83rd St. Featuring painting, printmaking, photography, ceramics and sculptures by local artists including John Moran, Wendy Free, Deb Lindberg, Vicki Santello, Veronica Villasenor and others. Exhibition is a partnership between SF Art Gallery and SF Teaching Zoo.

"Speechless: Text & Image in Global Culture": On display through Dec. 30, Harn Museum of Art, Southwest 34th Street and Hull Road. Fascinating look at how words, aesthetics and materials have supported religious, political and socio-cultural agendas for millennia.

"Elusive Spirits: African Masquerades": Ongoing exhibit, James G. and Caroline Julier Richardson Gallery, Harn Museum of Art, Southwest 34th Street and Hull Road. Masks from the mid-20th century to the early 21st century show the continuity of masking but also features new directions in masquerades. Although much of the exhibition focuses on the spiritual and religious foundations of masking, it also explores masking aesthetics looking at dazzling costumes, music and dance.

"At First Flush": Noon-4 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, Cade Museum, 811 S. Main St. (cademuseum.org) The permanent exhibit explores the history of the invention of toilets and how they made modern cities possible. It ponders the science of soap and introduces visitors to NASA’s Zero-G toilets, which help astronauts go boldly where no human has gone before.

"Science Up Close: Fantastic Fossils": Florida Museum of Natural History, 3215 Hull Road. Admission: $7 adults; $6.50 Florida residents, seniors and non-University of Florida college students; $4.50 ages 3-17; free to museum members, children ages 2 and younger and UF students with a valid Gator 1 Card. (floridamuseum.ufl.edu/visit/plan, floridamuseum.ufl.edu/exhibits/fantastic-fossils, 846-2000) The exhibition is a collaborative endeavor linking the museum’s exhibits and collections staff, giving people a look at never-before-seen specimens and real fossils. Researchers from the vertebrate paleontology, invertebrate paleontology and paleobotany collections will be in the exhibit as part of its working lab, providing a glimpse into the daily life of curators, collection managers, students and volunteers.

"She/Her/Hers: Women in the Arts of China": On display through March 24, 2024, David A. Cofrin Asian Wing. (harn.ufl.edu/exhibitions/current) Exhibition unravels the intersecting roles women played as subjects, artists and consumers of art in traditional, modern and contemporary China. Features a wide range of works -- paintings, calligraphy, textiles, ceramics, bronzes, photographs, and lacquer and silver wares, some of which have never been on view before. Organized around four themes -- "Representing Femininity," "Anonymous Beauty," "Female Artists" and "Beyond the Boudoir" -- this exhibition not only realizes a full spectrum but also provides a more nuanced view of women’s dynamic engagements with and contributions to the arts of China throughout history.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Week Ahead: Fine arts, live music, food trucks, dancing on tap