Weekend things to do: Kevin James, Pam Ann, remembering Bob Weir, new BBQ in Delray

This weekend is complicated: I would traditionally devote some of my Monday to reading Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s graceful and edifying “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.” This is also the day when my Miami Hurricanes will play for the national championship at Hard Rock Stadium. Thankfully, the Canes eliminated the all-day preparation needed for our usual tailgate by making tickets virtually impossible to get, even for longtime season ticketholders. C-A-N-E-S-W-T-F, Canes!

THURSDAY

Girls’ night out: This is opening weekend at Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center for the critically lauded Broadway tour of “& Juliet,” the effervescent reimagining of what might have happened to Shakespeare’s star-crossed ingenue had she moved on from Romeo, set to a soundtrack of Katy Perry, Ariana Grande and Britney Spears. The book is by David West Read, an Emmy-winning writer for “Schitt’s Creek.” Weekend showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Performances run through Jan. 25. Visit Ticketmaster.com.

Thursday laughs: Film and TV actor and comedian Kevin James brings his Eat the Frog tour to the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach on Thursday at 8 p.m. Tickets for the show are scarce. Get updates at Kravis.org.

FLIFF is nigh: Get a sneak peek at the 40th anniversary edition of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival during the annual poster reveal party on Thursday at Savor Cinema. The 6 p.m. gathering will include an open bar, light bites, live music (RF Factor), and a first look at the bounty of films and parties coming to the festival, which will take place Feb. 20-28. Preview party tickets cost $40, which can be applied toward a FLIFF membership (the party is free for members). Visit FLIFF.com.

Weekend barbecue: Tropical Smokehouse is now open in downtown Delray Beach, serving the celebrated barbecue and burgers that have made Rick Mace (James Beard semifinalist) a dean of the Florida craft barbecue scene. This sister location to the original Tropical Smokehouse in West Palm Beach, which was on Southern Living’s list of “Best New Barbecue Joints Of 2024”, can be found in the distinctive red-and-white striped building at 524 W. Atlantic Ave. Visit Instagram.com/tropicalsmokehousedelray.

How sweet the sound: South Florida’s Grammy-nominated ensemble Seraphic Fire continues its exhilarating adventures in choral music this weekend with “Gospel,” a moving program of spiritual music — including the iconic “Amazing Grace” and “Precious Lord” — under the direction of internationally celebrated conductor Jason Max Ferdinand. Performances will take place at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Boca Raton (7 p.m. Thursday), Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables (8 p.m. Friday) and All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale (7:30 p.m. Saturday). Visit SeraphicFire.org.

Buckle up: Make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position as provocative air hostess Pam Ann makes another bumpy landing at Hunters Nightclub in Wilton Manors on Thursday at 7 p.m. The vibe will be nostalgic air-travel glamour, when people didn’t wear pajamas to fly and you could get a decent in-flight scotch or three. Visit HuntersFTLauderdale.com.

Thursday night live: Guitar legend Al Di Meola will bring The Guitarchitect tour to The Parker in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., a trek supporting his “rich and immersive” (All About Jazz) 2024 album “Twentyfour.” For tickets, visit Ticketmaster.com.

Weekend beer: 3 Sons Brewing Co. in Dania Beach has a new IPA, Fresh Start (Volume 2), released on Human Trafficking Awareness Day (Jan. 11), with $1 from every pour and $2 from every four-pack going to Kristi House Children’s Advocacy Center. Not only is this beer doing good, it also happens to be a great, low-intensity pour for the IPA-reluctant. (And the cans come with a distinctive label that echoes Banksy’s “Girl with Balloon.”) Looking ahead, at 7 p.m. Jan. 28, 3 Sons will host the Fresh Start: Community Against Human Trafficking event, with representatives of Kristi House discussing their mission. Visit 3SonsBrewingCo.com.

Easy does it: The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton on Thursday will kick off a four-night series, The Big Easy at The Funky Biscuit, featuring the sounds of New Orleans courtesy of D.K. Harrell (Thursday), Anders Osborne (Friday), Marc Broussard with the Honey Island Swamp Band (Saturday) and Jon Cleary and The Absolute Monster Gentlemen (Sunday). Tickets are available to individual shows and as a four-night pass. Visit FunkyBiscuit.com.

