Weekend forecast: Your music and theater options

Tampa’s ThinkTank Theatre is back in the Stageworks space starting Friday with Qui Nguyen’s She Kills Monsters, a drama/comedy/fantasy improbably set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons. It’s directed by Katie Calahan.

According to Producing Artistic Director Georgia Mallory Guy, “She Kills Monsters is one of those sneaky plays where its appeal to younger audiences – teenagers and early college – seemingly masks just how much it actually speaks to the generations above them.”

The plays runs Jan. 12-21 at Stageworks, 1120 E Kennedy Blvd. There’s a preview performance tonight. For tickets and additional information, head to the ThinkTank website.

Stephen Sondheim’s Company is the latest entry in the Straz Center for the Performing Arts’ Broadway-tour series. The company of Company is onstage in Morsani Hall tonight through Sunday. Tickets and details here.

American Stage is literally “taking it to the trail” with the production opening Friday, 10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse. The comedy takes place on the trails at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, after twilight (shows at 6 and 8 p.m., depending on the day). Director Anthony Gervais discussed this unique and unusual setup Wednesday in the Catalyst – read that story here.

ThinkTank Theatre’s “She Kills Monsters” opens Friday in Tampa. Photo: Stage Photography of Tampa.

Musical twoFers

Check out these double-your-pleasure shows: Friday at Central Park Performing Arts Center, New Orleans blues piano legend Marcia Ball shares the bill with veteran Florida blues guitarist Tinsley Ellis. Tickets are here. And Sunday at the Palladium Theater Side Door, you can’t do much better than a double bill of Rev. Billy C. Wirtz (boogie woogie piano) and Roy Book Binder (acoustic blues). Tickets for the 6 p.m. concert are here.

A concert cornucopia

This weekend’s concert options are a wide-ranging bunch. Tommy Stinson, of rock’s legendary Replacements, plays the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club tonight (Thursday, Jan. 11). Here’s our interview with the Minneapolis singer/songwriter.

Tonight at Central Park Performing Arts Center (Largo), it’s jazz pianist Connie Han and her Trio. Variety calls the 27-year-old Han “one of contemporary jazz’s most talented and inventive musicians.” Find tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance here.

Tonight brings the return of the mighty Elvis Costello to Ruth Eckerd Hall, with the Imposters (a trio that includes one-time Attractions Pete Thomas and Steve Nieve), and singer/guitarist Charlie Sexton. Find tickets here.

Acoustic Americana/blues singer, songwriter and guitarist Paul Thorn is also back in town tonight, playing a show with his band at the Capitol Theatre. Greg Billings opens. Tickets.

Nellie McKay. Publicity photo.

Friday at the Palladium Theater Side Door Café, the idiosyncratic, unconventional and utterly charming singer/musician Nellie McKay returns (she made her St. Pete debut in 2023). She covers the Great American Songbook, the Beatles, Ray Charles and Frank Zappa – and a whole lot of others – and has even recorded an entire album’s worth of Doris Day tunes. One reviewer called McKay “a mix of Katherine Hepburn and Blossom Dearie.” Find tickets here.

Ruth Eckerd Hall’s intimate Murray Theatre welcomes the legendary sing/songwriter Karla Bonoff Friday. At press time, the show was sold out.

Jay Leno is back in town, doing standup Saturday at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Tickets.

At the Palladium Theater Saturday, St. Petersburg soul singer Alex Harris is in concert, with sets from ZO! & Tall Black Guy, and J. Brown. Find tickets here. Harris is out guest on Friday’s edition of the Arts Alive! podcast.

Canadian acoustic guitar virtuoso Jesse Cook performs Saturday at the Capitol Theatre. Tickets.

Where’s the orchestra?

It’s outer space weekend for The Florida Orchestra. SciFi Spectacular includes themes and score music from Star Wars, Star Trek, The Mandalorian, Interstellar and others. Lawrence Loh conducts the orchestra Saturday (8 p.m.) at the Mahaffey Theater, and Sunday (7:30 p.m.) at Ruth Eckerd Hall. See the program, and find tickets, here.

The Weekend Forecast appears every Thursday in the Catalyst. 

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