Weekend spotlight: Let’s hear it for Thursday

Although there’s a more or less full complement of performances across the bay area this weekend, for some reason  a preponderance of good things are on the marquee for this very night (Thursday, Feb. 5).

Could this mean the groundhog was wrong? That the spring thaw has begun? Asking for a friend.

Pop singer and actor Matthew Morrison performs tonight at the Murray Theatre, inside the Ruth Eckerd Hall complex. Among other things, Morrison had starring roles in the original Broadway casts of Hairspray, The Light in the Piazza and Finding Neverland. On the TV series Glee, he played music teacher Mr. Shuester. Find tickets for tonight’s show (8 p.m.) at this link.

The Dove Award-winning Christian rock band NeedtoBreathe is onstage tonight at the Seminole Hard Rock Eventer Center. Find tickets here.

Tonight at the Mahaffey Theater, The Florida Orchestra’s ever-affable musical director Michael Frances goes Inside Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, during which he will go in-depth on the piece (part of TFO’s big weekend concert), explaining the composer’s influences and motivations before conducting TFO on a full performance. This 7:30 event is pay-what-you-can. RSVP here.

Tonight at Jannus Live: Lettuce, the Massachusetts funk band, making its semi-annual visit to the area. It’s a tour in support of the new album Cook. Find tickets for the 7 p.m. show at this link.

As featured in this Catalyst profile: Texas-based composer Nathan Felix takes over the Museum of Modern Art St. Petersburg tonight (6:30-8:30 p.m.) for an immersive operatic experience, performed throughout the galleries.

As featured in this Catalyst interview: American singer/songwriter Kathleen Edwards and her band appear tonight at Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa. Edwards, whose critically-championed new album was produced by no less than Jason Isbell, has lived in St. Petersburg since 2022.

At freeFall Theatre, the Irish historical musical drama Himself and Nora returns tonight at 7, continues through Sunday, and will be onstage through March 8. Tickets ‘n’ all can be found here. The show’s stars Katie Davis and Robert Teasdale join us for Friday’s edition of the Arts Alive! podcast.

American Stage’s “The Scarlet Letter” continues through Feb. 15. Publicity photo.

Friday, Saturday & Sunday

Friday at the Palladium: Hillsborough blues guitarist Damon Fowler and his blues power trio, Desoto Tiger’s Testimony. The band also includes Jason Ricci, harmonica, and Boogie Long on guitar. All three sing. For tickets (and additional details), click here.

Friday at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center: Greek guitarist Pavlo, who performed not three weeks ago alongside Benise in St. Petersburg. Pavlo Simtikidis is a longtime resident of Tampa. Tickets.

As featured in this Catalyst interview: Grand Funk Railroad’s founding guitarist, songwriter and lead singer Mark Farner brings his “acoustic power trio” to Ferg’s Entertainment Complex Saturday.

Back at the Mahaffey Theater Friday through Sunday is Shen Yun, the national touring show that celebrates the music, dance and pageantry of pre-Communist China. Find showtimes and tickets at this link.

Friday and Saturday, at 8 p.m. both days, The Florida Orchestra will be Morsani Hall, at the Straz Center in Tampa. The program includes Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello & Piano, as well as Symphony No. 4 by Bruckner. Find tickets at this link.

Actor Chazz Palminteri is onstage at the Capitol Theatre Friday with his 1989 one-man drama A Bronx Tale. It is, you might recall, the autobiographical tale of growing up in the Bronx in the 1960s, and attempting to balance working-class values with the gaudy allure of the local crime syndicate. Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance are at this link.

Country music performer Chris Janson is onstage Saturday at Jannus Live. Tickets.

Clearwater’s Peace Memorial Presbyterian Church continues its chamber music series with a program at 3 p.m. Sunday. Violist Michael Klotz, cellist Scott Klucksdahl and pianist Grigorios Zamparas will perform Brahms Clarinet Trio in A minor, Opus 114, transcribed for violin and Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor. A freewill offering will be gratefully accepted. Click here for more information.

It’s the final weekend for Jobsite Theater’s riotous, fractured fairy tale take on Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors in the Jaeb Theatre (Straz Center). For Friday through Sunday showtimes and tickets, head over here.

American Stage’s take on Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter picks up Friday through Sunday (it’s onstage through Feb. 15). Tickets and showtimes are at the other end of this link.

It’s wagons ho! at Ybor City’s LAB Theater project, as the musical comedy The Trail to Oregon! debuts Friday. Find info, showtimes and tickets at this-here link. The show continues through Feb. 22.

The Tampa Repertory Theatre production of Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage continues Friday through Sunday at Hillsborough Community College Performing Arts Center Studio Theatre. Find showtimes and tickets at this link; the show continues through Feb. 15.

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

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