FRIDAY

It’s Stavvy’s world: Curiously irresistible pop-culture character Stavros Halkias — equal parts Dennis Franz and Ron Jeremy — is a memorable podcast presence (“Stavvy’s World” and the provocative “Cum Town”), an actor of undeniable presence (Netflix sitcom “Tires” and recent film “Bugonia”) and a room-filling comedian. Halkias will bring The Dreamboat Tour to Hard Rock Live in Hollywood on Friday at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com.

Fair warning: The South Florida Fair brings carnival rides, entertainment, livestock, agricultural displays and deep-fried everything to the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach on Friday through Feb. 1. An opening-weekend highlight will be Saturday performances by a trio of rising local country singers worth knowing: Emily Brooke (1:30 p.m.), Amber Leigh (4:30 p.m.) and Maggie Baugh (7:30 p.m.). For tickets and information, visit SouthFloridaFair.com.

Friday tributes: Revolution Live in downtown Fort Lauderdale will host Linkin Park tribute band In the End on Friday, with South Florida ex Alex Weiss and Blaze Francisco as special guests. Doors open at 7 p.m. Get tickets at JoinTheRevolution.net. … Galuppi’s in Pompano Beach will offer a Main Stage performance by Ozzy Osbourne tribute Diary of an Ozzman from 7:30 to 11 p.m. The Strangers will open. Meanwhile, The Deck @ Galuppi’s will be the setting for a dinner show by Neil Diamond tribute Diamond Dreams from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. For reservations, visit Galuppis.com.

R&B memories: Vocalist Quinnes “Q” Parker and R&B heartthrobs 112 (“Only You,” “Cupid” “Peaches & Cream,” and “I’ll Be Missing You” with Puff Daddy and Faith Evans) will play the Coral Springs Center for the Arts on Friday at 8 p.m. Get tickets at TheCenterCS.com.

More laughs: Long Island-raised actor-comedian Pete Correale, the half of “The Pete and Sebastian Show” podcast who is not Sebastian Maniscalco, will perform at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Get tickets at Ticketmaster.com. … Texan, comedian and under-duress husband Steve Treviño is at the Fort Lauderdale Improv in Dania Beach for performances at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 6 p.m. Sunday. Saturday’s shows are sold out. Get tickets at ImprovFTL.com.

SATURDAY

King remembered: MLK Legacy Night comes to the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with a conversation about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. featuring philosopher and public intellectual Cornel West and author-educator Ilyasah Shabazz (daughter of Malcolm X). The evening will be moderated by NBC 6 anchor Jawan Strader. Tickets for general admission and for a 5 p.m. VIP dinner and meet-and-greet are available at LPACFL.com.

Championship sounds: You may have heard that the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship is at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Monday, pitting the Miami Hurricanes against the Indiana Hoosiers, which means all kinds of preamble. The biggest event not restricted to ticketholders will be AT&T Playoff Playlist Live!, a free, two-night concert series on Saturday and Sunday at Lummus Park in Miami Beach. Saturday’s lineup will be highlighted by mega-popular DJs John Summit and Calvin Harris, while Sunday will feature Mexican rapper-singer Peso Pluma and others. Gates open at 6 p.m. each day. Admission is free. Visit CollegeFootballPlayoff.com.

Gehry and Adams: New World Symphony will celebrate the 15th anniversary of the New World Center in Miami Beach by honoring its architect, the late Frank Gehry, with an all-John Adams program conducted by Adams and NWS artistic director Stéphane Denève. This retrospective of Adams’ iconic music — with works from “Nixon in China” to “Doctor Atomic,” as well as a new concerto written for and performed by celebrated Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson — will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets remain for both concerts at NWS.edu. Saturday’s performance also will be presented as a free Wallcast concert in Soundscape Park next to the New World Center.

Nu & Lupe: The brave Nu Deco Ensemble returns to the Miami Beach Bandshell on Saturday with a powerful celebration of the poetry of hip-hop in a program highlighted by a collaboration with Grammy-winning rapper Lupe Fiasco. The evening will also include a new suite honoring the music of producer Timbaland, a piece titled “Playground” by YoungArts alum Pascal Le Boeuf, an original work by Nu Deco Ensemble, and the bold and uplifting finale of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. Tickets are available at Nu-Deco.org.

Classical royalty: Britain’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, led by music director Vasily Petrenko and rock-star violinist Ray Chen, will return to South Florida with a program featuring Sibelius’ shimmering Second Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece, the Violin Concerto. Performances will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach (Kravis.org) and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Arsht Center in Miami (ArshtCenter.org).

