Weekend spotlight: Holiday Sparkle, Broadway Christmas and more

St. Pete Opera’s traditional under-the-tree gift, Holiday Sparkle, seems to get bigger every year. The bright and shiny song and dance revue, with the company’s artistic director Mark Sforzini conducting a small orchestra, has three dates at the Palladium Theater this weekend – Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and a Sunday matinee (2 p.m.).

The orchestra’s not so small any more. There are 40 pieces for the 2025 Sparkle. The family-friendly show, with choreography by Robert Rigsby, features a cast of 14 vocalists.

Also, dancers from the Tampa City Ballet will perform selections from the Nutcracker.

Find tickets, and additional information, at this link.

Musical theater performers (and bay area residents) Scott Difford and Heather Tepe bring a bunch of their professional pals and associates to the Mahaffey Theater every year around this time for A Very Broadway Christmas. Broadway veterans themselves, Difford and Tepe call their company Broadway on the Bay.

The cast of young singers and dancers are recent Broadway performers (from Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, The Book of Mormon, Matilda the Musical, Beautiful and more, and they’re accompanied by a live band and a dance ensemble.

Shows are at 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Find tickets, and additional information, at this link.

A Drag Queen Christmas arrives on the Mahaffey stage Monday at 7:30 p.m. It’s billed as the longest-running drag tour in America. Tickets.

There are five performances of The Florida Orchestra’s Holiday Pops concert. While Friday’s Straz Center performance is sold out, available shows are Saturday (Mahaffey Theater, 2 and 8 p.m.) and Sunday (Ruth Eckerd Hall, 2 and 7:30 p.m.). All tickets are here.

Conductor Chelsea Gallo discusses the Christmas program in this Catalyst interview.

According to the powers-that-be at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Cirque Musica: Holiday Wonderland sold out in 2023 and 2024. The holiday spectacle, combining circus artistry with seasonal music, returns for a 7 p.m. show Friday. Tickets.

The a cappella vocal group Rockapella brings its Rockapella Christmas show back to the Capitol Theatre Sunday. Tickets.

Holiday favorites, with an Irish twist, are on the menu with Celtic Angels Christmas, Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Capitol Theatre. Tickets.

Friday and Saturday at The Studio@620: Holiday Jam, with singers Latoya McCormick and Ryan Hill. Performances are at 7 p.m. each day, and tickets are at this link.

Country music performer Ernest is the stage headliner at Tampa’s Holiday Riverfest, 2:30-9:30 Saturday at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park. Uncle Kracker’s also on the bill for a day of holiday fun including an ugly sweater contest, a lighted boat parade (on the Hillsborough River) and a wiener dog race. Find all details at this link.

Alaina Rahaim plays a grown-up Cindy Lou Who in the adults-only comedy “Who’s Holiday!” at the Off-Central. Photo provided.

On theater stages

Tampa Repertory Theatre’s A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play continues through Dec. 23 at the Straz Center’s Shimberg Playhouse; find showtimes and tickets at this link. Director Jim Sorensen guests on Friday’s edition of our Arts Alive! podcast.

At freeFall Theatre, A Christmas Carol in Concert continues up until a 2 p.m. matinee on Christmas Eve. Showtimes and tickets are here.

Who’s Holiday! at the Off-Central – with Alaina Rahaim as the all-grow-up Cindy Lou Who (not a show for children) – continues through Sunday. Find showtimes and tickets at this link.

The holiday musical drama The Magi continues through Sunday at American Stage. All remaining showtimes, and tickets, can be found at this link.

It’s not exactly a Christmas show, but there’s good cheer aplenty in the one-man comedy Latin History for Morons, starring Nestor Melendez, wrapping up its run Sunday at Stageworks Theatre. Click here for showtimes and tickets.

Radio Theatre Project’s Christmas edition is at 7 p.m. Monday at The Studio@620. Tickets.

The homey musical Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol stops into Ruth Eckerd Hall Monday and Tuesday as part of a national tour. Parton’s songs are interwoven with the story of the Ebenezer Scrooge of a small Appalachian mining town in the 1930s. Showtimes and tickets are at this link.

Monday and Tuesday at Ruth Eckerd Hall: The national tour of “Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol.” Photo: Jesse Fatz.

Non-holiday concerts

Tonight at the Seminole Hard Rock Event Center: Hip hop artists Method Man and Redman. Tickets are here.

Country music’s Jon Pardi is at the Seminole Hard Rock Friday; find tickets here.

Friday at Benchmark Arena: mgk, the rapper and singer once known as Machine Gun Kelly, with Julia Wolf. Tickets are here.

Comedian Pete Correale is onstage at the Capitol Theatre Friday. Tickets.

Friday at the Mahaffey Theater: Comedian Fortune Feimster returns with shows at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Tickets are at this link.

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

Please add us to your mailing list – send all press releases and event info to bill@stpetecatalyst.com.

You can also submit your events to the Catalyst calendar, by clicking here.