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Weekend spotlight: ‘Hair’ today, gone after Sunday
The time has come for American Stage’s in-the-park production of Hair to gliddy-gloop-gloopy into the sunset. The “Let the Sun Shine In” musical is onstage in Demens Landing Park, evenings only, through Sunday (tickets can be found here).
It’s also the second and final weekend for the Tampa Repertory Theatre’s Straz Center production of the musical The Bridges of Madison County. There are shows tonight through Saturday, with matinees Saturday and Sunday (tickets at this link).
At Stageworks Theatre, Topher Paynes’s baby-shower comedy Morningside (a smash hit in the mid-2019/2020 season) opens Friday and will run through May 11. Tickets. And the Hannah Benitez-penned farce For Closure! continues through May 11. Tickets.
The Dirty John’s bawdy sketch comedy troupe is back onstage at The Studio @620 tonight through Saturday with Dirty John’s Goes Country. Find details and tickets here.
The cast of “Morningside” at Stageworks Theatre. The comedy opens Friday, with a preview performance tonight. Publicity photo.
On sunny screens
For the 20th year, the Sunscreen Film Festival is unspooling in St. Petersburg, Between today and Sunday, approximately 200 independent films (narrative features, documentaries and a wide assortment of shorts) are on the marquee at the Sundial AMC 12 downtown. Along with numerous industry-friendly professional workshops, the festival includes an honest-to-goodness celebrity sighting (actress Tara Reid, who’s bringing her movie Dr. Quarantine) and the debut of a highly anticipated doc, Four Down – the story of Nick Schuyler, the sole survivor of a 2009 boating tragedy off the Pinellas County coast.
Read all the details in our Sunscreen advance story here.
The classics
Of note this weekend is the Tampa Bay Master Chorale concert, “Radiant Visions,” Saturday at the Palladium Theater (it’s also performed Friday at Hyde Park UMC in Tampa). Performed with chamber orchestra, it includes The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci by Jocelyn Hagen, bringing da Vinci’s writings to life using video projections; the Chorale commissioned composer Natalie Draper for Vignettes for Marie Curie, interweaving the words of the iconic physicist with those of 19th Century poet Christina Rossetti. Find tickets, and more information, at this link.
The Florida Orchestra’s weekend concert (at the Mahaffey Theater and Ruth Eckerd Hall, respectively, Saturday and Sunday) frames Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition with Korngold’s Violin Concerto, featuring violinist Stefan Jackiw, and Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler Symphony. In our Wednesday story, maestro Michael Francis goes into detail on the concert, and tonight’s pay-what-you can deep dive into Pictures tonight at the Mahaffey. All tickets are at this link.
The Pinellas County Youth Symphony performs the final concert of the season Sunday (3 p.m.) at the Palladium Theater. Find tickets at this link.
To dance
The 10th annual Beacon Dance concert, with choreography and performances by many of the top dance professionals in the bay area, is set for Friday at the Palladium Theater; find tickets at this link. Beacon co-founder and performer Helen Hansen French discusses the many steps from then to now on Friday’s episode of the Arts Alive! podcast.
Wilco plays the Mahaffey Theater Sunday. Photo: Charles Harris.
Concert calendar
At Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in Tampa, Morris Day & the Time, jazz saxophonists Boney James and Eric Darius are among the performers at the Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival & Music Fest, Saturday and Sunday. All information, including tickets, can be found at this link.
Electronic Dance Music aficionados will be flocking to Raymond James Stadium Friday and Saturday for the annual visit by the touring Breakaway Music Festival. EDM DJs and creators this year include Fisher, Louis the Child, Knock2, ISOXO and multiple others. Details and tickets are at this link.
Comedian Colin Quinn is back at the Capitol Theatre tonight. Tickets.
Friday at the Capitol: Violinist Damien Escobar, formerly of Nuttin’ But Stringz. His music combines classical, jazz, pop, R&B and hip hop. Tickets are here.
Friday’s jazz concert at the Warehouse Arts District Associations Arts Xchange campus is free, starting at 7:30, but you’re asked to pre-register here. The Marcus Gottschlich Trio opens for ERG on the outdoor stage.
Hard to imagine that country music hitmaker Alan Jackson is retiring from live performance, but Mr. Chattahoochee swears that’s the case. Saturday’s concert at Amalie Arena is the penultimate (i.e. next-to-last) show on the “Last Call/One More For the Road” tour. Tickets are selling for a hefty premium; check ‘em out here.
Alt-country, alt-rock, indie-rock heroes Wilco are swinging through again. Jeff Tweedy and company will play the Mahaffey Theater Sunday. Find tickets at this link.
Your Weekend Spotlight appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section.
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