Weekend forecast: Curtain up, curtain down

Here’s the thing about theater productions: Something is either coming or going, on either side of the bay, pretty much all the time. This weekend, for example, Tampa Repertory Theatre’s Next to Normal is done after Sunday’s matinee performance. Ditto ThinkTank’s You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at freeFall in St. Pete.

Sunday is also the final day of the 2024 Tampa International Fringe Festival, at the Kress Collective building.

The musical Falsettos, meanwhile, is entering its second weekend at Stageworks Theatre (tickets here), and the Broadway tour of Les Miserables continues at the Straz Center’s Morsani Hall through Sunday (read more about it here).

American Stage has canceled the Thursday (tonight) and Sunday performances of Hedwig and the Angry Inch on the outdoor stage at Jannus Live, for fear of inclement weather. The rock musical will go on as scheduled Friday and Saturday (tickets).

The national tour of Anthony J. Wilkinson’s My Big Gay Italian Wedding has its second and final performance tonight at the Seminole Hard Rock Event Center. Info and tickets.

ThinkTank Theatre founder and director Georgia Mallory Guy, and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown actor Cameron Kubly, are guests on Friday’s Arts Alive! podcast.

Counting Crows open for Santana at Amalie Arena Sunday. Publicity photo.

Concerts

After a five-year, out-of-the-spotlight hiatus, pop titan Justin Timberlake is in our midst once again with a new album (Everything I Thought It Was) and a world tour, which makes a stop at Amalie Arena Friday. Tickets are available here.

Singer, songwriter and longtime cult favorite John Hiatt is at the Capitol Theatre Friday with a solo show. Tickets.

The Clearwater Smooth Jazz Jam, at Ruth Eckerd Hall, shakes out like this: Friday – Jeffrey Osborne, Rick Braun, Richard Elliot and Peter White. Saturday – Brian Culbertson, Sheila E. and the E-Train, Gerald Albright. Each evening’s entertainment starts at 7 p.m., and tickets are here.

Friday at Central Park Performing Arts Center in Largo: Louisiana-bred standup comic Jen Kober, who’s also an actress (small roles on Dead to Me, the Mandolorian, American Horror Story, Bunk’d and Hacks). Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are here.

Sunday brings legendary rock guitarist Carlos Santana and the band that bears his name to Amalie Arena, with Counting Crows in the opening slot. Tickets.

England born and Georgia raised rapper 21 Savage (“Circo Loco” with Drake, “Creepin” with The Weeknd and Metro Boomin, “Rockstar” with Post Malone) plays Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheater Friday. Tickets.

The Yuengling Center, on the University of South Florida Tampa campus, welcomes singer/rapper Bryson Tiller Sunday. Tickets.

On movie screens

Two short Pride-related films will be screened on the Warehouse Arts District Association’s outdoor stage Saturday at 9 p.m.: Flag Act by St. Petersburg filmmaker Susana Darwin (“a free-spirited woman defends her right to fly a rainbow flag against an absurd new law”); and Un Tipo Como Tú by Miami-based Cuban filmmaker Ava (“a passionate encounter between two strangers, a boy and a girl, and how their prejudices, traumas, and desires come to the surface”).

Following the screenings, both filmmakers will participate in a roundtable discussion with art historian and curator Gladys Garrote and Andy Citino, co-founder of TransNetwork. Tickets for the “Pridentity” event are here.

On the opposite end of the filmmaking spectrum, the Capitol Theatre will screen 1994’s Forrest Gump Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are here.

At The Factory

Shades of Pride is a two-day, admission-free LGBTQ+ community festival at The Factory St. Pete, presented by Metro Inclusive Health. Focus is on the Black and Brown experience. Friday (5:30 p.m.-3 a.m.) features a “Prequel to Ballroom,” “Shade vs. Pride Poetry Slam” and Night Party. Saturday (1 p.m. to 3 a.m.) brings panel discussions, live music and the Honors Ball. For all details (and VIP tickets), click here. Info on the Honors Ball is here.

Your weekend arts forecast appears every Thursday in the Catalyst. 

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