Saturday laughs: The Miami Comedy Festival will bring top talents such as Sommore, Earthquake, Bill Bellamy and Lavell Crawford to Hard Rock Live in Hollywood on Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com.

Sweet Judy: Singer, songwriter and folk-music heroine Judy Collins will perform in the intimate Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com.

Tie-dye one on: Tarpon River Brewing in downtown Fort Lauderdale will host a tribute to the late Bob Weir on Saturday, a night of soulful jams and community led by popular local Grateful Dead tribute band Crazy Fingers. The jams begin at 8 p.m. Admission is free. Visit TarponRiverBrewing.com.

Take the kids: The South Florida Strawberry Festival returns to South County Regional Park in Boca Raton for three days of family fun on Saturday and Sunday (10 a.m.-6 p.m.) and Monday (10 a.m.-5 p.m.). You’ll find carnival rides, inflatables and bounce houses, and plenty of berry-based food and drinks. For information on tickets and ride wristbands, visit SoFloStrawberryFestival.com.

Walk this way: The Downtown Hollywood ArtWalk returns on Saturday with its funky authenticity intact, featuring live music from Los Wizzards (8 p.m.), vintage vendors at the Artisan Market, and a maze of eye-catching murals along Hollywood Boulevard and Harrison Street. Hours are 6 to 10 p.m. Admission is free. Visit HollywoodCRA.org.

Old dogs, new tricks: “Mutts Gone Nuts” is a touring production of laugh-out-loud entertainment performed by rescued shelter dogs with extraordinary talents. Catch them at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts (TheCenterCS.com) and 1 and 3:30 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center (AventuraCenter.org).

Dancing in the dark: Argentina’s world tango champion Germán Cornejo and his company of dancers, singers and musicians bring the passion and power of “Tango After Dark” to The Parker in Fort Lauderdale at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (ParkerPlayhouse.org) and the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach at 7 p.m. Sunday (Kravis.org).

SUNDAY

Sunday laughs: Ismo Leikola is a globally touring Finnish comedian, wordsmith and off-road dirt-buggy enthusiast who recently broke his back in an accident — a sentence piled high with potential humor. Ismo will bring his Perseverance Tour to the Palm Beach Improv stage at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach for performances on Sunday at 5 and 7:30 p.m. Get tickets at Kravis.org.

Guitar man: Juno Award-winning, Canadian jazz and flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook will play The Parker in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at ParkerPlayhouse.com.

What’s on tap: Symphony of the Americas will come to the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale this weekend to perform “Shall We Dance: Symphonic Music to Move You,” highlighted by the world premiere of a new orchestration of Gershwin’s “Shall We Dance,” reimagined as a concerto for solo tap dancer and orchestra. Performances will feature tap sensation Tommy Sutter, seen recently on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and the national tour of “Some Like It Hot.” Showtimes will be at 2 p.m. Sunday and 7:45 p.m. Tuesday. Visit BrowardCenter.org.

MONDAY

MLK Day: Monday is about remembering the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at events from Miramar to Palm Beach Gardens. Highlights include Fort Lauderdale’s Sistrunk Boulevard parade at 9:30 a.m. and Carter Park festival at 3 p.m. (KingHolidayCelebration.com); the Unity March in Boca Raton from the MLK Jr. Monument (200 Ruby St.) at 10 a.m., concluding at Mizner Park Amphitheater, where a free celebration will run from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (MyBoca.us); and the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum’s annual “I Have A Dream” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Brunch at 10 a.m. at Indian Spring Country Club in Boynton Beach (SpadyMuseum.com).

Game day: The College Football Playoff National Championship is Monday night at Hard Rock Stadium, and if you are one of the many locals shut out from getting tickets, the premier watch party will be found at DAER, the dayclub/nightclub in the neon-illuminated shadow of the Guitar Hotel in Hollywood. Featuring “the biggest LED screen in South Florida,” the party will include game-time bites and drink discounts. Doors open at noon. Get ticket information at HardRockNightlife.com.

Note to readers: Many South Florida venues now operate with a dynamic pricing model that changes the cost of seeing a show between the time we compile this roundup and when you see it. This is frustrating for you and us. So instead of specific prices, we have decided to provide a direct link to the latest information on tickets. Please let us know how you feel about this change: bcrandell@sunsentinel.com.