Looking forward: The month of October in the arts

Forget what Rodgers and Hammerstein said about June “bustin’ out all over.” In 2023, June’s got nothing on the month of October. One look at this calendar of events , and you’d believe that our garden of earthly artistic delights has been more or less dormant – and is blooming, with all color and substance, in October.

Here’s the major concert schedule for Tampa Bay:

Oct. 2: Toad the Wet Sprocket, Verve Pipe at Capitol Theatre.

Oct. 4: Clint Black at the Mahaffey Theater.

Oct. 4: Hot Tuna (Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, of Jefferson Airplane) Electric at the Capitol Theatre.

Oct. 5: Jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton at Central Park Performing Arts Center.

Oct. 5: Comedian Matt Rife at the Mahaffey Theater.

Oct. 5: Blue October at Seminole Har Rock Event Center.

Oct. 7: Chicago at The Sound.

Oct. 7.: Willie Nelson, Avett Brothers, Gov’t Mule, Elizabeth Cook, Particle Kid: Outlaw Music Fest at Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre.

Oct. 7: Switchfoot at Jannus Live.

Oct. 10: Morrissey at the Mahaffey Theater.

Oct. 10: Noah Kahan at Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre.

Oct. 11: Yes at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

Oct. 11: Aerosmith/Black Crowes at Amalie Arena (canceled).

Oct. 12: Black Crowes at the Mahaffey Theater (canceled).

Oct. 12: Jonas Brothers at Amalie Arena.

Oct. 13: John Mayer at Amalie Arena.

Oct. 14: Jelly Roll at Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre.

Oct. 14: Molly Hatchet at Capitol Theatre.

Oct. 15: Luis Miguel at Amalie Arena.

Oct. 15: Willy Chorino at Seminole Hard Rock Event Center.

Oct. 18: The 1975 at Amalie Arena.

Oct. 19: The Church at Capitol Theatre.

Oct. 19-22: Gladys Knight, Buddy Guy, Beach Boys, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Trampled By Turtles, Los Lobos, Gipsy Kings, Preservation Hall Jazz Band: Clearwater Jazz Holiday at The Sound.

Oct. 20-21: Comedian Roseanne Barr at the Capitol Theatre.

Oct. 21: Brad Paisley, Shovels & Rope, Riley Green, Amanda Shires: Pig Jig at Julian B. Lane Park.

Oct. 22: Nick Carter at the Straz Center/Ferguson Hall.

Oct. 27: Comedian Heather McMahon at the Straz Center/Ferguson Hall.

Oct. 28: Jason Aldean at Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre.

Oct. 28: Sammy Hagar, George Thorogood & the Destroyers at The Sound.

Oct. 29: Comedian Dave Chappelle at Amalie Arena.

Oct. 29: John Legend at Seminole Hard Rock Event Center.

Oct. 30: Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real at Jannus Live.

At the Palladium

20: Mark Moultrup & John Lamb (Side Door); 22: Ona K (Hough Hall); 24: Jamie Perlow & Helios Orchestra (Side Door); 27: Dan Penn (Side Door); 28: Stretch’s Rubberband (Side Door); 29: La Lucha Halloween (Hough Hall).

On theater stages

As October begins, Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead enters its final week at Jobsite Theater (the Halloween-centric production of Frankenstein rolls out Oct. 18); running through the 19^th is The Crucible (produced jointly by Tampa Rep and ThinkTank Theatre);  the 4^th brings the start of the new American Stage season, Indecent (running through Oct. 29); this week, we welcome the Off-Central’s Ghost Stories From Yellowstone (Oct. 5-15); also coming is the world premiere (at freeFall Theatre) the comedy Nightsweat, Oct. 6-Nov. 5). Stageworks comes back Oct. 27 with the return of Matthew McGee as Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot (it’s called Poirot Returns, and it will be onstage through Nov. 12).

The Straz Center’s Broadway series brings in a touring production of the Beetlejuice musical Oct. 24-20, in Morsani Hall. The Straz’s Jaeb Theatre has the pub musical The Choir of Man (also part of the Broadway series) through the end of November. There’s a touring musical, Oh What a Night, a revue-style show focusing on Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, at the Palladium Theater’s Hough Hall Oct. 22.

The Florida Orchestra

The Florida Orchestra performs Oct. 7 and 8 at the Mahaffey Theater, accompanied by aerial acts, contortions and other Cirque-styed choreography from the dancers at Troupe Vertigo. Musically, the program includes Copland’s Hoe-Down, Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, Khachaturian’s Masquerade and more. Saturday is an evening performance and Sunday is matinee.

Vinoy Park will be the setting for the free Pops in the Park concert Oct. 14; vocalist Jubilant Sykes returns to perform African-American spirituals, as part of a program that includes Copland’s Appalachian Spring – at the Mahaffey Oct. 21, and Ruth Eckerd Hall on the 22nd.

For the Oct. 28 and 29 concert (both at the Mahaffey, pianist Yulianna Avdeeva performs Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; the program also includes Michael Daugherty’s Metropolis Symphony, along with Ravel’s La Valse.

St. Petersburg Opera Company

St. Pete Opera’s 18^th season opens with Alcina, by George Frederic Handel, Oct. 13 through 17 at Hough Hall, the mainstage at the Palladium Theater. Although the storyline in opera is generally secondary to the music and the superlative vocalizing, Alcina is the story of an island enchantress who turns her discarded lovers into rocks and animals. SPO operas are fully produced, staged and costumed, with a live orchestra.

Latin jazz

The annual EMIT Latin Jazz Fest is Oct. 5-7, and here’s the lowdown: José Valentino & Eternal Power at the Music Center at St. Petersburg College, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5; Gilberto Garcia & The Latin Knights at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6 on  the ArtsXchange stage, in the Warehouse Arts District; Dimas Sánchez and The Afro Latin Jazz Project, ay 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7 on the Arts Xchange stage.

Shining on

It’s the 9^th year for the SHINE Mural Festival, a key event on St. Petersburg’s visual art calendar. Fourteen mural artists – local, national and international – will create murals on specific buildings – before our very eyes – Oct. 13-22.

At the James Museum Oct. 14: Benjamin Wu (b. 1961), Supply Station, 2015, oil on canvas. Private collection of Steve and Debra Rowley.

And more art

Opening Oct. 14 at the James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art, From Far East To West: The Chinese American Frontier showcases the history and contributions of early Chinese Americans in transforming the landscape and character of the American West.

The Nature of Art, an exhibition bowing Oct. 21 at the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, brings together works from the permanent collection. According to the MFA website, “The Nature of Art looks at the disparate ways humans have engaged in artistic expression to understand our environment, mediate our relationship with nature, and attain a more profound comprehension of our role within the world.”

As always, shows and dates are subject to change. And there are sure to be all sorts of events added to the calendar as the month rolls along.

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