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Weekend spotlight: More than jazz at the Jazz Holiday
The Catalyst’s every-Thursday rundown of the best in weekend performing arts.
It’s Clearwater Jazz Holiday weekend at Coachman Park, Clearwater (on the large green adjacent to the BayCare Sound amphitheater). Depending on your definition of “jazz,” the lineup for Year 46 is all over the place. In a good way.
Headliners tonight through Sunday include The War and Treaty, Tower of Power, Trombone Shorty, Trampled by Turtles, St. Paul & the Broken Bones and Cory Wong – and there are many other multi-genre performers (see the entire schedule at this link).
The husband-and-wife duo The War and Treaty (Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter) has been an Americana favorite since their debut album in 2018. In 2023, the same year they performed with Zach Bryan on the hit “Hey, Driver,” The War and Treaty became the first Black duo to be nominated for Duo of the Year by the Country Music Association. (The War and Treaty band plays Friday night in the 7:30 slot).
Most recently, the Trotters have been featured in a series of TV commercials for the diabetes drug Ozempic.
Clearwater Jazz Holiday website.
On theater stages
Jobsite Theater’s Ghost Brothers of Darkland County opens Friday, after a pair of nightly preview performances. The script is by Stephen King, and the music is by John Mellencamp. That ought to tell you plenty about the company’s 2025 Halloween season entry, which will run through Nov. 9. More on the show in the Catalyst soon; for now, find showtimes, tickets etc. at this link.
A straight-from-Broadway revival of the ‘70s musical The Wiz has eased on into the Straz Center’s Morsini Hall this week. The gloriously funkified version of The Wizard of Oz is directed by Schele Williams, who brought The Notebook to Broadway. Find details and tickets at this link.
https://www.strazcenter.org/events/2526-season/broadway/the-wiz/
James Ijames’ dark comedy White, featuring an exceptional cast of four, is entering its final weekend at the Off-Central. Like the theater’s previous show, Bakersfield Mist, it’s about the art world; White shows us a snarky side of its soft white underbelly (read about it in this Catalyst feature). Find showtimes and tickets at this link.
Also bringing the curtain down in American Stage’s walk-through theater experience Weird in St. Pete, at the Duncan McLellan Gallery. There are lots of showtimes between today and Sunday (approximately every half-hour); find the schedule and tickets at this link.
Continuing through Oct. 26 at the Jaeb Theatre (in Tampa’s Straz Center complex) is the production of the comic Halloween farce Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors. Read about it here; find tickets here.
The St. Petersburg Opera Company production of Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah” opens Friday. Photo by Jim Swallow.
The classics
St. Petersburg Opera Company’s 20th season launches Friday, at the Palladium Theater, with a production of Carlisle Floyd’s 1955 southern opera Susannah. Additional performances are Sunday (a matinee) and Tuesday (Oct. 21). The Catalyst previewed the opera earlier this week; read that feature here). Find tickets at this link.
Violinist Benjamin Beilman joins The Florida Orchestra for this weekend’s Masterworks performances of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35. It’s paired with John Adams’ Harmonielehre at the Mahaffey Theater (8 p.m. Saturday) and Ruth Eckerd Hall (2 p.m. Sunday). All tickets are here.
Concerts
Flamenco guitarist and singer Rodolfo Troncoso performs Friday on the outdoor stage at the Warehouse Arts District Associations ArtsXchange campus. The 6:30 p.m. show – part of WADA’s “Under the Stars” series – also features fellow guitarist Sebastian Fox. Find tickets at this link.
Saturday brings legendary Southern songwriter/musicians Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham to the intimate (50 seats) Craftsman House Gallery on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg. Oldham, 82, has long been associated with Neil Young – in fact, he recently completed a tour as a member of Young’s Chrome Hearts band. Few tickets remain; call the Craftsman House (727- 323-2787) to check on availability.
Maren Morris has a free concert Saturday at Benchmark Arena. Publicity photo.
Comedian Dane Cook is onstage tonight at the Seminole Hard Rock Event Center. Tickets.
Tonight at the Murray Theatre (inside Ruth Eckerd Hall): An acoustic evening with Saigon Kick’s Jason Bieler and Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Jeff Scott Soto. Tickets and details are here.
Friday at Ferg’s Sports Bat Event Center: A hard-edged band featuring Ratt vocalist Stephen Pearcy, and that ‘80s band’s guitarist Warren DeMartini. The 6:30 p.m. show also includes Trixter, Enuff Z’nuff, Pretty Boy Floyd and Permacrush. Tickets are at this link.
And several core members of Billy Joel’s “classic era” band are at the Capitol Theatre Friday, playing Joel music as the Lords of 52nd Street. Here’s our interview with drummer Liberty DeVitto.
Country singer Maren Morris performs Saturday at Benchmark Arena. The 7 p.m. show is free, part of the venue’s Open House weekend. Find free tickets to the concert and other weekend events here.
Saturday at the Capitol Theatre: British blues guitarist Joanne Shaw Taylor. Tickets are here.
With guitar wizard Steve Howe still there from the band’s glory years, Yes returns to Ruth Eckerd Hall Saturday. Tickets are here.
Sunday’s Jannus Landing show from 2hollis is sold out.
Basement Yard podcasters Joe Santagato and Frank Alvarez bring their live stage show to the Mahaffey Theater Sunday. Tickets.
Your Weekend Spotlight appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section.
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