Top Picks-3

April's best bets in the arts and entertainment.

Jane Seymour, Art Woman

This may be an age of specialization, but that doesn’t apply to Jane Seymour.

True, she is best known as an Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actress whose talent has been showcased on television in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and War and Remembrance, and in such films as Wedding Crashers, Somewhere in Time and Live and Let Die (as Bond-girl Solitaire).

But the classy, British-born actress has many other talents, including dancing, as seen on Dancing With the Stars; designing jewelry, as promoted in countless Kay Jewelers commercials; and writing, as displayed in such books as Remarkable Changes, the recent Open Hearts and her This One and That One children’s series.

On top of all that, Seymour, 58, is a painter whose work in various media is available locally at the Wentworth Gallery in The Mall at Millenia. In fact, Seymour will be at the gallery in person this month to chat with fans about her paintings, among other things.

“I didn’t really take it [painting] up seriously until about 18 years ago, when I went through a terrible divorce in which I lost all my money,” she recalls. “It was just a terrible, terrible time.”

Taking her mother’s advice, she became involved in charity work to distract herself from her own troubles. Through that work she met an artist who was so impressed by some fingerpaintings she’d done with her children that he offered her free art lessons.

“Instead of going into a deep, dark tunnel of depression, which is definitely where I would have headed,” she says, “I was kind of brought into this Zen-like state painting watercolors.”

And Seymour is still at it—along with dancing, designing, writing and, of course, the occasional acting assignment.

April 24, 7-9 p.m. and April 25, 5-8 p.m. Free admission. Wentworth Gallery, The Mall at Millenia, 4200 Conroy Road. 407-903-9055. wentworthgallery.com

Merchant & Much Ado

Through April 26 The Orlando Shakespeare Theater offers a Bard double-bill this month, with the “tragicomedy” The Merchant of Venice and the comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Performances of Merchant, a story about the struggle between mercy and justice, and Much Ado, featuring the familiar Shakespearean theme of mistaken identity, as well as quick repartee, alternate throughout the month. Wednesday-Thursday 7 p.m., Friday-Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. $22-$40. Visit orlandoshakes.org for scheduling specifics. Lowndes Shakespeare Center, 812 East Rollins Street. 407-447-1700, ext. 1

British Invasion

Chris Botti

April 16-May 2 Every two years, the London Symphony Orchestra comes to our neck of the woods, and the Daytona Beach International Festival throws a 17-day music festival that includes world-renowned jazz performers such as Chuck Mangione and Chris Botti, international acts from Celtic to Latin to bluegrass, late-night supper-club and beachside performances, and family fare such as magicians and puppeteers. And that’s all in addition to the five-concert  Classical Series by the LSO.

Times, locations and ticket prices are available at dbif.com under “Tickets” or by calling 386-257-7790 or 866-849-0731.

Light Up Orlando?

Cheech Marin (left) and Tommy Chong

April 5 Back together and a good bit older, comedians Cheech & Chong—Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong—bill their Light Up America and Canada Tour as much of the same fare they were known for in the ’70s and ’80s, with a timely spin. They call it their “felimony” tour and contend they needed the money to pay lawyers, thanks to Cheech’s divorce and Chong’s prison term on drug paraphernalia charges. Mature content. 8 p.m. $39.50-$59.50. Hard Rock Live, Universal CityWalk. 407-839-3900. ticketmaster.com  

Egg-ceptional Art

Through April 12 Eggshells, beeswax and water-soluble dyes have been used for hundreds of years to create miniature masterpieces known as “pysanky,” from the Ukrainian for “to write.” The Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens presents 100 examples of this and other egg-decorating art forms in Easter Pysanky: Decorated Eggs of Europe. Contemporary painted eggs and carved eggs round out the exhibition. Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday 1-4 p.m. $3-$5. 633 Osceola Avenue, Winter Park. 407-647-6294. polasek.org