Weekend spotlight: Pops in the Park Saturday

St. Petersburg Opera Co. (aka St. Pete Opera) has a Halloween season show onstage Friday (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday (2:30 p.m.) at Opera Central, 2145 1^st Avenue S. Mark Sforzini conducts a performance of The Medium, a 60-minute “chamber tragedy” by Gian Carlo Menotti (Amahl and the Night Visitors). Plus a second-act program called Voices from the Other Side, consisting of well-known operatic “ghost” scenes. Find tickets at this link.

The Florida Orchestra’s Resident Conductor Chelsea Gallo will not only conduct Saturday’s free Pops in the Park concert at Vinoy Park, she’s going to play guitar on an orchestral rendition of the Garth Brooks hit “Friends in Low Places.” Guest soloist Brandon Martin will tackle the singing bit.

If you know it – and you probably do – there’s no harm in singing along. That’s because a community singalong is part of the fun at the family-friendly event.

At 5:30, the St. Petersburg Community Band and the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay will lead “Tampa Bay’s Big Sing,” inviting one and all to join them on standards, rounds and Beatles songs. Lyric sheets will be provided.

The Florida Orchestra concert, which begins at 7, is a program of movie and Broadway themes and classical staples like Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” and Bizet’s Carmen.

Closing number is Beethoven’s choral “Ode to Joy,” with everyone invited to croon along with Chelsea.

Approximately 20 community partners, from the Dali Museum to St. Petersburg College, will represent with booths and tables. Food trucks will be there, too.

Bring a blanket.

TFO will be back at the Mahaffey Theater Sunday for A Star to Remember, a family concert that includes storytelling, singing and dance.  The 2 p.m. performance, conducted by Chelsea Gallo, is preceded by an instrument petting zoo. For more info, and tickets, visit this link.

And more concerts

Friday at the BayCare Sound, look for the eclectic rock band Cake, fronted by John McCrea. The music, according to a colorful description at allmusic.com, consists of “freely mixed and matched pastiches of widely varying genres – white-boy funk, hip-hop, country, new wave pop, jazz, college rock and guitar rock.” The show starts at 8, and tickets are here.

Saturday at the Capitol Theatre: Comedian Jessica Kirson. Tickets are here.

Saturday at the Murray Theatre (inside Ruth Eckerd Hall): Comedian Josh Thomas. Tickets are here.

A Prairie Home Companion legend Garrison Keillor will spin yarns Saturday at the Capitol Theatre. The Catalyst spoke with the poker-faced writer and humorist this week (read that here, and get tickets here).

Saturday (7 p.m.) at the BayCare Sound: St. Petersburg reggae band The Hip Abduction, with Coyote Island and Sensamotion. Tickets.

Soulful Georgia-born crooner Teddy Swims has a show Sunday at Benchmark International Arena. It’s at 7 p.m., and you can locate tickets at this link.

Sunday (6 p.m.) at the BayCare Sound: Turnpike Troubadours, with Muscadine Bloodline. Tickets are here.

Sunday at Central Park Performing Arts Center: Comedian Etta May. Tickets.

The national “Hamilton” tour is at the Straz Center in Tampa this weekend. Photo: Joan Marcus.

On theater stages

The Broadway touring company of Hamilton started a lengthy run in Tampa’s Morsani Hall (Straz  Center) Wednesday. Meet Dance Captain Lexi Garcia-Toye in this Catalyst interview. Hamilton will be in Tampa through Nov. 8.

It’s a drag (show): Featuring an all-male cast, Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue returns to Ruth Eckerd Hall Saturday. For details and tickets, go here.

Continuing this weekend at the Off-Central is Nick Payne’s alternate-universe drama Constellations. Find showtimes and tickets at this link.

Bedridden romance novelist Paul Sheldon continues to be tormented by his nutty fan Annie Wilkes in the Jobsite Theater production of Misery, based on the Stephen King novel. Find what you need on the Straz Center/Jaeb Theatre show here.

Coming soon

Oct. 26 Drivn N Cryn at Skipper’s Smokehouse

Oct. 28 Steve Lacy at the Yuengling Center

Oct. 30 Chayanne at Benchmark International Arena

Oct. 30 The Florida Orchestra John Williams @ 95 at Straz Center Morsani Hall

Oct. 30. St. Pete Collective: The Music of James Taylor at New Tampa Performing Arts Center

Oct. 30 Sonic Live in Concert at the Mahaffey Theater

Oct. 31 Ghostbusters In Concert (film screening with orchestra) at Ruth Eckerd Hall

Nov. 1 The Florida Orchestra: John Williams at 95 at the Mahaffey Theater

Nov. 1 Mixtura – A Multicultural Journey in Sound at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center

Nov. 6 Antoine Boyer & Yeore Kim at Friday Morning Musicale/809 W Horatio St, Tampa

Nov. 6 Classic Albums Live: AC/DC Highway to Hell at the Capitol Theatre

Nov. 1 The Florida Orchestra: Ginastera’s Harp Concerto at the Mahaffey Theater

Nov. 4 Reflections Chamber Ensemble at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center

Nov. 6 Rickey Smiley (comedy) at the Tampa Theatre

Nov. 6 The Florida Orchestra: Ginastera’s Harp Concerto at Straz Center Ferguson Hall

Nov. 7 Ed Sheeran at Raymond James Stadium

Nov. 7 Cash Money No Limit at Benchmark International Arena

Nov. 8 WQYK Guitar Pull at the Mahaffey Theater

Nov. 8 The Florida Orchestra: Ginastera’s Harp Concerto at Ruth Eckerd Hall

Nov. 8 EMO Orchestra at the Capitol Theatre

Nov. 8 Tampa Bay Symphony: Wild Kingdom And Swan Dreams at Straz Center Ferguson Hall

Nov. 8 Victoria Monét at the Yuengling Center

Nov. 9 & 11 Rush at Benchmark International Arena

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 bi**@************st.com.

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