Weekend spotlight: A pair of country music queens

What are the odds? Two of country music’s top female artists of the 1990s performing on the same day, on different stages, just a few miles from each other?

It happens Saturday (March 21), when Lorrie Morgan headlines the City of Pinellas Park’s Country in the Park at England Brothers Park. And in Largo, Suzy Bogguss will sing at the Central Park Performing Arts Center.

Both shows begin at 8 p.m.

Bogguss, who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in January, landed six Top Ten singles, including “Drive South,” “Hey Cinderella” and “Just Like the Weather”; her Aces album was a platinum seller.

Find tickets for Bogguss’ Central Park concert at this link.

The daughter of country legend George Morgan, Lorrie Morgan’s hits include “What Part of No,” “Watch Me,” “Five Minutes,” “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” and “Til a Tear Becomes a Rose” (a duet with her late husband, balladeer Keith Whitley). She has charted more than 40 singles (including three No. 1s) and has three platinum albums.

Pinellas Park’s Country in the Park is a free, family-friendly event kicking off at noon. There’ll be live music all day. England Brothers Park is at 5010 81st Avenue N., Pinellas Park.

Saturday at Central Park Performing Arts Center in Largo: Suzy Bogguss. Publicity photo.

Concert calendar

It’s an evening of ’70 hits as The Big Gay Cabaret: Out on the Dance Floor, with The Gay Men’s Chorus of Tampa Bay, arrives at the Jaeb Theatre (Straz Center, Tampa) Saturday night at 8. Info and tickets here.

Clearwater’s BayCare Sound comes alive Friday at 5 p.m. for the annual 98 Rock Fest. Bands scheduled to perform are Three Days Grace, I Prevail, Sleep Theory, The Funeral Portrait and The Pretty Wild. Tickets are at this link.

The Smithereens, with guest singer John Cowsill, play Largo’s Central Park Performing Arts Center Friday. Read the Catalyst interview with Cowsill at this link.

At the BayCare Sound Saturday: Blues guitar crusher Joe Bonamassa, with an opening set from Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram. Show starts at 6 p.m. and tickets are here.

A frequent Bonamassa collaborator, blues singer (and songwriter) Beth Hart, will be onstage at Ruth Eckerd Hall at 8 p.m. Sunday (with St. Pete’s Gregg Billings opening). Tickets.

(Bonamassa’s tour schedule lists Sunday as an open day – think maybe he’ll show up to jam with Beth and her band? Hmm.)

Saturday also brings Diana Ross to Ruth Eckerd Hall for her annual bay area concert appearance. Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are here.

Our Canadian musician friends Classic Albums Live check in at the Capitol Theatre Sunday with a full-tilt performance of Purple Rain by Prince & the Revolution. Tickets.

Sunday at Morsani Hall, Straz Center: Singer Anne Wilson. Not the one from the rock band Heart (anyway, it’s spelled differently). This is Anne Wilson, the Christian music performer. Find info and tickets at this link.

Where’s the orchestra?

The Florida Orchestra: Performances of Mozart’s Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter,” are at 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Mahaffey. Soprano Hein Jung will perform Queen of the Night arias from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Also on the program: guest soloist Maximilian Hornung for Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge and, as always, a Francis-chosen “mystery piece.”

Find more information, and tickets, at this link.

In North Straub Park

Manatee County’s Paragon Festivals is back in North Straub Park (400 Bayshore Drive NE) with a new event, St. Petersburg Bayfest, Friday through Sunday. It’s got food (courtesy of local restaurants), a mareketplace and continuous live music from local artists. Admission is $5. Gates open at 4 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Roxanne Fay is Brutus in The Studio@620’s adaptation of “Julius Caesar,” in its final weekend. Photo provided.

On theater stages

Saturday at New Tampa Performing Arts Center: Theater, live music and dance are combined in the Indian folk tale Naga-Mandala (Play with a Cobra) by Girish Karnad, presented by White Plume Productions at 7 p.m. Find out more, and purchase tickets, at this link.

The Stageworks drama My Name is Asher Lev continues with performances through Sunday. Find showtimes and tickets at this link.

The production of Julius Caesar at The Studio@620 continues with performances through Sunday. Find showtimes and tickets at this link.

The Shark is Broken continues through April 5 at Jobsite Theatre. Find showtimes and tickets at this link.

Magic and comedy

Originally scheduled for Friday, the Mahaffey Theater performance by illusionist Leon Etienne’s Magic Rocks! no longer appears on the venue’s schedule.

Martin Lawrence is onstage at the Seminole Hard Rock Event Center at 8 p.m. Sunday. Find tickets here.

Comedian Dusty Slay performs Friday at the Capitol Theatre. Tickets.

Comedian Cristela Alonzo performs Friday at the Straz Center’s Jaeb Theatre. Tickets.

Your Weekend Spotlight appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section. 

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